Section 1 & 2- ( 09/29/13 Balvihar Week :3)

Beginning prayers

•  Sahanaavavatu
•  Meditation for 5 minutes 
•  Gurustotram verses 1-4and 14th verse

Gita chanting

• Chapter 14 

Bhajan

• Raadhe Raadhe Raadhe

Bhagavatam Time: 

• How was Bhagvatam written?
• Who is Narada Ji?
• Parikshit Meets Kali    

Likhita Japa 

 Writing ‘Om’ 

Ending prayers and pledge

• sarve bhavantu sukhinah
• puurnamadah purnamidam
• arati
• Pledge

Bhagvatam Time:

Tale: How was Bhagvatam written?

We did a quick recap of what we did in the last class. All the kids were smart to give answers to all the question. We got a bunch of smart kids.

As we have seen in the last class, all the disciples gathered around Sutaji and Saunaka rishi asked a question how can one be happy forever. Sutaji replied the answer lies in the poem, Bhagvatam which was composed by Sri Veda Vyasa. One day Narada rishi came to see Veda Vyasa. On seeing Vyasa, Narada Ji asked him why he looked sad? He asked him if he is not satisfied and happy with his actions and thoughts? Vyasa replied inspite of compiling 4 Vedas, 18 Puranas and the great epic Mahabharata he was not happy and always had a feeling of unrest and dissatisfaction. Narada Ji told him he has described the Dharma of a human being well but haven't described the glories of Maha Vishnu. Saying so Narada Ji left and Vyasa Ji composed Bhagvatam. 

In Bhagvatam we'll learn:

• How to be happy?
• How and why God took avataras
• What did He do
• Whom he saved and why

Tale: Who is Narada ji?

Narada was the son of a servant lady who was working in an ashram. A group of saints came to the ashram to spend 4 months there. Narada was only 5 years old then. He used to help his mother in serving the saints. The saints liked him very much. When the saints were singing the glories of Narayana, Narada used to listen to it and slowly started singing the glories of the Narayana. After 4 months, the saints left the ashram. One night Narada's mother was bitten was bitten by a snake and she died leaving Narada alone. Then Narada left the ashram and sat for meditation in a quiet place. Bhagavan blessed him and said that he will be born again as the son of Brahmaji. Few years later he died, and was reborn as the son of Brahmaji. The Devas gifted him with the veena. It is said that even today, he moves around with veena spreading the glories of the Lord. 

Tale: Pariksit Meets Kali

King Pariksit was a very good king. He was nephew of Lord Krishna. One day when King Pariksit went for a stroll he saw a very strange sight. A well dressed mean man, named Kali, was kicking and torturing a white bull and a cow, standing close by was crying for help. The mean guy had pulled out 3 of its legs and was going to cut off its fourth leg. Seeing this terrible sight, King Pariksit got very angry and asked him who he was and why he was doing this terrible act of injustice.

King Pariksit was surprised to hear the bull speak. The bull replied may be all this is happening because of his past karmas. King Pariksit thought deeply and realized that the bull was the personfication of Dharma or virtue; the cow was representing the Mother Earth and Kali, the wicked man was the spirit of Kaliyuga, the Iron Age in which we are living. The bull's 4 legs represents;

1. Austerity
2. Purity
3. Kindness
4. Truthfulness

Brainstorming: Austerity, Purity, Kindness, and Truthfulness

1) Austerity:

Keeping our promises is austerity. 

2) Purity:

Being pure.It's simple as the word itself implies.

3) Kindness:

Only when we have a kind and loving heart, we'll know the pain of others. 

4) Truthfulness:

Speaking truth no matter what. 

The three legs representing austerity, purity and kindness have already been pulled out and is standing on one leg, truthfulness and kali was about to cut that too. 

We ended up our day with Aarati and Pledge in class. See you all in the next class. 

Thankyou,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)

Teacher Contacts

Teacher Contacts

Below are the email id's of the volunteers of 3rd grade class. Please feel free to contact if

you have any questions or concerns.

Deepty Nair -- deepthy [..at..] gmail [..dot..] com 
Rama Vellore -- ramamalini[..at..] gmail [..dot..] com

Indira Bhaskar -- indira_bhaskar [..at..] yahoo [..dot..] com 
Venkat Shrinivas -- vshash [..at..] gmail [..dot..] com

Note : The e-mail addresses above have been ciphered ;), to prevent automatic e-mail parsing software from deciphering for mass e-mailing purposes or spams. Please translate them accordingly.

Section 1 & 2- ( 09/22/13) (Balvihar Week 2)

Beginning prayers

     .    Sahanaavavatu

     .    Meditation 

     .    Gurustotram verses 1-3 and 14th verse

     .    Dashaavataram Stotram verse 1

Gita chanting
     ·    Not yet

Bhagavatam Time: 

     ·    Avatara: What is an Avatara? 

     ·    Background of Bhagvatam

Likhita Japa 

    ·    Writing ‘Om Namo Vasudevaya’ 

Ending prayers and pledge

       .    sarve bhavantu sukhinah

       .    puurnamadah purnamidam

       .     Aarati

         .     Pledge

Our classes began with our beginning prayers "sahanaavavatu" and then chanted "Om" three times and we meditated for five minutes. For those who are not aware during mediation we turn the lights off and latecomers are supposed to wait by the door quietly until the lights are turned back on. We did a quick chanting of "Hanuman Chalisa" which they did in the second grade. Most of them remember it well and please make sure they chant it once in a while so that they won't forget. This year we'll be learning "Bal Bhagvatam".

Kids are asked to bring the following things for their every balvihar classes :

• My Prayers Book
• Notebook/pad for likhita japa
• Bala Bhagavatam book (curriculum for 3rd grade, available in book store)
• 2 sharpened pencils and some crayons 

Bhagavatam Time:

What is an Avatara? 

"Avatara" is a sanskrit word and it means "coming down". When God takes a form and is born amongst us is called an "avatara". God takes an avatara to remove evil and to protect the good. God is everywhere and he is formless so we cannot see him, touch him, smell him nor talk to him. When God takes a form and is born among us we can see him, talk to him, touch him. 

Why does God take an avatara?

• to teach us a lesson
• to save someone nice
• to remove evil

Because we cannot see God many of us do wrong things. Just like when our mom is not around we cheat a little by watching T.V, playing on video games, fooling around without doing our home works.  

In Bhagvatam we'll learn all about the 10 avataras of Lord Vishnu. 

1. Matsya
2. Kurma.
3. Varaha
4. Narasimha
5. Vamana
6. Parashurama
7. Rama
8. Krishna
9. Buddha
10. Kalki

What do we learn from Bhagvatam?

Bhagvatam teaches us to be happy and good forever. 

Background of Bhagvatam:

Saunaka rishi lived in a forest along with his disciples. One morning Suta ji, a learned rishi came to visit them. Seeing the great rishi everyone paid respect and all the disciples were very eager to learn something from him. So Saunaka rishi asked a question to Suta ji how can a person be happy forever. Suta ji replied the answer is given in a poem, called Bhagvatam which has 18000 verses. The poem is written by Sri Veda Vyasa. The poem describes all the stories of God and why he descended on earth.

Next class we will discuss what made Vyasa to write Bhagvatam. 

Likhita Japa:

We wrote "Om Namo Vasudevaaya" for Lihita Japa.

Then we ended up our day with Aarati and Pledge in class. See you all in the next class. 

Thankyou,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)