Chinmaya Vrindavan Third Grade

SECTION 1 & 2- ( 02/23/14 BALVIHAR WEEK :15)

Beginning prayers :

•  Sahanaavavatu
•  Meditation for 5 minutes 
•  Gurustotram verses 1-14th verse

Gita chanting :

• Chapter 14 - 1st to 13th verse

Bhajans :

• Raadhe Raadhe 
• Dashaavataram Stotram - 1 to 11th stanza

Bhagavatam Time :

• Puranjana

 Likhita Japa :

• Writing ‘Om’ 

Ending prayers and pledge :

• sarve bhavantu sukhinah
• puurnamadah purnamidam
• arati 
• Pledge

Bhagvatam Time :

Tale : Puranjana

Praachinbarhi was the great grandson of King Prithu. He was a very good king but he was very fond of performing yagnas and sacrifices. Sage Narada liked Praachinbarhi but felt sorry as he was wasting his time and energy only in the performance of rituals. He advised him that the ritualistic path won't help him gain anything but only will help in adding to his karmas. The ritualistic path will not bring him closer to self-realization, which is the ultimate goal of life. Praachinbarhi felt confused and asked Narada to teach him the way to reach the Ultimate. To make him understand Narada told him a story...

Once upon a time there lived a king, named Puranjana. He had a very close friend named, Avijnaata. But no one knew where He lived and what He did. Puranjana roamed all over to find a city where he could live where all his desires will get fulfilled. And finally he came across a beautiful city with wonderful palaces, garden, lakes etc., The city had 9 beautiful gates too. He at once fell in love with the city and decided he was going to stay there. And as he was enjoying the beautiful city he saw a beautiful girl who was the princess of the city. He married her and became the king. He loved and became too attached to his wife. He lost his independence and almost lived like a slave of his wife.  He had all the pleasures of life but still he always felt he lacked something. Then one fine day, the city was attacked by the neighboring king and destroyed the whole city. He lost his kingdom and walked around like a madman looking for his beautiful wife. He could not stop thinking about her. He could not live without her and died with her thought. 

Puranjana was born again as a girl who got married who loved her husband very much. One fine morning she found her husband dead. She could not bear the separation and thought of ending her life by jumping into the funeral pyre. At that moment, an old man walked up to her and asked if she remembered him and told her that he was always with her and added that she was caught in the web of Maya and she failed to understand that she was neither the man who blindly loved his wife and lost his independence nor was the girl who loved her husband very much. 

Narada further explained the story to praachinbarhi by telling that each character in the story has a representation. The story is told in this way to make things more easy and clear. Puranjana in the story stands for "jiva". The unknown friend, Avijnaata stands for "Brahman", the Lord and that is why nobody knows where He lives and what He does. The jiva or the atma looks for an apt place to dwell to satisfy the maximum number of his desires and thus enters into the city of 9 gates, represents the human body. The atma enters the body and starts enjoying himself. The wife he finds is the intellect. United with the intellect, he forgets his divine nature and becomes full of ignorance and pride. The attacking king is the all-destroying Time, using disease and death destroy the body. 

We all have to devote our self to our One Friend else we will become bound by our karmas and get hooked up in the world of Maya. Ones deed decide ones future births and when he regains his previous knowledge, he realizes that he is none other than the Eternal Brahman. Only then, he becomes free of karma. 

Praachinbarhi was sincere. He learned what he was taught and practiced it and attained moksha. 

Brainstorming: The Nine-Gated City

King Puranjana represents us.  Our body represents the nine-gated city. We are the king, the ruler of the nine gated city. 
The Nine gates represents: our two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, excretory and genital  organs. As the king, what are our duties?

• We must look out for our kingdom, our body; we must keep our body neat and clean.
• We must also guard our gates so that no enemies enter our kingdom by making sure that no garbage enters our kingdom. 

Who is this friend?
God. Yes, God is our best friend and He is called Avijnatta. That means we cannot see or touch Him but if we are very quiet we can hear His voice from within. To hear his voice, we have to chat with our buddy for few minutes and thank Him for being with you and guiding you on the right path. 

Gita Chanting :

Most of the kids are doing very good in chanting. Please keep practicing at home and trying memorizing the verses.  

We concluded with arati and pledge in the auditorium.

Important Announcement :

Seva Project : 

Our class is doing a Seva project this year during the month of March. We are preparing lunch bags for TASK (Trenton Area Soup Kitchen). For this, we need kids to bring in a donation of 10$. We got contribution from many kids and for those who missed to give please try to bring in the coming week so that we can start purchasing the required items.  We'll buy the food for the collected amount and then will make the kids pack the lunch bags in the class so in this way the kids will also get involved and understand the importance of sharing. 

Note : Kids are supposed to bring their "My Prayers" book and their Gita Chanting handouts every week for their balavihar classes. They are supposed to bring in a note book and pencil for their likhita japa. For the Gita Chanting please do practice at home too. You can log on to Chinmayavrindavan.org.

Warm Regards,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)