Balavihar Week 17- Section 1
March 4th, 2013
Meditation Time:
Our
class started with chanting “Om”
and then concentrated on our breath and then meditated on the beautiful
form of
Sri Narayana for 5 minutes. We came out from our mediation seat by
chanting “Om” three times which was followed by our opening prayer
“sahanavavatu”.
Guru Stotram:
We did the entire stotram.
Bhajan:
We did the "Raadhey Raadhey.." bhajan.
Bhagavad Gita:
As with Gita chanting we didn’t do any new verse today. We practiced
from 1st to 18th verse. For next class we’ve asked them
to by heart up to the 9th verse. We have only 2 more verses to do for
this year. Kids keep practicing and parents do not forget to register your
child for the Gita competition.
Bhaagvatam Time:
As with the story, today we heard the story of
Hiranyakashyapu and Prahalad. Hiranyakashyapu was the brother of
Hiranyaakshya
who had been killed by Maha Vishnu by taking his Varaha Avatar. Due to
this Hiranyakashyap had a vengeance towards Maha Vihsnu. For that
he did rigorous tapas and got a boon from Brahmaji that he should not be
killed
by God, man, animal or by any inanimate things. Also he added that he
should
not be killed during day or night, not in the sky nor on earth, not
inside nor
outside. From then on Hiranyakashyap started thinking
himself as God. He considered him as immortal and forced people to
worship him as God. He punished people who didn't listen to him. People
could not tolerate this any more and started
praying to God for help.
Hiranyakashyap had 4 sons and his younger son’s name was
Prahlad. Though he was born from a Daitya, Prahlad was an ardent
devotee of Maha
Vishnu. How much ever Hiranyakashyap tried to convince him, Prahlad
would not listen. Prahlad used to keep on singing the
glories of the Lord and chanting His name. Hiranyakashyap tried to
convince him but Prahlad would not stop chanting Maha Vishnu's name.
Hiranyakashyap got terribly angry and asked his men to put an end to his
son. They tried killing him by various ways but surprising nothing
happened to him. They tried to throw him down from a high cliff, they
put him in a
room with poisonous snakes, they made a mad elephant run over him but
nothing
happened to Prahlad. Prahlad still kept on praising the Lord and
described Him to be omnipresent. Hirayanyakashyap couldn't bear this any
more and drew out his sword and cut through the pillar asking if his
Maha Vishnu is in the pillar too. Maha Vishnu in his Narasimha Avatar
sprang out from the pillar with a tremendous roar and put him on his lap
and tore open his chest with his nails. The Lord blessed then Prahlad
to lead a very good life.
Aarati and Pledge:
Today
we wound up the class early at 11:20 as we had called for a parent
meeting. We wound up the class with the Aarati and Pledge in the class.
See you all next week. Until then keep practicing !!
Important Annoucement:
Next
Sunday we have Bhiksha with Swamiji at ashram. All third graders are
welcome with parents, their siblings and grand parents.
Thanks and regards,
Pushkala Aunty and Deepthy Aunty
