SECTION 1 & 2- ( 05/04/14 BALVIHAR WEEK :21)

Beginning prayers :

•  Sahanaavavatu
• Meditation for 5 minutes 
• Gurustotram 

Gita chanting :

• Chapter 14 - 1st to 20th verse

Bhajans :

• Raadhe Raadhe 
• Dashaavataram Stotram 

Bhagavatam Time :

• Devas and Asuras
• Symbolism in churning

 Likhita Japa :

• Writing ‘Om’ 

Ending prayers and pledge :

• sarve bhavantu sukhinah
• puurnamadah purnamidam
• arati 
• Pledge

Bhagvatam Time :

Tale : Devas and Asuras

We did the recap of the story we did last week and all the kids were smart enough to give out answers to our questions. Today's story was the continuation of the story we did last week. We were discussing when the Devas got weak they had to seek help from the asuras who were very strong to get the amritam. The Devas accepted all the conditions of the asuras inorder to accomplish the task. So anything can be accomplished by being peaceful and nothing can be gained through anger. The Devas knew that by being patient and polite they are going to be immortal. We discussed the importance of being persistent and polite in life. 

Tale: Symbolism of Churning

The churning of the milky ocean represents churning in our minds of the good and bad thoughts.  There is a constant churning going on in our minds with good and bad thoughts. The milky ocean represents our thoughts in our mind. Churning represents our thoughts going back and forth. And as we churn, bad thoughts, evil ideas, nasty feelings will emerge. At this time we are supposed to pray to the Lord who will remove all the bad thoughts and keep our mind strong. 

Game Time: My Mind Has Gone to Sleep


Upcoming Announcements:

Gita Chanting Competition:
We are really pleased and proud to announce that "Pranav Manikonda" from our third grade has won the first prize for the Gita Chanting Competition. Our congrats and hugs to you Pranav!! And we would like a give a applause to all our third graders who participated and tried their best for the Gita competition. 

Annual Day Program:
For our Annual Day which is on June 22nd our third graders will be singing the "Dashavataaram Stotram". They'll be dressed up as different avataras. We've assigned roles to the kids and they are supposed to come in their respective costumes in the next class for rehearsal.  We've been practicing the song in class but parents please make sure that they practice at home too. 

Cord Walkathon:
Next week we'll be having our annual Cord Walkathon. Parents please make sure that children attend the walkathon as it'll be a regular Bal Vihar class and above all the kids will know how important it is to help the less previleged. The Walkathon begins @ 2:00 @ Mercer County Park. 

Class Picture:
As part of the Ashram opening day celebrations, we have an opportunity to participate in the souvenir that will be unveiled by Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayanandaji. We'll be taking class pictures on May 18th and for that we're collecting $15. So please make sure that they don't miss the class on 18th and please do dress them in Indian attire for the photo session. We'll also require a consent form for publishing the photographs. Please sign the consent form to have your child included in the class photo. Both the sections together will be combined for the photo shoot. 

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

Pranaams,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)

SECTION 1 & 2- ( 04/27/14 BALVIHAR WEEK :20)

Beginning prayers :

•  Sahanaavavatu
• Meditation for 5 minutes 
• Gurustotram 

Gita chanting :

• Chapter 14 - 1st to 20th verse

Bhajans :

• Raadhe Raadhe 
• Dashaavataram Stotram 

Bhagavatam Time :

• Gajendra Moksham
• Churning of the milky ocean

 Likhita Japa :

• Writing ‘Om’ 

Ending prayers and pledge :

• sarve bhavantu sukhinah
• puurnamadah purnamidam
• arati 
• Pledge

Bhagvatam Time :

Tale : Gajendra Moksham

Today we heard the story of Gajendra, an elephant king who lived in a forest on Mount Trikuta. The place was very beautiful. One sunny day the elephant king along with his herds went to drink water from a nearby lake. As Gajendra was drinking he felt his feet was attacked by a powerful crocodile and the crocodile was pulling his feet very hard. How much ever Gajendra tried freeing his leg he was being pulled again and again. Even the elephant herd also tried helping their king but did not succeed. Then finally Gajendra felt tired and exhausted and felt that his last moments were coming near and turned his thoughts to the Lord and prayed to Him for help. Maha Vishnu heard the cries of the elephant and went there immediately to save him. Maha Vishnu with his chakra cut open the mouth of the crocodile and let free Gajendra's leg. 

Tale: Who was the Crocodile?

