Chinmaya Jayam Zone has started a new Junior Balavihar class every Friday at the Jayam Centre in Garden Crest, West Avenue, Santa Cruz West. To commemorate this “offline” class that has started after several months, we celebrated the very first festival of “Mahashivratri “ in our Centre with the children and it was a joyous experience.
The program began with the invocation. The Balavihar Sevikas then explained to the children in simple words, the meaning and importance of performing a puja. The children, their parents and the Sevikas then performed the Abhishek to the Shivling to the accompaniment of the chant, Om Namah Shivaya. The significance of the Bilva and Hunter story was told to the children and the Bilvapatra was then offered with the chant of the Bilvashtakam.
A brief clip on Meditation on Lord Shiva from the movie “On A Quest” was shown, followed by a small quiz and chanting of the Shivabajan. Aarti was performed followed by Kshama Prarthana and Shanti Path. Many parents brought prasad which was distributed. Children were given pictures of Lord Shiva for them to color and give as an offering.
It was a matter of great joy that sevikas, parents, grandparents, children from Jayam and Prakash Zones could come together for this celebration.
