Apr 23, 2023 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om Parents,

Update on 03/26, 04/02, 04/16, 04/23

We were working on memorizing Bhagavatgeeta and Hanuman Chalisa.

Glad to see so many kids participating in Shlokathon and Geeta Yajna.

Congratulations to Aadya, Anika Shastry, Layam, Sahana, Vyaana, Ashvika, Riaan & Ryan being recognized in the Geeta Chanting Yajna, though many more kids in our class could chant the Geetha verses.

Our class performance is on June 10th, Annual/Mela Day. 

We are working on the play rehearsal in the class. Will update more on the roles and costumes through WhatsApp.

See you all on next Sunday 04/30/2023

Hari Om

Meena Rajan & Ramya Belavadi

Mar 12, 2023 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

Hariom,

We would like to give a summary for March 12 class.  We start class with 3 Oms and then follow it by chanting the Opening Prayer Om Sahanavavatu. 

 

        1.     Chanting Slokas- Vakratunda Mahakaya (Ganesha shloka), Saraswati Namastubyam (Saraswati shloka) and Gurur brahma gurur vishnu (Guru stotram)

2.     Dhyana Shloka - Buddhir balam

3.     Hanuman Chalisa chanting – We completed shloka verses 36 to 40 of Hanuman Chalisa. We have 5 children in the class who have memorised all the verses of Hanuman Chalisa. Many other children know how to chant but do not have the shlokas memorised. We are trying to make all the children chant from memory the whole of Hanuman Chalisa. 

We chanted as a class 5 times verses 1 - 10. We sent the videos of all the children chanting verses 1 -10 on the class whatsapp group. We now need all the children to recite from memory verse 1 -10.

4.     Bhagawat Gita chanting: Grade 2 is expected to learn and memorize shloka verse 1 through verse 16. As a class we have learnt the verses. However, all the children are at a different level of comfort and knowledge. We practise 16 verses and we have noticed more and more children are practising and we have quite a few children reciting.

6.     Games - Rama Says. (Same as Simon Says children had a lot of fun jumping but they were focused and very few kids got out. But this made the children have some fun. This makes them move and get them doing physical activity which is very important. 

7.      Meditation – We followed with our meditation exercise that is Counting Coins in silence. It was a wonder to see all kids had counted the total number of coins correctly. The kids are in the middle of this year's session and children are now more engaged and focused.

8.      Aarti and Pledge : Then we proceeded to the temple for Aarti and Pledge.

 

Our goal is to make sure all the children chant Hanuman Chalisa memorized. It goes without saying parents, your participation is the most important one here. Please make sure to run the video of Hanuman Chalisa daily. Children listen and learn and not before long will be chanting the complete chalisa with ease. 

 

It is always a great pleasure to meet all the children on Sunday morning. We  have a very energetic class of happy children. 

Pranaam,

Meena Rajan and Ramya Belavadi

Mar 5, 2023 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om Dear Parents.

Update on March 5th Balavihar class

Started our class with 3 OMs and opening prayers
    1.    Sahanaavavatu
    2.    Vakratunda mahaakaya
    3.    Saraswati namastubhyam
    4.    Guru Brahma

    5. Buddhir Balam

Hanuman Chalisa: We learnt 4 new verses.

31. Hanumanji is the dispenser of eight supernatural powers and nine treasures of Kubera. This boon has been bestowed upon Him by mother Janaki.
32. Hanuman ji has the ambrosia of Sri Rama with Him. May You always be a servant to the Lord.
33. Those who repeat your name, do Bhajans, will attain Sri Rama and also be free from the sorrows of many lives
34. At the end of life, devotees go to the eternal abode of Sri Rama.

Kids have promised to memorize the first 10 verses by next class. Please help them. 

Meditation: Kids were able to sit still for almost 3 mins, closing their eyes playing the meditation game of coin drop. Their concentration is amazing!!!

Games:
1. Khate bhi Ram kaho: Chant the name of Ram in whatever activities we do.
2. During house activities, younger kids couldn't play the game of "Passing the ball with trays" in the main hall. We got the game and played it in our class. Though it was challenging for them, they learnt to work as a team, had lots of fun.

We revised 16 verses of Bhagavadgeeta
Few minutes of Likhita japa.

Important upcoming dates

Our class Presentation: Date will be announced soon.

March 18th: Shlokathon
April 22nd: Gita Yajna (will be sending a practice log on WhatsApp soon)
April 29th: Bhajanotsav
May 27, 28, 29th: Memorial Day camp

Few videos for parents

Discourse on Bhagavadgeeta by Swami Chinmayananda ji

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe-XaZ6oqZSWJ0lliTZk2hfSAk1NCYd81

Next Balavihar class - March 12th

Hari Om

Meena Rajan and Ramya Belavadi

Jan 29, 2023 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om Parents,

 

Jan 29th session review

 

We started class with 3 Oms, followed by chanting the Opening Prayer 

Om Sahanavavatu. 