The crocodile was actually a gandharva in his previous birth named, Hoohoo. One day when Rishi Devala was bathing in the river he played some tricks on the sage and the sage got angry and cursed him that he be crocodile in the next birth and that he'll be released from the curse by the touch of the Lord's Divine chakra, upon which he'll regain his gandarva-form. 

Tale: Who was Gajendra?

In his previous birth, Gajendra was Indradyumna, a Paandya king. He was a great Vishnu devotee and once he took a vow of silence and went into deep meditation. One day sage Agastya visited his ashram and found that the king didn't get up to receive him and on seeing this he became angry and cursed him that he be an elephant in his next birth. But even though he was an elephant he retained to some extent his devotion from his previous birth. And because of his devotion he got moksha when he remembered the Lord at the time of trouble. 


Tale: Churning of the Milky Ocean

One day sage Durvasa presented Indra deva a garland of flower which he got from Vaikunta. But Indra was in a proud mood he took the garland and gave it to his elephant and the elephant just threw it on the ground and crushed it. Sage Durvasa got angry seeing it and cursed Indra that they loose all their prosperity and glory. This curse took effect immediately and the devas quickly started loosing their glory and charm. With the result of this curse more and more devas started loosing their lives and the asuras turned out to be more powerful and strong. So the devas went to Maha Vishnu and asked for a solution to this and He told them to churn the ocean and get the amrutam, which on drinking will get all their vigor and will remain immortal forever. Maha Vishnu asked them to churn the ocean along with the asuras. So for that the devas and asuras uprooted the mount Mandara and carried it to the ocean and asked Vaasuki, the serpent king to act as rope to help them with the churning. Then the churning began, the asuras caught the head of the snake and the devas held the tail but the mountain proved to be too heavy and sank to the bottom of the ocean. At that time Maha Vishnu took his avatar as a huge turtle and swam under the ocean and took the mountain from under the water and placed it on his turtle back and thus the churning continued. Many things came out from the churning and the first thing that came out was a dangerous poison, kaalkoot. Lord Siva saved everyone by swallowing the poison. Then many other things came out from churning like Surabhi, Uchaisravas, Iravat, Lakshmi, Vaaruni, Kaustubha gem, and many other things which were taken by the devas and asuras and then finally came a handsome young man, Dhanvantari with Amrutam. And as soon as the asuras saw the amrut snatched it and ran away. The devas and asuras all were waiting for it. The devas went to Maha Vishnu and told what happened and Maha Vishnu to save the devas took the form of a beautiful girl, Mohini and attracted the asuras. Mesmerised by her beauty the asuras gave the vessel of the amrutam and told her to distribute equally among all. The devas sat in one row and asuras on the other. Mohini started distributing the amrut from the devas side and toward the end an asura named Rahu had a doubt if Mohini was cheating the asuras and sat on the devas side and thus Rahu got the last drop of the amrut and immediately the sun and the moon god realized that it was an asura and quickly Maha Vishu assumed his original form and cut Rahu's head with his divine discus. Because he had a taste of the potion his head is still there and the Lord turned Rahu into a planet, which causes the eclipses of the sun and moon. 

We ended our class with Arati and Pledge in the auditorium. 

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

Warm Regards,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)

SECTION 1 & 2- ( 03/06/14 BALVIHAR WEEK :19)

Beginning prayers :

•  Sahanaavavatu
• Meditation for 5 minutes 
• Gurustotram 

Gita chanting :

• Chapter 14 - 1st to 20th verse

Bhajans :

• Raadhe Raadhe 
• Dashaavataram Stotram 

Bhagavatam Time :

• Hiranyakashipu
• Prahlada

 Likhita Japa :

• Writing ‘Om’ 

Ending prayers and pledge :

• sarve bhavantu sukhinah
• puurnamadah purnamidam
• arati 
• Pledge

Bhagvatam Time :

Tale : Hiranyakashipu

Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu were two demon brothers. We already heard the story of Hiranyaksha and how and why Maha Vishnu took the avatar of Varaha and how he saved mother earth and killed him. Because of this Hiranyakashipu always wanted to take revenge on Maha Vishnu and to become more powerful he did a very rigorous tapas that Brahmaji had to appear before to grant him boon. Hiranyakshipu thoughtfully asked such a boon that he should neither be killed by man, God, animal, or a demon. He added that he should not be killed in daylight or night and that no weapon should hurt him. He further added that he should not be killed inside nor outside. Brahmaji couldnot do anything but give what he asked for and left. Hiranyakashipu thought himself to be very smart and that boon made him immortal and thus started to become all the more arrogant and declared himself as God. He wanted everyone to worship him and killed all those who worshipped Maha Vishnu. He took away all Maha Vishnu's statue and placed his idol everywhere and made everyone worship him. Some took him as the God and some out of fear worshipped him. But he didn't realize that Maha Vishnu is even smarter than him. Even a small loophole was enough for the Lord. Hiranyakashipu took the boons from the Lord and started troubling the Lord itself. The giver of the boon has become his enemy. He lacked "Gratitude".

