Mar 12, 2023 - Grade 4 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM Dear Families,

Here is this week's update.

Week 17 :
12th March 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)

Saraswathi Namasthubhyam
"Gurur Brahma" (page 60 in My Prayers book)
"Krishnaya Vasudevaya" (page 105 in My Prayers book)

Govinda damodhara stothram- we learned the third verse, "vikretu kaama kila gopa kanyaa.."

Gita time -We had a quick practice of gita verses 21 and 22.  We will soon record the verses from 17 until 25 (assigned verses for our grade)

The playlist link of gita verses 1-25 chapter 3 is up at our description box of our whatsapp group.

Krishna everywhere -Salvation of Sudarshana -

Krishna was now twelve years old. 

Nanda had taken a vow that when Krishna turns twelve, he would

 offer a special worship to the family's idol of worship, 

Goddess Ambika. Along with neighbors, friends and family, Nanda

 went to the temple of the Goddess with gifts of milk, curd, butter

 and sweets.

Nanda devotedly performed the sacred ritual in all its beauty. He fed

 all the Mahatmas.

By the time the puja was over it had become dark. So they decided to

 spend the night in the temple courtyard.

Nanda and his followers lay down to rest. Suddenly, the party was

 woken by a disturbed shout from Nanda.They lit their torches and

 saw that Nanda's foot was in the mouth of an unimaginably huge

 python.They beat the snake with sticks, but still the snake did not

 leave its hold. Nanda cried out, "I am caught, Krishna! Krishna! This

 a big serpent caught me. I surrender to you…Please save me." Krishna

 rushed to his father's rescue. He touched the back of the snake

 with his foot.At once, the ugly python turned into a handsome and

 shining Vidyadhara. He bowed down to Krishna.

Krishna asked him who he was. He replied,  "My name is Sudarshana. I am a celestial magician. Out of arrogance I disturbed Sage Angira, and he cursed me to become a python, and said that I would be released from the curse only with the touch of Lord Krishna. "

Offering deep prostrations, Sudarshana mounted his chariot and sped away to the Deva loka.

Sudarshana had no control over his mind and hence got into  trouble. We should always guard our senses and make sure we always do the right things. 

Just like fire and water are essential for life, but can create havoc if uncontrolled, like wildfires or floods, Our mind, intellect and senses are very powerful, but have to be in control to achieve good results.

Shankachuda- 

Krishna and Balarama were playing the flute in the forest and the gopis were spellbound by the music. Just then, Shankachuda, the evil servant of Kubera arrived. He grabbed the girls and put them in their chariot and drove away. The girls screamed for help. The brothers uprooted trees and chased shankhachuda. He was frightened and dropped the gopis and tried to run to save his life. Krishna asked Balarama to guard and take care of the gopis and ran behind shankhachuda. Krishna punched him with his fist and killed shankhachuda. A precious gem rolled down from his crown. Krishna gave the gem to Balarama. The gopis were ever thankful to the brothers and always sang glories of bhagwan.

Teacher for today's class -Pingala, the Dancer. 

There once was a young, beautiful dancer called Pingala. Rich people came to see her dance everyday and give her lots of money and gifts. She didn't care about anything else except these riches. One day no one came to see her dance. She was initially very sad and upset, but slowly realized how foolish she had been, thinking about things that would perish and in the process forgot God. She drops all the attachment with the worldly things, and turns her attention to the Lord. She thanks God for putting her on the right path, by creating these problems.Pingala dancer teaches us not to have expectations, because when we expect, we are bound to get disappointed.

Story time : Once a rich,grumpy old man went to a Rabbi as he was unhappy. The Rabbi takes him near a glass window and asks him to tell what he saw. The old man saw some children playing outside and some women talking, The rabbi then shows him to a mirror, and asks him when he can see now. The man replies that he can only see himself. 

The Window is made of glass, and so is the mirror. But the glass of the mirror has been covered with silver. With the coating of silver, you stop seeing others and instead see only yourself. When our mind is engrossed in material things, we can only see ourselves. Once we drop this attachment, we can see other things.

We practiced for our class play. We will send the scripts to all families in the email, please print a copy for them. (each child should have a personal copy, please )

Play on 5/7 - the stage rehearsal dates and timings are given in the whatsapp group. FYI

House contests- 

Shlokathon on 3/18 and please register for the levels given in the website. (The registration will soon close, the last day will be until midnight.)

House Events (chinmayavrindavan.org)

Geeta Chanting yagna (geeta contest) coming up on 4/22. The registration begins on 3/19 and closes on 4/15. Please look out for the flyer and link to register.

Bhajanotsav on 4/29, please register and form your own groups (4-6) for this unique group competition. House Events (chinmayavrindavan.org)

(Registration links also provided in the whatsapp group)

We look forward to seeing the kids in the class next week (3/19)

Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you and HariOm,
Neelima Turaga & Vidhya Aiyer