Aru Mahapatra, Suraj Varma & Ambili Ramakrishnan
In 5th grade we studied Symbolism in Hinduism.
First we studied about a Symbol? which comes from the Greek word, ” sum- ballo”, meaning to throw together, to put together one’s own concepts to represent an object. Symbols make communication easy and effective
We practice seeing the all- pervading God in at least one image and then slowly expand our vision.
Then we studied who is a Hindu? One who does not indulge in Baser things.
Last concept we studied was Upasana. It means “worship”, or literally ” sitting near”. Through Upasana of the Lord we slowly imbibe His qualities and become like Him.
We started by learning the Symbolism of Lord Ganesha followed by Lord Vishnu, Shiva, Rama, Krishna and the 3 Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. We also did a Shiva Linga making project before Maha Shivaratri which the kids could take home and do the puja. As a class we learnt Shiva Panchakshara Stotram and Ganesha Pancaratnam taught by Sumaji.
Lastly we did the 16 step puja in class which was led by Ramkumarji. Parents also joined the puja session.
