Hari Om Dear Families,
With the blessings of Gurus we had a wonderful start of our class. . It was very nice to see all the kids in person. Thanks to the parents who visited the classroom later.
This year we will be learning Ramayana with a detailed analysis on all the characters followed by Vibheeshana Gita( Keys to Success). Kids should buy a copy of Ramayana by C.Rajagopalachari for reference. Handbooks were given to the kids in the class. Please have kids bring a notebook to write down the points from class discussion.
We started the class with daily prayers and Lord Sri Rama's invocation shloka (My prayers - Page 129)
Every kid was given one of the questions below and they introduced themselves followed by their answer to the question.
Introduction questions:
If you could pick any family from Balavihar Stories or fictional family to live with, which would you choose?
If you could have an endless supply of one thing, what would you pick and why?
Which three things would you bring if stranded on a tropical island?
If I were to give you $1 million right now, what would be the first thing you would buy?
All of them had interesting answers. We have a mix of personalities, who are charity and seva oriented, smart kids thinking out of the box to find the solution and some who want to have a luxurious way of living.
Lesson:
For the lesson, we started with a few topics of "Keys to Success".
Group discussion questions and answers (All the kids participated well in class and shared their thoughts on each of these questions):
Q) What does one seek in the world?
Happiness
Q) How does one derive happiness in the world?
Happy state of mind, A calm mind.
Equation of Happiness:
Happiness= Number of desires fulfilled / Number of desires entertained.
Q) How is this state achieved?
Right knowledge and ultimately Self-Knowledge is what makes one happy forever. A knowledge of self will take you beyond all the sorrows and limited happiness. Hence Self-Knowledge is the Master key of life. It makes us see oneness in the universe and with this we accept all.
Q) How is the Master key different from other keys?
There are pistons in a lock. The groves in the key fit the piston to unlock. A Master key's grove fits into all the pistons and opens the doors.
Discussion: Story of the boy who asks for self Knowledge.
Conclusion: Knowledge and understanding makes you free!
Discussion: The story of the celestial horse who was greedy.
Conclusion -Never try to take more than what has been given to you.
Discussion: Hiking on Himalayas with a goal to climb Mount Everest but with lost directions.
Conclusion: We need to know why we are doing what we are doing and whether we are using the smartest and the best way to accomplish the goal, to reach the destination. We need to know our goal and the way.
When you work smart, you reach the destination in your life.
Ending thoughts of the class:
Q) Is there a destination, a goal in our life?
Kids were asked to make short term and long term goals. Some kids talked about their short term goals. We later discussed the checkpoints and the efforts needed to achieve them. Please discuss these goals with your child.
Thankyou, Hari Om
Sirisha Pannala and Prarthana Gururaj.
