Hari Om Dear Parents,
Update of class : 14th Oct 2022
Started our class with Likhikta Japa and opening Prayers.
We then practiced Gita Dhyanam, first 3 verses. The text is in our BV handbook.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MoHkaBrCFw - Please play at home/car and ask kids to listen from 1min 50 secs.
Recap:
As part of recapping last class' lessons, we quizzed kids on the topics of Yato Dharmah Tato Jayah, Laws of Karma, sins of the body, speech and mind.
Lesson: Yato Dharmah Tato Jayah
We started our class with the origin of Mahabharata. Veda Vyasa and Ganesha had a pact on scribing Mahabharata. Ganesha scribed Mahabharata while intently listening to Veda Vayasa recite them and also understanding it at the same time. When his quill broke, Ganesha broke one of his tusks and continued to write. To understand how challenging that could be, we did a quick activity - kids wrote a bunch of rhyming words while we dictated them at a good speed. Kids participated with a lot of enthusiasm and could pretty much stand up to the challenge.
We asked kids if Mahabharata stories would matter to the world we live in today. Some of them agreed and some disagreed.
King Shantanu married Ganga after agreeing to her condition that he would never question her. He watched sadly as she threw 7 of their babies onto Ganges. When she was about to throw her 8th son, Shantanu stopped and questioned her. Goddess Ganga explained how all the 8 children were actually vasus, that she was helping them end their curse by drowning them. She took her 8th son, Devavrata with her, left King Shantanu, since he broke his promise and brought him back when he was ready to be a Yuvaraja.
Lesson learnt : Think before you act and don't agree to anything that you cannot uphold.
King Shantanu fell in love again (kids giggled a lot) with a fisherwoman. The father had one demand that her daughter, Satyavati's kids should be the heir of Hastinapura. King Shantanu was very sad. When Devavrata learnt the condition of Satyavati's father, he renounced his Yuvaraja title and took a great vow that Satyavati's kids would be the rulers of Hastinapura. Devavrata was then hailed by Gods as Bheeshma and granted the boon that he would die in his own accord.
We again discussed the lessons learnt. Kids were very prompt and pointed out :
Lesson : Don't repeat your mistakes (King Shantanu made a promise again because of his desire)
Lesson : When we do good, we will be blessed like Bheeshma
We told kids how these lessons are valid even today.
Bhagavad Gita Chanting :
Kids continued to chant Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 3 - verses 3 and 4). They repeated after Swamiji's recorded verses.
Please note most of the kids got a notebook depending upon the balavihar house they belong to. This book contains opening, closing prayers, pages to take notes and also do Likhita Japa.
We expect kids to bring the following every class
1. The Notebook (as noted above)
- Balavihar handbook
- My Prayers book
- Pen/Pencil
We finished our class with closing prayers.
Next Class : Oct 28th 2022.
Thanks and Hari Om
Purnima and Shankar
