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GURU 24 - Mountain ClimberGURU 24 - Mountain Climber

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THE LESSON LEARNT BY THE AVADHUTA BRAHMANA

Mountain climbing seems adventurous, but it teaches us a lot of lessons. The most prominent lesson one can learn from a mountain climber is the lesson of carefulness. One wrong step and one moment of inattentiveness can cost one’s life and can cause great loss. This is not just relevant for a mountain climber, but is also relevant in every aspect of our life. Our life is like that of a mountain climber since we have to be careful while climbing every mountain of decision in our lives.

The Theme – One step at a time – careful

SLOKA RECITATION

Let us learn a sloka from the Niti Sastra which teaches us something about the above theme. Before teaching the present verse, the teacher should begin the class by chanting all the verses of the 24 Gurus with the children all together. Chant the twenty forth verse of the 24 Gurus again. Tell the children we will learn the eleventh verse and also understand it. Learn the twenty forth verse. (The teacher recites the sloka line by line and makes the children repeat and memorize the sloka)

Prabhutam karyamapi vaTatparah prkar tumichhatiSarvarambhena tatkaryaSimhadekam prachaksate

Whether it is to be big or small; we must do every work with our full capacity & power. This quality we must learn from the lion. It is generally believed that a lion does not do anything half-heartedly. It would kill a rabbit or attack an elephant with its full ferocity. While acting in this way, we eliminate the possibility of suffering a setback out of overconfidence of taking on our adversary.

1/3 60 mins 180 mins

Let us learn a sloka from the Niti Sastra which teaches us something about the

Before teaching the present verse, the teacher should begin the class by chanting all the verses of the 24 Gurus with the children all together. Chant the twenty forth verse of the 24 Gurus again. Tell the children we will

Learn the twenty forth verse. (The teacher recites the sloka line by line and

Show video of Total Void for half an hour before discussing the theme in the next session.

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GURU 24 - Mountain Climber

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SLOKA RECITATION

Let us learn a sloka from the Niti Sastra which teaches us something about the above theme. Before teaching the present verse, the teacher should begin the class by chanting all the verses of the 24 Gurus with the children all together. Chant the twenty forth verse of the 24 Gurus again. Tell the children we will learn the eleventh verse and also understand it.




Let us learn a sloka from the Niti Sastra which teaches us something about the above theme. Before teaching the present verse, the teacher should begin the class by chanting all the verses of the 24 Gurus with the children all together. chanting all the verses of the 24 Gurus with the children all together. Chant the twenty forth verse of the 24 Gurus again. Tell the children we will

After showing the video of Total void, the teacher should discuss the theme for the day, which is being careful.

Carefulness -1. Careful to plan your life and study 2. Careful of every word you speak and your behaviour

LESSONS FROM GURU



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Careful to plan your life and study

Once there was a judge who was overseeing one case. The prosecution was speaking, and the defense was speaking, so in the beginning the judge read the papers, and then the prosecution and defense began to present their cases, and the judge began to doze off. The court clerk said, “Your honour, you’re dozing off, you’re not being attentive to the case,” and the judge said, “It’s all right, it’s already been decided.” And he went back to sleep.

STORY 1 - THE DOZING JUDGE

MORAL - He’d already made his decision. The defense and prosecution could say what they want, but as far as he was concerned, the case was already decided. Yamaraja has already decided what will happen when you die or take birth. No one can manipulate your karma.

Every step could potentially be a cause of a fall or cause of a rise

Careful of every word you speak and your behaviour

STORY 2Srila Prabhupada wanted devotees and guests to be attentive while he spoke on the Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. One time when Prabhupada objected to a

baby’s crying, a person in the audience challenged, “If you are a guru, why are

you disturbed?” Prabhupada replied that it was the audience who was disturbed from attentive hearing and that was why he had asked that the baby’s noises be stopped. Even when Prabhupada spoke Hindi, which most of his disciples could not understand, he expected them to

stay and be quiet. He said that even if they couldn’t understand the language, the sound vibration would purify them.One time in New Delhi, while Prabhupada was speaking to a government minister and other guests in his room, two of his disciples created a disturbance. Brahmananda Swami was ill and needed the address of a doctor, so he entered the room to catch Teja’s attention. At first Teja didn’t want to speak at all, but Brahmananda insisted and poked him in the side. Tejas turned and gave the address of the doctor, but Brahmananda


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requested more information, and the two of them began to argue. In response to the disturbance, Prabhupada stopped speaking. When the devotees looked at him, he was staring at the spot on the ceiling just above where they were sitting. Prabhupada then lowered his vision from the ceiling and looked straight at steady at the two offending disciples. “It is very annoying to me,” said Prabhupada. He shook his head with displeasure and added, “It is very disconcerting.” These last words were spoken in a soft

tone, but with anger. The atmosphere of the room became very tense. The distinguished guests were looking at the boys and Prabhupada, and the boys were devastated. Prabhupada’s displeasure continued unrelieved until suddenly another devotee entered the room and announced “Prabhupada, the car is ready.” Only by Prabhupada’s rising to exit for another engagement did he release his disciples from his instructive displeasure.

