Hari OM Dear Families,
Here is this week's update.
Week 11 :
22nd January 2023 / 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)
Today's lesson : Krishna Everywhere
Aghasura vadham
One day Krishna wakes up early in the morning, and he desires to go to the forest for a picnic. He plays the flute, which wakes up all the Gopas. They come out of the house, and their calves follow them. They are all very excited and in high spirits as they make their way to the forest.
They are having a lot of fun, teasing each other, racing, laughing and singing.
On the way, waiting for them, is the demon, Agha. Aghasura is the younger brother of Putana and Bakasura. He is waiting to kill Krishna and avenge the death of his siblings. He is in the form of a huge and very long snake. He opens his mouth so wide that the lower jaw is on the earth, while the upper jaw touches the clouds. He lays still, and is waiting for the gopas to come closer. The gopas see this huge structure, but are not sure what it actually is. They playfully enter the huge mouth. They were not afraid as they were with Krishna, and knew he would protect them, no matter what. Krishna knows that this is a deathtrap. He goes and stands right in Aghasura's throat, preventing him from breathing. Soon, Aghasura chokes and dies. All the Gopas safely come out of the giant's body. The devas sing and praise Krishna as yet another evil plan of Kamsa fails.
Brahmaji's moha bhanga
After the death of Aghasura, Krishna and the Gopas go to the River Yamuna. They are all hungry and tired. They all sit down to eat. As they are sitting and starting to eat, the calves stray away along the riverside. By the time the gopas realized, the calves had all gone. As they are getting worried, Krishna goes in search of the calves.
Lord Brahma had witnessed the strength of Krishna before and he had this desire to experience it once more by himself. So he hides all the calves in a cave. Krishna searches everyone, and not finding the calves, returns to the riverside and now all the Gopas are also gone. Krishna meditates deeply and realizes that it was all Brahmaji's trick to test his divinity. He smiles and decides that he would please Lord Brahma and at the same time, give the experience of infinite bliss to all the missing gopa's mothers. Krishna multiplies himself and assumes the exact forms of the gopas and their calves.That evening all the Krishna-gopas and Krishna-calves go back to their home, just the way they left in the morning. The moms come running out to receive them with overwhelming love and the cows too showed extra special tenderness. No one could figure out the source of this extra, overflowing love and bliss, but they reveled in it just the same. The Lord, who is the essence of all beings, thus received the love of so many human and animal mothers. Nobody noticed any change, except that the mothers had started loving their boys a LOT more. Krishna, the Krishna-gopas and the Krishna-calves went to the forest every morning as usual for almost a year!
One day the cows were grazing on the summit of Mount.Govardhana, they felt a tremendous upsurge of love for their calves. Balarama was watching and thought, "Never have I seen the cows display such great love towards their calves. Even the mothers' love for the gopas has become so much more than it ever was.""These calves and their keepers have all started looking like You, Krishna. What is this new mystery?"Krishna then explained what happened.
Brahmaji was curious to see how Krishna had handled this tricky situation. He was puzzled to see TWO sets of gopas and their calves!!! Brahmaji's maya disappeared in the overpowering maya of Krishna. Brahmaji had been beaten at his own game! Everything went back to normal and no one realized the year they missed!
Here is this week's update.
Week 11 :
22nd January 2023 / 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)
Today's lesson : Krishna Everywhere
Aghasura vadham
One day Krishna wakes up early in the morning, and he desires to go to the forest for a picnic. He plays the flute, which wakes up all the Gopas. They come out of the house, and their calves follow them. They are all very excited and in high spirits as they make their way to the forest.
They are having a lot of fun, teasing each other, racing, laughing and singing.