 

        1. Chanting Slokas- Vakratunda Mahakaya (Ganesha shloka),  Saraswati Namastubyam (Saraswati shloka) and Gurur brahma gurur vishnu (Guru stotram)

1. Dhyana Shloka - Buddhir balam
2. Hanuman Chalisa chanting – We learned 4 shlokas in this class. (Shlokas 15 to 18 of Hanuman Chalisa)

Shloka 15: All the gods & even poets who are know. For their ability to see the unseen in so many things & sing their glory, are dumb-founded when it comes to describing Hanumanji

Shloka 16: Hanumanji brought an alliance if friendship between Sugriva and Sri Rama, which paved the way for Sugriva to regain his kingdom and recovery of Sita.

Shloka 17: When Vibhishana surrendered to the feet of Sri Rama, Hanumanji said that there is no reason of suspicion. Everyone knows that he became the king of Lanka.

Shloka 18: Having the aspiration for highest knowledge, Hanumanji went to swallow to Sun.

3. Aarti & Pledge: we practiced Aarthi and pledge in the class. Today was 2nd graders turn to lead Aarthi and pledge, which they did very well. So happy to see their enthusiasm. Thanks to all the parents for helping them practice at home as well.

4. Bhagawat Gita chanting: todays verses were 17 & 18. Kids practiced chanting 1-16 verses. 2nd graders are supposed to memorize 16 verses only. If your kids are interested and capable of memorizing more and even the whole chapter, please refer to this playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwv-WSJSokEMjzRiL_CQC--igySyIgJqA

5.   Games - we played 'Rama says'

6. Song: we learnt a very fun action song 'Khate bhi ram kaho' - meaning: Whatever action you do, chant the name of Sri Rama. 

Upcoming event

Shlokathon March 18th: 

If you have not yet registered, please do. Bit.ly/Shlokas22

 Our class kids know these 5 shlokas for sure.

1. Sahanavavatu
2. Vakratunda
3. Saraswati
4. Guru Brahma
5. Buddhir balam

Hanuman Chalisa - 18 shlokas so far.

Kids can chant how many ever they are comfortable with. Some kids in our class know the whole Hanuman Chalisa.

Looking forward to see all 21 kids participating in the Shlokathon event. 

Next Balavihar class - on Feb 5th

Pranaam,

Meena Rajan and Ramya Belavadi

Jan 22, 2023 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

Hariom Parents,

 

We had a great start to Sunday morning with all the children yesterday. Here is a recap for you about the session. 

 

We started class with 3 Oms and then followed it by chanting the Opening Prayer Om Sahanavavatu. 

 

        1.     Chanting Slokas- Vakratunda Mahakaya (Ganesha shloka),  Saraswati Namastubyam (Saraswati shloka) and Gurur brahma gurur vishnu (Guru stotram)

2.     Dhyana Shloka - Buddhir balam

3.     Hanuman Chalisa chanting – We did 6 slokas in class. (Shlokas 10 to 16 of Hanuman Chalisa) We added something to the mix. It was done more like an action song. So, children enjoy the shlokas more when they understand the meaning and as Hanuman Chalisa tells us about the stories of Hanumanji. We first made them pronounce each word then the whole shloka followed by the meaning/story of the shloka. We started this format and plan to continue this for the rest of the year.

Please practice chanting but our love for Hanumanji grows as we listen to his stories. So, encourage all children to keep the Hanuman Chalisa book as a reading book. The stories of Hanumanji are delightful and instills his virtues. The best way to enjoy it is by listening to his qualities. Parents you may also have fun listening to the stories. 

4.     Practise Aarti and Pledge for next Sunday session. Our class children are scheduled to lead Aarti and Pledge next Sunday. So we ensured all children can sing along with correct pronunciations.

5.     Bhagawat Gita chanting: We learned and then chanted  along with Swamiji Bhagawat Gita the shlokas 15 and 16. Please play the video and chant along with your children. This will encourage your children to chant. (13) Verses 15-16 Ch.3 BG - YouTube.

6.     Games - Rama Says. (Same as Simon Says children had a lot of fun jumping but they were focused and very few kids got out. But this made the children have some fun.

7.      Meditation – We followed with our meditation exercise that is Counting Coins in silence. It was a wonder to see all kids had counted the total number of coins correctly. The kids are in the middle of this year's session and children are now more engaged and focused.

