Children’s Land

On Sunday, besides the meditation part, at the Children’s Sahaja program there traditionally was an art part, too. Aunt Olga has so many creative ideas that we can only admire the beauty which appears and… study. This time the kids (and adults as well) were involved in creating eggs. I am sharing the idea and experience with you.

What you will need:

- an egg – you should take its content through a little hole at its top beforehand, otherwise it can explode in some time in your favourite cupboard or somewhere if you do not want to part with it.

- plasticine;

- beads of different kinds;

- enamel with spangles.

From plasticine something like sticks are made which then are formed into “baskets” and/or plaits. These things are stuck to the eggs then. This is a kind of foundation which is decorated with patterns made from beads. The parts of the plasticine which turn to be without any decoration are covered with the enamel (to defend it from dust and to guarantee its safety).

What should attention be paid to: if you use plasticine of several colors, the latter should be in harmony with each other (for the final art work to look elegant).

As experience has proved, such eggs can be made by children starting from 3, 5 years old.

Be like children.

Jesus Christ

On Tuesday, I was visiting my sister-in-law Lyuba and her 10-month old son. All the three hours when I was there, we were “communicating” with Svetik (my nephew) with smiles, mimics and imitation of sounds and from time to time exchanging ideas on life with Lyuba.

Very often, you start realizing the things you have heard or read before only meeting them once again when they are expressed in other words by another person. At some point of time, our discussion with Lyuba approached the idea that you should strive for your thoughts to be always pure and then you (both your physical and energy bodies, health and vibrations) will be in purity and harmony and no negativity will be able to attack you. But it is not an easy matter taking into consideration that your chakras and, consequently, their reflection – thoughts, are often far from balance. And Lyuba told me the words of one of her acquaintances: “When you feel that there is no purity in your thoughts any more, ask God to place your consciousness into His consciousness”…

Before I went home, we had meditated. And the vibrations before, during and after it were such as usually one has at collective Sahaja events. Three hours spent with a child, with purity and innocence, three hours spent, mostly, in a thoughtless state, in the centre, had obviously contributed to it.

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, ‘Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over.”

I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. ‘I will come next Tuesday’, I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house, I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

‘Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!’

My daughter smiled calmly and said, ‘ We drive in this all the time, Mother.’

‘Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home!’ I assured her.

‘But first we’re going to see the daffodils. It’s just a few blocks,’ Carolyn said. ‘I’ll drive. I’m used to this.’

‘Carolyn,’ I said sternly, ‘Please turn around.’

‘It’s all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.’

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a s mall gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, ‘Daffodil Garden.’

We got out of the car, each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

‘Who did this?’ I asked Carolyn.

‘Just one woman,’ Carolyn answered. ‘She lives on the property. That’s her home.’ Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. ‘Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking’, was the headline.

The first answer was Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday we had our first of five scheduled programs, duration 30 minutes, at the Bergenfield Head Start Program.

We were two groups of two yogis introducing Sahaja Yoga simultaneously in two classrooms of children age three to five. There were twenty children in each group accompanied by their teacher and a teaching assistant. All the children and their teacher (a lovely lady from Iran and a long time US resident) were sitting in a circle on a red carpet. Heidi and Ophelia sat opposite each other in the circle; A 11×14″ colorful chakra diagram of a child in lotus posture was placed on a display panel in front of the children. The child’s face had features which could be attributed to any of the many nationalities represented by the Head Start children, combination of Asian, Hispanic, European, etc.

Heidi started the session by asking if the children could take off their shoes. The shoes were placed behind the children and Heidi proceeded to guide the children in stretching exercises, one of which was stretching up their arms several times and wiggling their fingers in the air. At the end of the stretching which lasted no more than two to three minutes, the children were told to shake out their wiggles in their hands and feet, so they could sit calmly in lotus posture. Ophelia then introduced the idea of a star was shining far up in the sky and how the children could reach it, but first putting their attention on a seed that was at the bottom of their spine and that by raising it up, up, up it would come up to reach the sky. Then, she asked them to raise their right hand (the teacher added, “your writing hand”) which they all did, and Ophelia told them to put their hand on their heart.She asked them, “Do you know what is in your heart?” One of them said, “a flower” and Ophelia said, ‘Yes, but what else?” and then she said, “It’s love. This is where you feel the love of your mommy and your daddy, your teachers, etc.”She then asked them to close their eyes and feel the love. The teacher helped by directing the children to do as they were instructed. Then Ophelia and Heidi went around and checked the children’s vibrations and helped raise their kundalinis. Heidi also worked with the teacher and she felt the energy and was very positive about the experience. The children eventually became more silent and some of them really seemed to fall into meditation. The whole room became calmer as the vibrations permeated the atmosphere. The children were guided all along, to keep calm so they could feel the love in their heart.

