The Guru Nanak Documentaries Episode 8- Advika

Reflecting on the screening of Allegory: A Tapestry of Guru Nanak's Travels on Sunday the 18th of August 2024.

Today's episode of "The Guru Nanak Documentaries" taught us what our rituals were about. They were merely not for external use or washing in a holy river; they meant cleansing yourself of your sins, wrongdoings, and bad karma. 

This session was deep and spiritual and raised awareness of how our thoughts and ideologies have changed over the years. People bathe in the Ganges, thinking it will detox them. They shall attain salvation, but in reality, as Guru Nanak Ji said, our self-reflection, acting upon our sins, and rectifying what we did wrong and who we hurt is true detoxing and will lead you to salvation, not some mere external activities that are futile in the end. 

The reality is that people nowadays travel miles to go to Varanasi and other spiritual places to reach God, purify their souls, come back to their homes, and repeat the same toxic life. What is the point of even going to these places when we do nothing to act upon ourselves? 

True devotion never lies in just bathing in rivers. It lies within the soul. Purity, correcting what we do, and making ourselves better people, while helping others. Love God, love yourself, and make yourself into a better person.

This is true devotion. 

Advika Khanna 
Gyanshree School

Success is Good but Significance is Better - Tenzin Norsang

Picture Courtesy: https://sunshine-parenting.com/halftime-moving-from-success-to-significance/

An unknown author said it so well, “Success is good, but significance is better.” 

People of today’s world have come to think that money is everything to gain happiness in one’s life. 

Well, there is no doubt that you need it to lead a beautiful life, but it provides us bliss only to some extent. It can buy us the most luxurious and fancy things in this world. But still, it cannot buy us internal peace, true love and happiness. 

We seek all these only when we give ourselves to others that we find true merriness. 

A wise man once said, “Selfless service is the rent that one should pay to live on this planet.” Through selfless service, we make others jubilant and content. It also soothes our hearts with pleasure. It fills our minds with positivity and everlasting memories. 

Helping others leads you to the path of finding your purpose in life. It also assists you in discovering inner peace.  Wealth can only define a person's financial status. It cannot express their humility. 

If someone wants to be successful, earning money should be one of his priorities. However, it shouldn't become their highest priority. The highest priority in one’s life should be helping others achieve success. 

As a wise man once said, and I quote, “The one who holds the purse, holds the power”, which is a universal truth. An affluent person is bestowed with two powers and must choose between them. They can either lend a helping hand to the weaker sections of society, alleviating their suffering, or they can exploit them to the fullest, misuse their power, and instil fear in their hearts. 

It is rightly said that a wealthy person’s humility is defined by how they spend their money. Leaving a positive impact on society is achievable by extending a helping hand to those in need.

In summary, money is something that provides temporary satisfaction and happiness. Accumulating wealth can grant power and high status in life, but it will not grant happiness. One can achieve the greatest happiness by giving oneself to others and adding value to their lives. What matters most in life is not just personal success, but also significance.

Tenzin Norsang

Pestalozzi Children's Village. India.

A unique subject - Rishona Chopra

There are many subjects in school, and I absolutely love each of them. Whether it is civics, history, science, English or math. But my favourite subject is the subject of compassion. It doesn't have a particular time or day when I learn that subject. It is realised at all those times when I help someone, understand someone, encourage someone, be kind, forgive people, smile for someone or do anything that makes others and me happy.  

The subject of compassion,
It is a subject, so not in fashion.
It's unique,
It speaks from within me.
Like it should be.
I love this subject,
It's an exquisite journey.
Understand someone,
Helping one,
Bring a smile to someone's face,
It's a different world, a different place. 

Rishona Chopra
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

Coffee With The Coach : Money - Anvesha Rana

Today We Talk About Money

We have got a form of brainwashing in our country. Do you know how they brainwash us? They repeat something over and over. Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good. We repeat it - and have it repeated to us - over and over until nobody bothers to think otherwise. The average person is so fogged up by all this,  and he has no perspective on what's really important anymore.

Wherever we might go in life, we meet people wanting to gobble up something new. Gobble up a new car. Gobble up a new piece of land. Gobble up the latest toy. And then they want to tell about it. 'Guess what I got? Guess what I got?'. These people are so hungry for love that they accept substitutes. They are embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. We can't substitute material things for love, gentleness, tenderness, or a sense of comradeship. 

Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness. As we lay on our deathbed, neither money nor power will give us the feeling we were looking for, no matter how much of them we have. 

There's a big confusion over what we want versus what we need. We need food, but we want chocolate. We need to be honest with ourselves. We don't need the latest car, we don't need the most prominent house. The truth is, we don't get satisfaction from those things; what gives us joy is by offering others what we have to give. 

We don't have to offer money or power but time. Offer your concern, and submit your stories; it's not so hard. Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. If we show off to the top people, they will look down on us. And if we show off to the people at the bottom, they will only envy us. The status will get us nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally among everyone. 

We should sometimes take out time to listen to other people because giving is what makes us feel alive. Not our car or our house. Not what we look like in the mirror. When we give our time, when we can make someone smile after feeling sad, it's as close to healthy as we can ever get. 

Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, and you won't be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you'll be overwhelmed with what comes back. 

Anvesha Rana, 

Grade 10-B, 

Gyanshree School. 

Compassion - Yashraj Sharma

 

"The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing
in prayer." ― Mahatma Gandhi.

What is compassion? Well, in my opinion, compassion is every action in which you show
kindness and bring a smile to someone's face. It is an abstract action.

Even the most minor acts like opening the car door for someone is compassion. If we want to
show our compassion; it doesn't mean small acts aren't counted as one!

Let me tell you about one of my small experiences; playing in our society park, a
small girl, about 5 years old, fell down while playing. I ran to her, helped her up, and saw that
she was crying. I gave her water from my bottle and called her parents because she called
out to them. They came and thanked me. I felt terrific by helping her.

I hope I was able to help you imbibe in you that the quality of compassion isn't all about always
doing something big to show our kindness.

Yashraj Sharma
Grade VII
Gyanshree School

Caring - Shlok Rastogi

Shlok Rastogi is a Grade 3 student from Gyanshree School.

A hardworking and enthusiastic learner who loves to do artwork and presentations. He shares his opinion on the importance of helping. He shares the joy of helping and how helping each other at any stage of life brings us happiness.