SECTION 1 & 2- ( 11/24/13 BALVIHAR WEEK :9)

Beginning prayers

•  Sahanaavavatu
•  Meditation for 5 minutes 
•  Gurustotram verses 1-9 and 14th verse

Gita chanting

• Chapter 14 - 1st to 4th verse

Bhajans

• Raadhe Raadhe Raadhe 
• Dashaavataram Stotram - 1-5 stanza

Bhagavatam Time:

• Kardama And Devahuti
• Kapila

 Likhita Japa 

•  Writing ‘Om’ 

Ending prayers and pledge

• sarve bhavantu sukhinah
• puurnamadah purnamidam
• arati
• Pledge

Bhagvatam Time: 

We did the recap of the stories we did last week and continued with our stories. 

Tale: Kardama And Devahuti

Kardama was a great sage who used to do tapas for many years. He prayed to the Lord to bless him with a beautiful wife. After many years, the Lord appeared before him and blessed him. He promised him very soon Manu, the first man is going to come to him and give his daughter in marriage to him. 

Manu and Shataroopa, the first man and woman had 2 sons and 3 daughters. It was time for one of their daughter to get married. Manu and Shataroopa started looking for a suitable groom. One day Narada Ji came there and asked them to find sage Kardama and get their daughter married to him. So Manu and Shataroopa went to the forest looking for the sage and came across a beautiful ashram on the banks of river saraswati and found a young sage who was doing tapas. Manu and Shataroopa offered their daughter, Devahuti in marriage. But the sage had one condition. He told once he bears a son he will leave the ashram and go for the ultimate realisation. Every one agreed. And Kardama and Devahuti both liked each other and thus got married. They lived many years a hard life of penance and sacrifice. After many years of tapas, nine girls were born to them and then after many years a son was born to them. He was named Kapila. After Kapila's birth, sage Kardama left his ashram and went for doing tapas.

Brainstorming: What is Tapas?

Tapas means austerity. When we take a vow to do something and live by that vow, we are doing tapas. 

Tale: Kapila

Kapila, son of Kardama and Devahuti, became famous as a divine teacher and a sage. He founded the Saamkhyan philosophy. He was so learned that one day his mother came to him and asked her son, Kapila to teach her how to gain freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Kapila told his mother to attain that one must have a pure heart. One can gain a pure heart by following the 7 rules;

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; being friendly to all, and being kind to the poor and the helpless
7. Loving God as one loves oneself and one's own children. Love for God is devotion. 

Devahuti followed her son's teachings faithfully. Then, Kapila left the ashram and went up into the Himalayas for meditation. 

Bhagavat Gita chanting: 

We did till the 5th verse. Kids keep practicing at home too. Make sure they practice loudly at home too in order to get the words. The audio is available in our chinmaya mission website. Please click on to the link below and will be able to hear the mp3 version by Swami Brahmananda. It is a very easy learning tool which can help us and the kids too.  

http://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/GeetaChantingCompetition.php 

Likhita Japa:

We couldn't do the Likhita Japa in class. Please make sure to do at home.  

We did the arati and pledge in the auditorium. See you all after two weeks until then keep practising.

Note:

Kids are supposed to bring their "My Prayers" book and their Gita Chanting handouts every week for their balvihar classes. They are supposed to bring in a note book and pencil for their likhita japa. For the Gita Chanting practice at home you can log on to Chinmayavrindavan.org.

Warm Regards,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)

SECTION 1 & 2- ( 11/17/13 BALVIHAR WEEK :8)

Beginning prayers

•  Sahanaavavatu
•  Meditation for 5 minutes 
•  Gurustotram verses 1-8 and 14th verse

Gita chanting

• Chapter 14 - 1st to 4th verse

Bhajans

• Raadhe Raadhe Raadhe 
• Dashaavataram Stotram - 1-4 stanza

Bhagavatam Time:

• Varaaha Avataar
• Jaya And Vijaya 

 Likhita Japa 

•  Writing ‘Om’ 

Ending prayers and pledge

• sarve bhavantu sukhinah
• puurnamadah purnamidam
• arati
• Pledge

Bhagvatam Time: 

The kids were very much eager to hear the remaining part of the story we did last week. They wanted to find out how and why Maha Vishnu took the Varaaha Avataar and how the asura Hiryanyaksha was killed by the Lord. We are blessed to get such a bunch of enthusiast kids. We made the kids do the recap of the story and then we proceeded on with the story of the week.

