Hari OM Parents,
Please find the summary of today's class.
Prayer time:
We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers - "Sahanaavathu". We started learning Dashavatara Stotram.
Recap of previous class
We did a quick Q&A on the "Churning of Milky Ocean" story.
What do we learn from the story of Churning of the milky ocean?
We continued to discuss the symbolism and morals from the story.
There were many problems during the churning of the milky ocean. As promised, the Lord helped the devas with each one of the problems. Devas only had to be polite and persistent and have faith in the Lord.
We discussed how a wolf seeing his big shadow thought he is big and powerful, challenged the lion and got killed. It is important to be polite and humble.
Perseverance is the determination, and dedication in the pursuit of a goal, even in the face of obstacles, setbacks, or challenges until the goal is achieved. Set a goal and do not stop until the goal is reached.
We think in our mind. Mind is a great instrument that records sounds, scenes, fragrances, tastes and even touches. What we record in our mind, alone plays back.
We ourselves are Devas and Asuras. When we have good emotions like love, kindness and sharing, we are devas. When anger, jealousy and greed take over, we become asuras. Both good and bad are recorded in our minds. We make the choice of what we should play, and our intellect helps us make the right choice.
Churning of the ocean represents the churning of the mind between good and bad thoughts - the devas and asuras.
Milky ocean = Thoughts in our mind
Devas and asuras = Good and bad Thoughts
Vasuki, the rope = Committed spirit to the goal of being happy
Halahala poison = Bad thoughts/evil ideas
Praying to God will remove any bad feelings or thoughts. Some small rewards may come to tempt us, but do not get distracted. As our mind is churning, many brilliant and noble thoughts can also come. They are gifts like the Airavata, Parijata etc. We must not stop here and must continue until we reach the goal. We should always be trying and never give up.
Kids stage performance – Story of Dhruva
It was the long-awaited day of the class performance. The children performed the story of Dhruva on stage as part of the monthly program in front of all Balavihar students and parents. It was a wonderful performance by kids thanks to all the preparation by kids and parents. Everyone appreciate the wonderful and confident performance by Grade 3 students.
Students enacted the journey of Dhruva, a 5-year-old boy who yearns for his father's love, neglected by his father, ill-treated by his stepmother, transforms to a fully mindful student of the Lord by the guidance of Guru Sage Narada. He not only listens to his Guru and follows through with his determination and Tapas, receives the Supreme Lord's grace. Dhruva shows how with true determination and with the Lord by His side, anything is possible. Kids demonstrated how one can apply these principles in their daily life to overcome the challenges.
Guru Stotram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcTvswcTFs
Geeta chapter 3: https://bit.ly/BGChapter3Playlist
Thanks and warm regards,
Aruna and Subbu
