December 2, 2012
Beginning prayers
. 'om' chanting - 3 times
. 'om' chanting - 3 times
· Meditation
· Sahanaavavatu
· Gurustotram verses 1-9 and 14th verse
Bhajan
Radhae Radhae Radhae
Gita chanting
Bhagavadgita 13th chapter 1 - 6 shlokas
Story time
· Varaaha Avataar
· Kardama and Devahuti
. Kapila
Ending prayers and pledge
. Aarati and pledge in the auditorium
The class started with meditation followed by "Sahanaavavathu". Then we did the Guru Stotram up to the 9th verse. We did the bhajan "Radhae Radhae Radhae". As with the Bhagavad Gita, we did upto the 6th verse. The kids are doing a good job in chanting. Keep up the good work! As with Bhaagvatham, we learned the second avataar Varaaha Avataar, where Maha Vishnu took the form of a boar to save mother Earth from the oceans of pralaaya. Brahma Ji created Manu and Shataroopa, the first man and woman and asked them to go and live happily as a family. But Manu didnot know where to live as earth was buried deep under the oceans of pralaaya and asked for help. Bhagavan always takes the most appropriate form to help situations. He took the form of a boar because boar posseses a very good sense of smell and thus could locate mother earth easily. Then we did the story of Kardama and Devahuti and learned about their son Kapila. Kardama was a great sage and Devahuti was the daughter of Manu (the first man). They got married and lived a life full of penance and sacrifice. They had 9 beautiful daughters and one son. The son's name was Kapila. He was an incarnation of the Lord. Kapila was famous as a divine teacher and a great sage. He is the founder of the Saankhyan philosophy. One day Kapila's mother, Devahuti asked her son to teach her how to gain freedom from the cycle of birth and death. He told his mother to attain freedom, one must've a pure heart and to attain that there are 7 ways :
- Obeying the rules of Life
- Performing one's Duties
- Seeing Work as Worship
- Chanting God's name again and again
- Trusting God as a trusted, beloved friend
- Seeing the Blessed Lord in all creatures
- Loving God
We explained the points more by telling them some sub stories too. Please ask your child to retell the stories that they heard today. We didn't do the Likhita Japa today as we were running short of time. Make sure everyone gets in a new note book as there are kids still with old note books and no pencils :( We concluded our class with Aarati and Pledge in the auditorium. See you all next week.