On the way, waiting for them, is the demon, Agha. Aghasura is the younger brother of Putana and Bakasura. He is waiting to kill Krishna and avenge the death of his siblings. He is in the form of a huge and very long snake. He opens his mouth so wide that the lower jaw is on the earth, while the upper jaw touches the clouds. He lays still, and is waiting for the gopas to come closer. The gopas see this huge structure, but are not sure what it actually is. They playfully enter the huge mouth. They were not afraid as they were with Krishna, and knew he would protect them, no matter what. Krishna knows that this is a deathtrap. He goes and stands right in Aghasura's throat, preventing him from breathing. Soon, Aghasura chokes and dies. All the Gopas safely come out of the giant's body. The devas sing and praise Krishna as yet another evil plan of Kamsa fails.
Brahmaji's moha bhanga
After the death of Aghasura, Krishna and the Gopas go to the River Yamuna. They are all hungry and tired. They all sit down to eat. As they are sitting and starting to eat, the calves stray away along the riverside. By the time the gopas realized, the calves had all gone. As they are getting worried, Krishna goes in search of the calves.
Lord Brahma had witnessed the strength of Krishna before and he had this desire to experience it once more by himself. So he hides all the calves in a cave. Krishna searches everyone, and not finding the calves, returns to the riverside and now all the Gopas are also gone. Krishna meditates deeply and realizes that it was all Brahmaji's trick to test his divinity. He smiles and decides that he would please Lord Brahma and at the same time, give the experience of infinite bliss to all the missing gopa's mothers. Krishna multiplies himself and assumes the exact forms of the gopas and their calves.That evening all the Krishna-gopas and Krishna-calves go back to their home, just the way they left in the morning. The moms come running out to receive them with overwhelming love and the cows too showed extra special tenderness. No one could figure out the source of this extra, overflowing love and bliss, but they reveled in it just the same. The Lord, who is the essence of all beings, thus received the love of so many human and animal mothers. Nobody noticed any change, except that the mothers had started loving their boys a LOT more. Krishna, the Krishna-gopas and the Krishna-calves went to the forest every morning as usual for almost a year!
One day the cows were grazing on the summit of Mount.Govardhana, they felt a tremendous upsurge of love for their calves. Balarama was watching and thought, "Never have I seen the cows display such great love towards their calves. Even the mothers' love for the gopas has become so much more than it ever was.""These calves and their keepers have all started looking like You, Krishna. What is this new mystery?"Krishna then explained what happened.
Brahmaji was curious to see how Krishna had handled this tricky situation. He was puzzled to see TWO sets of gopas and their calves!!! Brahmaji's maya disappeared in the overpowering maya of Krishna. Brahmaji had been beaten at his own game! Everything went back to normal and no one realized the year they missed!
By becoming the Gopas and Calves Himself, The Lord showed that God is in each one of us.
Today's Lesson, 24 Teachers
Dattareya said, "O King, I learned from the pigeon couple that when you are overly attached to things and beings, you lose control of your life. Troubles do come in life, but face them with courage and try to find a proper solution."
Attachment to near and dear ones is the cause of suffering in life.
Today's Lesson, 24 Teachers
We had a quick quiz to find out if the class remembered the teachers we have talked about so far. They did a great job listing them.
Like always, we started with a riddle :
Believe it or not, I used to be a mailman a long time ago.
My kind is found all over the globe.
But, we tend to like Trafalgar Square in London the most.
Who Am I?
The kids got it with the very first clue. The first guess was "Bird" and the second guess was "Pigeon". And it was absolutely right!!
Believe it or not, I used to be a mailman a long time ago.
My kind is found all over the globe.
But, we tend to like Trafalgar Square in London the most.
Who Am I?
The kids got it with the very first clue. The first guess was "Bird" and the second guess was "Pigeon". And it was absolutely right!!
A short story about a pigeon family was shared with the class. One day, when the parents went out to find food, the babies were caught in a trap by a hunter. When the parents returned and saw their babies caught, the mommy jumped into the trap and seeing his whole family caught, the daddy too jumped into the trap. The whole family was killed!
Instead of being so blind in attachment, if the parents had taken a step back to think, they would have probably come up with an idea to save their babies.
Dattareya said, "O King, I learned from the pigeon couple that when you are overly attached to things and beings, you lose control of your life. Troubles do come in life, but face them with courage and try to find a proper solution."
Attachment to near and dear ones is the cause of suffering in life.
