Dear Parents,
Harih Om!
We welcome your child and you to the 8th grade Sunday a.m. Balavihar class.
We request you to make sure that your child joins the class on time (9:15 a.m.) with their Balavihar handbook.
Required reading: Mahabharata by C. Rajagopalachari (available at the Chinmaya Vrindavan bookstore and online vendors/book sellers.)
Teacher's handbook is "Yato Dharmah tato Jayah"
There are two areas where we will be focusing. The first one is Symbolism and the second is recognizing and executing our duties (Dharma) so that we can enjoy a contented and happy life. We will be delving into some important episodes of the Mahabharata to make the connection to transactions/challenges we face in everyday life.
1.We began class with the following prayers:
Chanting Om three times
Sahanaa vavatu…
Karaagre Vasate Lakshmi…
Vakratundaya Mahakaaya Sooryakoti Samaprabha….
Shuklaam Baradaram Vishnum…
Saraswati Namstubhyam….
Shubham Karoti Kalyanam…
Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnuh….
2.Next, we connected with the children and asked them to share a joyful or happy event in their life in the past week. One of the children, Shravani M mentioned that she was happy because her field hockey team from school was able to win two games against rival teams. We then wove in the concept of symbolism wherein we again showed the children the symbol of the Beijing Olympics and asked them what they associated the symbol with. At first, we got frivolous answers like games, athletes etc. However, when we delved deeper, we associated the symbol with hard work, perseverance, determination, failure, success, unity, grit, endurance etc. With that we started the class on a positive note and shared in Shravani's joy.
3. Next, we asked the children to concentrate and recall what was taught the previous week during Balavihar. One student recalled that they had learnt about the Symbolism of Lord Ganesha. While we associate Lord Ganesha with auspicious beginnings, the children also recalled that his large ears and broad forehead denote continuous and intelligent listening. After listening (sravanam) the student must reflect (mananam) upon what was heard. We recalled that Lord Ganesha has 4 hands and with the rope he draws His followers closer to him, with the axe He cuts off all our attachments, the modakam is a gift from Him to His devotees and with His fourth hand He blesses all of us. The mouse sitting at His feet represents the obedient mind. As we are all aware, the mouse is a teeny tiny animal but can create havoc and destroy granaries etc. The mouse within will be completely held in obedience to the will of the master the intellect.
Similarly, it is easy to say God is all pervading. If one has already direct living experience that God is formless, one need not go to the temple, nor does one need an idol. But for most of us there is a need for the support of a symbol to prepare our mind, make it purer and capable of seeing the highest truth. We are not able to see the Lord in everything, so we are asked to first practice seeing Him in at least in an image/idol and then slowly expand our vision. The temple, pooja room, idol, pictures of God are simply to bring into our mind the awareness of God.
4.We then reflected on the content for the day through discourse and discussion. We talked about wanting to be successful and happy in life. We wrote a list of bullet points as to what would make us successful in life: hard work, ambition, determination, perseverance, sacrifice etc. We also discussed what would happen if we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly over the weekend and forgot to do our homework. Would it be okay to copy the homework from a willing friend the next day? Most students felt it was okay to do that. What if the occassional reliance on other people became a permanent dependence on others? Some other children felt it was okay to drink a lot of soda and keep oneself alert and finish off the homework by staying up late. We explained why this was not correct and that it may later cause us to become dependent on drugs to keep ourselves alert. We then wove in the concept of Karma and then Dharma.
5.The children then did a creative activity. We presented the children with a gift box wherein several desirable and not so desirable objects were tied to strings of varying lengths. The children could not see what was as the end of the string as the box was closed. We asked 5-6 children to come forward towards the box and chose one string. We then asked each child to gently pull at the string. Some children had to pull at the string for a longer time while others tugged at their string to retrieve the object tied at the other end in a matter of a few seconds. Some children got desirable objects and others not so desirable objects. We then concluded the following things about Karma based on this creative activity.
Law of Karma:
a. Every action/karma has a result (Karmaphala)
b. Performer of the action alone gets the result
c. Result of karma will come at right time - at the right time flowers bloom and fruits emerge. In the same way, the result of an action (karma) comes at the right time
d. Result may be immediate or may take several decades, or several lifetimes to fructify.
We had a good discussion with the kids about karma and karmaphala. They can shape their destiny with their own hands. "What you get in life is because of actions that you have previously performed. If you do not follow your Dharma and perform wrong actions, you only will get negative consequences later on."
Yatha Dhenu Sahashtreshu Vatso Vindati Maataram
Tathaa Poorva Kratam Karma Kartaar-manugachhati
यथा धेनु सहस्त्रेषु वत्सो विन्दति मातरम् ।
तथा पूर्वकृतं कर्मं कर्तारमनुगच्छति ।।
Just as a calf can find it's mother in a herd of thousands of cows (Dhenu), Your Karmas follows you in every birth you take. But it also means that one's deeds decide one's karmas. Whatever we do, doesn't go un-noticed good or bad.
The law of Karma works naturally. The Mahabharata guides us on how to act (karma) and therefore lead a dutiful (dharmic) and happy life.
Dharma - To do good to others is righteousness, Dharma, and to harm anyone is sinful.
6.Since Navaratri was beginning the next day, we discussed the symbolism of Goddess Durga:
- To gain noble qualities, all evil tendencies of the mind must be destroyed.
- Durga is durgati harini- one who destroys all bad tendencies
- We pray to Goddess Durga to help us destroy enemies within like selfishness, jealousy, anger, prejudices etc.
- She is also known as Mahishasura Mardini, the destroyer of the demon, Mahishasura. She is pictured riding a tiger, having an unsheathed sword and a spinning discus.
- Once the Gods felt powerless against Mahishasura. They were asked to part with a portion of their divine powers and Goddess Mahishasura Mardini took a physical form the combined the strength of 33 crores of Gods.
- Mahisha means buffalo and this represents tamoguna- the quality of laziness, lethargy, ignorance, inertia, darkness etc.
- The destruction of Mahisha represents the destruction of tamoguna within.
- Mother Durga rides on a tiger and this is representative of ego. Ego makes us do wrong things. Taming the ego gives us the power as shown by Mother Durga riding a tiger.
- The Goddess is also known as Kali. She is pictured with a dark body, a hanging tongue, a garland of skulls and a sword dripping with blood. When we invoke Goddess Kali, She gives us the strength to fight these enemies.
- Let go of ego
Thank you!
