Hari OM Dear Families,
Here is this week's update.
Week 8 :
4th December 2022 / 9:15 AM
Opening prayers and Shlokas
Slokas: Class began with 3 OMs followed by
Here is this week's update.
Week 8 :
4th December 2022 / 9:15 AM
Opening prayers and Shlokas
Slokas: Class began with 3 OMs followed by
"Om Saha Navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
Om shrI Ganeśaya Namaha, shrI Saraswatyai Namaha, shrI Sat Gurubhyo Namaha.
"Vakratunda Mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book)
"Gurur Brahma" (page 60 in My Prayers book)
"Krishnaya Vasudevaya" (page 105 in My Prayers book)
Krishnashtakam : We practised the first six shlokas and learnt the seventh shloka
Today's lesson - Krishna Everywhere - The Naming Ceremony
Rishi Garga, the Guru of the Yadavas, as per the request of Vasudeva went to Gokula to perform the naming ceremony. He named Rohini's son as Balarama. Rishi Garga named the little boy KRISHNA – one who has a dark complexion or VAASUDEVA – the son of Vasudeva.
"He has many names and forms, and no one can fully understand them. He will give you great joy and blessings. He will save you from many mishaps. Those who love Him wholeheartedly shall never know any danger or fear. He has all the qualities of Narayana. Know Him to be the same." Having made these profound statements, Garga blessed the two boys and left Gokula.
Krishna and Balarama were growing up fast. They soon went from crawling to running around everywhere in Gokula. They were becoming more and more naughty. Krishna loved milk, butter and curd. After they had their fill, Krishna fed the rest to monkeys and calves. Krishna along with His friends, loved to steal His favorite items to consume. The gopis would go to Yashodha to complain about Krishna. We asked the class why Krishna stole butter, when it is not right to steal. The kids guessed...maybe to share with others, maybe because he liked it. We then explained that Lord Krishna did that to make everyone constantly have Him on their minds. Yashoda ma would catch Krishna by his ear and want to punish him. But looking at his innocent face, she would soon forgive him. The moment he is forgiven, he would run away and get back to doing mischief again!
Om shrI Ganeśaya Namaha, shrI Saraswatyai Namaha, shrI Sat Gurubhyo Namaha.
"Vakratunda Mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book)
"Gurur Brahma" (page 60 in My Prayers book)
"Krishnaya Vasudevaya" (page 105 in My Prayers book)
Krishnashtakam : We practised the first six shlokas and learnt the seventh shloka
Today's lesson - Krishna Everywhere - The Naming Ceremony
Rishi Garga, the Guru of the Yadavas, as per the request of Vasudeva went to Gokula to perform the naming ceremony. He named Rohini's son as Balarama. Rishi Garga named the little boy KRISHNA – one who has a dark complexion or VAASUDEVA – the son of Vasudeva.
"He has many names and forms, and no one can fully understand them. He will give you great joy and blessings. He will save you from many mishaps. Those who love Him wholeheartedly shall never know any danger or fear. He has all the qualities of Narayana. Know Him to be the same." Having made these profound statements, Garga blessed the two boys and left Gokula.
Krishna and Balarama were growing up fast. They soon went from crawling to running around everywhere in Gokula. They were becoming more and more naughty. Krishna loved milk, butter and curd. After they had their fill, Krishna fed the rest to monkeys and calves. Krishna along with His friends, loved to steal His favorite items to consume. The gopis would go to Yashodha to complain about Krishna. We asked the class why Krishna stole butter, when it is not right to steal. The kids guessed...maybe to share with others, maybe because he liked it. We then explained that Lord Krishna did that to make everyone constantly have Him on their minds. Yashoda ma would catch Krishna by his ear and want to punish him. But looking at his innocent face, she would soon forgive him. The moment he is forgiven, he would run away and get back to doing mischief again!
An important part of the lessons is focussing on what is the takeaway for us. What are the values we learnt?
For this, we are talking about the "Roadmap to Krishna".
Just like we need a map to reach a far off destination, we need a roadmap to reach Krishna. In other words, to have the Lord with us all the time .
There are nine values which will be based on the Krishna stories that we will be discussing in the lessons going forward. These values help us become the darling of Krishna and help us reach him.
To make it a little more interactive, we give the words jumbled. The kids unjumble, and then we talk about it.
The first one we learnt was to "Forgive". Although Putana tried to poison and kill little Krishna, he forgave and liberated her. We must also learn to forgive someone who harms us. Be kind and forgive unconditionally. We then become happy.
Today we learnt the second value, "Share". Krishna always shared butter and milk with his friends and animals around. Sharing is caring. Remember to always share.
Today's lesson - 24 Teachers
We started with a riddle : I do not have a definite shape, color or taste. I am extremely important for all living things. Who am I ?
The kids got the answer to this very quickly... Yes today's teacher is Water
Water is by nature, clean, pure and refreshing.
The water of holy rivers purifies one by darshan, touch or even by saying its name. We asked if anyone knew the names of any holy rivers. Many of them knew - Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari...River Ganga is one the holiest and is mentioned in many of our ancient scriptures. The River Ganga purifies people by vision, touch and even by uttering her name.
Good people are like these rivers, who can revive others by good deeds and thoughts and by their sight, touch and words.
Speech is a gift of God, that was given only to humans, and we must use this gift wisely. We have to learn to speak only good and sweet words.
We discussed if we are using this gift well or misusing it. Some people misuse it by telling lies, exaggerating, having a forked tongue or by speaking bad words. How do we learn bad words ? No one teaches us..but we somehow learn these things by watching bad tv shows or being in bad company. It's important to guard our senses so we can shut off such bad things before we learn them.
