BALABHARATI Samskar for Kids

F E B RUA RY 2 0 1 6 PAU S H A ~ M AG H A M A S A

MAHASHIVARATRI

Mahashivratri, meaning 'the Children, there is a very

Amrutvachan great night of Shiva' is one of interesting legend about a
the most important festivals of hunter who got lost in the
Hindus. It falls on the moonless jungle and encountered a tiger.
14th night of the new moon in In order to save himself he
the Hindu month of climbed upon the nearest tree
phalgun(Feb/March). which was a Bel tree. He spent
! the night up there and to keep
There are various legends himself awake, he kept plucking
associated with the festival. It is and dropping Bel leaves while
believed that on this day Lord chanting Lord Shiva's name
Shiva got married to Goddess without knowing that he is
Parvati. Some believe that it dropping the leaves on Shivling
was on this night that Lord below the tree. His night long
! Shiva performed 'Tandava', the worship pleased the Lord who
He, who after careful dance of creation, preservation saved him from tiger.
thinking, is ever ready and destruction. Another !
to accept truth and l e g e n d is that the Lord It is said that the unique
reject falsehood; who manifested himself in the form planetary positions on this night
of Linga on this day. initiate an upsurge of energy in
counts the happiness of
others as he does that
! the human system. By staying
On Mahashivratri day devotees awake and keeping the spine
of his own self, him I
observe fast and worship Lord erect one can reap immense
call as a righteous
Shiva by doing abhishek with benefits. Also the abhishek
person." water, milk, honey, ghee, sugar offered to Lord helps in
Maharshi and offer bel leaves (bilvapatra), spreading the energy from the
betel leaves, fruits etc. They Shivling to the devotees.
DayanandaSaraswati sing and chant in praise of !
Lord Shiva all through the || Aum Namah Shivaya ||
night.

About Balabharati -
!
This is an attempt to awaken the patriotic and cultural values hidden in the kids. The
!
attempt is coordinated across Bangalore, in various localities, by the coordinators.
You too can participate in these events as a coordinator. Your ideas would add value to the
centre. Send your feedback to the editor - Vivasvan Shastri (vivasvan@me.com)

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 Balabharati - February 2016

WHY DO WE PREFER TO EAT FOOD WITH OUR

HAND ?
!
Sometimes simple practices such as eating food with
our hands could be giving us benefits which we may
not have been aware of. Our body is nourished by the
five elements. Each finger represents an element; the
thumb indicates fire, index finger correlates with air,
middle finger indicates sky, ring finger stands for earth and little finger indicates water.
Therefore when we eat we are putting together all the five elements and energizing the
food we eat so it helps us become healthy and keep all our life energies in balance.

Touch is one of the most strong and often used sensation in the body. When we
touch our food with our hands, the brain signals our stomach that we are about to eat.
This in turn, readies the stomach to digest the food it will receive, aiding in better
digestion.
Furthermore, it is believed that our body has a certain kind of bacteria which
protects us from the harmful bacteria. This bacteria is also present in our hands and when
we eat food with our hands, the pattern of bacteria is maintained and we are protected
from the harmful bacteria. Eating with hands by itself increase the contentment we feel
after consuming the food. There are so many benefits that we automatically gain by this
practice.

Remembering our Heroes

Maharshi Dayananda Saraswati Shivaji Maharaj Guru Ravidas

12th February, 1824 19th Feb, 1630 22nd February, 1376

We pay our tributes on their Janma Tithi

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 Balabharati - February 2016

Geet

रा#$ की जय )तना का गान व./ मातरम्

रा#$भि4त 56रणा का गान व./ मातरम्
!
स9#ी बीज म.; का < मम= व./ मातरम्
राम > वनवास का < का?य व./ मातरम्
@द?य गीता Bान का स.गीत व./ मातरम् ॥1॥
!
हिDदघाटी > कणो H ?याIत व./ मातरम्
@द?य जौहर Kवाल का < Mज व./ मातरम्
वीरN> बिलदान का O.कार व./ मातरम् ॥2॥
!
जनजन > हर कPठ का हो गान व./ मातरम्
अ@रदल थरथर कTU सVनकर नाद व./ मातरम्
वीर पV;ोकी अमर ललकार व./ मातरम् ॥3॥

!
Rashtra kī jaya cetanā kā gāna vande mātaram
Rāṣhṭra bhakti preraṇā kā gāna vande mātaram
!
Srishti bīj ke mantra kā hai marma vande mātaram
rāma ke vanavāsa kā hai kāvya vaṁde mātaram
divya gītā jñāna kā sangīta vande mātaram ||1||
!
haldi ghāṭī ke kaṇo me vyāpta vande mātaram
divya jauhara jvāla kā hai teja vande mātaram
Vīro.N ke balidāna kā hūṁkāra vande mātaram ||2||
!
Jan-jana ke hara kanṭha kā ho gāna vande mātaram
ari-dala thara-thara kānpe sunakara nāda vande mātaram
vīra putro kī amara lalakāra vande mātaram ||3||

www.geetganga.org/rashtra-ki-jay-chetna-kaa-vande-mataram

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 Balabharati - February 2016

Coloring Activity: Lord Shiva

Quiz on Lord Shiva

!
1. According to Hindu belief, Lord Shiva is the God of..........
!
• Happiness
• Creation
• Preservation
• Destruction
!
2. Along with Lord Shiva, which two Gods are part of Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity ?
!
• Brahma and Saraswati
• Brahma and Vishnu
• Lakshmi and Ganesha
• Vishnu and Ganesha
!
3. How many Jyotirlinga do we have ? 9 or 11 or 14 or 12

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 Balabharati - February 2016

4. Which fruit, though poisonous, is offered to Lord Shiva?

!
Banana / Mango / Datura / Bael
!
5. The dancing posture of Lord Shiva is represented as?
!
Shankara / Nataraja / Trinetra / Bholenath

Puzzle

Try to move all the disks from TOWER 1 to TOWER 3. You may only move one disk at a
time. You must never allow a bigger disk to go on top of a smaller disk. The puzzle needs to
be solved in 7 or lesser than 7 moves
!
Though generally known as Tower of Hanoi, do you know that it also called the Tower of
Brahma ! Find out why ...

