Balavihar Week 9 Section 1

December 09, 2012 

Meditation Time:

The class started with chanting "Om" three times and then we did our beginning prayer "Sahanaavavathu" followed by our meditation. During meditation we try to keep our minds focussed on the little Krishna who has a peacock feather on his head and on the one who has beautiful anklets on his legs who loves butter and who tries to steal butter from the pot. We have been missing Pushkala Aunty from last week who is on a trip to India. Suvarna Aunty was there to help us out and will be there with us for the next week too. Thankyou Aunty for being with us and at the same time Pushkala Aunty we are missing you very much :( 

Guru Stotram:

We did upto the 11th verse and concluded with the 14th verse.

Bhajan: 

Radhae Radhae Radhae

Bhagavad Gita:

We did the Gita chanting upto the 8th shloka. Today we had divided the class into two groups to see which group is able to do the chanting loud and clear. The children have been asked to memorise till the 5th sloka for the next class. Most of the kids are already good but needs a bit more practice. 

Bhaagvatam Time:

 

• Today we learned about the three kinds of Devotion, 1) Taamasic Devotion 2) Rajasik Devotion 3) Saatvik Devotion. Taamasic Devotion is that kind of devotion where people filled with anger, hatred, jealousy pray for their selfish needs. People with this Guna always tend to be lazy not wanting to do anything. The second kind of devotion is Rajasik where people pray for material gains. People in this category always have a lot of worldly desires to accomplish. The third type is Saatvik Devotion which is the highest form of devotion where the devotee prays to the Lord not for anything but only out of love.  In this kind of devotion the devotee keeps on thinking about the Lord and his glories. We said some sub stories too to explain clearly.
• Then we did the story of Sati who was an ardent devotee and wife of Lord Siva. We learnt how Daksha, Sati's father was very proud and arrogant and how his pride finally brought him to a big fall. Please ask the kids to retell the story and what moral they learned from it. 

 

Likhita Japa:

We could do the Likhita Japa only for 5 minutes so we have requested the kids to do the rest at home.

Aarti and Pledge:

Finally we winded up the class with Aarti and Pledge. See you all next week. 

 

Thanks,

Pushkala Aunty and Deepthy Aunty  

Balavihar Week 9- Section 2

December 09, 2012 

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by beginning prayers Sahanaavathu & then we meditated for 2 minutes. Then we did the Guru Stotram upto the 8th verse and concluded with Tvamey va maatha cha verse. 

During chanting time we learnt Bhagvadh Geetha chap 13- verse 1 - 5

We reviewed last  weeks lesson -Kardama & Devahuti

Today we learnt the story of  Kapila and Sati.

We learnt about how to be pure and have good thoughts. There are modes to achieve this. Please ask your kids to retell at home.

Please ask your kids at home to retell the story.

Next week we will continue and learn  a new story.

Action Required:

Parents make sure that children are bringing in a new note book for the likhita japa. 

See you next week!

~Indira Aunty and Sanjana Didi

Balavihar Week 8- Section 1 and 2

December 2, 2012 

Beginning prayers
            .    'om' chanting - 3 times

·     Meditation 

·     Sahanaavavatu

·     Gurustotram verses 1-9 and 14th verse

Bhajan

Radhae Radhae Radhae

Gita chanting

       Bhagavadgita 13^th chapter 1 - 6 shlokas

Story time

·     Varaaha Avataar

·     Kardama and Devahuti

.     Kapila

Ending prayers and pledge

.     Aarati and pledge in the auditorium

The class started with meditation followed by "Sahanaavavathu".  Then we did the Guru Stotram up to the 9th verse.  We did the bhajan "Radhae Radhae Radhae".  As with the  Bhagavad Gita, we did upto the 6th verse. The kids are doing a good job in chanting. Keep up the good work! As with Bhaagvatham, we learned the second avataar Varaaha Avataar, where Maha Vishnu took the form of a boar to save mother Earth from the oceans of pralaaya. Brahma Ji created Manu and Shataroopa, the first man and woman and asked them to go and live happily as a family.  But Manu didnot know where to live as earth was buried deep under the oceans of pralaaya and asked for help. Bhagavan always takes the most appropriate form to help situations. He took the form of a boar because boar posseses a very good sense of smell and thus could locate mother earth easily.  Then we did the story of Kardama and Devahuti and learned about their son Kapila. Kardama was a great sage and Devahuti was the daughter of Manu (the first man). They got married and lived a life full of penance and sacrifice. They had 9 beautiful daughters and one son. The son's name was Kapila. He was an incarnation of the Lord. Kapila was  famous as a divine teacher and a great sage. He is the founder of the Saankhyan philosophy. One day Kapila's mother, Devahuti asked her son to teach her how to gain freedom from the cycle of birth and death. He told his mother to attain freedom, one must've a pure heart and to attain that there are 7 ways :

1. Obeying the rules of Life
2. Performing one's Duties
3. Seeing Work as Worship
4. Chanting God's name again and again
5. Trusting God as a trusted, beloved friend
6. Seeing the Blessed Lord in all creatures
7. Loving God

We explained the points more by telling them some sub stories too. Please ask your child to retell the stories that they heard today. We didn't do the Likhita Japa today as we were running short of time. Make sure everyone gets in a new note book as there are kids still with old note books and no pencils :( We concluded our class with Aarati and Pledge in the auditorium. See you all next week.