How Did LAHARI (the flow) Start??
LAHARI initially started off with the sole aim of teaching children slokas. The intention was to spread and teach children our culture, heritage and the importance of following our scriptures...
It started in the year 2004 with around 10 bubbling children who were just 3+ years..The parents were initially taken aback when I said that I will be starting with the 12th chapter of Bhagavad Gita...Will their little ones be able to chant them at all? Won't it be difficult for those toddlers to pick up the difficult chants of sanskrit?
But these kids proved them all wrong? The young gopas and gopikas of LAHARI were indeed cows drinking the nectar of the Gita in the class. And what to talk about their grasping power..they were all like a camphor delivering all the slokas correctly and clearly with so much ease. They were ready to teach their parents...
Out first performance was a dashavataram fancy dress where the kids recited slokas from the vishnu sahasranamam...They were amazing and took the entire audience by awe and appreciation.
LAHARI has since then grown over the years adding new students under its umbrella. The children of LAHARI have participated in various programs like sloka chanting, skits, dances etc. They are regular in giving chanting performances at the in-house dasara celebrations.
Their curiosity surely needs a mention.
Aunty, you say Narasimha broke the wall and appeared, will he be there if I break the wall now?
Do you also have that 100% faith as prahlad?
Another one asks: The prize i want to get if I win this chanting competition is that you have to show me GOD...
Yet another one pops out: Aunty , you say that we have to say "Krishna arpanam" at the end of chanting so that GOD will forgive our chanting mistakes if any..what is we make mistake in the "Krishna arpanam itself"..
These kids are definitely an inspiration to me...they fill me with thought provoking questions..their innocent faces and the expressions they give when I narrate a story is as if yashoda is telling a story to krishna...I can see so many krishnas in front of me...each one in their own world of questions and inquisitiveness ...
Today, these children, some as old to LAHARI as LAHARI itself have learnt the Bagavad Gita (12th chapter), Gita dhyana sloka, Nama ramayanam, hanuman chalisa, ganga stotram, mahalakshmi stotram, mahishasura mardini stotram, bilvasktakam and now vishnu shasranamam. All this is possible ofcourse by dedicated and interested parents. I stand in salute to these parents specially the mothers who are always encouraging and inspiring these kids to follow our heritage and culture. I am sure these children will be successful both in the material world and spiritual world. It is not only important to be successful with regards to money or name and fame but one must learn to face life with a smile on his face. We must realise that what we are bestowed is the best for us. And GOD always gives the best to us. We have to acknowledge that we are HIS children and never will he forsake us. LAHARI is exactly trying to teach this to its children. In the process, we are learning too..Thank you dear children for all that you have been and given to me...
LAHARI has now started off with carnatic music classes - vocal and flute. Its aim is not just to teach the regular lessons and make them professionals but to sing with bhava and bhakti. We don't want to instill a sense of mere material achievement in music where one is trained to give performances and get allocades..We want to instill bhakti through music ....Hope we achieve it....
RAM RAM
