Dear Parents,
Harih Om!
Welcome to Grade 8 Sunday AM Balavihar.
We request you to make sure that your child joins session for Balavihar on time, and with Bala Vihar 2022-23 handbook and My Prayers book in their bag. Please understand that if your child is late, it is a distraction for the children and the teachers.
Required reading: Mahabharatha by C. Rajagopalachari (available with online vendors/book sellers.)
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 by asking them to describe an interesting event or a happy event in the past week. Reya L mentioned that her mother had organized a "block Dandiya party" in their neighborhood during the week of Navaratri. Invitations had been sent out to neighbors via evite and there was food and music and lots of dancing. What a creative way to engage neighbors and introduce them to beauty of Dusshera! Shivan S mentioned that the highlight of his week was preparing for an exam in science on the topics of surface tension and viscosity and then doing Golu/Kolu rounds and eating varieties of Sundal (seasoned lentils/chickpeas) a characteristic prasdam made by South Indian households during Navaratri. He also complained of lack of lighting on the streets and missing house numbers!
3. We then asked the children to concentrate and try and recollect what had been taught the previous week. One student recalled that we had spoken about Karma and Dharma. Law of Karma was discussed:
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. Result may be immediate or may take 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 have in life today is because of actions that you have performed. If you do not follow your Dharma and perform wrong actions (karma), you will get negative consequences later on."
Next, what does the word Dharma mean? It comes from the Samskritam word "Dhri" which means to uphold. Dharms upholds, maintains, sustains, integrates, and unites all the good values of life. Bhagavan Shankaracharya refers to the goal of Dharma as the means through which human beings can reach all round prosperity. When the individual jiva is sustained by Dharma in its totality and adheres to it, he/she along with Gurus's grace merges with the infinite.
4. We then reflected on the content for the day through discourse and some discussion. We described the symbolism of Goddess Lakshmi. We pray to Goddess Durga to get rid of all our negative tendencies like jealousy, anger, greed, hatred etc. We next pray to Goddess Lakshmi to bless us with good qualities. The emergence of Goddess Lakshmi when the Ocean of Milk (in the Bhaagavata Purana) is churned by the Devas and Asuras, represents the creation and development of ethical and cultural values. For knowledge to dawn on us, we must prepare our mind. An agitated mind has its energy scattered. On the other hand, a single pointed mind helps us imbibe noble values and this purification of mind is done by praying to Goddess Lakshmi. She is "Suvarna Hasta" meaning the hand that showers gold! Where there is Lakshmi, there is prosperity. Goddess Lakshmi is often worshipped as the Goddess of Wealth which is not correct! Real wealth is the inner wealth of spiritual values that we must practice in our lives through which our mind becomes purified. Only when we embrace noble values, we can preserve material wealth. The six forms of wealth are Sama (calmness of mind), dama (self-control), Uparati (self-withdrawal), Titiksha (forbearance), Sraddha (faith) and Samaadhaana (single pointedness). We talked about the movie "Matilda" where the main character is single pointed and achieves whatever she desires!
5. The children then went to the temple to perform Saraswati pooja.
Thank you!
Inchara M and Mekhala G (Grade 8 Sunday AM Balavihar teachers)
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