29 Aug Teaching The Vedic Wisdom in Middle Grades

In June this year, we have finished the sixth homeschooling year. A significant part of our learning was centered around a story from Srimad Bhagavatam about creating the material universe. I used this subject as the starting point to teach my kids about geography, cosmology, biology, and physics based on the spiritual knowledge of the Vedas.
This was roughly the order of our learning:
– The Supreme Lord (Bhagavan) has three main energies: spiritual energy or antaranga shakti, material energy or bahiranga shakti, and marginal energy or tatasta shakti
– Maha Vishnu is the source of all material creation or mahat-tattva which is a combination of His material and marginal potencies
– Following is a creation of time, tree gunas of material nature, and false ego or ahankara
– Garbodakashayi Vishnu enters each of the universes and manifests the Universal Form of the Lord (Virat-rupa)
– Story of Lord Brahma born from the lotus flower that originates from the navel of Garbodakashayi Vishnu
– Secondary creation of Lord Brahma – five gross elements and corresponding senses, mind, and intelligence
– Kshirodakashayi Vishnu enters each atom of the universe as Paramatma or Supersoul

Children tried to remember all the tree of Purusha avatars, Their names, and specific purposes in creating material universes. They were amazed by these facts and it took them some time to remember the details.
We learned about the tree gunas of a material nature, determining the keywords, characteristics, behaviors, and food related to each of them. Understanding gunas is an important part of Vedic knowledge that has practical application in our lives. This year we have started to explore this subject and learn the basics and we will continue in the coming years.
We lingered a little longer on the story of Lord Brahma’s birth and tried to draw the lotus flower in which he was born. We talked about the importance of doing “tapa” or some penance for the sake of success in our endeavors.
Then we learned about gross material elements namely ether, air, fire, water, and earth. We determined the main characteristics, purposes, and the corresponding senses that were created along with each of them. We learned how they appear in the nature around us (geography), and how they form our bodies (anatomy). Also, we learned some of the dynamics these elements cause in terms of the laws of physics (sound, light, heat and cold, electric and magnetic energies).

It was an interesting year of learning so many new things. Children have grown in their capacities to understand things technically. That’s why I did not teach them the Creation story in third or fourth grade, as they usually do in Waldorf schools. The Creation story from the Vedas is much more elaborate than the story from the Bible. It’s more appropriate to introduce it in fifth or sixth grade, in my opinion, along with an introduction to science and cosmology.
While learning about the Solar system, we also explored Vedic cosmology, as it’s written in Srimad Bhagavatam. Of course, this is a huge subject, so we just learned the basic information about the three planetary systems (higher, middle, and lower) and roughly about the planet Earth as Bhu-mandala and its seven islands and oceans. We tried to do some drawings of the material universe and Bhu-mandala (with more or less success!).

Knowing the basic elements of material creation is an essential part of learning about this world and ourselves. If we understand this, we can have a proper vision of the world in relation to God and understand the subtle laws of nature that operate behind everything. It’s like knowing the computer program that enables you to use all its features smoothly. Vedic scriptures, specifically Bhagavata Purana and Bhagavad Gita, are the most valuable sources of this wisdom.
Education is all about enabling our children to function in this world according to its spiritual laws. We may think that spiritual knowledge is only about religiosity and liberation from material bondage (dharma and moksha) but, actually, it encompasses all aspects of our lives, like the work we do for livelihood, the food we eat, how we entertain and relax, how we deal with other people, how we nurture our relationships, how we take care of lower beings like animals and plants, how we use resources of nature, how we keep-up good health, how we navigate our social responsibilities. Dharma and moksha are the top priorities in the lives of human beings (they should be) and the art of living is to tune ourselves with them. Knowledge about material elements, starting from gross to the subtle such as mind, intelligence, and false ego, along with knowledge about karma and three gunas of material nature (sattva, rajas, and tamas), enables us to function in the world, with others and ourselves, in tune with God’s will and for our ultimate benefit.
I’m looking forward to continuing and expanding these subjects in the next school year, which will begin very soon. One of the main topics would be the basics of Ayurveda, along with an introduction to chemistry.
I’m planning to create some resources for homeschoolers who want to incorporate these aspects of Vedic wisdom into their teaching. If you are interested, please continue to follow me and subscribe to my newsletter (you can do it by clicking “subscribe” at the bottom of this page) to get all the info about new articles and resources from this blog.

Wishing you a joyful beginning to a new school year!