December 19th Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')
* समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI 

Bhajans:

• गणेश शरणम् - gaNesha sharaNam (My prayers, pg. 7)

Meditation: 1 minute

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 - 6 shlokas

Story: bharataa's reaction; chitrakUta - brother's meet

Words of the week: paaduka; chitrakUTa; jaTaa; parNakuteera

Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'

Activity: Coloring pages of  raama's praNakutIra in chitrakUTa and bharata receiving the paaduka-s from raama; quiz!

Game time: raamaH vadati

End of class:

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments:

Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
In today's class, after our regular prayers, we did a session of chanting 'gaNesha sharaNam...'.  The energy level was so much that we all ending it laughing to the speed at which we were going :).  We then practiced saying the first 6 geeta shlokas.  Most kids are comfortable with the first 3 to 4 verses. Do keep up the practice during the break.  We will also be adding verses 7 and 8 in the next month.  We want the most participation from the class.  We have been told that there might be an ice-cream or pizza party for the class with most participants!

In the story time, we heard about bharata's reaction on receiving the news of raama going to the forest and also his father's passing away.  He was shocked blunt!  He could not believe what he was hearing from his mother.  He never ever wanted to be the king in place of raama.  He was flabbergasted and stunned all at once.  He then with a shameful face went to see mother kaushalya and sumitraa.  He fell at their feet and asked for forgiveness.  His brother shatrughna was right behind him.  They spent the whole night talking about raama's valor, kind heart, calm, honesty and such.  bharata was then urge to perform the rituals for his departed father.  Then bharata vowed that he will not become the king.  He dressed just like raama and decided to go the the forest and bring raama back.  Everyone suddenly became hopeful that their beloved raama might come back to the city.  The whole city went with bharata, looking for raama.  Even kaikeyi, who was repenting her actions now, wept and went looking for raama.  When they came near guha's tribe, they thought bharata was coming to kill raama and got ready to fight him.  But on seeing his ascetic robes, they were perplexed.  bharata was grief stricken to learn that everyone thought he was raama's enemy.  When guha felt bharata's pain and his true love for raama, he offered hospitality to all the people and took good care of them.

Aunty told a side story where, when guha was introduced to kaushalya, he prostrated to her.  He was introduced to sumitraa and he prostrated to her as well.  Then, when he was introduced to kaikeyi, he prostrated twice to her!  Everyone was surprised.  When asked, he explained that, because of her, he got to see raama!  Isn't that so noble of him!! Instead of seeing her as an evil person, he saw the good that came out of it!  If that approach is embraced, won't life be so beautiful.

Then the whole army followed the directions to chitrakUTa.  On hearing all the commotion, lakShmaNa climbed up a tree to see what was happening in the forest.  When he saw bharata's troop coming from a distance, he was enraged.  He picked up his bow and arrows, ready to fight him, assuming that he had come to kill raama.  But then, raama kept his calm as always.  He knew his brother bharata very well.  He asked lakShmaNa to relax.  He did not think bharata was here to harm them.  Upon his arrival, they were perplexed to see his costume as well.  bharata fell at raama's feet and begged his forgiveness and asked him to come back to ayodhyaa, now that even dasharatha was no more.  raama was shocked to hear this.  He had not known about his father's demise.  He mourned his father and performed the oblations with a heavy heart.  bharata pleaded him to return, but raama would not listen.  He had to keep his promise.  bharata did not want to be the king.  Finally maharshI vasiShTa suggested that bharata rule the kingdom in raama name until his return.  bharata said that he would lead the life of an ascetic even as he rules the kingdom.  He respectfully took raama's paadukaa-s (sandals) and placed them on his head.  He said he would place the paadukaa-s on the throne and  worship them, as if they were raama himself.  They all went back to ayodhyaa.

So that they won't have frequent visitors from ayodhyaa, raama, sIta and lakShmaNa decided to move deeper into the forest.  We were so curious to see what happened next, but had to stop there.

We then played a game of raamaH vadati and finished the class with the ending prayers.

Happy new year everyone!  See you all next year :). 

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Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

It was a chilly morning and sure the attendance today was a little lower than usual. Anyways we all had our warm smiles to make the day brighter and warmer. As usual we started with morning shlokas followed by two minute meditation. Geeta Chanting was next. We did seven shlokas today. We all chanted very loud and clear. We all have to practice at home so we don't forget our shlokas when we meet in January.

 

Story time was about Bharata coming home to find that King Dashrata was no more and how his mother had planned for him to become the King. Also we covered the part where Bharata went to Chitrakoota to meet Rama and requested him to come back to Ayodhya. We had an interesting discussion about what one would do if a choice was given to us whether we can become a king or live in Vanavasa for 14 years. Kids shared what they would do and then they gave us their thought on what Rama would do in such a situation.

