Beginning prayers
· saha naavavatu
· akhaNDamaNDalaakaaram
· aj~naanatimiraandhasya
· gururbrahmaa
· tvameva maataa cha
Gitaa chanting
· bhagavadgItaa 12th adhyaaya 1 shloka
Story time
· Avataara
· The background
Chanting/Songs
· raama hare (pallavi)
Quiet time
· Writing ‘om’ in Sanskrit
Game time
· None
Ending prayers and pledge
· pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam
Rashmi Aunty and Indira Aunty:
It was the first day of balavihar for the year. After making the two sections, we started right off with our beginning prayers. We acquainted ourselves with each other and quickly learnt that it is a group of very smart children who know a lot about our culture already! They could narrate a lot of things they had learnt from previous years at home as well as balavihar. And yes, they are very tech savvy too :). Most of them said that they will check the blog themselves and share with their parents as well!!
Then on, we spoke about bhagavadgeeta - what it is about and its importance in our culture as well as our individual lives. We spoke about how learning it today, will serve as a guiding light for ever in our lives, just as it did for Mahatmaa Gandhi! This year for the gita chanting competition (which will be held sometime in April/May), our class needs to learn all the 20 verses of the 12th chapter. We have set the ball rolling already from the first day, so ALL the children should be able to swing it by the big day :).
In the story time, we spoke about the 'Trinity' of Gods, also know as 'trimUrti-s'. We learnt that each of them has a 'job'. The very word 'GOD' can represent the duties of the trinity!
G - Generator
O - Organizer
D - Destroyer
We learnt that Lord vishNu, the organizer, came down when there was an imbalance of evil over good, with real examples (remember the see-saw with the sumo wrestler on one side and you on the other :). This year, we will be learning the story of shrImad-bhaagavatam, written by veda vyaasa. We then learnt a couplet from the dashaavataaram song 'raama hare kRuShNa hare...'.
Since it was a short class, we did not have enough time for playing any games. But, we sure had time for writing some ॐ -s for our 'likhita japa' practice.
We ended today's class with the ending prayer and went to the auditorium for aarati and pledge.
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Alka Aunty and Prasad Uncle:
We started the class chanting OM 3 times and Sahanavavatu.
Then we explained to the children the importance of the altar setup and the pictures of Goddess Saraswati, Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda, and Guruji Swami Tejomayananda.
It is important for the children to know who started this Balavihar.
Then both the teachers introduced themselves giving their email addresses. The children also introduced themselves with their names, which school they go to, what activities they do, etc.
The children are tech savvy; some of them have their own email addresses.
We emphasize on knowing the basic, common things around us. We have asked the children to memorize their home phone number, address, and parents' cell phone number. This is their homework for next week.
Next activity was chanting the "Ganapati Stotram", which describes 12 different names of Lord Ganesha. We explained to the children that Lord Ganesha is called "Vighnaharta" meaning the one who removes the obstacles. We also taught them that He is the god of knowledge, so before we start learning new things this year, we prayed to Lord Ganesha asking him for his blessings.
We explained this year's curriculum to them, which is Bala Bhagavatam. We also introduced the Trinity "Trimurti": the three gods who have three different responsibilites.
Since it was the first day of class, time was short. We will continue with the concept of trinity and why there are different Aavataras of Lord Vishnu.
See you again next Sunday.
Thank you. HariOM.