When the children opened their eyes, they were asked to put one hand then another, on top of their heads to check if they felt the “cool breeze.” Some children said they did, others said they felt the flower, and so on. The children were told that they could send the love they felt in their heart to others and to the whole world.

Miss Holma, their teacher, exclaimed that they would start each day with feeling the love in their heart. Finally, the children were shown how to raise this love from the seed every day.

The teacher said next time they would try to have a video camera in the classroom.

We all parted, smiling and hugging each other, and really “connected.”

I remember that first I tried cross-stitching when I was a child of 5. It was my granny who started teaching me. I can’t say that I was a great success at that time but I remember with her help I could complete one work - a rabbit. Then cross-stitching was put aside. But…

20+ years have passed. And several months ago, looking at the walls of our room, I thought that some beautiful things should be added to them. To paint a picture - takes much time. Photos? We have some already. Why not cross-stitch something? It was a brave idea as I haven’t done it for decades. But I remembered that once I managed to do it (in my childhood) and it gave me confidence to try again. And I did it: three of the works are now hanging on our walls and four works served presents for other people (it is such a pleasure to present somebody with something you have made yourself).

My husband and I are sure that it is important to teach/show kids as many kinds of art as you can as when they grow up they will decide for themselves what art skills they would like to develop. If you’d like to have a try with cross-stitching, please find below some works and the shemes for them.

We have really worked on ourselves while disciplining the child. We always noticed that he is not behaving properly when we are not meditating or behaving properly.

And one more thing we realised that if we keep on doing the wrong behaviour or wrong actions in front of him he picks them up like pointing finger, showing eyes, saying “no” for wrong things etc. So, we stopped doing such things in front of him. We tell him in a positive manner that “the thing is wrong to touch it” rather than saying “don’t touch this”. Also, if he is repeating mistakes, we ask him (though he is very young) that “what do you think, will Shri Mataji like it?”, and in many cases he would slowly slowly stop doing those wrong actions.

…And then there is a way of correcting children. I mean, I don’t like that punishment, you can correct the children, never. But by telling them stories, by telling them, talking to them, by sorting out with them, you can work it out very well. And if you talk with them, I tell you, these days the children are so wise, that they immediately take to wisdom, immediately. When they talk, they talk wisdom. I mean all of them sometimes, if you talk to them, you feel you are amongst grandparents or great-grandparents, the way they are talking about things. So, you have to understand that these are special children, are to be treated with respect and to be brought up with respect and instill in their mind that: “You are special children,” that “You are children who have to change the world. You have come on this earth for a very great purpose and that’s why you have to be brought up like that.”

“And then the disciplining also comes in children when they understand that they are …, they themselves discipline. So, the first thing is to instill in them the sense of security and a sense of self-respect. I think this is the most important thing we have to do….” (Shri Mataji, Children, Parents, Schools, 1985)

An example:

We both had a bad habit Read the rest of this entry »

As a former teacher, a Sahaja yogini working in non-Sahaj schools, what I appreciated most were the parents who invested themselves in their child’s education from the start. Those who were always interested, who didn’t just drop off and pick up, those who lingered to ask about the day, saw how the children got along in the school, who advocated for certain things that their child and other children needed. Some of the parents were even willing to help out in the classroom, occasionally assisting at special functions, such as hosting a table with a special activity, or preparing materials for birthdays or other special days.

That brings love and vibrations into the school. Certainly the children are blessed with resilience and every child is protected by the Divine. But not every child will automatically thrive, even in the most wonderful of schools. It is the partnership between a parent and a teacher that allows adjustments to be made so that the child feels at home at school, safe and understood, able to mature nicely.

Parents can share with the teachers the small, small insights about that child and the family’s culture and traditions. Teachers may not be able to understand the child without a parents’ guidance. Truly, most teachers stick with it out of compassion more than ego - it is tiring and hard work, and will push out those who are not truly dedicated to children. Still, even a teacher who has taught hundreds of children may not understand your child, even when they want to, they will need the friends and family of a child to be advocates, to share stories about how that child learns and expresses him/herself, and a teacher, even the most perfectly loving and wise teacher in the world, also needs your respect and support …

With affection,

Elizabeth

October-November 2007

On October 10, in a library the first program “Spiritual and Moral Backgrounds of Ethic Culture of Ukraine” took place.  There were more than 130 people. Our public organization “Vishwa Nirmala Dharma” is known in the city. That is why we had such a big audience.

