Balavihar Week 13- Section 2

January 27th, 2013

We started class as usual, with chanting 3 Oms, Om Sahanaavavatu and quiet meditation time. We continued with the entire Guru Stotram and the kids seem to have a good grasp on this.

Next, we all chanted Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13. It was clear that some kids have been practicing and we urge them to continue the good work. The rest still need to practice during the week because it is difficult for us to learn new slokas when the old ones are still not being chanted properly. They should use the online learning tool at http://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/GeetaChantingCompetition.php  to practice.

During story time, we recapped the 6 sharks or vices that we are supposed to avoid. We also went over each of the 6 corresponding virtues: 

Anger vs. being nice
Pride vs. humility
Delusion vs. facing your fears
Jealousy vs. being thankful
Lust vs. sharing
Greed vs. sharing

We also discussed the idea of unity and diversity, how despite the differences we might all have, it is important to still display oneness. 

After spending some time doing likhita japa, we combined classes again to start talking about roles for the play. We discussed that most of the girls and some of the boys would be dancing on stage. We will be doing this song so please take a look before we start choreographing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZk_dXfjaNE

Again, please let us know by next week if your child will not be able to participate in the June 9th or the practices we will be having in class every week leading up to it. This is essential for us to know before we assign roles next week!

We finished class with Arati and pledge.

Thanks,
Sanjana Didi and Indira Aunty

Balavihar Week 13- Section 1

January 27th, 2013 

Meditation Time:

Our class started with meditating upon the beautiful form of little Krishna, followed by chanting Om three times and opened our eyes by doing our opening prayer  "sahaanavavathu".

Guru Stotram:

We did the entire stotram. Kids are pretty good with it. 

Bhajan: 

We did our two bhajans completely the  "Raadhey Raadhey Raadhey"  and  "Aatmaraama Aanandaramana.." 

Bhagavad Gita:

We did the 12th verse today. We practiced till the 12th verse in class but still kids have to make sure that they practice well at home too. As we are planning for a play on June 9th, we get only limited time for practicing in the class. Next week planning to make kids do the chanting in groups so, kids make sure all prepare well.  There is an online learning tool at http://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/GeetaChantingCompetition.php that they can use for help.

  

Bhaagvatam Time:

We did a recap of King Prithu's story we did in the last class. We learnt from the last class King Prithu asked the Sanatkumaras how one can get rid of the samsaras of life. The Sanatkumaras told King Prithu that there are 6 ferocious sharks in the ocean of life and to get rid of them we should have faith in the Lord who will help us cross the ocean. The 6 ferocious sharks are lust, anger, greed, pride, delusion and jealousy. Some of the kids were smart enough to remember and list them. We described them and made them understand with easy examples and stories. We can get rid of the sharks of our mind by seeing unity in diversity. There should be a vision of oneness as oneness dissolves all the differences resulting in the disappearance of the sharks of the mind. We don't get angry when our little finger pokes into our eyes or when our teeth bites our tongue because there is a vision of unity all over the body. Differences are welcome in life, if we have the art of seeing unity in diversity. When there is unity, there is love. When there is love, differences and faults seems to disappear. 

Likhita Japa:

We did our Likhita Japa, "Shree Krishnam Sharanam Mama" .

From last class on we combine all the third graders together to discuss about the June 9th play. We still didn't get a proper response from all the kids. Parents, please let us know by the next Balavihar class if your child will be able to participate for annual day on June 9th. It is important that we know this before we hand out roles. Children participating in the play must also come to all the Balavihar classes because this is when we will be practicing. 

Aarati and Pledge:

We wound up the class with the Aarati and Pledge in class. See you all next week. Until then keep practicing !! 

Thanks,

Pushkala Aunty and Deepthy Aunty

Balavihar Week 12- Section 1

January 13th, 2013 

Meditation Time:

Our class started with the regular meditation which was followed by our opening prayer  "sahaanavavathu".

Guru Stotram:

We went over with the entire stotram. 

Bhajan: 

We went over with the "Raadhey Raadhey Raadhey" bhajan. Then we did the bhajan "Aatmaraama Aanandaramana.." 

Bhagavad Gita:

We did two more verses today. We did till 11th verse. Kids have to keep practicing more at home then only they will be able to do it more confidently.  

Bhaagvatam Time:

We went over with the story that we did last week, King Prithu's. As we discussed last week, King Prithu was a noble and nice king. One day, the four  Sanatkumaras came over to meet him. They advised him that to get over the ocean of the world, which is filled with ferocious sharks of mind and senses is very difficult. The six ferocious sharks are : lust, anger, greed, pride, delusion and jealousy. But if we accept the Lord as our ferryman with full devotion, He will take our boat across the ocean with perfect ease. Next class we are going to discuss about the six ferocious sharks in detail and what we can do to keep ourselves away from these sharks. 

Likhita Japa:

We could do the Likhita Japa only for a little time. So kids have to make sure that they write at least one page of the japa at home. 