When Srila Prabhupada first went back to India with his American disciples, he sometimes took them on tours of holy places in Vrndavana and Mayapur. One day Prabhupada was to go with a few devotees in an old American Dodge automobile, to visit Devnargar, the birthplace of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Prabhupada rode in the front seat with the driver, Syamasundara dasa, and about four other devotees squeezed into the back seat. They soon discovered, unfortunately, that the old dodge didn’t have a horn. Driving in India without a horn is almost impossible, and the journey was an anticipated two hours. Srila Prabhupada was therefore concerned how they would make it. But soon after they had started, Prabhupada devised a “horn” of his own making. He found a metal plate in the car, and then he had the car stopped and the boys got him a stick off the ground. Then as they rode along, Srila Prabhupada would hold the plate outside of the car window

and bang on it with a stick whenever there was a need of a horn for passing cars and for shooing people and animals off the road. The devotees were amazed and overjoyed at the simple display of Prabhupada’s horn, which he continued to operate from the front seat during the whole journey. “This will be copied by the Indians,” said Srila Prabhupada. “They will think that it is a new American invention. They will also get plates and sticks and use them instead of the horn.”

STORY 3 - BEING ALERT



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Ensure that you are holding strong grounds or stones

Theme – Guidance - Hold someone you can trust and follow them

The idea of taking guidance and following someone you can trust applies to all walks of life. Even great kings and rulers would not take any decisions in life without consulting either their ministers or their spiritual guides.

Give some examples of even great and powerful people taking proper guidance from their superiors.

For teacher’s reference

Below are some examples of even great and powerful people taking proper guidance from their superiors:1. Chanakya Pandit guiding Chandra Gupta

2. Dasarath took guidance from Vasista for everything he did. But unfortunately when he did not consult him before fulfilling the two promises of Kaikeyi, he fell in deep trouble.

3. Nawab Hussain Shah had employed Rupa and Sanatana Goswami as his advisors and he would not do anything without their approval or advice.

4. Hanuman and others taking guidance from Jambavan during crisis

5. Even the fact that we come to school is that we come to seek guidance for our education and career. If support and guidance is so very important in our lives, how much more do we need to take it from the right source?


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STORY 4 - THE MOTHER DUCK

A mother duck and her little ducklings were on their way to the lake one day. The ducklings were very happy following their mother and quack�quacking along the way. All of a sudden the mother duck saw a fox in the distance. She was frightened and shouted, “Children, hurry to the lake. There’s a fox!” The ducklings hurried towards the lake. The mother duck wondered what to do. She began to

walk back and forth dragging one wing on the ground. When the fox saw her he became happy. He said to himself, “It seems that she’s hurt and can’t fly! I can easily catch and eat her!” Then he ran towards her. The mother duck ran, leading the fox away from the lake. The fox followed her. Now he wouldn’t be able to harm her ducklings. The mother duck looked towards her ducklings and saw that they had reached the lake. She was relieved, so she stopped and took a deep breath. The fox thought she was tired and he came closer, but the mother duck quickly spread her wings and rose up in the air. She landed in the middle of the lake and her ducklings swam to her. The fox stared in disbelief at the mother duck and her ducklings. He couldnot reach them because they were in the middle of the lake.

MORAL –The lesson learnt from this is that, in our lives there will be many instances where our intelligence is not enough to decide things effectively in life. These are the times when we need the guidance of people whom we can trust and believe. Their intelligence and wisdom can actually help us cross over obstacles in life.

Stories of children who have been guided nicely by their father or mother

Nowadays, we see that grandparents are being replaced by internet and television. If these become guides, the guidance we can expect is quite impersonal. Because the nature of these instruments is that they do not discriminate who is taking guidance from them. If a small child comes to them for guidance and types in a word or an adult comes to them and types in the same word, the result will be same. This shows that the guidance is very improper.



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STORY 2 - AN INDUSTRIALIST FAMILY

A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it everyday. He climbed to the treetop, ate the apples, and took a nap under the shadow. He

loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him. Time went by, the little boy had grown up and he no longer played around the tree every day. One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad. “Come and play with me”, the tree asked the boy. “I am no longer a kid, I do not play around trees any more” the boy replied. “I want toys. I need money to buy them.” “Sorry, but I do not have money, but you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money.” The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy never came back after he picked the apples. The tree was sad. One day, the boy who now turned into a man returned and the tree was excited. “Come and play with me” the tree said. “I do not have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?” “Sorry, but I do not have any house. But you can chop off my branches to build your house.” So the man cut all the branches

of the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then. The tree was again lonely and sad. One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted. “Come and play with me!” the tree said.

