Bala Vihar

Children are not pots to be filled, but lamps to be lit.

Pujya Swami Chinmayananda

What is Balavihar?

The rich cultural & spritual heritage of India, including its teachings on moral values, is taught to children and youth at different levels, using the medium of stories, drama, arts, crafts, and discussion.
Balavihar classes have become models for teaching the fundamentals of Vedanta to the next generation.

Kids 9th grade & up become part of the Junior CHYK (Chinmaya Yuva Kendra), the Chinmaya Youth program. The JCHYKs under the guidance of the adult coordinators carry out activities like seva projects, workshops, fundraisers and many other initiatives that augment and strengthen their bala vihar learning.

"By improving oneself can only one hope to improve others around him."
The aim of Chinmaya Mission's program is to generate dynamic individuals inspired to make the world a better place.

Currently for our Balavihar and adult classes, we congregate at two locations
Location 1 :
Every Sunday 11:00 am - 12:30 pm at South Forsyth Middle School
2865 Old Atlanta Rd.
Cumming, GA 30041
Map/Directions South Forsyth Middle School

Location 2 :
Every Sunday 4:00 - 5:30 pm at Powers Ferry Elementary School
403 Powers Ferry Rd SE,
Marietta, GA 30067
Map/Directions to Powers Ferry Elementary School

Chinmaya Bala vihar program highlights:

Learn Hindu culture & spiritual philosophy in a fun manner through stories, discussions, games, arts & more
Build the understanding of Vedanta in structured and systematic manner as guided by spiritual masters
Provide an enriching environment for children to meet, share a common value system and feel a sense of identity with the Hindu Culture & their spiritual traditions.
Enforce building of character, strength & confidence needed for a positive & happy future
Give a solid foundation of the Vedantic values needed for success in a multi-racial community

SFMS Balavihar Teachers classlist

Class	Teacher Name	Room Number
Sujatha Thota	Shishu - Balagopal
	Prek - all_Marietta
Smita Shinde Patil	PreK - Ganesha
Ramyamayi Ratakonda	KG - Lakshmi
Saritha Siddamshetty	KG - Saraswati	tbd
Iti Sodhani	1st grd - Lakshmana
Hemalata Chakrapani	1st grd - Sita
Neelima Sunder Sen	2nd grd - Anjaneya
Pooja Jaiswal	2nd grd - Hanuman
Aparna Raghupati	2nd grd - Maruti
Haritha Jayanthi	3rd grd - Devaki
Chandana Kolluru	3rd grd - Yashoda
Lakshmi Vedala	4th grd - Parashurama
Saraswati Yagnavajhala	4th grd - Prahlad
Madhav Panatula	4th grd - Vamana
Kavita Choudhury	5th grd - Durga
Sandhiya Krishnamoorthy	5th grd - Shiva
Nikhila Vijayan	5th grd - Vishnu
Usha Kamath	6th grd - Kabir
Anusha Mohan	6th grd - Mirabai
Anandi Suri	7th grd - Aryabhatta
Vandna Pandya	7th grd - Panini
Sankar Valluri	7th grd - Patanjali
Mahalaxmi Kumar	8th grd - NameTBD
Kalyani Sankaranarayanan	8th grd - Sushruta
Padma Kashyap	8th grd - Vyasa
Pranitha Kalvakuntla	9th grd - Chinmaya
Praveena Surasani	9th grd - Tejomaya
Aparna Pateria	10th grd - Sivananda
Suri Anantharama	10th grd - Tapovan
Gauri Mhaskar	11th grd - Shankara
Bhavana Subramanian	11th grd - Vidyaranya
Shekhar Kanetkar	12th grd - Omkara
Guru Kashyap	12th grd - Pranava

An innovative way to jump start a value based education program has been created for our children. It is a structured, age appropriate program which runs from PreK- 12th grade.

The multi-dimensional approach (Prayers, Chants, Stories, Philosophy) of looking at scriptures as they apply to our daily lives makes spirituality more relevant for children. We want our children to lead a truly happy, peaceful, and successful life. There is no better way but to introduce them to the science of living through this program.

Book Names by Grades :

The Alphabet Safari - Grade PreK
The Alphabet Safari - Grade KG
Bala Ramayana - Grade 1
Sri Hanuman The Super Superman - Grade 2
Bala Bhagavatam - Grade 3
Krsna Krsna Everywhere - Grade 4
My Twenty-Four Teachers - Grade 4
Symbolism In Hinduism - Grade 5
India, The Sacred Land - Grade 6, Grade 7
Key to Success - Grade 8
P.O. Box Mr. God - Grade 8
Self Unfoldment - Grade 9, 10
Gita for me - Grade 11 & 12

The enrichment classes are optional and fees for these classes are charged separately.

