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Children are not vessels to be filled but lamps to be lit.
- Swami Chinmayananda
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Nov 6, 2022 - Grade 5 (Sunday PM)

Hari Om Parents,
November 6, 2022 -  Class Updates
  1. Kids wrote Likhita japa for the first five minutes.
  2. We started off the class with the chanting of OM three times and opening prayer (Dhyana shloka - Om Saha Navavatu)
  3. Mahabharata
    1. Continuation of Adi parva
      1. Dhrtarashtra, Pandu and Vidura grew up
      2. Pandu became the king of Hastinapura as Dhrtarashtra was blind
      3. Vidura became the minister
      4. Princess Kunti
        1. Sura, grandfather of Sri Krsna, gave his daughter, Pritha, to King Kuntibhoja for adoption. Hence, Pritha became known as Kunti. Kunti is Vasudeva's sister and hence she is Sri Krsna's aunt.
        2. Once, sage Durvasa paid a visit to King Kuntibhoja and Kunti was given the task of taking care of sage Durvasa.
        3. Sage Durvasa blessed Kunti with a boon. Kunti was given a boon of being able to get a child from any deity using the mantra.
        4. Kunti was young and playfully invoked Surya devata using the mantra. Surya devata blessed her with a child. The child was born with a golden earring and shield.
        5. Kunti, afraid of the consequences, put the child in a basket and set it away in the river
        6. A charioteer found the baby in the basket and started to bring the child up as his own, as he and his wife did not have a child.
        7. The child came to be known as "Radheya". He was also named "Karna"
      5. Later on, Princess Kunti got married to King Pandu. King Pandu married Madri as well.
      6. Dhrtarashtra got married to Princess Gandhari. Gandhari's brother is Shakuni. The Gandhara region is on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan in the current day map.
      7. Since Dhrtarashtra is blind, Gandhari blind folded herself to experience the same world as Dhrtarashtra. Shakuni was unhappy as his sister has to live blindfolded.
      8. Because of an incident happened during one of the King Pandu's hunting trip, King Pandu got cursed. Hence he gave up the kingdom and went to the forest with Queen Kunti and Queen Madri
      9. Dhrtarashtra became the king.
      10. Pandu requested Kunti to use the mantra provided to her by Sage Durvasa. Kunti invoked Dharmaraja devata and got a child. The child was named Yudhishthira.
      11. Dhrtarashtra and Gandhari got a son named Duryodhana. His original name was Suyodhana.
      12. Kunti used her mantra and invoked Vayu devata and got another child. The child was named Bhima.
      13. Dhrtarashtra and Gandhari got 99 more sons and one daughter.
      14. Kunti used her mantra and invoked Indra devata and got another child. The child was named Arjuna.
      15. Kunti shared the mantra with Madri. Madri invoked Ashwini Kumaras and got twin sons. The sons were named Nakula and Sahadeva.
      16. The five sons of Pandu came to be known as Pandavas.
      17. The hundred sons of Dhrtarashtra came to be known as Kauravas.
      18. Pandavas were brought up in the forest.
      19. Pandu and Madri died.
      20. Kunti was taking care of the pandavas and decided to return to Hastinapura.
      21. The kids did the crossword puzzle activity.
    2. Story of a Saint - Swami Chinmayananda
      1. Swami Chinmayananda was born in Cochin, Kerala on May 8, 1916.
      2. His child's name was Balakrishna Menon.
      3. He studied law and became a journalist for the National Herald newspaper.
      4. He went to Rishikesh to study the sages and saints.
      5. He met Swami Sivananda and got transformed.
      6. He got sannyas under Swami Sivananda.
      7. Swami Sivananda asked Swami Chinmayananda to go to Swami Tapovan Maharaj for further study.
      8. After completing the rigorous study, Swami Chinmayananda decided to spread the message of Vedanta to common people.
      9. Chinmaya mission was created.
      10. Values to be learned from him - to be kind, to be disciplined, to be punctual.
      11. More details about the life of Swami Chinmayananda - "On a Quest" movie
        1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on6jlil495o
    3. Kids practiced the Bhagavad Gita chanting using the video - Verses 3 and 4 of Chapter 3
      1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eylejch4kR0&list=PLwv-WSJSokEMjzRiL_CQC--igySyIgJqA&index=2&t=1s
    4. Kids got a green color (their house color for Arjuna's Arrows) Chinmaya Vrindavan Notebook. 
      1. Notebook has nice quotes of Swami Chinmayananda on every page.
      2. It has pages for Likhita japa. Kids will use them for writing Likhita japa in the class. 
      3. It has a page with 12 mantras for Surya Namaskar
    5. Aarati and pledge in the Temple Hall 
There is no Balavihar class next Sunday, November 13th. We will meet on November 20th. 

Please reach out to us if you have any questions. Thanks.

Regards,
Roopa and Ramee
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