8.      Likhita Japa : We then proceeded to write rama rama in our likhita japa notebooks.

9       Aarti and Pledge : Then we proceeded to the temple for Aarti and Pledge.

 

We had a fun class with all your children. Thank you for working with them in practicing the shlokas. It was so good to see so many of our children are regularly practicing shlokas. We would like to encourage each and every child to participate in shlokathon, gita chanting and annual programs. It will be a rewarding experience to see the children do well as we will have these programs start March. Hanuman Chalisa is normally always part of Shlokathon. It would be great to see some of our children try to say the whole of Hanuman Chalisa for the shlokathon (some families chant Hanuman chalisa and we can see those kids able to sing along with familiarity they might be able to chant all 40 shlokas by shlokathon). Wishing everyone good luck practising.

 

Pranaam,

Meena Rajan and Ramya Belavadi

Jan 8, 2023 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om Dear Parents.

Update on Dec 18th and Jan 8th Balavihar classes

We started our class with chanting 3 OMs followed by

1. Sahanaavavatu

2. Vakratunda

3. Saraswati namastubhyam

4. Gururbrahma

5. Buddhir balam

As we finished 8 qualities of Hanuman ji, last two classes we did the Backbone Project.

We started learning Hanuman Chalisa

Hanuman Chalisa is a great prayer with 40 verses (chaupāis) written by Sri Goswami Tulasidas. It's in Avadhi language, a dialect of Hindi spoken in Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama.

We sing glories of the Lord

1. To Purify our speech and mind

2. Singing Hanuman Chalisa makes us Fearless

We have learnt 10 verses so far.

1. In the first verse, ' Sri guru CharaNa saroja ….'

Sri Tulsidas invokes the blessings of his Guru before undertaking this glorious work of singing Lord Hanuman's praises.

2. In the second verse 'Buddhihīna Tanu ….'

Tulsidas ji invokes Hanuma Ji's blessings.

3. Hanuman ji is the embodiment of all virtues and wisdom - 'jnāna guNa sāgara'

4. He is Lord Rama's messenger. He is Anjani & Pavana's son

5. He is Bajarangi - as strong as a thunderbolt

6. This verse describes the beautiful ear-rings and hair

7. He is the perfect model of Sannyasa - wearing sacred thread 'Munja Jnaeu'

8. He is the son of Lord Shankara and also son of Kesari

9. He is the master of all knowledge 

10. He is keen on listening to the glorious story of Lord Rama, Lakshmana & Sita.

Bhagavadgeeta

We have learnt until 14th verse of Bhagavadgeeta Chapter-3

Here is Swamiji's video recording for practice reference.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwv-WSJSokEMjzRiL_CQC--igySyIgJqA

Please share your kids video recording of every 5 verses they memorize to this email 

Geeta@chinmayavrindavan.org to earn points for our House 'Bajarangi Bolts'

Happy to see so many kids sharing your recordings in our WhatsApp group and getting your pronunciations corrected. Keep memorizing. Our goal for this year is 16 verses. 

Hari Om

Meena Rajam & Ramya Belavadi

 

Dec 4, 2022 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

Hariom Parents,

 

We had a great start to Sunday morning with all the children yesterday. Here is a recap for you about the session. We are meeting after a week and we missed many of your children today. It is a good idea to discuss the last class details as you drive to the ashram in the morning. We will be revisiting our Hanuman Dhyana Shloka meaning(where we discuss 8 important qualities of Hanumanji) in yesterday's class. We will be also doing a project next week which we call Hanumanji backbone project. So, please make sure not to miss the next session on Dec 11th.

 

We started class with 3 Oms and then followed it by chanting Opening Prayer Om Sahanavavatu. 

1. Chanting Slokas- Vakratunda Mahakaya (Ganesha shloka),  Saraswati Namastubyam (Saraswati shloka) and Gurur brahma gurur vishnu (Guru stotram)

2. Dhyana Shloka - Buddhir balam

3. Discussion – We had a one week gap so we revisited the 7 qualities of Hanumanji how we say in Sanskrit in English what it means and the examples of people or stories where the quality of Hanumanji was seen in ordinary people and how we need to imbibe these qualities in us. 

Today we discussed the quality "Vaakpaduthvam" which  means eloquence. To be able to effectively communicate we must first think and then speak.

We then asked if you want to say how you would tell others about Balavihar. Children came up with the idea. They would say they learnt slokas and bhajans, listened to stories, played fun games and made new friends outside of school. Next we asked how they would spread the message

• Tell friends and family
• Use a microphone in a gathering and speak in front of a crowd
• Create a video and post in youtube
• Made a leaflet and gave it to people

In order to succeed in life it is very important to speak eloquently. So to be an effective speaker one must know

• When to speak
• What to speak
• How to speak and
• How much to speak

4. Story - Yes, The Fees Are Doubled

Socrates was a Greek philosopher and a teacher whose teachings were based on discipline and vigorous thoughtful dialogue. He never used unnecessary words in his speech and kept his conversations to a minimum. He was a very effective communicator.