Just like we cannot see something very close to the eye, we cannot make proper judgments when we are too attached to a person or thing. Even when something is too far off, we cannot see. We need to have things at the right distance, for us to see and read properly.
We gave an example of Rama and Dasharatha. King Dasaratha was extremely attached to his son Rama. When Rama left for the forest, Dasaratha was totally devastated and died.
When we forget our true eternal nature, we take our body to be real and the relations born out of it. Man comes to grief when he is over attached to his family and possessions. He loses his reason and self-control. Born as a human being, one should strive to reach Brahman, for all our attachments to the world of sense objects drag us down.
We can reduce our attachment to worldly things by attaching to higher ideals - like helping others, praying to God or going to a temple.
We can reduce our attachment to worldly things by attaching to higher ideals - like helping others, praying to God or going to a temple.
As we had some more time in the class today, we did another lesson from 24 teachers.
We started with a riddle :
I am huge, scary and I slither
People still like to keep me as a pet
I may not have table manners, but I am famous for my unique eating habits as well as style.
Who Am I?
Today's teacher was "Python".
Again, the kids were very quick to answer!. The first guess was "Snake", and the second was, "Python". Yes, today's second teacher was "Python"T
A python is content with any food that comes it's way
It does not fuss over the food, whether it is big, or small.
A python never goes out of its way to get food for itself.
It never makes a special attempt to satisfy its hunger.
Python eats occasionally !
The python does not grieve if it does not get food everyday.
It waits patiently even if it has to starve for several days.
And what do we learn from this?
To be satisfied with what we get and not to go in pursuit of worldly things.
It's good to be ambitious, but not greedy. We have to learn to be satisfied with what we get due to our prarabdha, or destiny.
We have to be thankful for the food we have and not fuss over it. We should try to remember that there are many many people in the world who do not have anything to eat. We have to thank God for what he has given us and be happy.
Just as the four wheels of a car have to go in the same direction, in order to take the driver to his/her destination, we have to also direct our five senses, in order to achieve our goals. For example, if there is a test coming up on Monday, and there is a new Disney movie on Sunday, just because our eyes want to watch the movie, we should not yield to it. We should be in control of our senses and do the right thing, which is to study for the test.
Story : Once upon a time there was a rabbit that did not like rain or dry hot weather. He was not happy even in the cool pleasant breeze. And he always complained.
One day he saw a Yogi, who was continuously chanting the Lord's name. The rabbit asked him what's the use of chanting when God does not give anything. The Yogi asked the rabbit what he wanted. The rabbit thought for a while and told him that he would be happier living on the clouds. With God's help, the Yogi placed the rabbit on the clouds. In the beginning, the rabbit was too busy making himself comfortable.
Then when he looked down he saw the beautiful earth.
He looked at the clouds and thought "they are so misty and soft… I can't even run"
He was missing the carrots he used to eat. Soon, he started hating the place. The rabbit shouted for Yogiji's help. He did not appear.
He started meditating "Hari Bola, Hari Bola"
The Kind Lord sent the Yogi to help the rabbit get back to the earth.
The rabbit learnt his lesson - God knows the best- Be content with what he gives you....like the python.
We then discussed two more concepts :
Who is poor ?
John D Rockafeller was one of the richest men in America, who also gave a lot of money to charity. He always said "Earn plenty honestly, and use it for people" When someone asked him who is poor..he answered " A poor person is one who has nothing, but money"
We started with a riddle :
I am huge, scary and I slither
People still like to keep me as a pet
I may not have table manners, but I am famous for my unique eating habits as well as style.
Who Am I?
Today's teacher was "Python".
Again, the kids were very quick to answer!. The first guess was "Snake", and the second was, "Python". Yes, today's second teacher was "Python"T
A python is content with any food that comes it's way
It does not fuss over the food, whether it is big, or small.
A python never goes out of its way to get food for itself.
It never makes a special attempt to satisfy its hunger.
Python eats occasionally !
The python does not grieve if it does not get food everyday.
