Announcements

Balavihar for the year 2012-13 will start at Cross Roads South Middle School at 10 a.m. on September 16th.

For registering online, visit http://chinmayavrindavan.org/

We are looking forward for a fun filled year of learning and growing at our balavihar!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

October 23rd Class

Beginning prayers
· 'om' chanting - 3 times
· saha naavavatu

Ending prayers
· pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam

5k Walkathon for CORD

Comments:
Rashmi Aunty and Indira Aunty:
Alka Aunty and Prasad Uncle:

Today's class was different and special.  Today, we met outdoors - at the Mercer county park for a very special cause!  We were taking gurudev's teachings to the practical level.  There was a walkathon arranged in the park so that we could raise money for the women and children in the rural areas of India, who are in need of our assistance.  It was a 5k walk for bringing awareness about the activities of CORD and to do our bit in helping them in a wee little way that we could.  Before the walk, we met briefly as a class. 

Since the walk was for raising money for rural development in India, we spoke about what CORD stands for, why we were at the park, what our role was in assisting the not so fortunate children. 

To emphasize the purpose of the walk, we heard a story called 'The Glass of milk'.  There was once a poor boy who was very hungry and cold.  He did not know where to go and stood in the cold for a long time.  Finally, not able to bear it anymore, he thought of asking someone for food and knocked on the door of a house near by.  A kind looking young lady opened the door.  At that moment, the boy hesitated to ask for food.  So, he ended up asking for just a glass of water to drink.  But that lady brought him a tall warm glass of milk instead.  With that, not only his hunger was quenched, he felt warm and energized!

Many years later, that same lady was admitted to a hospital with a grave disease.  When a doctor was looking through her charts and saw the name of her hometown, his eyes lit up.  He went to see the lady and, lo and behold, it was the same lady that had energized him on a cold winter day, years ago!  He was a doctor now!  He immediately took over her case, gave her the best treatment and took special care of her.  After a long battle, she was cured and well enough to go home.  When the bills were being made, the doctor asked to see the bills for his approval.  When it came to him, he wrote something on the bottom of the bill and sent it to the lady.  The lady could not hold her tears back, for, it said, 'Paid in full, with a glass of milk'!!  The deed of kindness she had sown had come right back to her!  Even if you never see the deed again, atleast you would have made the world a better place.

We related to this story, our act of giving to the needy.  We have just assisted in making the world a better place for someone we may never come to know.  But atleast, we know we did our share in helping them.

The children were even more energized and enthusiastic about the walk after hearing about the role they were playing.  We all promised that if we felt fatigued during the walk, we would remind ourselves about all the children that would be able to buy books and clothes, because we were walking today.

We finished the class with 'pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam...' and dispersed to enjoy the walk in the park on this beautiful, sunny, fall day.  The weather also looked as if was inclined to make it as pleasant as possible for all the walkers!  We all had loads of fun and a great energizing work out as well, even as we were raising awareness and funds for CORD.

See you all at Cross Roads School for the next balavihar on Nov 6th.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

October 16th Class


Beginning prayers
      ·       'om' chanting - 3 times
·        saha naavavatu
·         gurustotram verses 1-6 and 14

Gitaa chanting
·        bhagavadgItaa 12th adhyaaya 1 -  3 shloka

Story time
·         parIkShit meets shukadeva (recap)
·         matsyaavataara 

Chanting/Songs
·        raama hare (3 verses)

Quiet time
·         Writing ‘namo’ in Sanskrit

Game time
·         4 corners game - parIkShita, shamika, shRunghI, satyavrata

Ending prayers and pledge
·        sarve bhavantu sukhinaH 
·        pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam

Comments:
Rashmi Aunty and Indira Aunty:

We started the class with the opening prayers.  The kids remembered the lessons from last time and were 'keeping their thoughts on guard'!!  We couldn't be more impressed and start the class off on a high note :).  We chanted the guru stotram and gIta.

During the recap, the children filled in the details regarding the story we have heard so far.  We then went ahead with the story for today.  We learnt how king parIkShita got together with a lot of learned sages like vyaasa, vasiShTa, atri, bhRugu, etc.  Then, a very learned sage shukadeva came by too.   They all suggested that parIkShita listen to the glories the Lord, that are sung in the bhaagavatam, to attain eternal peace, since he was cursed to die in 7 days.  They began to listen to the story.  The first was the story of how Lord viShNu came in 'matsyaavataara' to protect the vedas, that were stolen by a demon named hayagrIva.  The Lord came in the form of a small fish, to a noble viShNu bhakta king named satyavrata.  He grew tremendously in size.   He instructed the king that in 7 days, there will be a rapture and hence, he should collect all herbs, plants, trees, animals of all species and the 7 sages (saptarshis) and be ready.  A strong build boat would come to him.  They were to enter the boat, tie it to the fish' horn using vaasuki snake and wait for the rapture to pass.  The Lord would protect them.  During that time the Lord slayed hayagrIva and restored the 4 vedas back to Lord brahma.  This is what the Lord did during his 'matsyaavataara'.

We then learnt 3 verses of the song 'raama hare'.  We had already finished our likhita japa of 'om namo' as well.  It was game time and we played the game of 4 corners.  The corners were named 'parIkShita, satyavrata, shamika and shRunghI'.  We would not take the names of the corners, but would give clues regarding those characters we had learnt during the story.  Based on that, the children had to decide which corner they have to pile in.  We tried to trick them with trick questions, but they caught on quick!