Once, a young man came to him to learn the art of speaking. The young man was very talkative and introduced himself using many words.

Socrates told the young man " I will take double the money from you" The young man was taken aback, replied "Sir. I have heard that you do not care for money, so then why are you asking for double the fee?"

To this Socrates replied "Because I have to teach you two things. First, how to be quiet and then how to talk effectively with minimum words".

Thus an effective speaker is the one who can deliver his message with maximum impact using minimum words.

5. Activity -

We had the events of Ramayana  in 15 lines. Each line was separately cut out. We asked the children to form groups of 3 and arrange it according to the sequence of events as it happens in Ramayana.  

Now one child from each group had to stand up and narrate the sequence of events loudly and clearly. This made them collect their thoughts and speak loudly in front of their friends. Every group found that it needs a lot of preparation even if the material was in front to prepare to speak and speak effectively.

This was a fun activity for the children as the subject was very well known to all but it led them to prepare on their own and try to communicate their best way.

6. Hanuman Chalisa chanting - We started to learn Hanuman Chalisa. We covered the first 2 dohas. We found that 5 children in the class already know the Hanuman Chalisa and chant the chalisa regularly. We found a youtube video were chanting is very similar to how we chant in class. Here is the link (132) श्री हनुमान चालीसा Hanuman Chalisa I GULSHAN KUMAR I HARIHARAN, Full HD Video, Shree Hanuman Chalisa - YouTube. Add to your playlist and please play it regularly at home. This is the easiest way to learn listening to shloka.

7. Bhagawat Gita chanting: We learned and then chanted  along with Swamiji Bhagawat Gita the shlokas 7 and 8. (132) Verses 7-8 Ch.3 BG - YouTube

Please play the video and chant along with your children. This will encourage your children to chant.

8. Likhita Japa : We then proceeded to write rama rama in our likhita japa notebooks.

9 Aarti and Pledge : Then we proceeded to the temple for Aarti and Pledge.

We had a fun class with all your children. Thank you for working with them in practising the shlokas. We found all the children could chant Buddhir balam very well. Please continue to send us video recordings of the Bhagawat Gita chanting. 2 shlokas at a time is good. Please do not wait for them to chant all 8. We will start our class at 9.15. Please try to be in Balavihar by that time.

Pranaam,

Meena Rajan and Ramya Belavadi

Nov 20, 2022 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om Dear Parents.

Update on November 20th Balavihar class

Class started with 3 kids!!

Slowly, most of the kids came before 9:30! before we had special teachers! who came over to teach our class this week.

(Parents, please please bring your kids before 9:10am, it's important to start class on time and late comers is a distraction)

1. Started our class with opening prayers

    1.    Sahanaavavatu

    2.    Vakratunda mahaakaya

    3.    Saraswati namastubhyam

    4.    Guru Brahma

We revised the first 5 verses of Bhagavadgeeta while waiting for JCHYKs.

This week, JCHYKS (10th to 12th grade students - Ananya didi, Anant bhayya and Srivatsa bhayya) taught our 2nd grade kids.

They did an amazing job. Kids had fun with all three of them.

Kids learned about Arogata and AjaaDyam 

2. Chanted Dhyana Shloka

Discussion topic: Arogatha and Ajaadyam

3. Arogata: Free from diseases 

Health is wealth. Good physical health means a body free from all kinds of diseases, headache, fever, flu, cough etc.

We discussed healthy and unhealthy foods. 

Arogata also means free from diseases of the mind. 

We learned about things that make us mentally weak and mentally strong through an activity of word search puzzles

Puzzle 1: Things that make me weak

    1.    Anger

    2.    Pride

    3.    Greed

    4.    Ego

    5.    Selfish

    6.    Rude

    7.    Hurt

Puzzle 2: Things that make me strong 

    1.    Smile

    2.    Sharing

    3.    Love

    4.    Kindness

    5.    Worship

4. AjaaDyam, being alert and active. 

Lazy Misty Story: 

Misty was very lazy. She would throw her clothes, books, and toys everywhere. Being upset with her habits, her mom prayed to the Lord to help her realize how bad it is to be lazy. Misty laughed at her mom's prayer and thought her mom was silly. 

Misty prayed to the Lord, " O kind God, let me have no occasion to work at all, let all my work get done automatically without me doing anything".

To teach Misty a lesson, God appeared in her dream and said, 'may all your work be done automatically'. Misty was overwhelmed with joy.

 

She got up in the morning. Her bed was made by itself. Misty was happy!

She went to the sink, but her teeth were already clean! Misty was thrilled!

She went to take a bath, immediately blazing hot water started falling on her. She could not do anything about it.

