January 29th Class

Beginning prayers
      ·       'om' chanting - 3 times

·       Meditation 

·       sahanaavavatu

·       gurustotram verses 1-11 and 14

Gitaa chanting

·       bhagavadgItaa 12^th adhyaaya 1 -  11 shlokas

Story time

·    Recap of King pRuthu's story

·         Teachings of sanath kumaaras (6 sharks of samsaara)

Chanting/Songs

·        none

Quiet time

·         none

Game time

·         none

Ending prayers and pledge

·        pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam

·        chinmaya aarati 

      ·        om jaya jagadIsha hare

      ·        pledge

Comments:

Rashmi Aunty and Indira Aunty:

We started the class with our regular meditation and prayers.  When we got to the gurustotram, suddenly, lot of children seemed to have trouble with the pronunciation!  We revisited the lines that were not coming easily and took time to revise the shlokas.  In bhagavadgeeta, we are coming along well, but revisiting in places here and there.

During story time, the children narrated the story of pRuthu by taking turns!  Then we learnt about how the sanath kumaaras visited king pRuthu and advised him about how to cross the ocean of life.  They told him about the 6 sharks in the ocean of life called samsaara.  They are - Lust, Anger, Greed, Pride, Delusion and Jealousy.  We heard individual stories about these 6 traits and how to overcome them.  (Do talk to the children about the stories and the loooong discussions we had in class on the topics :).  The verdict was -

Lust is overcome by giving and sharing.
Anger is conquered by calmness.
Greed (gluttony, stingy, tight-fist) is beaten with a relaxed attitude.
Pride is overthrown by humility.
Delusion is won by awareness.
Jealousy is subdued by broad-mindedness.

By crossing the ocean of samsaara (life) one can reach his goal called moksha (salvation).  To avoid these 6 ferocious sharks of life, we need the aid of paramaatmaa (the Lord Himself).  To be able to recognize these sharks in our life is a task in itself.  As soon as we recognize our own follies, the easiest way to overcome them, is surrendering to the Lord.  Hence, we all chanted 'Om namo bhagavate vaasudevaaya' 11 times, to invoke His grace on all our endeavors.

We had such long discussions and about all these teachings that we did not have time to play the game or chant raama hare also!  We ended the class with the ending prayers and a promise to watch the sharks in our own day to day events.
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Alka Aunty and Prasad Uncle: 

January 22nd Class

Beginning prayers
      ·       'om' chanting - 3 times

·       Meditation 

·       sahanaavavatu

·       gurustotram verses 1-11 and 14

Gitaa chanting

·        bhagavadgItaa 12^th adhyaaya 1 -  11 shlokas

Story time

·    Recap of previous stories

·         King pRuthu

Chanting/Songs

·        raama hare kRuShNa hare

Quiet time

·         none

Game time

·         Be mad and lose - word search game - homework

Ending prayers and pledge

·        pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam

·        chinmaya aarati 

      ·        om jaya jagadIsha hare

      ·        pledge

Comments:

Rashmi Aunty and Indira Aunty:

It was so nice to see everyone after the break.  But our children had not forgotten our routine nor the stories and verses we had done!  After our regular prayers and meditation, when we did the gurustortram, they could say it quite well, except the last verse we had learnt.  In gItaa chanting, we did have a couple places here and there that needed revisiting.  Registration is now open for the gItaa chanting competition.  Parents please register them at the earliest and encourage them to practice at home regularly.  They are all very enthusiastic and eager to participate.  Your encouragement will make it even more stronger! 

During story time, we had a surprise quiz today!  We asked questions from the very beginning, regarding what we had learnt.  We had boys team vs. girls team, as we generally do.  At the end of it, we counted the score, to find that they had tied at 9.5 points each!  We had a lot of fun recollecting all that we had learnt though the year so far.

We then heard the story of king pRuthu, who was a descendant of dhruva.  The people in his kingdom go so intoxicated in abundance that, everyone, including the king, got absorbed in being happy by celebrating, merry making, etc. constantly.  They were not doing any work nor were they bother about their future.  One fine day, the earth became a barren land and was littered all over!  All the people became unhappy and miserable.  The king prayed to mother earth, who in turn advised him to cultivate the land, sow the seeds and grow food, to let themselves survive.  Once they all started working hard, tilling the land, sowing the seeds, etc., the land became luscious and rich again.  From this, they learnt that only celebrating all the time, without working for the future is not sufficient, but one has to sow seed to reap a crop tomorrow.

We spoke about our own actions.  How the account of our good and bad deeds alone come with us eternally.  We need to work on sowing the nice seeds today to reap a good crop tomorrow.

We learnt another verse in the song 'raama hare'.  We ended the session with our ending prayers.

See you all next week.  Until then, keep practicing and register soon.
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Alka Aunty and Prasad Uncle: 

January 8th Class and Presentation

Comments:

Rashmi Aunty and Indira Aunty:

Alka Aunty and Prasad Uncle: 

Today was a special day at balavihar for us.  Our 3rd graders were doing a presentation on stage regarding Sankranti.  We met at 9:15 a.m.  for doing our last round of rehearsals.  (We had met at the ashram yesterday from 5 to 6:30 to prepare for the presentation.)

To begin with, we did a few minutes of meditation, so that we pulled our thoughts together.  Then, we did a couple practice sessions.  After that, we got to watch a small presentation about how Sankranti is celebrated in India.  There was also a small presentation of how to put rangoli.  Some of the children even tried to make rangoli patterns themselves!  

By then, it was time to line up by the auditorium.  When the children went on stage, they all did their parts wonderfully!  We are all so proud of them!!  Congratulations to all the children and parents, for encouraging and making them practice.  Below are the links to some pictures as well as video of the presentation.  Enjoy!!

Video:
3rd Graders' Sankranti Presentation Video

Pictures:
3rd Graders' Sankranti Presentation Pictures

Script:
Sankranti shloka - verse and meaning

Happy Sankranti to one and all!