We wrapped up the class with pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam.

Our next class will be at the 'Mercer County Park'.  It will be on October 23rd, Sunday 10 a.m.   After a brief class, we will all be walking for CORD walkathon and do our bit of seva for a noble cause.  See you all there.  Please plan ahead, so you arrive on time.
________________________________________________

Alka Aunty and Prasad Uncle: 

We started the class with 5 minutes meditation. 
After regular prayers we continued the story of Parikshit. He learnt meditate and listened to Srimad Bhagavatam from Suka Maharshi.
The children enjoyed the story of Matsya avatara.
We are chanting BGeeta Chapter 12th, So far they have learnt 4 shlokas. Please ask your son/daughter to practise them at home.
CORD Walkathon--  While explaining importance of donating and helping needy people we have given information about CORD walkathon on Sunday Oct 23rd that will take place in Mercer county park,That day  Balavihar class will not be held in Cross roads school SouthBrunswick.
Please register for Walkathon. To pledge the donation please use below link.
 
See you next Sunday in Mercer county park.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

October 9th Class


Beginning prayers
      ·       'om' chanting - 3 times
·        saha naavavatu
·         gurustotram verses 1-5 and 14

Gitaa chanting
·        bhagavadgItaa 12th adhyaaya 1 -  3 shloka

Story time
·         the curse
·         parIkShit meets shukadeva

Chanting/Songs
·        none

Quiet time
·         Writing ‘namo’ in Sanskrit

Game time
·         I am on guard

Ending prayers and pledge
·        pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam
·        aarati and pledge were done in the auditorium

Comments:
Rashmi Aunty and Indira Aunty:

We started the class with 3 'om'-s and the opening prayers.   In the bhagavadgIta segment, we revisited the facts about the gIta, which chapter we are learning and why.  We learnt that this chapter (the 12th) talks about bhakti (devotion).  In the first verse, arjuna asks kRuShNa who is the best kind of devotee.  In the following 19 verses, bhagavaan explains to him who is the best devotee, how to become the best devotee, what are the characteristics of a devotee, etc.   We learnt the words for the 3rd verse also today.  We had fun learning new words, that sounded like tongue twisters in the beginning, but after saying it a few times, it was a piece of cake, wasn't it :).  Parents, please encourage them to practice the verses at home.  You have all been given a handout in the beginning of the year.  The script of the 12th chapter is in that book.  (We will be giving printouts for using in the class, they do not need to bring the books from now on.) 

We then revised the story we have heard so far.  The children knew all the details and names that were told to them.  They have been taking notes and writing down pointers.  Parents, do help them revise and narrate to you, what they have understood.  That way, they will be reinforcing their learning in class.  It could be a brief narration, even on their ride home from balavihar.  That will play a key factor in how well they participate in class, so that they can tell you all about it during their ride back.

Building on the story, we heard how once king parIkShita went on a hunting venture.  After a long time, he got weary, hungry and thirsty.  He walked into the ashram nearby where sage shamika sat in very deep meditation.  The king asked him for food and water, but the sage was unaware of the king's arrival.  Restless and hungry, the king lost guard of his thoughts and actions.  The king got annoyed.  He placed a dead snake that was lying near by, on the sage, in order catch his attention.  But the sage was in such deep meditation that he did not know what the king had done.  His son, sage shRungI, saw this and cursed the king, saying that he shall die in 7 days, by getting bitten by a snake called takShaka!  On waking up from his meditation, sage shamika was not happy with the events that had happened.  He scolded his son for having cursed and asked him to go and apologize to the king!  This showed us that, one mistake cannot be fixed by another mistake!

We had a wonderful discussion with examples, how we forget guarding our thoughts at times and get in trouble.  We even played a game of 'I am on guard', to see how alert we were during the game.  We did not catch many 'off guard', so as to say :).

In our desire to write dhruva's favorite mantra, we learnt writing 'namo' in Sanskrit.  Some of the kids immediately recognized the similarity of the alphabet to Hindi.  But everyone successfully wrote the likhita japa of 'namo' today. 

We were having so much fun, we did not have time to chant 'raama hare' today.  That is okay.  We will do it next class.

We concluded the class with pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam.  We went to the auditorium for aarti and pledge.

See you all next Sunday.
________________________________________________

Alka Aunty and Prasad Uncle: 

We started the class with 5 minutes meditation, Children have slowly started taking the meditaion time seriouly and learing to chant OM.
The children have received a welcome letter. Please check their folders.
Since we met after two weeks we revised brielfy what they learnt in last couple of classes.
Continued with the story of Parikshit and Kali, We explained them what are Kali's addresses where Parikshit told him to reside.
The children also listened to the story of Parikshit and Rishi Samika and Parikshit's curse. Children are very much interested in listening to stories and seriously trying to understand the message given in the stories, We are glad to see their interest in learning the backround of Srimad Bhagavatam. Keep it up!!
We don't expect them to read any stories ahead of the class becuse some times they lose interest in listening and then don't understand the message given in them.
We are chanting BGeeta Chapter 12th, So far they have learnt 3 shlokas. Please ask your son/daughter to practise them at home.
CORD Walkathon--  While explaining importance of donating and helping needy people we have given information about CORD walkathon on Sunday Oct 23rd that will take place in Mercer county park,That day  Balavihar class will not be held in Cross roads school SouthBrunswick.
See you next Sunday in Cross roads school.