She ran out of the bathroom and stood in front of the closet to pick a dress, an ugly dress came out and put itself on Misty. 

She tried to remove it, but it wouldn't come off. She gave up and went for breakfast. Her least favorite cereal came and started stuffing itself on her mouth until she started gagging. When she went to wash her face, water splashed all over her face. When she went to comb her hair, the brush put a tight pony tail on her, which made her look terrible. Misty realized why her mother said that laziness was bad. She prayed to God, "O God, let me be as before, I will not be lazy anymore"

Lord Sri Krishna has said in Bhagavadgeeta Chapter 3, verse 8. "Even the maintenance of the body is not possible with inaction (being lazy)"

5. Bhajan: Veera Hanumana ati balavana

6. Bhagavadgeetha: verses 7 & 8

https://youtu.be/iOQ08MpfkBo

7. We recorded the chanting of the first 5 verses of Bhagavadgeetha, 

Few kids have memorized 5 verses. Parents, Please encourage your kids to practice with Swamiji's Bhagavadgeetha teaching videos.

We thanked our special teachers Ananya didi, Anant bhaiyya and Srivatsa bhaiyya for teaching us. Took a few pics.

8. Few videos for parents

Bhagavadgeetha shlokas 5,6,7,8 meaning

https://youtu.be/rlQES3n4SuI

https://youtu.be/2EoNisE9MsQ

No Balavihar class on Nov 27th. 

Next Balavihar is on Dec 4th.

Hari Om

Meena Rajan and Ramya Belavadi

Nov 6, 2022 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

Hariom Parents,

 

We had a great start to Sunday morning with all the children on November 6th. Here is a recap for you about the session. We are meeting after a week on November 20th. It is a good idea to discuss the last class details as you drive to the ashram in the morning. 

 

We started class with 3 Oms and then followed it by chanting Opening Prayer Om Sahanavavatu. 

1. Chanting Slokas- Vakratunda Mahakaya (Ganesha shloka),  Saraswati Namastubyam (Saraswati shloka) and Gurur brahma gurur vishnu (Guru stotram)

2. Dhyana Shloka - Buddhir balam

3. Discussion – We discussed the topic of Fear. Our idea was to figure out what causes fear. Children came with their own observations as to how they fear the unknown and that fear resides in the mind as the same thing is normal when there is light and is something they are scared of when it is dark.

We also introduced fearlessness when we live free of malice and by our duties.

As we introduced the topic of fearlessness we also told them how courage is different from fearlessness. When the mind is without fear it is fearless and when we face our fears it needs courage.

4. Storytelling - Today we discussed the quality "Nirbhayatvam"

Tale of the timid rabbit

A rabbit was asleep under a palm tree. Suddenly he woke up and thought " What if the work should break up! What will happen to me? At that moment some monkeys dropped a coconut. It fell down on the ground very close to the rabbit. Hearing the noise, the rabbit said " The earth is breaking up" and he jumped up and ran as fast as he could, without even looking back to see what made the noise.

Seeing the rabbit run, other rabbits started following. As they ran they got to know that the earth was falling. Seeing the rabbits run, the deers, the zebras, the giraffes, the elephants and all started following and in some time all the animals of the jungle were running.

Looking at this the lion asked why they were running so fast. To this the animals answered one after the other that the sky was falling. The lion then asked who saw the sky falling to this finally the rabbit said he did. The lion then asked where he saw the sky falling and demanded the rabbit to come with him there.

After a lot of reluctance the rabbit finally agreed and as they reached the spot the rabbit pointed to the place where he was sleeping. The lion saw the coconut that had fallen to the ground nearby.  The lion turned to the rabbit and said it must have been the coconut.

Are we going to be like the timid rabbit or like the lion? It is better to enquire understand than be scared without checking whether the fears are real. Always remember that God is our friend and when we pray to Hanumanji we get fearless just like him.

5.Bhajan – Khate bhi raam kaho, Pite bhi raam kaho sote bhi raam kaho ram ram ram. Bolo rama rama rama rama rama rama rama rama rama rama ram ram ram.

Our children started adding more and more things they could think of doing as they said Lord Rama's name. So we enjoyed building the bhajan as we sang cheerfully and joyfully with lots of energy and enthusiasm.

6. Likhita Japa : We then proceeded to write rama rama in our likhita japa notebooks.

7. Circle time : Counting coins. We were surprised how the energy had subsided to quite focus as most of the children counted the exact number of coins.

8. Bhagawat Gita chanting: We chanted Bhagavad Gita verse 1 to 4. This was followed with learning the shlokas 5 and 6.

9 Aarti and Pledge : Then we proceeded to the temple for Aarti and Pledge.

Pranaam,

Meena Rajan and Ramya Belavadi

Oct 30, 2022 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om Dear Parents.