Story - Once a King, his minister and servant went to a forest. After sometime they all got separated from each other. The King comes across a blind man sitting under a tree and asks him "O Prajnachakshu ji (one with the eye of knowledge)...did you observe someone pass by from here". The blind man says "O KIng...no". After some time the minister meets the same man and asks him "O Sage, did you observe someone pass by from here". The blind man says " O minister... no". After some time the servant also meets the man and asks him "O blind man, did you observe anyone pass by from here." The blind man says "O servant...no". After a while the King, Minister and the servant meet and wonder how the blind man could recognise who they were and answer accordingly. When they go back to the man and ask him, he tells them that he could recognize them by the words used by each one of them.
This story shows how the words spoken show their personality. It is important to always speak good and sweet words.
Story - A young boy Gopala, takes the cattle to graze in the forest everyday. One day he starts hearing strange noises. He gets scared. He shouts "Who is there?" The answer comes back "Who is there" ,"who is there" Whatever Gopal asks, is getting repeated. Gopal gets very angry and shouts "you are bad!" this comes back again to him. Now Gopal is sure that there are some bad guys in the forest trying to trouble him. He is very scared and goes home. His mother hears the story and understands that it is an echo. She tells Gopal not to be scared and when he goes to the forest the next day, he should greet them and say nice words. Gopal follows her advice and shouts" Good Morning friend". The answer comes back "Good Morning friend" He shouts "You are a nice boy". This repeats again. Gopal is not scared any more. He soon learns that not just in the forest, but everyone, if he says nice words, he gets nice words back, just like the echo.
We discussed a few more points - The maximum control an archer has, is before he releases the arrow. That is when he needs to be careful so the arrow hits the target. Once it is released, it cannot be taken back or change direction. Similarly, one should be careful before speaking, because once the words come out of the mouth, there is no taking back and the result will be as per the words spoken.
Dirt makes things dirty and water makes everything clean.
Whoever comes in contact with you should feel fresh and happy, not muddy and sad.
Be like water….always speak sweetly and be pleasant!
We started with a riddle : I do not have a definite shape, color or taste. I am extremely important for all living things. Who am I ?
The kids got the answer to this very quickly... Yes today's teacher is Water
Water is by nature, clean, pure and refreshing.
The water of holy rivers purifies one by darshan, touch or even by saying its name. We asked if anyone knew the names of any holy rivers. Many of them knew - Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari...River Ganga is one the holiest and is mentioned in many of our ancient scriptures. The River Ganga purifies people by vision, touch and even by uttering her name.
Good people are like these rivers, who can revive others by good deeds and thoughts and by their sight, touch and words.
Speech is a gift of God, that was given only to humans, and we must use this gift wisely. We have to learn to speak only good and sweet words.
We discussed if we are using this gift well or misusing it. Some people misuse it by telling lies, exaggerating, having a forked tongue or by speaking bad words. How do we learn bad words ? No one teaches us..but we somehow learn these things by watching bad tv shows or being in bad company. It's important to guard our senses so we can shut off such bad things before we learn them.
Story - Once a King, his minister and servant went to a forest. After sometime they all got separated from each other. The King comes across a blind man sitting under a tree and asks him "O Prajnachakshu ji (one with the eye of knowledge)...did you observe someone pass by from here". The blind man says "O KIng...no". After some time the minister meets the same man and asks him "O Sage, did you observe someone pass by from here". The blind man says " O minister... no". After some time the servant also meets the man and asks him "O blind man, did you observe anyone pass by from here." The blind man says "O servant...no". After a while the King, Minister and the servant meet and wonder how the blind man could recognise who they were and answer accordingly. When they go back to the man and ask him, he tells them that he could recognize them by the words used by each one of them.
This story shows how the words spoken show their personality. It is important to always speak good and sweet words.
Story - A young boy Gopala, takes the cattle to graze in the forest everyday. One day he starts hearing strange noises. He gets scared. He shouts "Who is there?" The answer comes back "Who is there" ,"who is there" Whatever Gopal asks, is getting repeated. Gopal gets very angry and shouts "you are bad!" this comes back again to him. Now Gopal is sure that there are some bad guys in the forest trying to trouble him. He is very scared and goes home. His mother hears the story and understands that it is an echo. She tells Gopal not to be scared and when he goes to the forest the next day, he should greet them and say nice words. Gopal follows her advice and shouts" Good Morning friend". The answer comes back "Good Morning friend" He shouts "You are a nice boy". This repeats again. Gopal is not scared any more. He soon learns that not just in the forest, but everyone, if he says nice words, he gets nice words back, just like the echo.
We discussed a few more points - The maximum control an archer has, is before he releases the arrow. That is when he needs to be careful so the arrow hits the target. Once it is released, it cannot be taken back or change direction. Similarly, one should be careful before speaking, because once the words come out of the mouth, there is no taking back and the result will be as per the words spoken.
Dirt makes things dirty and water makes everything clean.
Whoever comes in contact with you should feel fresh and happy, not muddy and sad.
Be like water….always speak sweetly and be pleasant!
Gita Chanting : We learnt shlokas 9 and 10 today. Please encourage the kids to practice often. We will again record the chanting in a couple of weeks for house points.The link to Swamiji's videos is Verses 9-10 Ch.3 BG - YouTube
Quiz : We made two teams and conducted a quiz based on the lessons learnt so far. It was a fun activity and all kids participated with a lot of enthusiasm.
Likhita Japa - We had a few minutes before assembling in the main hall. The kids did Likhita Japa - writing the name of the Lord, quietly and focussing on the name.
Aarti and Pledge - We concluded the class with Aarti and Pledge in the temple hall.
We look forward to seeing the kids in class next sunday 12/11
Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you and HariOm,
Vidhya Aiyer & Neelima Turaga
