Hari Om! Everyone,
December 11th is now the scheduled day for the students of our J-Chyk class to teach the younger grades! So, in this Sunday's class, we first spent some time letting those students who were present choose the Bala Vihar class they would like to teach. I have sent out an email to all of you who were present with the email contacts for the teachers of the grade you had chosen, so please contact those teachers this week about the subject they would like you to teach. The Teachers will be expecting you to initiate communication with them.
After BV class assignment, we chanted our Invocations and had a short, guided relaxation/Meditation session, along with the "Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya" mantra.
Then we read and viewed 13 of our PowerPoint slides on Bhagavad Gita, Chapters 1-6, emphasizing, again, the Eternal, Indestructible nature of the Self and that even though the body changes when the jiva takes birth again, the real "You" never dies. We briefly discussed the continuation of mind/intellect/vasanas from birth to birth until realization, but this topic will require more time to clarify. We also discussed the importance of balance of mind (samatvam) in keeping us united with the Self, this center of power, intelligence, inspiration and joy within us. Finally, we had a group game of "Fill-in-the-Blank" sentences/verse quotes written on a flip-chart, etc. from the slides we had just seen. Everyone did quite well! We will continue with the slides until we complete the summaries through Chapter 6.
Then we chanted the first 4 verses of Gita, Chapter 3, as well as the following verses 5&6, as prescribed.
After our closing prayer, everyone went to the main hall for Arati.
Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving weekend and looking forward to seeing you all on December 4 and on December 11 when you go to teach the younger classes! They will love having you with them!
Hari Om!
Sw. Radhikananda
