A group of children meet at a certain place on a weekly basis and the children and the sevaks/sevikas learn the art of living in love, the Hindu way. The idea is to provide an environment where the personality of the child blossoms in a spontaneous way. Good conduct, emotional refinement, intellectual finesse and spiritual awareness are developed by mature sevaks through fun and play, and through stories and bhajans.

Sometimes it is through tears, but more often through smiles; sometimes through strictness, but mostly by persuasion. The children are encouraged to be responsible, alert and sensitive members of society.

Swamiji believed that just as the strength of a wall depended on the quality of each brick, so too, the health of a society depended on the individuals. If the individuals are healthy, the society is healthy. His strategy for building a new society was to "Catch 'em young."

Chinmaya Mission Vancouver has a wonderful Balvihar program for children ages five to fifteen years. They are grouped according to their age and school grades. The classes are conducted by dedicated volunteers.

Children meet once a week for 60 minutes. They learn basic values through books, stories, and games.

Junior Balvihar group, age 5 to 7, start by learning Balvihar alphabet. Each letter of the alphabet has a positive value. Each value is taught through a story or a song or a game. They move on to learn Bal Ramayana, Bal Bhagvatam, and their most favorite Super Hero Hanumanji.

Senior Balvihar group, age 8 to 12, learns about Dasavatara, values from the Bhagvad Gita, our vedic heritage, and key to success.

Youth group, age 13 to 16, learn about symbolism in Hinduism, our precious culture, and spiritual wisdom. Our activities include prayers, stories, songs, bhajans arts and crafts, games, Bhagavad Gita chanting, and of course Prasadam.

Our future goals are to increase enrollment, increase the teaching time from 60 to 90 minutes, and have more volunteer teachers. We would like to fulfill Pujya Swamiji's vision to spread the knowledge of Vedanta.