Update on Sunday Oct 30th Balavihar class
We had a short class this week, followed by House Inauguration.
Congratulations to all our Bajarangi Bolts for winning our first challenge!!!

    1.    Class started with 3 OMs followed by 4 opening Prayers:

    •    Sahanavavatu (to Pray to Lord to keep both Guru and Disciple on the path of study)
    •    Vakratunda mahaakaavya(for Lord Ganesha)
    •    Saraswathi namastubhyam (for Devi)
    •    Guru Brahma (for Guru)

    2.    Most of the kids have memorized Dhyana Shloka of Sri Hanuman ji too!! We went over buddhi, balam, Yashas and dhairyam. Discussed the story of Rosa Parks and how she is remembered for her tremendous act of bravery. And spoke briefly about  nirbhayatvam/fearlessness.

    3.    We learnt our House Bhajan (of Bajrangi Bolts) - Veera Hanumana ati balavana … 

    4.    We went to the main hall for 'House Inauguration', with our house flag and cheering for our House. All the houses presented their respective house Bhajans. 2nd graders, 7th graders and a few 9th graders as a team won the competition of solving the puzzles!!! Bajrangi Bolts solved the puzzles first!! Yaay!! Congratulations !!  To know more about the Houses and how to earn points, please take a look at this link. https://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/balavihar/balavihar-houses Please encourage your kids to participate in as many events and competitions as possible. They earn points for every participation and will add towards Bajrangi bolts. Lets win the Trophy with our maximum participation.

    5.    Let us all work on memorizing Bhagavath Geetha shlokas (1 - 4 )

 Please share the recordings on our WhatsApp group. Also send the video recordings to geeta@chinmayavrindavan.org to earn points. 

Next class is on Nov 6th 

Hari Om
Meena Rajan & Ramya Belavadi

Oct 16, 2022 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om Dear Parents.

Update on Sunday Oct 16th Balavihar class

1. We chanted 3 OMs followed by 4 opening Prayers:

• Sahanavavatu (to Pray to Lord to keep both Guru and Disciple on the path of study)
• Vakratunda mahaakaavya(for Lord Ganesha)
• Saraswathi namastubhyam (for Devi)
• Guru Brahma (for Guru)

There are few kids who haven't yet memorized these shlokas. Please listen to the recordings sent on WhatsApp group and help them practice.

2. We chanted Dhyana Shloka of Sri Hanuman ji

3. We discussed about Dhairyam

It was interesting to hear from kids about what they knew about courage and their personal experience about being courageous. 

Courage is to do the right thing despite difficulties and obstacles. 

Courage is facing challenges patiently.

Courage is necessary to shed even a small habit in our life.

We learned about the character named Ratnakara in the story, how he showed courage to transform himself. Ask your children if they remember the story and narrate it to you.

Story: 

Ratnakara was a professional robber, who had a wife and children. To support his family, he would rob anyone who would pass through a forest, which was close by to his house. He had no other talent to earn money for living. Once, sage Narada ji was passing through that forest. Ratnakara stopped him and asked him to hand over all his possessions. All that the sage carried was his instrument Veena. Narada smiled and said, "you can have my veena, but do you know you are committing sins when you trouble people and rob them? I know you are doing all this for your wife and children, but do you think they will share all your sins? You can go home and ask them, I can stay here"

Ratnakara tied Narada ji to a tree and went home to check with his family. To his surprise, they all refused to partake in his sins. He realized what a fool he was! He returned to Narada ji and pleaded to give him a solution.

Narada ji asked him to sit and chant 'Rama'. 

Ratnakara started chanting 'Rama, Rama, Rama, ……'

Days, Months, Years passed. When Naradaji finally returned, he found that a giant ant hill had formed around Ratnakara. Ratnakara had never left the spot and never stopped chanting the name of Rama. Narada ji woke Ratnakara from his deep meditation and renamed him Valmiki, since he came out of an ant hill which is called Valmika in sanskrit.

Through prayer, Ratnakara had the courage to wash away his sins and he became a saint.

6. Kids received Yellow Work Book for this year.  We did Likhita japa of 'Rama' in this book. Please remember to send it with the kids every class. Yellow is our house color. To read more about Balavihar Houses, check out this link and participate in the upcoming events. https://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/balavihar/balavihar-houses

7. We learned a new Bhajan on Sri Hanumanji - Veera Maruti Gambheera Maruti.

8. Game time: Rama says

9. Bhagavadgeeta. We reviewed 1st and 2nd shlokas of Bhagavath geeta from last week and learned 3nd and 4th shlokas. Please make sure kids are practicing with this recording. https://youtu.be/Eylejch4kR0 Once they have memorized, please share it in our whatsapp group, to motivate all the others. Even parents are welcome to share.

