Hari Om!
Dear Parents,
Here is the summary of our class on Friday, Nov 4, 2022.
Opening prayers:
Om Sahana Vavatu
Om Sri Ganeshaya NamaH
Om Sri Saraswatyai NamaH
Om Sri Sadgurubhyo NamaH
Vasudevasutam Devam
Lesson: Story of Krishna - Putana Vadam and destroying Trinavarta
My 24 Teachers - Air
Discussion: Class Recap
Activity: Marble drop meditation/ Bingo
Chanting: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 verses 1,2,3,4
Next Balavihar class: 11/18/22 (No Balavihar on 11/11/22)
Summary: We had regular class after 2 weeks and it was good to see many of the children! We started with 3 OMs followed by the opening Shlokas. We then delved straight into the story of Lord Krishna! We discussed the killing of Putana and Trinavarta. We shared the comic version of Krishna's story and the children were very excited to see the visuals! We discussed that it is not a myth and that the very jail in which Bhagavan was born still exists in Mathura near Delhi! We paused after the story of Krishna killing Trinavarta who was sent by His evil uncle Kamsa to kill Him!
We then played the shell drop game for meditation and almost all the children guessed quite close to the correct number! It shows that they are able to focus despite noises and sounds from other classes around them! After meditation, we quickly took down highlights of the last class. We will use keywords from these to recap/remember the lessons. We then revised the first 2 verses of Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 which we had learnt in the previous class and then learnt verses 3 and 4 along with Swamiji's video. The children did a phenomenal job of remembering the first 2 verses! We are very proud of them!
We then moved on to our Lesson from one the 24 teachers of the Avadhuta! This time it was about air! We briefly discussed it in the previous class but went on to elaborate the quality of air that we should learn. When air flows over a beautiful garden of flowers, it carries that fragrance for a little while and then drops it. Similarly, when it flows through a garbage dumpster, it carries the stink for a little distance and then drops that as well! The air is unattached to the good or bad smells! Similarly, we should try not to get attached to bad things and even good things that happen to us! If we get attached to bad things then we end up being sad as we fall into bad ways and if we get attached to good things, we end up becoming sad when they are no longer available.
We decided to make a list of our goals in life, not necessarily the big ones, but the small day to day ones too. We will try each class to see how many of these goals we were able to achieve. Please encourage the children to think and come up with a list of goals.
We then went to the prayer hall for Arati and Pledge. There is no Balavihar next week. We will meet again on Friday, Nov 18th with more fun activities and discussions. Thank you.
Pranaam,
Suresh and Anandhi
(Grade 4 Sevaks)
