Kalpana Krishnamurthy & Rajat Agarwal
The 9th Grade curriculum focuses on Hindu Culture, and exploring core tenets and practices of Hinduism. Topics included:
– Study of the Vedas
– Exploring karmakanda, upasanakanda, and jnanakanda
– Karma and Dharma
– Exploring various samskaras including upanayana
– Caste based on guna (qualities) and karma (action)
– Ahimsa (non-injury)
– Dana (charity) and Seva (service)
– Panchasraddha, the five basic beliefs of Hindus
– 16 steps of a puja
– Mahavakyas, or the four great truths
– The 4 purusarthas (human goals)
– Panchayajnas, the five daily yajnas we should perform each day
Through discussion with our class, activities, paired exercises, small group work and the occasional video, we applied these esoteric Hindu concepts to our daily lives. We talked about if we give money to people holding signs on the street, we came up with the four great truth of high school, we made lists of the five things we do every day without fail, we watched Steve Jobs give a commencement speech. There was sometimes silliness, outright silence, and/or total disregard for the topic of discussion at hand.
Thanks to all our 9th graders for coming to class, engaging in our conversations, and generally being awesome.
Rajat Uncle and Kalpana Aunty