Few Announcements:

1. Next class is on Oct 30th (NO CLASS on OCT 23rd)
2. Hanuman Chalisa book are on stock in the front desk
3. Class starts at 9:15 am sharp with opening prayers. If kids come late, please ask them to come inside quietly and sit. They won't be greeted right away, since it is a distraction for the other kids listening to the class.

Few videos for parents:

Bhagavadgeeta Chapter 3 shloka 3 meaning

https://youtu.be/-bkFRLWquto

Bhagavadgeeta Chapter 3 shloka 4 meaning

https://youtu.be/J3WidGxyzF8

Happy Diwali

Hari Om

Meena Rajan & Ramya Belavadi

Oct 9, 2022 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

Hariom Parents,

We had a great start to Sunday morning with our kids dressed in beautiful attire and they were enthusiastic to discuss Navratri. We also noticed that we had children walking into class past 9.15am. Just wanted to keep you informed we will start class at 9.15am. 

We started class with 3 Oms and then followed it by chanting Opening Prayer Om Sahanavavatu.

1. Chanting Slokas

       Vakratunda Mahakaya (Ganesha shloka) 

       Saraswati Namastubyam (Saraswati shloka)

       Gurur brahma gurur vishnu (Guru stotram)

We had our children who led the shlokas. Some children are new to balavihar. So we asked for volunteers to video recording of shloka and posting in our class whatsapp group.  We would like them to chant slowly and clearly and then post it to the group.

( Om Sahanavavatu - Anika

   Vakratunda Mahakaya  Renon

   Saraswati Namastubyam - Mihika

   Gurur Brahma Gurur vishnu - Siya)

2. Dhyana Shloka - Buddhir balam

3. Discussion : We recapped the meaning of Buddhi and Balam. Then we talked about the 3rd quality of Hanumanji Yasas. 

a. All children came with someone they knew who were famous - Children talked about Presidents - George Washington, Abraham Lincoln. Social reformers - Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks. Sports personalities and Musicians. 

b. Then we discussed what kind of qualities led them to fame and the children came up with Hardwork, Perseverence, Passion and Focus. 

c. We discussed if famous people could also be famous for something bad they did and how they would become famous but that is not what we should be...example that some bad people crashed into twin towers and they also became famous. We need to be famous by being great in what we do or what we do to better the lives of others.

4. Story Telling - We talked about Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda and Mahatma Gandhi and how they were just ordinary people who became famous because of what they did for others.

Mahatma Gandhi : Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a Indian lawyer in South Africa when he encountered discrimination. Then he saw how all the locals and Indian immigrants were discriminated against by the Britishers who colonised South Africa. This led him to fight for the rights of Indians and local south africans. He then realised he needed to do the same for his own people as India had the same problem in India under British rule. So, he came back to India and opposed every law that British rule brought about in a non violent way going into hunger strikes, getting in the civil disobedience movement and how he motivated and led the country men to independence from British rule. He was an inspiration for Martin Luther King.

Swami Chinmayananda: Swami Chinmayananda was an intelligent journalist and he was from the Indian state of Kerala known as Balakrishna Menon. He was a playful child and never focussed during pujas and enjoyed playing games like many of us. As a young man he was not a believer of god and  he had an idea that all the sadhus were fake. So, he went to Varanasi to write an article and expose the Sadhus. But as he went he met with Swami Shivananda and got inspired. He did not want to come back as he wanted to learn more and he also went on to meet Swami Tapovanji Maharaj. As he learnt more he felt the need to disperse knowledge to all the Indians (mainly English educated who did not believe) and children (who are the future of society). He came back from the Himalayas and started Gita Yagnas preaching in English our scriptures. He also established Balavihars for children all over the world. He wanted to spread the knowledge to all as a teacher. Today we have thousands of chinmaya mission centers all over the world spreading our knowledge because of his vision.

5. Bhajan - We then learnt a new Saraswati Bhajan

6. Circle time - We discussed Navratri on how it is celebrated differently in different parts of India. We talked about Golu and Haldi Kumkum in South, Garba and Dandia in the West with fasting for 9 days, Durga puja(Maa durga being prayed along with Saraswati, Lakshmi, Ganesha and Karthikeya) in the East and Ravan Dahan in the North of killing 10 bad qualities of Ravana in North India.

7. We then proceeded to the temple for

a. Gita Chanting : Swamijis video was played and we all learnt the first 2 verses of 3rd chapter Bhagavad Gita ((88) Verses 1-2 Ch.3 BG - YouTube . Please play the video at home so the children can learn)

b. Saraswati Puja :All children did Saraswati Puja

c. Pledge: We concluded the day with Pledge.

We look forward to meeting you next Sunday.

