When we started Kids Bhagavatam for small kids aged 4 1/2 – 51/2 in 2018, I dint know what is the best way to teach. I wanted to systematically cover the subject matter, and simultaneously teach them key philosophical concepts in sufficient depth. Initially I started going verse by verse like how we do in Adults’ classes. Soon kids made me realize this will not work. Then I found myself using “Visual summaries” to summarize the flow of the chapter and in that context pick different philosophical concepts and go in depth with them using activities like: Art, Drama etc to help deeply assimilate that concept. This approach worked.
Later, I came across the following verse by Srila Sanatana Goswami in Sri Krishna lila stava (text 412), wherein he glorifies Srimad-Bhagavatam as follows:
sarva-sastrabdhi-piyusa
sarva-vedaika-sat-phala
sarva-siddhanta-ratnadhya
sarva-lokaika-drk-prada
Translation by Gopiparanadhana Dasa: O nectar from the ocean of all scriptures, singualar fruit of all the vedas, rich mine of the precious gems of all conclusive truths, You are the only giver of sight to all worlds.
I was fascinated with the thought that Srimad Bhagavatam is like a transcendental mine, which when we go deep into it by submissively hearing from bonafide acharyas and scrutinizingly studying Srila Prabhupada’s translation and purports, Krsna will reveal to us precious gems/jewels of philosophical concepts, which when understood thoroughly and applied diligently will transform our hearts.
This is exactly what we were doing. Surrounding this analogy, we organized Kids Bhagavatam chapters as follows:
Each chapter corresponds to a mine. For example, Canto 1 having 19 chapters has 19 mines. We shall delve deep into each chapter and find the philosophical concepts – transcendental jewels. Various resources like – Visual, poetical, theatrical etc., will be used to ingrain the concept deeply into children. We shall call these resources as lenses – the medium through we appreciate the jewel from different perspectives.
Here is the summary of this “mine analogy”:
Chapter (chapter1, chapter2, ..etc.) -> Mine (mine1, mine2,… etc.)
Philosophical concepts –> Transcendental jewels
Resources for parents/children –> Lenses
The following is the comprehensive list of resources we shall provide for each philosophical concept. Note: some concepts may contain only a subset of these as appropriate.
Short poem explaining the concept (to memorize) – Poetical lens
Paintings/illustration, which visualizes the concept – Visual lens
Related verse from our scriptures which encapsulates this concept (to memorize) – Shastric lens
Theatre based activity on this concept (skit/drama/puppets/mime/guessing games) – Theatrical lens
Art/coloring activities centered on this concept – Art lens
Writing/Reading activities to deepen this concept – Literary lens
Are you ready to start on the journey of excavating these transcendental jewels?