On October 11, we worked in School #17, Nikolaev City, Ukraine, giving lectures on the following topics:

- Symbols (grade 7);

- Music in our life (grade 7)

- Watching the film by Plyikin “New Model of the Universe” (grade 9-10)

- Rude words: what do they bring (grade 5-6)

- A Play-Program (grade 3-4)

On 15 of November, on the International Day without Smoking, we conducted a program on bad habits and on how to overcome them (smoking, alcohol, drugs).

On 29 of November – “The Purity of Human Relationships (the effect of telegony, precautions against AIDS)”.

With love,

Svetlana

The first term in the Russian Sahaja kindergarten “Cool breeze” has come to an end. Little children were being taught to walk, they were taking the first steps. As they are glad, so their mothers are glad, too. Among teachers and aunties the belief even appeared that the kindergarten is a place where pure desires are fulfilled. Because if you want something, everything is solved, everything is organized.

This is really a Russian project in which the efforts and vibrations of the teachers, tutors and parents of various Russian cities were combined. In the first term 18 children (6 of which came from other cities of Russia) lived in the kindergarten. First it was rather difficult, because this project differs from all the others which we had had in Togliatty. We learned all together.

And collective aspiration for developing this project has worked out! Teaching activity was filled with various lessons according to the pre-school curriculum. We began to coach children of the preparatory group for school. This work will be continued in the second term.

At Sahaja lessons and daily meditations children learned to balance themselves using various cleaning techniques, to conduct meditation and to sing bhajans.

At weekends various trips were organized: to the forest, to the city Philarmonic Society, to the winter-field, along the Volga (we went along the river by yacht).

In the second term, we are going to add visits to the theatre and staging stories to our leisure activities. We plan to introduce lessons of English as well.

We would like to tell you about the final holiday. We have worked with children for about 12 years, we have never had such a balanced holiday before. Everybody just dissolved. The aim of the festive occasion was to sum up the term, to consolidate the knowledge received by the children and, which is more important - an ability to put this knowledge to life. In general, only adults were preparing the holiday, so the scenario of it was composed in the form of a theatre - impromptu. We made up rather vital situations (those we watched in the kindergarten during the term) which the kids should have overcome using the knowledge and experience received. The examination was passed.

With respect,

The organizing committee

About 3 months ago my wife Leela was asked by one of the teachers, at our kid’s school if she would like to offer a meditation class for any interested kids, after school. You see my kids go to a public school call “open class room.” In this school it is required for a parent to help every week in the class room. So many parents with special knowledge’s like science etc. will help teach a subject. Or parents just help out the teacher with grading, or arranging assignments etc.

Anyway after school they offer different activities, and Priya’s teacher had noticed that she was somehow more balanced than the other kids. So this brought about her asking Leela to conduct a meditation class.

The fist class was in November and the turn out was great - 16 kids and they all loved it. So much so that when the following week came the kids were asking Priya, our daughter, questions about what they would be doing that day and saying how much they enjoyed it.

Then came the second class and Leela again had 16 kids come. Some of them were really benefiting from the experience, and they loved it. Also some of the parents commented on how much calmer their kids were after the class.

Then came Christmas break and so everyone was off. Last week the teacher asked Leela if she wanted to continue with the class. There had been a little bit of a conflict of after school activities because one of the other fathers decided to have a chess club on the same day. So Leela was not sure if the kids would want to go to meditation or to the chess club. But the teacher informed her that she had already received 12 inquires for meditation. So Leela agreed.

Everything was great, and to this point now one can be happier that such an event is happening in LA. After all how great it is that we can possibly save these young children from the strife of our world, and the fact that they want such a subtle experience is a wonder.

So this morning Leela was sick, and as we sat around the breakfast table we were discussing how we needed to call all the parents of the children, that would be coming today for meditation, and let them know that it would be canceled. They would need to know so that they could pick up their kids right after school instead of an hour later when the meditation class would have been over.

Suddenly I found myself saying, “why cancel the class Priya can do it.” And Priya Read the rest of this entry »