Amritam is a philosophy. Through the Amritam Projects initiative, Amrita Vidyalayams across India are ensuring that values are instilled in the minds of our students at a young age. Our students and staff actively participate in the various projects under Amritam.
Various Projects:
- Pidiyari (a handful of rice & pulses) Students bring a handful of rice and pulses to school once a week. This is collected and distributed to needy families adopted by the school. Each class adopts one needy family, and a framed photograph of that family is kept in the classroom.
- Temple bhajans Students visit local temples to sing bhajans.
- Sealing of desires Students sacrifice at least one desire in order to contribute towards serving the needy. Hints on how to save money are given.
- Kiliyootu This is Bhootayajnam, one of the Panchamahayajnams consisting of Bhootayajnam, Pitruyajnam, Brahmayajnam, Devayajnam and Manushyayajnam. Students of classes I to V bring grains for the bird feeders at school. Water is also provided for the birds.
- Vande Pitarau Parents are honoured on their birthday.
- Vande Acharya Paramparam Staff members are honoured on their birthday with a Pushpanjali at the Brahmasthanam temple.
- Amrita Bhagavatam Interview with Amma’s devotees who are in prominent positions once a week.
- Cloth bags Cloth bags are made out of old clothes and distributed by students in order to convey the message of reducing the use of plastic.
- Amritadarshan series of musical videos of Amma Made by students with a duration of maximum 10 minutes. The contents of the video may be based on Amma’s life, teachings, milestones, institutional contributions, transformation, etc.
- ABC – Amala Bharatham Campaign Temple cleaning, once a month.
- Making a teacher a value ambassador Personification, ownership and propagation of a value through design, deployment and review – teachers are rewarded on Annual Day. Schools showcase the demonstration of lost social values. The various values given to teachers are compassion, honesty, cleanliness, sacrifice, patience, humility, care and concern for Nature, samskriti or culture, mutuality or parasparyam, satvic diet and life style or saukhyam and amritamahima.
- Grihamritam Students become family change agents. Effort, expense and expertise are 3 aspects of a family. Conservation of water, electricity, etc. is among some of the aspects that are stressed, thus converting students into social assets. Enrich your family is the watchword. Incentives in the form of prizes are given monthly.
- Meaningful Birthdays On their birthday, students are encouraged to do at least one good action (karma) in the school such as organic farming, etc. Students of standards I to III perform assisted karma. The list of activities may include expression of appreciation and acknowledgement of someone’s contribution, watering plants, cleaning Amma’s lamp in the pooja room, offering flowers in the Brahmasthanam, donating books to the library or to a poor child, peer tutoring of a slow learner, planting a sapling, teaching a moral story in another class, etc.
- Amritakatha, Amritagatha Short speeches are made by students in the assembly which can be complimentary to ‘Thought for the day’.
- Amritavatayanam series Career guidance with the help of Amrita University to showcase Amrita advantages. The program chart can include local publicity showcasing the school and students, inviting prominent figures, inviting the public, etc.
- Value documentaries Self researched documentary with commentary on values based on topics such as food and water conservation, respect for women, Amma’s life, philosophy and contributions, age old cultural practices and home remedies, internet and mobile phone abuse, individual actions to nurture the earth (how can I reduce the carbon footprint), apprenticeship to a value, etc.
- Swadhyayam Book review for Standards IX to XII. This may be done as part of CCE activities also. Recommended books for review are Amma’s biography, From Amma’s Heart (Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri), Ultimate Success (Swami Ramakrishnanda Puri), Ambrosial Experience (Anubhavamritam – Mathruvani Rajatasmriti), In the Shelter of Her Arms (Kusum), On the Road to Freedom Vol 1 & 2 (Swami Paramatmananda Puri), Razing Along the Razor’s Edge (Swami Ramakrishnanda Puri), Torrential Love (Swamini Krishnamrita Prana), Smiling Within (Swamini Krishnamrita Prana), Amma Pattippicha Kathakal (Swami Pranavamritananda Puri)
- Shramamritam Labour of love – Students from Standard VIII participate in cultivating organic vegetables and sharing them with poor families.
- Value Stories – Echoes of the past, Expressions for the future Teachers bring a minimum of three good stories to make an archive of stories. The stories may be about good and great people, historical heroes and tradition and symbolism. These are told in the assembly, which the students can then narrate to their parents at dinner time at home.
- Pictures The pictures should arrest thought or activate thought. Students are asked to draw or bring pictures that can change the world based on poverty, waste management, etc.
- Mathrupushpanjali Planting flower sapling to use its flowers for offering at AMMA’s alter every day.
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