Moral:

Gratitude is the best Attitude.

Tale: Prahlada

Hiranyakashipu had 4 sons and his youngest son was Prahlada. Surprisingly Prahlada was a very ardent Vishnu devotee. He would constantly chant the Lord's name. He was taught many things but everyone was careful not to teach him anything about Maha Vishnu. But somehow Prahlada started singing and talking about Maha Vishnu everytime. When Hiranyakashipu came to know about this he felt very angry and tried to convince his child to stop worshipping Maha Vishnu but the child would not. He could not bear it anymore and tried to kill the child by throwing him down a big hill, giving poison, making the snake bite him, burning him and many more things. But such was the power of the Lord that He protected him from all the dangers and Prahalada was such a nice devotee that he trusted that his Lord would save him from all the danger and was not at all scared. Hiranyakashipu could not take it anymore and did not know what to do to his son. He tried convincing him that it is not Vishnu and that his father was the Lord. But Prahalada kept on saying that his Lord is everywhere and in all beings. Hearing that Hiranyakashipu asked him if his Lord is everywhere and pointed to a pillar out there and asked if he there in the pillar. Prahlada said his Lord was there in the pillar too. So to show that he's not there in the pillar Hiranyakashipu cut open the pillar but immediately the pillar spilt into two from there came Narasimha. He was the man-lion avatar of the Lord. Narasimha gave a tremendous roar and caught hold of Hiranyakashipu and put him on his lap and with his sharp nails tore open his chest and killed him. It was neither day or night time and it was neither inside or outside. 

We concluded with arati and pledge in the classroom.

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

Warm Regards,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)

SECTION 1 & 2- ( 03/16/14 BALVIHAR WEEK :18)

Hari Om!!

We started our class with chanting "Om" and did Guru Stotram. Then we practiced Bhagavad Gita chanting. Please make sure kids are practicing at home and get them registered for the competition by March 20th. Third graders are supposed to memorize up to the 20th verse. The Bhagavad Gita prelims competition is on March 30th.

Today we had combined the third grade class for doing the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen seva project. Thank you all very much for your contributions. We discussed the importance of "Seva" and the importance of sharing with the less privileged. We made the children do the bagging part so that they will feel that they are a part of the project. They enjoyed decorating their bags and writing some nice notes on it. Each child packed four bags which included mac and cheese, a fruit bowl, juice box and crackers. We are posting some of the wonderful work of our kids seva activity. They did such a good job. A big thank you to all our dear little helping hands !!! :-) 










We concluded our class with arati and pledge in the auditorium. 

Warm Regards,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)

SECTION 1 & 2- ( 03/09/14 BALVIHAR WEEK :17)

Beginning prayers :

•  Sahanaavavatu
• Meditation for 5 minutes 
• Gurustotram 

Gita chanting :

• Chapter 14 - 1st to 15th verse

Bhajans :

• Raadhe Raadhe 
• Dashaavataram Stotram 

Bhagavatam Time :

• Ajamila
• Indra and Vritasura
• Chitraketu

 Likhita Japa :

• Writing ‘Om’ 

Ending prayers and pledge :

• sarve bhavantu sukhinah
• puurnamadah purnamidam
• arati 
• Pledge

Bhagvatam Time :

Tale : Ajamila

Today we heard the story of Ajamila. He was a Brahmin youth who was well versed in the Vedas. He was a very honest and truthful man. He was married to a good Brahmin girl and was leading a happy and contented life. One day, Ajamila went to the forest to collect some flowers, fruits and some wood for his worship and there he met a young woman with bad habits. He fell in love with her and went to live with the lady forgetting his existing wife and kids. Ajamila was a good man with a pure man but now in the company of his new wife, he gave up all his good thoughts of God and worship and led a bad life. Slowly there came a time when he did not have enough and slowly started to cheat people and thus managed to keep his wife and children happy. His youngest son, who was his favorite was named Narayana. When Ajamila was about to die, his youngest son was playing a little distance away from him. Suddenly, he saw two fierce-looking messengers of Yama (Lord Death) appeared at his bedside, armed with clubs and axes. They had come to drag his soul away from his body.  Ajamila got terrified and shouted for his son, Narayana. While he called for his son his mind unconsciously remembered the Lord.  Just then two attendants of Maha Vishnu appeared and saved him from the yama doothas. He who loves God and completely and surrenders himself is, no matter how bad his deeds are will be saved by the Lord. Ajamila understood his mistakes and he left his wife and children and went to meditate on the Lord. 