Enrichment Classes at the South Forsyth school location (SFMS)

Language Classes for Bala Vihar kids

CMA offers languages classes for Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Malayalam and Sanskrit to registered bala vihar kids. Registration for language classes can be done along with the bala vihar registration. Class fees covers books etc.

Balavihar Competitions

CMA Balavihar conducts various competitions for all kids:
Gita Chanting Competition:
Our annual Gita Chanting competition for children is set for Sunday Mar 22nd and Sunday Mar 29th 2020. This year, the competition will be on Chapter 14 "guṇa-traya-vibhāga Yoga".

On 22nd March, we will have a 'team's competition.
The 'team' competition is only for 6th and up grades, and will be among teams of the same grade level. Teams must comprise of 3 members, and each member of the team must be from the same grade level. Each team collectively must memorize the 1st 18 verses of chapter 14, with the 1st member responsible for verses 1-6, 2nd for 7-12, and third for 13-18. i.e. each member is required to memorize 6 verses.

On 29th March, we will have individual competition.
The individual competition is open for all grade levels.The number of verses to be memorized will be as follows:
Prek & KG - verses 1-8
1st & 2nd grade - verses 1-12
3rd & 4th grade - verses 1-16
5th & above grades - verses 1-20

We will also have a competition for adults (date tbd, most likely Apr 2nd). Adults must memorize the entire chapter (27 verses), and there will also be a quiz related to the meaning of the verses.
You can sign up for the competition at the front desk.
Classes for Gita Chanting begin this week. No sign-up is needed for it.
10:20am (Rm# 504)
12:35pm (Rm# 333, 334, 337).

We have provided print out of the Gita Shlokas for the kids in the assembly. If you need additional copies please click here to download it. For the Sanskrit version of Shlokas on Chapter 14, please click the link here to download.
Recordings: If you would like recording of the chanting and practice at home, you can download it from https://tinyurl.com/yzxn5w3s.

Writing, Elocution & Art Competitions: Every year CMA celebrates Republic Day of India by having writing & art competitions for kids 3rd grade & up. Speech competition is also held for kids in 5th gr and up. For details of this year's competitions see here. Results of 2020 competitions are posted here.

Bala Vihar service projects
CMA provides ample opportunity for bala vihar kids to do selfless service. Kids can serve every Sunday at the bala vihar location helping in tasks like parking, setup, cleanup, bookstore, ticket sales, food sales etc. based on their age. There are also opportunities to help at the ashram doing various tasks like cleanup, organizing, gardening etc. In addition to this, there are several service projects that are coordinated by CMA to help the outside community like MedShare, lunchbags for the homeless, Soup kitchens etc. as well as participating in toy & food drives that are conducted every year during Thanksgiving.

Balavihar classes at Marietta

Chinmaya Mission Alpharetta offers Balavihar and adult classes at Marietta. Classes are from Aug 2020 to May 2021. Currently Enrichment & language classes are not offered at this location. Location Powers Ferry Elementary school, 403 Powers ferry road, Marietta, GA - 30067 Timings Sundays 4-5:30 pm Schedule:

4:00 - 4:30 pm - Assembly (prayers, pledge, Gita chanting, aarti & announcements)
4:30 - 5:30 pm - BV classes for kids; Vedanta class for adults

Fees for Aug 2020-May 2021 is:

$150 for family with no kids
$300 for family with 1 kid
$450 for family with 2 or more kid

Fees for Jan 2021-May 2021 is:

$75 for family with no kids
$150 for family with 1 kid
$225 for family with 2 or more kid
There will be a one-time fee of $50 for new families joining to cover material cost

If you are interested in registering your family, please do so here: Marietta Registration Marietta BV teachers Class list Toddler-KG - Neha Marfatia, Neha Pandya 1st - Avanthi Doppalapudi, Sharvari Kulkarni 2nd grade - Era Shah, Neha Pathak Bhat 3rd grade - Kavita Mistry, Radha Gummidyala 4th grade - Krishna Gummidyala, Satish Dharmarajan 5th & 6th grade - Supriya Harida; Surya Kalava 7+ grades - Seetha Sarangpani, Manoj Kalava