Dharam Shiksha - Class 21
- Pooja Jain
- Nov 29
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 2
Jai Jinendra ji!
Welcome to yet another inspiring session of Dharam Shiksha class where our motto is to impart valuable life lessons to the kids in a fun and entertaining way.
So we began this class with a revision of everything the kids learned in the previous two classes. We must say - we were impressed with the retention and recall power of our little champions. 👏👏
Please make sure the kids go through blogs of previous sessions so they are up-to-date with whatever was taught in the class.
Alochana Sutra (Icchakaren Path)
Next, we took up the remaining portion of the Alochana Sutra (Icchakaren Path). The meaning till "...Makkda-Santana-Sankmane" has already been uploaded in the previous blog.
Now we shall discuss the rest of the Sutra along with its meaning.
Je Mai Jeev Virahiya: If I have ever hurt any living being - be it...
Ekindiya, Beindiya, Teindiya, Chaurindiya, Panchindiya: one-, two-, three-, four- or five-sensed beings.
Abhihaya: If I have disrupted the path of any jeev...
Vattiya: Or covered them with dust...
Lesiya: Crushed them...
Sanghaiya: Collected them...
Sanghattiya: Touched them...
Pariyaviya: Hurt them physically...
Kilamiya: Made them feel tired...
Uddaviya: Shocked them/stunned them...
Thanao Thanam Sankamiya: Put them from one place to another without their consent...
Jiviyaao Vavroviya: Or killed them...
Tass Micchami Dukkadam: I beg for forgiveness.
Dear parents, now that the kids are familiar with the entire Path along with its meaning, please make sure they learn it by heart. 🙏
TODAY'S TOPIC - MAAN (Ego/Pride)
Let us first understand what "Maan" is.
Maan means having too much pride or thinking, “I am the best, and others are not as good as me.”
It’s that small voice inside us that says, “I can’t be wrong,” or “Why should I listen, apologize, or bow down?”
When maan becomes strong, it makes us stubborn, stops us from learning, and even hurts our friendships.
It can make us forget good manners, kindness, and respect. But when we let go of ego and stay humble, our heart feels lighter, we understand others better, and we grow spiritually and emotionally.
Letting go of maan helps us become calmer, wiser, and truly happy from within.
EXPERIMENT TIME
To help children understand the concept of maan better, we conducted a small live demonstration in class.
The objective was to show that ego blocks knowledge, while humility allows learning.
So for this experiment, we used two cups.
Cup 1: Already full
Cup 2: Completely empty
Explanation Given to the Children:
The full cup represents a mind full of maan (ego). Just like nothing more can be poured into a full cup, a person filled with ego cannot learn anything new. Their mind is “already full.”
The empty cup represents humility. When someone is humble and open-minded, they can easily absorb new ideas, teachings and gyaan—just like an empty cup can hold fresh water.
After the demonstration, we encouraged the children to reflect and share moments when their own “cup felt full,” meaning times when they were not ready to listen, learn or accept help.
This simple activity helped them understand how letting go of ego makes learning easier and the mind lighter.
STORY TIME - BAHUBALI JI AND HIS ELEPHANT OF PRIDE
Kids, now let’s see how ego and pride can stop even the greatest people from reaching Moksha.
Our story takes us thousands of years back, to the time of our very first Tirthankar—Bhagwan Aadinath Ji.
Bhagwan Aadinath Ji had 100 sons and two daughters, the very wise Brahmi and Sundari.
His eldest son was Bharat, and he grew up to become a Chakravarti—a super-powerful king who ruled over all six parts (Khands) of Jambu Dweep. Think of it like ruling over ALL the continents at once!
When Bhagwan Aadinath Ji took Deeksha, he announced that his huge kingdom would be divided among his 100 sons. But when Bharat became Chakravarti, he made a strong announcement across all six Khands:
“Accept me as your king… or be ready for battle!”
Hearing this, 98 of the brothers went running to their father.
“Father, Bharat wants to take our kingdoms! He’s too strong—we can’t fight him!”
Bhagwan Aadinath Ji smiled and said, “If you want to fight, fight your internal enemies.”
The brothers were confused. “Internal enemies? Who are they?”
Bhagwan explained, “These are the enemies that make you take birth again and again, stopping you from reaching Moksha—anger (krodh), ego (maan), attachment (maaya), and greed (lobh).”
Hearing this, all 98 brothers understood.They dropped their complaints, gave up their kingdoms, renounced the world and took Deeksha under their father.
But one brother was still left—the mighty, super-strong Bahubali Ji.
Bahubali refused to accept Bharat’s rule. So Bharat challenged him to a war—but not with armies. It would be brother vs. brother.
War 1: The Water Fight
This war took place in water…
Bahubali Ji emerged as the winner.
War 2: The Drishti Fight
They stared into each other’s eyes. Whoever blinked first would lose. Bahubali Ji won again.
War 3: The Mall-Yuddh (Wrestling Match)
Both the kings were strong like mountains. Everyone held their breath to see who would win this time.
But just when Bahubali Ji raised his fist to strike, a thought flashed in his mind:
“He is my elder brother. How can I hit him?”
Also, a Dev had already announced that Bharat would become a Chakravarti so Bahubali Ji thought there's no point fighting with him.
So with the same hand, he performed kesh-loch (plucking his hair) and became a Jain Sadhu right there.
Now, there was a rule: Whoever takes Deeksha first becomes senior—even if they’re younger in age.
Bahubali Ji realized something: If he took Deeksha under his father, he would need to bow down to his 98 brothers… who had already taken Deeksha!
His ego whispered, “I can’t bow down to my younger brothers.”
So instead of going to Aadinath Bhagwan, Bahubali Ji went deep into a forest to do sadhna alone.
He stood still—absolutely motionless—for 12 whole years.
He stood so still that--
mud and dust covered him,
vines and creepers climbed around him,
and birds even built nests on his body!
But Bahubali Ji didn’t move a bit from his meditation.
Yet… after all those years, he still didn’t achieve Kewal Gyaan.
Why? Because of one tiny but powerful thing - EGO.
Aadinath Bhagwan, being kewal gyani, knew this. So he sent Bahubali Ji’s sisters, Brahmi and Sundari, to help.
The sisters came to him and said gently: “Brother, please climb down from the elephant you are riding.”
Bahubali Ji was puzzled.
“I left my kingdom ages ago. What elephant are they talking about?”
He thought deeply. And then… lightbulb moment!
“Oh! They mean the elephant of ego!”
The moment he understood, his heart softened. He decided he would go to Bhagwan Aadinath Ji… and bow not only to his father but also to all his 98 brothers.
But guess what?
He didn’t even take a full step toward them when—✨ Kewal Gyaan dawned upon him! ✨
Just the decision to let go of his pride brought him the enlightenment he could not achieve even after 12 years of intense sadhna.
So kids, what do we learn?
Even the strongest person cannot win the battle outside unless they first win the battle inside—against ego, anger, attachment and greed.
Letting go makes us lighter…and sometimes, that’s all we need to rise.
FUN GAME
To conclude this Dharam Class, we made the kids revise Navkar Mantra and played a fun game to see how many of them could recall what we learned in Dharma Class - 4 and 5.
A Quick Recap - Quiz Time
To make sure children grasped everything taught in the class, we've curated a little quiz for them. It has a series of jumbled words that the kids need to unjumble to make coherent sentences. Let's see how many get them all correct!
Here's the link to the quiz -
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