Brainstorming:

Bad company ruins one’s life and good company saves one. We also learned even if we do mistakes real repenting for such act is Self-knowledge. Good company saves us; bad company ruins your life. 

Tale: Vinobhaji

To understand more about the moral we told story about Vinobhaji. Please ask kids to retell this story that they heard in class.

Tale: Indra and Vritasura

Lord Indra is the king of the Devas. But Lord Indra often gives way to anger, pride, arrogance, envy just like any man and this gets him into more trouble.

One day Indra was sitting in his throne and was all puffed up with pride and arrogance. Just then the teacher of the Devas, Brishaspathi walked in but Indra all filled up with pride did not get up to receive his teacher. Brihaspathi felt offended by this behavior and left the court. Slowly by the time Indra realized his mistake and went in search of his teacher Brihaspathi made himself invisible from the Devas. Meanwhile the Asuras understanding that Devas were left without teacher started attacking the Devas and the Devas had to suffer a lot of defeat and humiliation and really repented for the act that did to their teacher. All the devas went to Brahmaji for help and suggested to accept Visvaroopa as their teacher. Visvaroopa was a daitya from his mother’s side and a deva from his father’s side. So when he offered pooja he always used to keep a portion to the daityas too. When Indra came to know of this he became angry and chopped his head off. When Visvaroopa’s dad came to know of what the devas did, he became very angry and created a demon, Vritasura and ordered to attack the devas. The Devas became terrified by the demon who was huge and horrifying. The Devas ran to Maha Vishnu for help. Maha Vishnu asked Indra to get the weapon vajra which was made from the bones of Rishi Dadhichi. The Devas did accordingly and thus with the weapon vajra the Devas won the battle with Vritasura. Vritasura though was very powerful couldnot stand the power of the vajra weapon and got killed in the battle.

Tale: Chitraketu

Chitraketu was the king of Surasena. He had everything he wanted. He had rich lands, jewels, lot of wives and everything he wished for but didn’t have a son. And this made him very sad. So then, one day sage Angira visited the king and seeing the king lost in thought asked him what was worrying him and Chitraketu told him he had everything that he wanted but didn’t have a son. Hearing this sage Angira blessed him that he will bear a son who will bring happiness, but also much sorrow. In due course of time, a son was born to Chitraketu and the whole kingdom was rejoicing the birth of the baby. Days became very happy for them and seeing this happiness the other queens became very jealous and poisoned the baby to death. The King could not stand the grief. Sage Narada and Angira tried to console him and taught him the paths of worship and meditation. Chitraketu learned a lot from them and got Bhagavan’s blessings and retired to meditate upon the Lord. One day while passing mount Kailash, he saw Parvathi sitting of Lord Siva’s lap. On seeing that Chitraketu passed a rude remark. Parvathy heard the remark and felt very much insulted and cursed him saying that he’ll have to take birth as an asura for this bad behavior and thus Chitraketu was born as the asura, Vritasura. So Vritasura though a demon was a Vishnu devotee and when he was killed he went to the Lord.    

Gita Chanting :  

The Gita Chanting registeration is open till March 20th. Please see that you register your child for the competition. Most of the kids are doing very good in chanting. Make sure that they practice at home too. Kids are supposed to memorize up to the 20th verse for the competition. 

We concluded with arati and pledge in the classroom.

Important Announcement :

Seva Project : 

Next week the third graders will be bagging the food items for the TASK project. We will be bringing in brown bags and food items and will be making the kids pack the bags to make them a part of the seva and kindle the value of service in them. 

