Balavihar Week 14- Section 2

February 3, 2013

We started class as usual, with chanting 3 oms, meditating for 2 minutes, and chanting the entire Guru Stotram.

Next, we proceeded to practice Bhagavad Gita Chanting. The kids have clearly been practicing, which is great. They should also work on being more confident while chanting, as well as beginning to memorize the earlier shlokas. We finished up till shloka 12 today, so please urge them to continue practicing and keep up the good work!

During story time, we heard the story of Puranjana, which was told by Narada to King Pracinabarhi. King Pracinabarhi spent a lot of time practicing yajnas and sacrifices. One day, Narada came to him and told him that by doing these yajnas, he was harming innocent creatures and adding more karmas, getting farther away from the ultimate goal. So to help Pracinabarhi get back on the right track towards self-realization, Narada tells him the story of Puranjana. Puranjana had a friend named Avijnaata, but nobody really knew where Avijnaata lived or what he did. Puranjana, in pursuits of happiness in material things, traveled around until he found a city south of the Himalayas that would make him happy. There, he married the princess and grew extremely attached to her. He was a slave to her emotions, and Puranjana stopped living his own life. After a few years, she died, and he went mad, and died soon after. In his next life, Puranjana was born as a girl, who got married to a king. She grew extremely attached and when the king died, she was about to throw herself in his funeral pyre. But a brahmin came and stopped her. This brahmin was Avijnaata, who came to take Puranjana back on the right path. Narada explained this story to Pracinabarhi, how Puranjana represented the soul, and how Avijnaata was the Lord. The soul will always be looking for a body to fulfill its material desires, but eventually, it needs the Lord to set it free permanently.

We briefly did play practice today, assigning most of the roles. We will finalize next week, and get in contact with all of the parents to discuss costumes and stuff.

Thanks and have a great week!
~Sanjana Didi and Indira Aunty