Hari Om Parents,
We had a good and interesting second class of the session, starting with OM chanting and Opening Prayers...
1. Sahana Vavatu
2. Vakratunda Mahakaya
3. Saraswati Namastubhyam
4. Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu
Almost all the kids are quite familiar with these prayers.
We also started to learn the first stanza of Govinda Damodara Stotram.
Most of them have printouts of the above. Please have them practice at home.
Krishna Krishna Everywhere
We initiated the book with the introduction of 4 yugas, Satya, Treta, Dwapar and Kaliyuga. We talked about the various avatars of Lord Vishnu in each of these yugas, a recap from last year's curriculum.
We told the story of King Pariksit punishing Kali (Kalah to fight) for beating a cow to dwell in places where Bhagwan's name is not taken and where all the bad prevails.
Activity
As part of activity related to this story we played a game of Stop the Kali.
We asked each kid as to what good words one can use to make the world a better place and how to stop Kali from spreading.
A few suggestions from them..
1. Be respectful to elders and each other
2. Be Thankful
3. Say sorry when you hurt others with words
4. Treat others the way you want to be treated
5. Stop fighting
and more..
Quiet Time
For a few minutes we had the students do japa of 'Sri Krishna' with the JapaMalas they made in the last class.
My 24 teachers
We started this book by explaining how chanting of the Lord's name quitens one's mind and how a calm mind is receptive to listening and learning which is a recipe to success.
We discussed who a teacher or Guru is and how anyone with the right attitude to learn becomes a good student.
Our first teacher is Mother Earth who teaches us to have endurance, patience and forgiveness. Though we plough and tear her up she provides us with nourishment, oil, precious jewels and metals. We talked about a few ways of going green and saving our planet.
We then proceeded with a few minutes of yoga, practicing tree pose that helps increase focus and concentration.
Gita Chanting
We watched an introductory video of the right pronunciation of Sanskrit letters and a few words from chapter 3.
We will start learning the verses beginning next class.
Announcements:
A new whatsapp group has been created for our class. Please use this link to join.
A new whatsapp group has been created for our class. Please use this link to join.
Please feel free to reach us at anytime
Purna - 925-786-5119, lalitha.nandyala@gmail.com
Shashi - 732-325-8415, Shasikk@gmail.com
Thank you,
Purna Nandyala and Shasi Mukkamala.