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

Warm Regards,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)

SECTION 1 & 2- ( 03/02/14 BALVIHAR WEEK :16)

Beginning prayers :

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

Gita chanting :

• Chapter 14 - 1st to 15th verse

Bhajans :

• Raadhe Raadhe 
• Dashaavataram Stotram 

Bhagavatam Time :

• Priyavrata

 Likhita Japa :

• Writing ‘Om’ 

Ending prayers and pledge :

• sarve bhavantu sukhinah
• puurnamadah purnamidam
• arati 
• Pledge

Bhagvatam Time :

Tale : Priyavrata

Priyavrata was the second son of Manu. At a very early age Priyavrata learned the spiritual truth from sage Narada and was ready to renounce the world and take sanyasa. His father, Manu wanted him to rule the kingdom but Priyavrata would not listen. One day Brahmaji appeared before him and advised him to surrender to the Divine Will of the Lord. He said that a human birth must go through the birth and death cycle, pleasure and pain, happiness and misery but should always remain unattached to the karmas. Brahmaji then added that even if man runs away from the world and its attractions, but if his mind is obsessed with passions, they will follow him where ever he goes. And thus Brahma Ji advised him to rule the land and become the king by keeping himself free from passions and desires. Priyavrata accepted His advise and became the king. He ruled the kingdom without getting attached and after long years of ruling he handed the kingdom over to his son and took the vow of sannyasa and attained moksha. 

Brainstorming: 
We should have the attitude of surrendering unto the Divine Will. 

To explain more we told them a story of an old lady who had one son and how she took it when her only son was bitten by a snake. 

Tale: God does it For Our Own Good
We heard the story of a king who had a loyal minister who would always say, "It is the Lord's wish and everything that happens, happens for the best." We learned that we should not complain and whatever happens to us is the Divine wish. When we  do not complain it shows our faith in His wisdom. Please ask your children to retell the story that they heard in class. 

Gita Chanting :  
The Gita Chanting registeration is open till March 20th. Please see that you register your child for the competition. Most of the kids are doing very good in chanting. Make sure that they practice at home too. Kids are supposed to memorize up to the 20th verse for the competition. 

We concluded with arati and pledge in the classroom.

Important Announcement :

Seva Project : 

Our class is doing a Seva project this year during the month of March. We are preparing lunch bags for TASK (Trenton Area Soup Kitchen). For this, we need kids to bring in a donation of 10$. We got contribution from many kids and for those who missed to give please try to bring in the coming weeks so that we can start purchasing the required items.  We'll buy the food for the collected amount and then will make the kids pack the lunch bags in the class so in this way the kids will also get involved and understand the importance of sharing. 

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

Warm Regards,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)

SECTION 1 & 2- ( 02/23/14 BALVIHAR WEEK :15)

Beginning prayers :

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

Gita chanting :

• Chapter 14 - 1st to 13th verse

Bhajans :

• Raadhe Raadhe 
• Dashaavataram Stotram - 1 to 11th stanza

Bhagavatam Time :

• Puranjana

 Likhita Japa :

• Writing ‘Om’ 

Ending prayers and pledge :

• sarve bhavantu sukhinah
• puurnamadah purnamidam
• arati 
• Pledge

Bhagvatam Time :

Tale : Puranjana

Praachinbarhi was the great grandson of King Prithu. He was a very good king but he was very fond of performing yagnas and sacrifices. Sage Narada liked Praachinbarhi but felt sorry as he was wasting his time and energy only in the performance of rituals. He advised him that the ritualistic path won't help him gain anything but only will help in adding to his karmas. The ritualistic path will not bring him closer to self-realization, which is the ultimate goal of life. Praachinbarhi felt confused and asked Narada to teach him the way to reach the Ultimate. To make him understand Narada told him a story...

Once upon a time there lived a king, named Puranjana. He had a very close friend named, Avijnaata. But no one knew where He lived and what He did. Puranjana roamed all over to find a city where he could live where all his desires will get fulfilled. And finally he came across a beautiful city with wonderful palaces, garden, lakes etc., The city had 9 beautiful gates too. He at once fell in love with the city and decided he was going to stay there. And as he was enjoying the beautiful city he saw a beautiful girl who was the princess of the city. He married her and became the king. He loved and became too attached to his wife. He lost his independence and almost lived like a slave of his wife.  He had all the pleasures of life but still he always felt he lacked something. Then one fine day, the city was attacked by the neighboring king and destroyed the whole city. He lost his kingdom and walked around like a madman looking for his beautiful wife. He could not stop thinking about her. He could not live without her and died with her thought. 

Puranjana was born again as a girl who got married who loved her husband very much. One fine morning she found her husband dead. She could not bear the separation and thought of ending her life by jumping into the funeral pyre. At that moment, an old man walked up to her and asked if she remembered him and told her that he was always with her and added that she was caught in the web of Maya and she failed to understand that she was neither the man who blindly loved his wife and lost his independence nor was the girl who loved her husband very much. 

