How does Bala Vihar function?
The sevaks conducting Bala Vihar have to be clear about the vision behind the classes, their purpose, what to teach and how to teach it. It is not just about telling a story. It is about inculcating values. The story should flow effortlessly, almost as if the teacher has not taught, but the child has learned. The moral should come directly from the child.
For example, if we ask a child, “Do you love your birthday?” Most children would reply in the affirmative. We can then ask, “Why do you love it?” The child will answer, “Because of the gifts and the feeling of being special.”
At this stage we can ask, “When you get a gift from someone, you say thank you to that person. Now suppose someone presents you a golden ring, then you say thank you, and feel very happy. But who gave you the finger and the hand?” The child will say, “God!”
“Have you said ‘thank you’ to God?” we ask. The child will answer in the negative. Slowly, through this process, the perception of the children changes; they become aware that their bodies themselves are a wealth that they possess.
More importantly, they realize that they can live without the ring and a host of other things, but not without the body. When their attention is captured, they are quick to understand, and then they themselves provide the answers.
Chinmaya Mission has created a formal syllabus to assist the sevaks and sevikas with ideas on running a Bala Vihar class. In addition, a huge volume of material, including CDs of bhajans and chanted Sanskrit shlokas, and a wide variety of storybooks, is also available to supplement the syllabus.
With dedicated parents, sevaks, and sevikas working together in growing facilities worldwide, the Bala Vihar program promises to make a difference in every child’s life through the joyful teaching-learning process.
I remember a beautiful statement made by the great Rabindranath Tagore:
The birth of every child shows that God has not lost faith in man yet, because God feels that this child is going to make the difference!