Tale: Varaaha Avataar

Brahma Ji, the creator of the universe created the first man, Manu and the first woman, Shataroopa and was thinking for a nice place for them to live. At that time mother earth was buried deep in the oceans of pralaya. As he kept brooding over the place, a boar, no bigger than a size of the thumb, suddenly sprang out of his right nostril. Immediately it started growing till it became very huge and gigantic. Everyone in the heaven worshipped him for they knew that it was the Lord's incarnation. The boar then dived deep into the ocean and located mother earth and as he was trying to lift it from the ocean, Hirayaakshya the asura king attacked Him. The boar pierced opened and killed the asura king, who tried to stop him from saving the mother earth. He then, brought mother earth above the surface of the water holding it on His powerful tusks.

Brainstorming:

Why did Bhagavan take the form of a Varaaha?

Bhagavan takes different forms to help different situations. The Lord took varaaha avataar to save mother earth which was deep under the water after pralaya. The boar, has a very good sense of smell. The Lord took this form so that He can smell and locate mother earth from the deep waters.   

What is Pralaya?

Just as seasons change, days pass, time changes, and years pass so does pralaya. Same way earth also goes into cycles of creation and dissolution. But this cycle takes thousands of years to occur. Pralaya is dissolution. After creation, dissolution follows with time.

Tale: Jaya And Vijaya

Jaya and Vijaya were the royal gate keepers of the abode of Maha Vishnu. One day Brahmaji's four sons, the Sanatkumaras came there to see Maha Vishnu. The Sanatkumaras, though they were very old they looked only like 5 year old kids. They were very wise. They didn't dress very attractive. Seeing them not so attractive and well dressed, Jaya and Vijaya didn't let them go in and see Maha Vishnu. They were filled with pride and arrogance that they failed to recognize the greatness of the sages. The Sanatkumaras felt offended and spelled a curse on the two that they will be descend on earth as terrible asuras. Immdiately Jaya and Vijaya understood their mistake and asked for forgiveness. Because of this curse, they were born to Diti as Hirayaaksha and Hirayanyakashipu. 

Moral of the Tale:

If we do wrong actions, we still have to face the consequences even if we have love and devotion to the Lord. 

 Sub Tale: Where is Heaven?

We told the kids a story about how the Lord decided to have a party in heaven. Please ask them and find out the story. 

Moral: Heaven is where we are. Hell is also where we are. We ourselves make heaven and hell by our own thoughts and actions. We always have a choice to choose the attitude and behavior in all our situations. Choose to see oneness and choose to love all and thus create heaven around us. 


Sub Tale: Elephant and Six Blind Men

This was an interesting story and the kids were listening to it with all enthusiasm. Ask them to retell the story. 
Moral: When our view is limited, we unnecessarily fight and argue , creating hell around us.

Bhagavat Gita chanting: 

We did till the 4th verse now. Kids keep practicing at home too. Make sure they practice loudly at home too inorder to get the words. The audio is available in our chinmaya mission website. Please click on to the link below and will be able to hear the mp3 version by Swami Brahmananda. It is a very easy learning tool which can help us and the kids too.  

http://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/GeetaChantingCompetition.php 

Likhita Japa:

We couldn't do the Likhita Japa in class. Please make sure to do at home.  

We did the arati and pledge in class. See you all next week until then keep practising.

Note:

Kids are supposed to bring their "My Prayers" book and their Gita Chanting handouts every week for their balvihar classes. They are supposed to bring in a note book and pencil for their likhita japa. For the Gita Chanting practice at home you can log on to Chinmayavrindavan.org.

Warm Regards,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)

SECTION 1 & 2- ( 11/10/13 BALVIHAR WEEK :7)

Beginning prayers

•  Sahanaavavatu
•  Meditation for 5 minutes 
•  Gurustotram verses 1-7 and 14th verse

Gita chanting

• Chapter 14 - 1st to 3rd verse

Bhajans

• Raadhe Raadhe Raadhe - 1-4 stanza
• Dashaavataram Stotram - 1-3 stanza

Bhagavatam Time:

• Sage Kashyapa
• Hiranyaaksha 

 Likhita Japa 

•  Writing ‘Om’ 

Ending prayers and pledge

• sarve bhavantu sukhinah
• puurnamadah purnamidam
• arati
• Pledge

Bhagvatam Time: 

We had our balvihar classes after a break of two weeks. We did the recap of the story we did 2 weeks ago and found that most of our kids were smart enough to retell them. 

Tale: Sage Kashyapa

Sage Kashyap was a very noble sage. He had a very beautiful wife, Diti. One day she felt bored and did not want sage Kashyap to do his prayer and meditation. She was acting selfish. The sage wanted to do his usual prayers but she did not let him. She was so adamant that the sage had to forgo his meditation and pooja. After sometime Diti realized her mistake and asked the sage for forgiveness. But he said it was too late and told that she has to get the fruit for her action. Sage Kashyap told her she did two wrong deeds- she became the victim of her own desire and she disobeyed her husband. Sage Kashyap told his wife due to her two bad deeds, two sons will be born to her who are extremely wicked. He added that when the three worlds will no longer be able to bear the deeds of their violence, the Lord will incarnate himself to kill them. Diti became very sad on hearing it and repented very much on her act. 