Annoucement:

We had one important announcement to make. We are planning to do a Dashavataar song with our third graders on stage on June 9th.  So today, we combined the 2 sections together to discuss about this. From next class on, we'll be combining our class together for sometime for practicing the song. Before that we would like to know who will not be able to attend the June 9th show as we want to allot the key roles accordingly. Please let us know by next balvihar class itself either through your kids or by writing a note for the consent.    

Aarati and Pledge:

We wound up the class with the Aarati and Pledge in class. See you after 2 weeks. Until then keep practicing !! 

Wishing you all a Happy Pongal/Sankranthi.

Thankyou

Pushakala Aunty and Deepthy Aunty

Balavihar Week 12- Section 2

January 13th, 2013

We started class today as usual, with 3 Oms, and Sahaanaavavatu. We had 1 minute of quiet meditation time, followed by the entire class chanting the Guru Stotram together.

We then went over Chapter 13 Bhagavad Gita Chanting, going up to sloka 10. Please remind your children to keep practicing what we go over in class. There is an online learning tool at http://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/GeetaChantingCompetition.php that they can use for help.

During story time, we reviewed the story of King Prthu. We also learned how the 4 Sanatkumaras came to King Prthu and taught him about the 6 "sharks" in the ocean of life. These 6 "sharks" or vices are lust, jealousy, greed, anger, pride, and delusions. We went over examples of each of these vices and also discussed the values that everyone should have instead of these vices. 

Afterwards, we combined both the 3rd grade classes together to discuss our play for annual day. Parents, please let us know at the next Balavihar class if your child will not be able to participate for annual day on June 9th. It is important that we know this before we hand out roles. Children participating in the play must also come to all the Balavihar classes because this is when we will be practicing. 

We finished up class with a game called Vishnu-Ball. All the children assembled in a circle and threw a ball around. Every time the ball was thrown, the child would have to say Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, and anyone who messed up was out of the game.

Happy Pongal/Sankranti!

~Sanjana Didi and Indira Aunty

Balavihar Week 11- Section 2

Happy New Year!

We began class by chanting 3 oms and sahaanaavavatu. We then proceeded to have 5 minutes of meditation time.

We continued by learning the last 3 slokas of Guru Stotram.

Next we reviewed Bhagavad Gita chanting slokas 1-7. We then learned the new slokas 8-9. Please encourage your children to keep up the good word and practice/memorize at home!


We also all sang the bhajan Radhe Radhe together.

During story time today, we learned the story of King Prthu, a descendent of Dhruva. His kingdom had an abundance of everything, but the people were only interested in partying, eating, dancing, and having fun. Thus, the kingdom slowly lost all their luxuries, including food and water. Seeing the plight of his kingdom, King Prthu prayed to mother Earth. She advised him the plough the land. Once everyone started doing that, they land started providing vegetables and and herbs again, giving all the citizens what they wanted.

To review the previous stories we learned, we played a game where the class was split into 2 groups. Then Indira Aunty and Sanjana Didi gave each group questions to answer from the past stories and the kids had a limited amount of time to discuss and tell us the correct answer. The kids proved that they really know the stories quite well and answered all the questions!

The children continued writing Sri Krishna Saranam Mama in their new Likhita Japa notebooks.

We ended class with Arati and pledge.

See you next week!
~Sanjana Didi and Indira Aunty

Balavihar Week 11- Section 1

January 6th, 2013 

Happy New Year!! We were so happy to see the kids and after a very long break. The kids came up with so many exciting stories about the places they visited and the things they did during the holidays. 

Meditation Time:

The class started with chanting "Om" three times and meditated on the beautiful form of little Krishna for 5 minutes. We slowly opened our eyes and did the prayer "sahaanavavathu".

Guru Stotram:

We completed the Guru Stotram today. 

Bhajan: 

We went over with the "Raadhey Raadhey Raadhey" bhajan. Then Pushkala Aunty taught us a small new beautiful bhajan "Aatmaraama Aanandaramana.." 

Bhagavad Gita:

We practised till the 8th verse and then moved on to the 9th verse. Next week we are going to group kids and make them recite so make sure to practice at home well. 

Bhaagvatam Time:

Today we heard the story of King Prithu. He was a descendant of Dhruva. He was a noble king. In the beginning the people in his kingdom had everything in abundance and gradually they started becoming lazy. They didn't work at all. They found time only in partying, eating, dancing and having fun. Slowly there started to be deficiency in everything ..food, minerals and water. King Prithu was sad seeing the plight of his people and prayed to mother earth, who in turn advised him to plough the farm land, till the soil, plant seeds and herbs which in turn will yield everything they require. Once they started working on the field, the land started becoming green, vegetables and herbs started coming up and thus people got everything they wanted. 

Likhita Japa:

We did the Likhita Japa.   

Aarati and Pledge:

We wound up the class with the Aarati and Pledge in class.

Thank you,

Pushakala Aunty and Deepthy Aunty