Hari OM Dear Families,
Here is this week's update.
Week 27 :
4th June 2023 / 9:15 AM
Opening prayers and ShlokasSlokas: 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)We practiced Krishnashtakam and Govinda damodara stotram.
Today's lesson was our last teacher (My 24 teachers) The Arrow maker
Once there was an arrow-maker, who kept himself very busy in his work. One time a big party of the king and his retinue were passing by but he did not even notice them.Saint Dattëtreya said, "I saw this and learned to have concentration of mind."
Today's teacher was the "Arrowmaker".
We started by discussing what concentration is? How often the kids heard this word and where, and why is this important.
Concentration of mind is to make the mind think in one form, an object, a thought, or a concept steadily for a long time.
Everyone has this ability. One with high degree of concentration alone can turn out better and accomplish more workShort story about Sir Isaac Newton - Once, someone invited Sir Isaac Newton for dinner. He went to his host's residence and was shown to the living room by the butler. The host gentleman had forgotten all about Sir Isaac Newton waiting. He ate his dinner and retired to bed.
Newton sat musing on some important point of science. He did not move from his seat. He had forgotten all about dinner! That was how much he was engrossed in his thought and that was the level of his concentration.
Apples have fallen down from trees for years; it takes a thinking person like Mr. Newton to come up with gravitational law! His ability to concentrate, and focus led to great inventions. Newton's single-pointed attention earned him fame.
We talked about some examples in nature that demonstrate the power of concentration.
Sunlight does not burn a piece of paper placed out in the open. However, if a magnifying glass is held a few inches away from the paper and let the concentrated sun's rays fall on the paper, the paper begins to burn.
When a dam is built on a river, it can generate electricity.
A boiling kettle loses steam as steam dissipates into the air; but when the steam is collected in the steam engine, it can move a whole train.
Every creature in the world has to concentrate to succeed in what it does. Think about animals hunting for food. They are still, head down, and ears flat, in complete concentration, before they leap on their prey. Concentration is a must for a successful and satisfying life
Short story from the Mahabharata -
Dronacharya taught archery to the Pandava and Kaurava princes. One day he wanted to test their skills. There was a bird on the branch of a tree, and the test was to shoot the arrow at the bird's eye. One by one all the princes came, and Dronacharya asked them what they could see when they were aiming their arrow. All of them said they saw the bird, tree, branches, sky, etc. Finally it was Arjuna's turn. Dronacharya asked him what he could see. Arjuna replies that he could only see the eye of the bird.
This story illustrates the concentration of Arjuna, which made him one of the greatest archers.
A single pointed attention is needed to attain perfection in any endeavor.
We then played a picture quiz. The class was divided into two groups and we showed pictures from what we learned this year. The questions included, the names of the characters shown in the picture, the event or the situation, the name of the place etc. It was very entertaining and interesting when kids came up with every answer.
We had a small farewell snack as we closed this beautiful balavihar year.
Thank you everyone , children and parents from team Grade 4 Sunday AM for making it a successful year.
The registration for the following year 2023-2024 is open.
There is our Chinmaya Ananda mela on 6/10 from 10 am until 5.30 pm at our ashram premises. Please come and enjoy. Please check this link for more info.
Please feel free to leave our group whatsapp. thanks.
Pranam and Hari Om
Neelima Turaga and Vidhya Aiyer
