SECTION 1 & 2- ( 04/27/14 BALVIHAR WEEK :20)
Beginning prayers :
- Sahanaavavatu
- Meditation for 5 minutes
- Gurustotram
Gita chanting :
- Chapter 14 - 1st to 20th verse
- Raadhe Raadhe
- Dashaavataram Stotram
Bhagavatam Time :
- Gajendra Moksham
- Churning of the milky ocean
Likhita Japa :
- Writing ‘Om’
Ending prayers and pledge :
- sarve bhavantu sukhinah
- puurnamadah purnamidam
- arati
- Pledge
Tale : Gajendra Moksham
Today we heard the story of Gajendra, an elephant king who lived in a forest on Mount Trikuta. The place was very beautiful. One sunny day the elephant king along with his herds went to drink water from a nearby lake. As Gajendra was drinking he felt his feet was attacked by a powerful crocodile and the crocodile was pulling his feet very hard. How much ever Gajendra tried freeing his leg he was being pulled again and again. Even the elephant herd also tried helping their king but did not succeed. Then finally Gajendra felt tired and exhausted and felt that his last moments were coming near and turned his thoughts to the Lord and prayed to Him for help. Maha Vishnu heard the cries of the elephant and went there immediately to save him. Maha Vishnu with his chakra cut open the mouth of the crocodile and let free Gajendra's leg.
Tale: Who was the Crocodile?
The crocodile was actually a gandharva in his previous birth named, Hoohoo. One day when Rishi Devala was bathing in the river he played some tricks on the sage and the sage got angry and cursed him that he be crocodile in the next birth and that he'll be released from the curse by the touch of the Lord's Divine chakra, upon which he'll regain his gandarva-form.
Tale: Who was Gajendra?
Tale: Churning of the Milky Ocean
One day sage Durvasa presented Indra deva a garland of flower which he got from Vaikunta. But Indra was in a proud mood he took the garland and gave it to his elephant and the elephant just threw it on the ground and crushed it. Sage Durvasa got angry seeing it and cursed Indra that they loose all their prosperity and glory. This curse took effect immediately and the devas quickly started loosing their glory and charm. With the result of this curse more and more devas started loosing their lives and the asuras turned out to be more powerful and strong. So the devas went to Maha Vishnu and asked for a solution to this and He told them to churn the ocean and get the amrutam, which on drinking will get all their vigor and will remain immortal forever. Maha Vishnu asked them to churn the ocean along with the asuras. So for that the devas and asuras uprooted the mount Mandara and carried it to the ocean and asked Vaasuki, the serpent king to act as rope to help them with the churning. Then the churning began, the asuras caught the head of the snake and the devas held the tail but the mountain proved to be too heavy and sank to the bottom of the ocean. At that time Maha Vishnu took his avatar as a huge turtle and swam under the ocean and took the mountain from under the water and placed it on his turtle back and thus the churning continued. Many things came out from the churning and the first thing that came out was a dangerous poison, kaalkoot. Lord Siva saved everyone by swallowing the poison. Then many other things came out from churning like Surabhi, Uchaisravas, Iravat, Lakshmi, Vaaruni, Kaustubha gem, and many other things which were taken by the devas and asuras and then finally came a handsome young man, Dhanvantari with Amrutam. And as soon as the asuras saw the amrut snatched it and ran away. The devas and asuras all were waiting for it. The devas went to Maha Vishnu and told what happened and Maha Vishnu to save the devas took the form of a beautiful girl, Mohini and attracted the asuras. Mesmerised by her beauty the asuras gave the vessel of the amrutam and told her to distribute equally among all. The devas sat in one row and asuras on the other. Mohini started distributing the amrut from the devas side and toward the end an asura named Rahu had a doubt if Mohini was cheating the asuras and sat on the devas side and thus Rahu got the last drop of the amrut and immediately the sun and the moon god realized that it was an asura and quickly Maha Vishu assumed his original form and cut Rahu's head with his divine discus. Because he had a taste of the potion his head is still there and the Lord turned Rahu into a planet, which causes the eclipses of the sun and moon.
We ended our class with Arati and Pledge in the auditorium.
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)
