VEDIC HERITAGE

 

In India,Vedic religion is interlaced with the culture. 

Indian culture is not taught formally in schools but

grows up in the environment.

 

          In olden days this was imbibed naturally from

          parents and grand parents within one’s

          immediate community.With urbanization,

          of family units,children do not have the

         same opportunity as their parents and earlier

         generations did.

  

Hence the only alternative  is to provide them an

opportunity to learn about the culture in a classroom situation.

 

It is very crucial for children to be taught the

essential principles of their religion, culture

and heritage in a systematic manner to make

their Education a wholesome one.

         Thus, the rationale for Vedic heritage.

 

Under the guidance of pujya sri Swami Dayananda Saraswathi,

Sunita Ramaswamy ,Dr.Sundar Ramaswamy

and many other disciples,Sri Swamiji has designed

a teaching curriculum comprising a Manual for teachers and 

work-books for children for each year of study upto ten years.

 

Aim of Vedic Heritage Teaching Programme:

 

1.     To Develop knowledge and understanding of the

     culture and religion

    

2.    To Investigate the questions and answers that

     religion offers about the nature and meaning  

    of life.

 

3.     To Develop values,attitudes,beliefs and practices

     through a process of personal search, enquiry

     and discovery.

 

4.      To gain an appreciation of the profundity of

     Vedic thought and the richness of its culture.

 

Teaching Material

 

The subject matter for each class has been carefully designed and evaluated based on respective capacity of each group.

 

         The textbooks of class I to class VII (ages 6- 12)

         consists of a teaching manual and a children’s workbook.

 

The textbooks for class VII to class X have only a

manual that includes the exercises.

 

The teaching manuals provide the text, studying

which the teacher can gain an understanding of the

subject matter.

 

Workbook

·        Relevant to each age group the workbook has

    puzzles, games, quiz, fieldwork,

    points to ponder and journal writing.

·        The illustrations are to be used as coloring sheets by children.

·        The games for each group have been designed on the basis of the topics handled in the manual.

·        The workbook offers ample scope for creative thinking.

·        Students also have plays for enactment.

 

Children of age 6 to 8 years learn 

·        Prayers in Sanskrit, meaning, purpose and

    different forms of worship.

·        They learn stories from Ramayana,

    Mahabharatha, Bhagavata.

·        Moral values, incarnations of the lord are

    also taught

 

Children of age 9 to 12 years learn

·        Gita invocatory verses, implication of universal

     values, about the deities, Symbolism of deities.

·        About charity, worship, fasting, pilgrimage,

     places of pilgrimages and about festivals

·        About Vedic dharma, Hindu Samaskaras and

     vedangas  (phonetics, Grammar, astronomy,

    astrology, prosody and ritual)

·        About Upangas,logic,dharma sastras,

     puranas/itihasas)

 

Children of age 13 to 15 years

 

·        Learn about  Ayurveda,Dhanurveda,Ghandarva

     veda & Arthasastra

·        Students are introduced to literarary works such

     as vastu silpa,kavya & bhakti sastras

·        Basic concepts of normal psychological growth,contemporary issues such as peer pressure,

family structures,role of spiritual growth in human development are also discussed.