Welcome to Austin Gurukulam!

Namaste! Welcome to Austin Hindu Temple's Gurukulam.

Austin Hindu Temple has adapted the Vedic concept of Gurukulams to present times, by becoming an academy where Hindu children living in and around Austin learn to appreciate their strong cultural roots and Hindu values. This is done through a structured syllabus, age-appropriate based on childrens' understanding and awareness. The syllabus is multi-faceted, including stories, shlokas, activities, games, yoga, bhajans, arts and crafts.

AHT Gurukulam strives to be a Family for its young students, helping them enjoy and understand Hinduism.   

Click here to learn more about the Gurukulam programs or download the 2011-2012 Gurukulam brochure.

February 12, 2012 - Week 5 of Spring 2012 Semester

Hari Om! 

  • Our Assembly began with beautiful Bhajans by Radhika Aduri, Gayathri Prasad and Seshadri Natarajan - please download the new Feb 2011 Bhajan document here if you would like to practice at home with your children. 
  • Ravi Mayavaram ji led the children through our Assembly shlokas and announced the Vishnu Sahasranamam shloka for the day. The children are learning well, please continue to help your children practice these over the week - verses being taught this week, the complete PoorvaPeethika PDF and MP3 files for practice are available for download here.
  • In the Subashitam section, Ram Ramchandran ji talked about the saying "Pithrudevo Bava" and illustrated it with the legend of Lord Vithoba and the story of Pundalik, a brahmin who soon after getting married, started neglecting and mistreating his aged parents,Janudeva and Satyavati. Pundalik is shown the error of his ways by the 3 great rivers, Ganga, Jamuna & Saraswati at the ashrama of Sage Kukkutswami. He undergoes a great transformation and becomes a devoted son to his parents. His devotion to his parents reaches the extent that he asks a visiting Lord Vishnu to wait on a brick while he is serving his parents. Lord Vishnu then takes the form of Vithoba of Pandharpur.
  • Venkat Indrakanthi ji chanted Medha Suktham while the children meditated. 

Register for Violin Classes

Registration for the Violin classes at Austin Gurukulam is now open - Please click here to register.

Classes will be starting Sunday, February 26, 2012. We have only 16 openings. We are offering initial slots on a first come first serve basis to Gurukulam kids until this Saturday. After that it will be open to the AHT community. 

CLASS INFO:

  • Classes will be held at the AHT on Sundays; class duration is 1 hour. 
  • A fee of $85 per month per student will be collected during the first week of the month. 
  • Lessons will be in Indian Classical Carnatic Music 

REQUIREMENTS: Violin instrument. There are various options available and the teacher will be able to assist pick the right violin.

TEACHER BIO: Sri Suresh Krishnamurthy learnt Carnatic Violin from late Kalaimamani Sri Ramanathapuram Ganesha Pillai a leading violinist in Neyveli, Tamilnadu and done Aarangetram in his young age. He has won numerous awards in State, district, intercollegiate festivals and local Sahba’s. He has given individual programs and accompanied for vocal and dance programs in US, India. He has been teaching Violin and continues to learn, perform and collaborate with others in the field of music. He is an Engineer by profession and stays with his family in Central Texas at Belton. We are very fortunate to have such a talented musician at the Austin Gurukulam and encourage our students and parents to make a long-term commitment to the Violin classes.

Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Recitation Competition

Austin Hindu Temple and Austin Gurukulam are conducting Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Recitation competition on Saturday, 28th April 2012 starting at 10:30 AM. The key of this initiative is to motivate our kids to learn chanting Vishnu Sahasranama with proper pronunciation. 

Our goal is to have atleast 50 to 100 kids (the number keeps increasing with every competition) recite the complete Vishnu Sahasranama.

Please click here to download or view complete details about the Competition.