At 5.30 am, over 400 people from many parts of Tamil Nadu recently gathered at the Ammani Ammal Vidyalaya School in Rajapalayam. They were participating in a camp where Samskritam is the only language that is spoken by the staff and students through all the 10 days.
Besides just Samskritam, there is another important focus that the organisation has. It is to remember the glory of the nation, the glory of our Rishis who have given the knowledge of the self and truth to the world and also the knowledge in various scientific fields.
All participants begin with a meditative verse—Patami Samskritam Nithyam Vadami Samskritam Sada Dhyayami Samskritam Samyak Vande Samskrita Mataram. It is a positive affirmation which states that “I will study Samskritam, speak in Samskritam, meditate upon Samskritam and worship the motherly deity called Samskritam.”
The participants also chant another long verse called the Ekatmata Stotram. The verse begins with the supreme truth, Sachidananda, and goes on to eulogise the five elements that go into making this universe, the country with the names of its chief, including the Himalayas, the glorious Rishis who gave the wisdom of the supreme truth which makes people from all around the world flock to learn from India. Others among the list are the great kings, the great women, freedom fighters, scientists, authors and litterateurs.
Hypnotherapy tells us that our life is shaped by what we think. The thought forms we have in our mind actually manifest in reality. Especially, the mind when it wakes up in the morning is in a very fresh and fluid sub-conscious state for the first half an hour. Being the way you wish to be at that time—peaceful, meditative, or doing any activity that you wish to excel in—is the ideal time to make it happen.
Just as in the morning, same with the night too. Recently, I was part of the faculty at a Yoga Kids’ Camp conducted by the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre, Neyyar Dam. Besides all the yoga, games and other activities that the children went through from 6.30 am up to 10 pm, the best part of the programme was the Happy Assembly. All the crying to go back home or the fights that they had through the day among themselves and all the complaints they might have had as most of them were away from their homes for three weeks, vanished into thin air when they played games, danced vigorously for music, clapped and sang out aloud and sweat it out with joy before they dropped off to sleep completely.
Whatever you wish to do through the day, do it first thing in the morning and the last thing in the night—before the first half hour of waking up and before the last half hour of going to sleep.
;—Swahilya Shambhavi
;(www.swahilya.blogspot.com)