Pranaam,

Meena and Ramya

Sept 25, 2022 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

 

Hari Om Dear Families,

 

We had an other awesome Sunday morning with energetic, curious kids.

 

Please find below the summary of our class on Sunday, Sep 25 2022

 

1. We chanted 3 OMs followed by 4 opening Prayers:

• Sahanavavatu (to Pray to Lord to keep both Guru and Disciple on the path of study)
• Vakratunda mahaakaavya(for Lord Ganesha)
• Saraswathi namastubhyam (for Devi)
• Guru Brahma (for Guru)

Most of the kids can chant these shlokas well, except for few. We will try to send the recording on WhatsApp group asap.

 

2. We learned and chanted Dhyana Shloka of Sri Hanuman

Buddhir Balam Yashodhairyam nirbhayatvam arogataa

ajaaDyam vaakpaTutvam cha hanumat smaraNaat bhavet

 

Through workshop of Sri Hanuman, one will be blessed with Buddhi (intelligence), Balam (strength), Yashas(fame), dhairyam (courage), nirbhayatvam (fearlessness), arogata (free from diseases), ajaaDyam (alertness) cha  (and) vaakpaTutvam (eloquence). These are the eight virtues that make our invisible back bone strong. 

 

      3. We discussed about Buddhi and Balam in this class.

 

Buddhi is intellect in Sanskrit. Buddhi helps us to discriminate between what is right and wrong. Intellect is a gift from God, given only to Human beings.

 

Story: Akbar and Birbal

In India, there was a king named Akbar. He had a very intelligent advisor named Birbal. One day, the king decided to test the intelligence of his ministers. He ordered all the ministers to find out how many crows there were in his kingdom. None of the ministers, except Birbal, had an answer for the king. Birbal said, we have 27,001,042 crows in our kingdom. The king said, if the answer is incorrect, the punishment will be severe. Birbal said, "Sir, if the number of crows are less than my count, it means that some crows have gone outside the kingdom to visit their relatives. If there are more, then their relatives have come here to visit them. King admired the intelligence of Birbal.

 

Discussion: We have to use our intellect in making right and wise decisions.

 

Balam is Strength in Sanskrit. Balam is both physical and mental strength.

 

Story: Hanuman and Bheema's incidence in Mahabharatha. (Bheema's Arrogance)

Once, Draupadi asked Bheema for a rare sweet-smelling flower. Bheema is known for his Strength. While searching for the flower, he came across an old monkey, blocking the path with his long tail. Monkey was none other than Hanumanji in disguise. Bheema in his arrogance, demanded the monkey to move his tail. Hanuman ji said, "I am an old monkey, I am tired, could you please move my tail aside and go on". Annoyed Bheema, tried to quickly move the tail, but to his surprise, it was quite heavy! He was exhausted with numerous efforts, and realized that it is none other than Hanumanji and prostrated to this old monkey.

 

Discussion: Though Bheema was physically strong, why couldn't he move the tail of an old monkey? He was temporarily blinded by the arrogance of his physical strength and hence became mentally weak.

 

We also talked about a very healthy smoothie for physical strength. We will share the recipe on WhatsApp group soon.

 

           4. Game time!!

                   Hanumanji's favorite God is Rama. 

                   We played a game "Rama says", similar to Simon says. Kids enjoyed playing the game even when Rama says 'become frog'! Everybody started jumping with legs and hands!

 

           5. Activity: Japa mala

                   With beads and string, we did a japa mala. Few kids who have done this at home earlier were giving us some tips as well!!

 

          6. Geeta Chanting: This is the first day we started learning Bhagavat Geeta 3rd chapter. We learned about Sanskrit letters, pronunciation, few words from the chapter.

               Here is a video for practice at home.

https://youtu.be/ZzPDhhn5sQo

 

          7. Bhajan: As everyone is getting ready for Navarathri Festival, we learned a Devi bhajan.

 

 

Few Announcements:

1. Next Balavihar class is on Oct 9th. ( No class on Oct 2nd)
2. Though you get class updates through email, you can read them on the parent portal as well https://cmnjparentportal22-23.blogspot.com/
3. WhatsApp group if you haven't joined yet https://chat.whatsapp.com/E2laESIszyQDFEIIT3oai3
4. Class starts at 9:15 am sharp with opening prayers. Please make sure kids are inside the classroom 5 mins before the class starts. 
5. Please make sure kids use the restroom before entering the class.

 

Few videos for parents

1. Bhagavath Geetha 3rd chapter lecture by Swami Chinmayananda ji

https://youtu.be/vF-_4HAhlXw

2. Swami Swaroopananda ji's small lecture on Hanuman Chalisa 

https://youtu.be/iFmKuARGF9s

 

Happy Navarathri 

Hari Om

Best Regards,

Meena Rajan and Ramya Belavadi

Sent from my iPhone