Hari Om! Dear Parents,
Announcements:
- Next Balavihar class is on Dec 02, 2022 (in 2 weeks, no class on 11/25)
- Please use the link below to sign up for bringing and distributing prasadam: https://tinyurl.com/prasad2022
- Please join the class WhatsApp group if you haven't already, using this link
- Please register for upcoming events at the Ashram:
- Thanksgiving family camp (Niti Shatakam)
- Winter family camp (Hanuman Chalisa) - we are also seeking parent volunteers to help run this camp
Please find below the summary of our class on Friday, Oct 14, 2022
- Opening prayers
- Curriculum: My 24 Teachers - lessons from space
- Activity: Drawing, stringing beads (led by Junior ChYKs)
- Meditation
- Gita Chanting: Chapter 3 verses 5-6 (homework - practice chanting)
- Curriculum: Krishna & Balarama's naming ceremony
- Aarati and Pledge: in the Prayer Hall
Class Details
- We are happy to see that children who come in early are doing Likhita Japa while waiting for class to start! We started the class by chanting opening prayers. All children seem to have memorized 'Vasudeva Sutam..' and 'Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra' by now.
- Next, we reviewed the lessons Avadhuta learnt from observing Air, and proceeded to discuss the lessons learnt from Space. God is Omni-present just like space, and holds/supports everything in the universe like space. God is everywhere and therefore in everything; all are in God; nothing exists without God. This topic can be a bit abstract, so we followed up with a couple of activities that will help them understand the concept better.
- The activities were conducted by 2 senior Balavihar students from the Junior ChYK (Chinmaya Yuva Kendra) class (9-12 grade) - Sanjna Didi and Satvik Bhaiyya
- Children were given a piece of paper and a crayon, and were asked to draw their most favorite thing in the world. Then we discussed how the paper (or any such medium) is necessary for the different pictures to be painted, how some areas of the paper are filled, some are unfilled - like space; similarly God is the common substratum/medium in which different pictures (worlds, beings) exist, with God being always present even where nothing else is. BTW, the most popular pictures the children drew were that of family, God, games and friends!
- Children were given a string and beads, and asked to make a bracelet. Once completed, looking at each other's bracelets, we discussed how the string that actually holds the beads together is almost invisible, but without it the bracelet would not be possible. Similarly, God is in everyone's heart connecting us all, holding us all together! We have to make the effort and learn to see God in all beings and things, even in those we don't like or those we may consider as bad or evil.
- After a 2 minute meditation practice, we joined all other classes in learning Gita chanting (Chapter 3, verses 5 & 6) from Swami Shantananda-ji via video lesson. We are happy to see that many children have learnt the prior verses by heart. Those who can record and send chanting of verses 1-5 can earn points for the Krishna's Cowboys House! Please bookmark this link with chanting lessons for all Chapter 3 verses and encourage children to practice whenever possible.
- We then continued the curriculum with the story of Krishna and Balarama's naming ceremony by sage Garga. We briefly started on Krishna's childhood Leelas, starting with the stealing of butter from the pots in various kitchens of Gokulam. We will continue to discuss the significance of this in the next class.
- After this, we went to the Prayer Hall to perform Aarati, and chant closing prayers and the Pledge along with all other grades.
We look forward to meeting them again on Dec 2nd at the Ashram.
Pranaam,
Anandhi and Suresh
(Grade 4 Sevaks)
