Hari OM! Parents,
Happy New Year to everyone.
We started classes with the beginning prayers followed by Sri Rama dhyana shloka and chanting of Nama Ramayanam until the end of Ayodhya Kand.
We practiced 2 meditations in December
1. Watching our breath by watching the rise and fall of our abdomen. This helped to calm our minds
2. Watched our breath followed by doing the exercise of tense and relax with various parts of our body
Continuing our story of the Ramayana from the Ayodhya kand,
Recapping the story of the last moments of King Dasharatha. Dasharatha is in mourning after Sri Rama leaves for the forest. He remembers the story of Shravana Kumar and tells the story to Kausalya. We discussed the law of Karma. Dasharatha breathes his last. The people of Ayodhya are shaken and in mourning.
Bharatha and Shatrughana return from the kingdom of Kekaya and are shocked to hear about the events in Ayodhya. They are angry with Kaikeyi and Manthara. They comfort Kausalya who is in mourning. On Guru Vasishtha's instructions they perform the last rites of their father.
Bharatha refuses to be the king as he believes Rama is the heir to the throne. He decides to meet with Rama in the forest to persuade him to return to Ayodhya. He leaves Ayodhya with the queens, guru, some ministers and a few people of the city to the forest.
He meets first with the King of Nishadha, Guha who showed them the way to Rishi Bharadhwaja's ashram. The rishi told them about Rama's whereabouts near the mountain Chitrakoota..
Chitrakoota was a beautiful place, the river Mandakini flowed close by. There were fruits and vegetables for them to eat. Sitaji was delighted in spending her time listening to the birds sing and watching animals in the forest.
Bharatha and Shatrrughana along with the guru meet with Rama. He asks Rama to return. Rama refuses saying he is bound by his promise to his father. Finally guru Vashishtha comes up with a plan. He asks Bharatha to be Rama's representative for 14 years. Rama teaches him the art of governing the kingdom and teaches him how to be a good leader.
After Bharatha left, Rama felt it was better for them to move deeper into the forest as Chitrakoota was close to Ayodhya and the people would be tempted to visit him.
As they moved into the Dandaka forest they were met by the demon Viradha, who was killed by the Lord after a fierce fight. Viradha got back his original Gandharva form as he was cursed earlier to be a demon.
Rama, Sita and Lakshmana visited the ashrama of Rishi Sharabhanga and Suteekshana. Both of them welcomed them and were overjoyed to have the Lord's darshan. They offered the fruit of their penance to the Lord. The lord humbly refused, saying he has to earn it by his own merit. Rama was happy to meet many rishis in the forest and get their blessings and had satsangas with them. He promised them he would destroy all the demons around there. The Rishis were overjoyed. They could now do their penance in peace. Rama lived close to the rishi's ashrama for some time.
We then moved on to Aranya kanda.
Rama, Sita and Lakshmana spent 10 years in the dark Dandaka forest. They started to move south and met Agastya rishi who was known for his mighty powers which he had earned by severe tapas.
Told the story of the 2 demon brothers Vatapi and Ilvala who were destroyed by Rishi Agastya. After meeting this glorious rishi he advised them to live in Panchavati which got its name due to the cluster of 5 beautiful banyan trees growing there. Rama set up his ashrama in Panchavati which is close to modern day Nasik in Maharashtra.
We went around the class asking the values they learned from the stories
1. They talked about duty, and how they can perform their daily duties to their best
2. Talked about how we can be humble like Bharatha
3. Talked about and compared the calm nature of Rama with that of Laskhmana's impatient nature
4. Keep good company and not be swayed like Kaikeyi
5. Practice values not for power but to elevate ourselves
6. The student quoted from Spiderman - 'With great power comes great responsibility'. Discussed this in class
Our next Balavihar class is on January 6th
Pranams
Nirmala and Mythili
Dec 16, 2022 - Grade 7 (Friday)
