Hari OM Dear Families,
Here is this week's update.Week 14 :
12th February 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)
our lesson- Krishna everywhere - Indra Yajna bhangam :
It was the rainy season and there were grand preparations for a Yajna. Krishna asked his father about the Yajna..."what is all this for? In whose honor is this yajna being performed? What are the benefits of doing this yajna?" His father Nanda answered,"the yajna is in honor of Indra. Indra is the god of clouds and rain. Rain gives life to all living beings. Therefore we are praying to him to thank him and ask him to remain kind to us." Krishna then raised a doubt as to why they should thank Indra, when each person's own karma decides the birth, death and fortune of any person. Where is Indra coming in this. Krishna further added that they should instead, worship the cows, brahmins and the Mount Govardhan, who help them in many different ways. The elders did not initially agree to this as they wanted to continue the tradition. But hearing Krishna's points, they were convinced. Then it was unanimously decided that the cows, brahmins and Mount Govardhan shall be worshipped every year, not Indra.
Indra heard this and was enraged. He decided to punish the villagers for this. He summoned the lightning, clouds and winds and asked them to wreck havoc on Vrindavana and destroy it. Torrential rains and hail lashed ruthlessly on the people of Vrindavan. It was flooded everywhere.It was cold and damp and the people were suffering immensely. The whole village ran to Krishna asking him to save them from Indra's fury. Krishna then lifted the Govardhana mountain with one hand and placed it on his pinky finger. The entire village took shelter under the mountain.
Krishna's gopa friends were so sweet that they thought Krishna wouldn't be able to hold the mountain on his own for very long and tried to support it by holding sticks up against the mountain.Krishna pretended that he needed all the help he could get.
This went on for seven days and nights. The rain did not stop. But no one was afraid now as they all had Krishna with them.
Indra was puzzled and surprised. He realized that all this anger he was showing was a waste and he was ashamed of himself. He recalled his forces of destruction. The rain stopped and the floods subsided. People thanked Krishna and went to their homes.
Soon Indra came to Vrindavana with his head hung low and begged for forgiveness. Krishna tells him to go back and do his duties faithfully. One should not expect any reward for performing one's duty. The divine cow, Kamadhenu also came to worship Krishna. Everyone felt blessed and happy.
What is Karma - We discussed the concept of Karma. Karma means action. For example, when I am hungry, I eat. This is action. The result is that I feel full, which is the Karma phala. Each person is responsible for his own karma and karma phala. If I am hungry and another person eats, will I feel full? If you sow lemon seeds, you will only get a lemon tree, not an orange tree. As you sow, so shall you reap. We have to bear the consequences of our actions.
Another concept we discussed was Nishkaama karma - Selfless acts, or actions performed without any selfishness or ego. We talked about Mother Theresa, who dedicated her life to the service of mankind. The actions surrendered at the feet of the Lord are the best kind of action.
A riddle to find today's teacher ;
You may think I am a thief.
I loot hard earned savings of busy workaholics.
Not only that, I drive them out of their homes.
But, in the end, people enjoy the sweet rewards, my loot.
Who Am I?
This was a tricky one, we had a ton of responses but it took a while to get on the right track. One child said, maybe
, a bee and another caught the beekeeper!Riches amassed with great pains by misers are neither enjoyed by them nor gifted away; they are enjoyed by others, who like the beekeeper discovers the hoard and appropriates it.
Bees collect honey with great trouble, but beekeepers take away honey depriving the bees.
Similarly people hoard wealth and other things with great difficulty, but they have to leave them all when they depart this world for others to enjoy.
Learn to enjoy what you have now!
Honey bees teach us not to hoard.
Honey-gatherers teach us to judiciously enjoy what we have saved.
Miserliness only leads to misery.
King Alexander waged war against countries and looted people.
He was powerful, greedy, selfish and cruel.
He was considered the richest man on earth!
When death was nearing, he reflected upon his actions: "I have committed so many evil deeds to collect this wealth. When I die, I will be leaving everything behind and going alone without taking a single coin."
He told his ministers: "When my body is taken to the grave, you have to see that my two hands are stretched out with palms open, and fully exposed, while the rest of the body is covered, so that my subjects may see that I, a great king, the richest man in the world, went on my final journey, "empty-handed," as I could not take anything with me."
Gita Time- verses 21 and 22 from Chapter 3, karma yoga.
Please encourage the kids to practice.
Our class presentation - Our class is scheduled to do the monthly program on May 7th. We have already started working on the skit and very briefly discussed it with the kids. More details in the upcoming weeks!
Today was a short class due to grades 6th and 9th performances on stage and that was followed by the Pledge -
We look forward to seeing the kids in the class next week (2/26)
Thank you and HariOm,
Neelima Turaga & Vidhya Aiyer
