Young Voices Chant the Ancient Bhagavad Gita

By Subhashree Hariharan

HOUSTON: In the “Cintan Dainandini,” Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda gives a beautiful example of the power of chanting – “The child may be in any part of the house; it need not know where the mother is; but the moment the child cries ‘ma ma’, the mother appears and gathers the child to her bosom.” In the same way by repeatedly chanting the Bhagavad-Gita with a pure and innocent heart, like that of a child, the Guru’s grace and Sri Bhagavan Krishna’s blessings will be constantly present.

In honor of Pujya Gurudev’s 101st birthday (May 8), Chinmaya Mission Houston held its annual Gita competition on May 6th where over 115 children offered the best of themselves to the great Master who lived and spread the message of Gita every day of his glorious life.

To watch young children chant verses from Chapter 14 – The Yoga of Gunas –and adolescent minds present their analysis of the chapter was both mesmerizing and transcendental. While reciting the Gita creates a positive vibration within the body and the environment around, it also teaches control and voice modulation which improves pronunciation as well as vocal musical skills. The regular chanting of the Gita also helps children with concentration, discipline, time management, responsibility, public speaking finesse, comprehension and deliberation. Just as sending our children to start school at kindergarten, similarly learning the Bhagavad-Gita at a very young age has numerous benefits, some of which can be seen immediately and some in the future.

When the winners of the Gita Chanting event were celebrated the next day, Acarya Gaurang Nanavaty emphasized that Gita was for everyone and it was best learned when young to be applied in a lifetime. He appreciated the enthusiastic spirit of all children who participated. The winners of the Gita Competition are:

Group 1 (KG-2 grade):1st place: Vashi Banavalikar (KG) and Ahana Rao (1st Grade), 2nd place: Samarth Srivatsan (1st Garde), 3rd Place – Anshula Thandra (KG)

Group 2 (Grades 3-5):1st place: Aditi Chaubal (5th Grade), 2nd place: Chinmayee Madhava (5th Grade), 3rd place: Sanvi Sudarshan (3rd grade) and Veda Suresh (5th Grade)

Group 3 (Grades 6-8):1st place: Ayush Manoj (7th Grade), 2nd place: Karthik Chitta (7th Grade), 3rd place: Megna Prabhakaran (6th Grade)

Group 4 (Grades 9-12): 1st place: Bhavya Kathireddipalli (10th Grade), 2nd place: Saaketh Rao (11th Grade), 3rd place: Aarushi Das (9th Grade)

Along with those who won recognition for Gita chanting, there were also a select group of four Bala Vihar children who were specially awarded their trophies for the Slokathon – a marathon effort to learn and chant over two hundred verses from various important stotras. The Slokathon is a cornerstone program of Chinmaya Bala Vihar at Houston which encourages children to learn at their own pace and master the art of devotional chanting in Sanskrit.

Slokathon Trophy winners: Nitheesh Chander Kodarapu, Nithya Kodarapu, Chinmayee Madhava, Pranav Sriram.

Every year, the celebration of Pujya Gurudev’s birthday reinforces the learning and living of Gita – marked by the children’s voices against a silent and strong supportive teamwork of Chinmaya volunteers’ dedicated actions.

For more information on Chinmaya Mission Houston, Sri Saumyakasi Sivalaya and its activities visit www.chinmayahouston.org, www.saumyakasi.org or call temple 281 568 1690 or Jay Deshmukh 832 541 0059 or Bharati Sutaria 281-933-0233