Mumbai
The Gita Champions League is a written test primarily targeting students from Std V to X, scheduled to be held on January 22 next year.
Updated : Oct 20, 2011, 02:19 AM IST
In recent times, compulsory teaching of the Bhagavad Gita in primary and secondary schools has attracted opposition from minority groups. But in a country where reality game shows with large cash prizes keep millions hooked to their TV sets, volunteers of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Mumbai have come up with an idea to popularise the study of the Gita.
The Gita Champions League (GCL) is a written test primarily targeting students from Std V to X, scheduled to be held on January 22 next year in Mumbai. The test will be limited to the first six chapters of Bhagavad-Gita As It Is written by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder-teacher of ISKCON. Organisers are planning a large scale event where thousands are expected to show up on open grounds and auditoriums across the city to compete in an exam where the stakes are as high as Rs1 lakh for the top scorer.
Last year, the GCL was organised in Pune and Ahmednagar, where a total of 5,000 students participated in the contest. Shubha Vilas Das, co-ordinator for the Mumbai GCL, said, “We were pleasantly surprised to find that not only were children eagerly studying Gita but entire families were getting involved.” As a result, this year, the contest has included a second category for participants above the age of 15.
In addition, to prevent undue stress among students, the test is in a multiple-choice question format, of which 70% of the questions will be from the study material provided upon registration and the rest based on personal study. The question paper can be answered in English, Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati.
“Children today identify with so many ‘external’ heroes but none of them can compare with Arjun who represents not just outer competence but also inner character which does not bend in any situation,” stated Das.
Nearly 2,500 have already signed up since registrations began in July. Co-ordinator Shefali Doshi said, “People from western suburbs of Kandivli, Borivli, Nalasopara, Vasai and Ulhasnagar have shown the most interest.” She added that participation elsewhere and in south Bombay is relatively low.
But doesn’t the lure of money and fame go contrary to the principles that the Gita stands for? “This contest will simply attract more people to read a text, which has the potential to change lives. It can help children discriminate between right and wrong and think with a balanced mind,” said Das. He added, “For many years now, Bhagavad Gita has been sitting on the temple shelves of millions of homes as a book of worship. But the Gita is essentially a book of knowledge and the only way of worshipping it is by reading it.”