Beginning prayers
· 'om' chanting - 3 times
· 'om' chanting - 3 times
· Meditation
· sahanaavavatu
· gurustotram verses 1-11 and 14
Gitaa chanting
· bhagavadgItaa 12th adhyaaya 1 - 11 shlokas
Story time
· Recap of King pRuthu's story
· Teachings of sanath kumaaras (6 sharks of samsaara)
Chanting/Songs
· none
Quiet time
· none
Game time
· none
Ending prayers and pledge
· pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam
· chinmaya aarati
· om jaya jagadIsha hare
· pledge
Rashmi Aunty and Indira Aunty:
We started the class with our regular meditation and prayers. When we got to the gurustotram, suddenly, lot of children seemed to have trouble with the pronunciation! We revisited the lines that were not coming easily and took time to revise the shlokas. In bhagavadgeeta, we are coming along well, but revisiting in places here and there.
During story time, the children narrated the story of pRuthu by taking turns! Then we learnt about how the sanath kumaaras visited king pRuthu and advised him about how to cross the ocean of life. They told him about the 6 sharks in the ocean of life called samsaara. They are - Lust, Anger, Greed, Pride, Delusion and Jealousy. We heard individual stories about these 6 traits and how to overcome them. (Do talk to the children about the stories and the loooong discussions we had in class on the topics :). The verdict was -
Lust is overcome by giving and sharing.
Anger is conquered by calmness.
Greed (gluttony, stingy, tight-fist) is beaten with a relaxed attitude.
Pride is overthrown by humility.
Delusion is won by awareness.
Jealousy is subdued by broad-mindedness.
By crossing the ocean of samsaara (life) one can reach his goal called moksha (salvation). To avoid these 6 ferocious sharks of life, we need the aid of paramaatmaa (the Lord Himself). To be able to recognize these sharks in our life is a task in itself. As soon as we recognize our own follies, the easiest way to overcome them, is surrendering to the Lord. Hence, we all chanted 'Om namo bhagavate vaasudevaaya' 11 times, to invoke His grace on all our endeavors.
We had such long discussions and about all these teachings that we did not have time to play the game or chant raama hare also! We ended the class with the ending prayers and a promise to watch the sharks in our own day to day events.
________________________________________________
During story time, the children narrated the story of pRuthu by taking turns! Then we learnt about how the sanath kumaaras visited king pRuthu and advised him about how to cross the ocean of life. They told him about the 6 sharks in the ocean of life called samsaara. They are - Lust, Anger, Greed, Pride, Delusion and Jealousy. We heard individual stories about these 6 traits and how to overcome them. (Do talk to the children about the stories and the loooong discussions we had in class on the topics :). The verdict was -
Lust is overcome by giving and sharing.
Anger is conquered by calmness.
Greed (gluttony, stingy, tight-fist) is beaten with a relaxed attitude.
Pride is overthrown by humility.
Delusion is won by awareness.
Jealousy is subdued by broad-mindedness.
By crossing the ocean of samsaara (life) one can reach his goal called moksha (salvation). To avoid these 6 ferocious sharks of life, we need the aid of paramaatmaa (the Lord Himself). To be able to recognize these sharks in our life is a task in itself. As soon as we recognize our own follies, the easiest way to overcome them, is surrendering to the Lord. Hence, we all chanted 'Om namo bhagavate vaasudevaaya' 11 times, to invoke His grace on all our endeavors.
We had such long discussions and about all these teachings that we did not have time to play the game or chant raama hare also! We ended the class with the ending prayers and a promise to watch the sharks in our own day to day events.
________________________________________________
Alka Aunty and Prasad Uncle:
