Beginning prayers
· 'om' chanting - 3 times
· '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
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.
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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.