“I am getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?” said the man. “Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.” So the

man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed up for a long time. Finally, the man returned after many years. “Sorry, my boy. But I do not have anything for you anymore. No more apples for you”, the tree said. “No problem, I do not have any teeth to bite” the man replied. “No more trunk for you to climb on.” “I am too old for that now” the man said. “I really cannot give you anything, the only thing left is my dying roots,” the tree said with tears. “I do not need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years,” the man replied. “Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest, come sit down with me and rest.” The man sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears.

MORAL - This is a story of everyone. The tree is like our parents. When we were young, we loved to play with our Mum and Dad. When we grow up, we leave them; only come to them when we need something or when we are in trouble. No matter what, parents will always be thereand give everything they could just to make you happy. You may think the boy is cruel to the tree, but that is how all of us treat our parents. We should take guidance from them, but instead we ill treat them and think that as they grow old.


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We take them for granted; we don’t appreciate all they do for us, until it’s too late. God forgives us of our shortcomings and may He guide us.

CASE STUDIES

Tell the children story of Radhika Raman prabhu who was guided by his mother to become one of the youngest Phd’s in the world. More than the fact that he became well educated, is the fact that he got the right kind of training in culture and etiquettes. He and his brother never went to school and were home-schooled by their parents to become good materially and spiritually.

When you start a task complete it and go aheadWhen you study something learn from it as if you need it for your all your life Lion takes up any task and completes it till the end



Story of Shyamantaka jewel – When Krsna was blamed for stealing the Shyamantaka jewel, he chased after evidence till the end and finished off his bad name till the end and only then took rest. Here the teacher can narrate the story of Krsna and the Shyamantaka Jewel which is mentioned in chapter 56 of Krsna book.

When Krsna was blamed for stealing the Shyamantaka jewel, he chased after evidence till the end and finished off his bad name till the end and only

How many of us take guidance? How have you been benefited by taking guidance?Some children can share their experiences.



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SLOKA RECITATION

Let us learn a sloka from the Niti Sastra which teaches us something about the above theme. Before teaching the present verse, the teacher should begin the class by chanting all the verses of the 24 Gurus with the children all together. Chant the twenty forth verse of the 24 Gurus again. Tell the children we will learn the eleventh verse and also understand it.



MORE LESSONS FROM GURU

Let us learn a sloka from the Niti Sastra which teaches us something about the

Before teaching the present verse, the teacher should begin the class by chanting all the verses of the 24 Gurus with the children all together. Chant the twenty forth verse of the 24 Gurus again. Tell the children we will

Focus should always be on how much is left ahead and not on what has been covered

One person had to attend a very important meeting and he had almost reached his destination, but actually he was still a few blocks away from his destination. He felt that he had almost reached his destination. So he was overconfident. But just a few blocks away from his destination, he got stuck in a traffic jam and was late for his meeting. In his overconfidence he had seen how many kilometers he had traveled to reach near his destination, but did not see how many meters he had left to reach his destination.

Modern technology has made us proud to a certain extent. But the minuteman becomes proud there is higher power above us to put us in our right places. We feel we can go from one city to another in less time. Man invented aeroplanes to


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reduce the travel time considerably, but at the same time the time taken to reach the airport is much greater than the time required to

travel between two cities. Thus there is a sense of achievement in one sense but immediately very soon everything falls back into shape. If we

fail to look ahead and concentrate on our goal of going back home to godhead than a lot of work has to be done. But if we think that we have performed enough devotional service and I can take a break from bhakti than we are put into our senses.

Story of Rabbit and Tortoise In this story also, the rabbit thinking that it was faster among the two it thought

that it could afford the luxury of a comfortable sleep and still defeat the tortoise. The rabbit counted the distance it ran ahead of the tortoise, but it did not count the distance

that was still left and the amount of time he had at his disposal. His overconfidence cost him the race.

still defeat the tortoise. The rabbit counted the distance it

reduce the travel time considerably, but at the same time the time taken to reach the airport is much greater than the time required to

travel between two cities. Thus there is a sense of achievement in one sense but immediately very soon everything falls back into shape. If we

fail to look ahead and concentrate on our goal of going back home to godhead

For teacher’s reference

1. One should be careful in taking precautions 2. Listening to the advice of others is important3. One should be careful in judging and estimating ones own capability or strength 4. If you are not part of the solution – at least don’t be part of the problem

Show video of Vertical Height

Discussion based on the video Based on their understanding of the video, ask the children to write the lessons they have learnt.

ConclusionClimbing involves – planning, resources, confidence, courage and faith

Recap all the sessions.


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