Narada further explained the story to praachinbarhi by telling that each character in the story has a representation. The story is told in this way to make things more easy and clear. Puranjana in the story stands for "jiva". The unknown friend, Avijnaata stands for "Brahman", the Lord and that is why nobody knows where He lives and what He does. The jiva or the atma looks for an apt place to dwell to satisfy the maximum number of his desires and thus enters into the city of 9 gates, represents the human body. The atma enters the body and starts enjoying himself. The wife he finds is the intellect. United with the intellect, he forgets his divine nature and becomes full of ignorance and pride. The attacking king is the all-destroying Time, using disease and death destroy the body. 

We all have to devote our self to our One Friend else we will become bound by our karmas and get hooked up in the world of Maya. Ones deed decide ones future births and when he regains his previous knowledge, he realizes that he is none other than the Eternal Brahman. Only then, he becomes free of karma. 

Praachinbarhi was sincere. He learned what he was taught and practiced it and attained moksha. 

Brainstorming: The Nine-Gated City

King Puranjana represents us.  Our body represents the nine-gated city. We are the king, the ruler of the nine gated city. 
The Nine gates represents: our two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, excretory and genital  organs. As the king, what are our duties?

• We must look out for our kingdom, our body; we must keep our body neat and clean.
• We must also guard our gates so that no enemies enter our kingdom by making sure that no garbage enters our kingdom. 

Who is this friend?
God. Yes, God is our best friend and He is called Avijnatta. That means we cannot see or touch Him but if we are very quiet we can hear His voice from within. To hear his voice, we have to chat with our buddy for few minutes and thank Him for being with you and guiding you on the right path. 

Gita Chanting :

Most of the kids are doing very good in chanting. Please keep practicing at home and trying memorizing the verses.  

We concluded with arati and pledge in the auditorium.

Important Announcement :

Seva Project : 

Our class is doing a Seva project this year during the month of March. We are preparing lunch bags for TASK (Trenton Area Soup Kitchen). For this, we need kids to bring in a donation of 10$. We got contribution from many kids and for those who missed to give please try to bring in the coming week so that we can start purchasing the required items.  We'll buy the food for the collected amount and then will make the kids pack the lunch bags in the class so in this way the kids will also get involved and understand the importance of sharing. 

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

Warm Regards,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)

SECTION 1 & 2- ( 02/02/14 BALVIHAR WEEK :13)

Beginning prayers :

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

Gita chanting :

• Chapter 14 - 1st to 11th verse

Bhajans :

• Raadhe Raadhe 
• Dashaavataram Stotram - 1 to 11th stanza

Bhagavatam Time :

• King Prithu

 Likhita Japa :

• Writing ‘Om’ 

Ending prayers and pledge :

• sarve bhavantu sukhinah
• puurnamadah purnamidam
• arati 
• Pledge

Bhagvatam Time :

Tale : King Prithu

King Prithu, a descendant of Dhruva was a very nice and noble king. His kingdom had everything and all the people in his kingdom were very happy. People in his kingdom were having lots of fun partying, dancing and eating. They found time only in fun stuffs and partying. King Prithu was very happy seeing all his subjects happy. People became very lazy and stopped working hard. As a result, earth stopped blessing them with food, minerals, clean water etc. And as a result a terrible famine hit the land and people started becoming sad and hungry. King Prithu also became sad seeing the plight of the people and prayed to the Lord. At this time Mother Earth appeared before him and advised him to till and sow the land and things will start to become good. Hearing this advise king Prithu realized and helped them change. King Prithu and his subjects then leveled the land and prepared it fully. Slowly the earth started looking green and the people started becoming very happy. King Prithu got so pleased with mother earth that he called her his daughter. That is why Mother Earth is also known as Prithavi, or the daughter of Prithu.

Gita Chanting :

Most of the kids are doing a good job chanting.  Please make sure they practice good at home too.  Kids are supposed to learn by heart up to the 5th verse. 

We concluded with arati and pledge in the auditorium.

Important Announcement :

Seva Project : 

Our class is doing a Seva project this year during the month of March. We are preparing lunch bags for TASK (Trenton Area Soup Kitchen). For this, we need kids to bring in a donation of 10$. We'll buy the food for the collected amount and then will make the kids pack the lunch bags in the class so in this way the kids will also get involved and understand the importance of sharing. 

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

Warm Regards,

Deepthy Aunty & Rama Aunty (Section 1)

Indira Aunty & Shrinivas Uncle (Section 2)