UTKARSH-2024

These days, with waning interest in culture and mythology, kids have started losing the historical and emotional connect with their culture. It is a well-known fact that when children grow with culture and competence; they develop into refined people with a strong moral compass and disposition to serve their motherland and God.
Quoting from Prahlada Maharaj’s words – kaumāra ācaret prājño, dharmān bhāgavatān iha [SB 7.6.1], children should be given the right teachings from a very young age. It is a fallacy that old age is the time to turn to the scriptures. The prescribed practices in our scriptures actually act as a guiding light to lead a regulated, peaceful life and hence have to be followed right from a tender age.
Summer vacations, anyway, are the most eagerly awaited holidays for children, given the year-round academic year. With parents facing the huge responsibility of keeping their children positively and constructively engaged during the break, the unique UTKARSH Summer Camp 2024 being organised by ISKCON Chandigarh, with its imaginative content and engaging pedagogy has been giving children the chance to be themselves – happy and joyous, besides developing a well-rounded personality.
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Sector 36-B Chandigarh has been conducting a cultural as well as spiritual summer camp for children , from 4th June to 15th June, 2024 in the temple premises, daily from 9.00 A.M. to 12.30 P.M.
This camp has had something different to offer from the other cliché camps organised everywhere. The main aim of this camp has been to give an opportunity to the children to be their natural happy self…… away from the academic world to the spiritual environment and to imbibe moral values like honesty, truthfulness, behaviour, obedience and respect for all.
This assumes importance particularly because of the fact that childhood is the foundation of each human being and the moral, cultural and spiritual values are what most of the children are lacking these days, due to the nuclear families and shortage of time given to the children by their parents due to their busy schedules.
More than a hundred children from Class Ist to Class X have been participating. Here, they have been learning Singing & dancing– To please Lord Krishna, Art & Craft— Creativity, Skits & role plays—Remembrance of Lord Krishna and Sankirtana—to Increase concentration, under the guidance of the expert devotees thereby experiencing “magical” joy…. Many competitions from time to time are being held in the camp like; calligraphy, recitation, elocution and role play etc. All the children are being provided the craft materials, drinks and prasadam daily.
These children will be performing their talents on the final celebrations of the camp on June 15 at 11 A.M. onwards in the ISKCON premises, Hare Krishna Dham, Sector-36 B Chandigarh. The crafts, drawings and paintings made by participants will be displayed for the parents and visitors. The parents and the grand parents of the children will grace the function and a Sumptuous loving feast will be served to one and all. The certificates and the gifts will be distributed to all the children by the ISKCON president HG Akrur Nandan prabhu ji.
At the heart of this entire program lies the lofty vision of enabling students to understand the finer truths of life by introducing traditions to our children as they grow in the contemporary world. The children are infused with good habits like waking up early in the morning, respecting elders and teachers, obeying the parents and teachers etc. They also learn moral values by going through the life of Vedic Personalities like Prahalad Maharaj and Bali Maharaj. The blend of the time tested Vedic teachings with a touch of modernity make it more palatable for young ones. This in turn will create responsible, global citizens, with firm roots in our rich Indian culture and values.