Moral of the Tale: As We Sow, So Shall We Reap

Then we told them the story about the "Ant And Pigeon" to show them the moral "As you help, so shall others".

We told them a story about "Old man and Walnut Tree" to show them the importance of the "attitude of gratitude".

Please ask your kids to retell the stories and what they learned from them. 

Tale: Hiranyaksha
The two asuras were born in Kashyap's ashram. They were named Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu. Bad omens appeared everywhere during the time of their birth. They grew not only in size and strength but also in pride and vanity. They were a terror everywhere. They murdered people and slaughtered animals, troubled women and disturbed rishis. One day, Hiranyaksha went looking around to challenge someone to fight against him. He finally went under water and saw Varuna deva and challenged him to fight. Varuna said he was old and didn't have strength to fight and asked him to fight with Maha Vishnu who will reduce him to nothing. Hearing this Hiranyaksha went looking around for Maha Vishnu who was then in the form of boar or Varaha. In the next class we will see what happened next. 

Bhagavat Gita chanting: 
Kids are doing very good in chanting. Parents please make sure that they practice loudly and clearly at home too. 


Likhita Japa:
We did the Likhita Japa in class. 


We did the arati and pledge in class. See you all next week until then keep practising.

Note:

Kids are supposed to bring their "My Prayers" book and their Gita Chanting handouts every week for their balvihar classes. They are supposed to bring in a note book and pencil for their likhita japa. For the Gita Chanting practice at home you can log on to Chinmayavrindavan.org.

Warm Regards,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)

SECTION 1 & 2- ( 10/20/13 BALVIHAR WEEK :6)

Beginning prayers

•  Sahanaavavatu
•  Meditation for 5 minutes 
•  Gurustotram verses 1-6 and 14th verse

Gita chanting

• Chapter 14 - 1st and 2nd verse

Bhajans

• Raadhe Raadhe Raadhe - 1-3 stanza
• Dashaavataram Stotram - 1-4 stanza

Bhagavatam Time:

• Matsya Avataara 

 Likhita Japa 

•  Writing ‘Om’ 

Ending prayers and pledge

• sarve bhavantu sukhinah
• puurnamadah purnamidam
• arati
• Pledge

Bhagvatam Time: 

We did the recap of the chapters we did so far. 

Tale: Matsya Avataara

There once lived a king named Satyavrata. He was a great devotee of Maha Vishnu. One day while he was doing his daily prayers a tiny fish came out of his kamandalu into his palm. The kind king put the poor little fish back into the river. But to his great surprise he heard the fish crying and begging him not to leave him back in the river as the big fishes are bound to swallow him. So Satyavrata put him back in the vessel and took it home. Next morning he again heard the cries of the fish and saw that the fish had grown in size and was crying for more room. So he put the fish in a big vessel. But the fish started growing bigger and bigger and the King kept on transferring him to bigger and bigger vessels until he didn't have any more bigger vessels. So the king took the fish to a lake but there too the fish kept growing and growing. Then the king had no other option but to take it to the ocean. The king was really confused by this and started thinking and suddenly it striked him that it must be the Lord himself incarnated for a specific purpose. He bowed before the fish and the Lord answered that after seven days the world is going to be submerged in the waters of pralaya. The Lord advised the king to collect all the herbs, plants, seeds, trees and all the different species of animals and enter the boat provided. He was also told when the storm rock the boat, he was asked to tie the boat up with Vasuki, the snake to the Lord's horn. He also told him not to get scared as the Lord was there to protect the boat. He added the boat will have the 7 rishis. Satyavrata did as he was told and on the 7th day the terrible storm took place and everything was destroyed. But the boat was protected by the Lord. At the end of Pralaya, the Lord killed the demon, Hayagreeva who had stolen and hidden the Vedas under water. 

Brain storming:
Why did God take the form of a fish?
This incarnation became necessary because Hayagreeva hid the Vedas in the deep ocean. And since only fish can survive best in water, Maha Vishnu took the form of a fish inorder to get the Vedas back. 

What are the Vedas?
Vedas are the hindu scriptures, where in the secrets of how to live a happy life are explained. 

Game Time: Red Light/Green Light 

We wound up our class with Aarti and Pledge in the auditorium. See you all in two weeks. 


Note: Likhita Japa books can be taken from the front desk. 

Warm Regards,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)