It waits patiently even if it has to starve for several days.
And what do we learn from this?
To be satisfied with what we get and not to go in pursuit of worldly things.
It's good to be ambitious, but not greedy. We have to learn to be satisfied with what we get due to our prarabdha, or destiny.
We have to be thankful for the food we have and not fuss over it. We should try to remember that there are many many people in the world who do not have anything to eat. We have to thank God for what he has given us and be happy.
Just as the four wheels of a car have to go in the same direction, in order to take the driver to his/her destination, we have to also direct our five senses, in order to achieve our goals. For example, if there is a test coming up on Monday, and there is a new Disney movie on Sunday, just because our eyes want to watch the movie, we should not yield to it. We should be in control of our senses and do the right thing, which is to study for the test.
Story : Once upon a time there was a rabbit that did not like rain or dry hot weather. He was not happy even in the cool pleasant breeze. And he always complained.
One day he saw a Yogi, who was continuously chanting the Lord's name. The rabbit asked him what's the use of chanting when God does not give anything. The Yogi asked the rabbit what he wanted. The rabbit thought for a while and told him that he would be happier living on the clouds. With God's help, the Yogi placed the rabbit on the clouds. In the beginning, the rabbit was too busy making himself comfortable.
Then when he looked down he saw the beautiful earth.
He looked at the clouds and thought "they are so misty and soft… I can't even run"
He was missing the carrots he used to eat. Soon, he started hating the place. The rabbit shouted for Yogiji's help. He did not appear.
He started meditating "Hari Bola, Hari Bola"
The Kind Lord sent the Yogi to help the rabbit get back to the earth.
The rabbit learnt his lesson - God knows the best- Be content with what he gives you....like the python.
We then discussed two more concepts :
Who is poor ?
John D Rockafeller was one of the richest men in America, who also gave a lot of money to charity. He always said "Earn plenty honestly, and use it for people" When someone asked him who is poor..he answered " A poor person is one who has nothing, but money"
We paused here, and asked the kids what this means. We were surprised to hear all the good answers the kids gave. They all said, a person who has money, but no kindness, love or compassion is POOR.
Who is wealthy ?
One day a rich man takes his young son to a village to show how people live there and worked on farms. After they returned, he asked his son what he felt. The son replied -
We have one dog, they have four
We have a pool that reaches half of our garden, they have a creek which has no end
We have lanterns in our garden, they have stars
We have a wall around our home to guard us, they have their friends
We have servants who do our work, they serve others.
Dad, now I know how poor we are!
One who is content is the wealthiest.
We concluded our lesson today saying that we have to learn to be content, like a python.
Who is wealthy ?
One day a rich man takes his young son to a village to show how people live there and worked on farms. After they returned, he asked his son what he felt. The son replied -
We have one dog, they have four
We have a pool that reaches half of our garden, they have a creek which has no end
We have lanterns in our garden, they have stars
We have a wall around our home to guard us, they have their friends
We have servants who do our work, they serve others.
Dad, now I know how poor we are!
One who is content is the wealthiest.
We concluded our lesson today saying that we have to learn to be content, like a python.
Gita Time- today we learned verses 15 and 16, given along is the youtube link for practice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqMK0t9rBK4&list=PLwv-WSJSokEMjzRiL_CQC--igySyIgJqA&index=8
Please encourage the kids to practice. We will be recording the Gita chanting in the next class for house points (verse from 9th-16th)
Likhita Japa- The last few minutes of the class before we went to the main assembly for Aarthi, the kids wrote "Om Namo Narayanaya" in their blue notebooks.
Aarti and Pledge - We concluded the class with Aarti and Pledge in the temple hall.
We look forward to seeing the kids in the class next week (1/29)
House contests- The story telling contest registration will be up for a couple more days and the program is on 28th. All those who have registered will be getting the details regarding the same.
Shlokathon on 3/18 and please register for the levels given in the website.
Bhajanotsav on 4/29, please form your own groups (4-6) for this unique group competition.
Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you and HariOm,
Neelima Turaga & Vidhya Aiyer