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 Balabharati - February 2016

Craft : 'Moon' Key Chain Activity

Since crescent moon is one of the important symbols of Shiva, also called
Chandrashekhar, we will be making an activity with crescent moon in this month.

Material needed: Cardboard, silver

paper, key ring, glue, pencil, scissors,
rangoli powder (coloured rangoli also can
be used).

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5

Step 1: On a small piece of cardboard, draw the shape of a

crescent moon.
!
Step 2: Cut out this cardboard moon shape using scissors.
!
Step 3: Stick the silver paper on the cardboard moon shape. You
can crumple the silver paper before sticking it. Crumpling the paper
will give the moon a nice rough texture. Stick the silver paper on the
back side as well.
!
Step 4: Randomly apply glue on the moon and sprinkle it with
rangoli powder. You can also used coloured rangoli powder for this.
Step 6

Step 5: Lift the moon and shake off the excess rangoli powder. You will see that the moon now has
a beautiful rough texture. Repeat the same on the other side as well. Allow it to dry before you
apply rangoli to the other side. Let it dry for some time.
!
Step 6: With the help of an adult, fix a keyring to the crescent moon that you have made. You
moon shaped keychain is ready.

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 Balabharati - February 2016

Little Heros : Thoi Thoi Khumanthem

!
Eight-year-old Shivampet Ruchitha won the
prestigious Geeta Chopra Award this Republic Day.
The Telangana girl displayed exemplary valour in
saving two lives when a train hit her school bus.
!
On noticing the bus coming to a halt on a railway
track and a train approaching them very rapidly, she
showed extraordinary presence of mind and pushed
two students out of the window. She too jumped off
the bus. Sadly, she could not rescue her younger sister who was sitting in the first row. Her
younger brother too sustained severe injuries, but recovered. Ruchitha wants to become a
lawyer when she grows up.

Ancient Indian Science - Ship Building

Indian shipbuilders had a good knowledge of the

materials which were used in building ships. In the
ancient days, Indians had travelled to far off countries
such as Cambodia (Kambuja in Sanskrit) Java,
(Chavakam or Yava dwipa), Sumatra, Borneo, Socotra
(Sukhadhara) and even to Japan. Indian traders had
established settlements in Southern China, in the
Malayan Peninsula, in Arabia, in Egypt, in Persia, etc.,
Through the Persians and Arabs, India had cultivated
trade relations with the Roman Empire.
!
The concept of Mariners' compass was also used in a
unique way - a magnet that would give the direction. The early Hindu astrologers are
said to have used the magnet, in fixing the North and East, in laying foundations, and
other religious ceremonies. The Hindu compass was an iron fish that floated in a vessel
of oil and pointed to the North. The fact of this older Hindu compass seems placed
beyond doubt by the Sanskrit word Maccha Yantra, or fish machine which is the
equivalent of Mariners' compass.
!

Answers for stick puzzle: The highest number that can be formed is 511108.You remove the 2
horizontal sticks on the zero and make it a 1 between them. Also if you want to see it upside down the
maximum number would be 811105. Answers for Quiz: 1) Destruction, 2) Brahma and Vishnu, 3)
12 Jyotirlangas, 4) Bael, 5) Nataraja

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 Balabharati - February 2016

Story: Swami Vivekananda - Face your problems & they will run away
!
A real incident from Swami Vivekananda's life in
his own words:
!
Once when I was in Varanasi, I was
passing through a place where there was a large
tank of water on one side and a high wall on the
other. It was in the grounds where there were many
monkeys. The monkeys of Varanasi are huge
brutes and are sometimes surly. They now took it
into their heads not to allow me to pass through
their street, so they howled and shrieked and
clutched at my feet as I passed. As they pressed
closer, I began to run, but the faster I ran, the faster
came the monkeys and they began to bite at me.
!
It seemed impossible to escape, but just then I
met a stranger who called out to me, "Face the
brutes." I turned and faced the monkeys, and they
fell back and finally fled. That is a lesson for all life
— face the terrible, face it boldly.
!
Like the monkeys, the hardships of life fall
back when we cease to flee before them. If we are ever to gain freedom, it must be by
conquering nature, never by running away. Cowards never win victories. We have to fight
fear and troubles and ignorance if we expect them to flee before us.
!
-- * -- * -- * --
!
Balabharati News: Sankranti & Republic day celebrations in several apartments saw
Balabharati children participating enthusiastically.
!
At Klassic Benchmark apartment Republic Day function( Gottigere ), the kids performed a
demonstration of various Yogasanas taught in Balabharati.
!
At Concore Manhattan ( Electronic city ), Sankranti festival was celebrated in full fervour
with Balabharati kids performing various sing, dance and other cultural events evoking the
spirit of the festival.
!
Meenakshi classic(HSR) Balabharati kids also involved well in their apartment's Republic
day celebration. Photos can be seen in the kids blog balbharati-kids.blogspot.in

For subscription information, contact your Balabharati sikshika.

Visit kids blog to view images of works done by kids from various Balabharati Centres.

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