 

We did the coloring book and did the question and answers on chapter 13.

 

We closed with the aarti and pledge.

 

Please stay warm and have a very Happy Holidays!! See you all on Jan. 9th.

December 5th Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')
* समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI 

Meditation: 1 minute

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6

Story: shravaNa; grief-stricken ayodhyaa

Words of the week: kaavaDa; shabdavedI baaNa; shaapa

Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'

Activity: Coloring pages of shravaNa carrying his parents; king dasharatha on his death bed

Game time: raama ball game

End of class:

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
• aarati and pledge in the auditorium

Comments:  
Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
Along with learning about raamaayaNa, we are talking a lot about the morals and values propagated through the stories in our mythology.  Parents, we have our schedules planned such that they are very busy doing a lot of learning and having a fun at the same time. We hence encourage you to bring in the children to the class on time, so that we can get started and pick them up on time as well.

Today, we learnt the 6th shloka of bhagavadgeeta.  They are comfortable with the first 4, but do not have them by-heart yet.  Please work regularly so that they won't be overwhelmed at the end of the year.

In our story time, we saw that raama, lakShmaNa and sIta set up their kutIram in chitrakUta mountain.  They built a hut themselves and set up their new home.  We also learnt about the story of shravaNa kumaara. He was a wonderful boy who was very obedient.  His very name means 'a (good) listener'!  He took care of his blind parents who were also old and weak.  He carried them on his shoulders, in a kaavaDa - two baskets laden with cushions, tied to the ends of a long stick, as they couldn't walk.  One day, when he went to fill water in a pot for his thirsty parents, a young dasharatha was hunting in the vicinity.  He had just learnt to use the 'shabdavedI baana', the art of releasing an arrow in the direction of a sound.  When he heard the sound of the water pot, he mistook shravaNa for an animal and killed him.  When heard the groaning of a boy, dasharatha was shocked!  He knew he had to face the wrath of shravaNa's old parents.  He did not escape from facing the consequence of his blunder.  They cursed (shaapa) dasharatha, saying that he would die lamenting for his beloved son as well!  Now that curse was coming true.  A very heart-broken, grief-stricken dasharatha drew his last breath, moaning for his beloved raama.  ayodhyaa plunged into further grief on losing their king.  A messenger was sent to fetch bharatha from kekaya.  When he reached ayodhyaa, he was stunned to see the city so sullen and deserted.  His mother kaikeyi came to receive him at the door.  She conveyed to bharatha that she had taken care of everything and now, he could be king without any hurdles!  He could not believe what he had just heard!!  He loved his father dearly.  He adored his brother raama even more.  What had befallen his beloved land!

We discussed how obedient and dedicated shravaNa was.  Also, dasharatha did not duck away from the consequence of his mistake.  He could have fled, but he owned up his folly bravely.  We end up paying the price, even if it is a mistake.  So we really have to think our actions through.  We even discussed how money can't buy everything!  We spoke about how manthara's evil thought and kaikeyi's following through had caused havoc in the whole empire.  We related to how sometimes, even our own mind comes up with wrong ideas.  Then, it becomes our prime duty to instruct our own mind to not deviate from the morals and values we have learnt. We saw that sIta, although she was a princess, picked wild fruit and berries herself while the princes built their hut.  They were not arrogant about their positions!  These become the 'take away-s' from our stories.

We stopped the story at this point, but nobody wanted to stop!  But we had to hold down our curiosity due to time :).  We then did the coloring pages and played the raama ball game.  Everyone was so alert that the aunties didn't get a chance to trick any one :).

We do not have balavihar next week due to the fund-raiser program at the ashram.  We will see you all on the 19th for the next session. 

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Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

We all met after the Thanksgiving break so everyone was eager to share what they did during their time off and also how some of us (including aunties) felt so cold this morning to get out of bed. Anyways we warmed up with daily shlokas and some yoga stretches. We are all chanting very loud and clear. Meditation time was excellent. All the kids did super. Even some of us who are restless sometimes, did fantastic. We had some discussion about why we close our eyes during meditation. Some of us suggested that we close our eyes so we are not distracted and also so we can see God clearly in our minds.

We introduced 6th shloka of the 11th chapter of Bhagwat Geeta. This was a difficult shloka but we all got it with little practice. Please keep chanting at home!

Story Time: We told the tale of "Sravana". We learned Sravana's devotion to his parents. We also learned that every act we do gives a result. King Dashrata commited a sin unknowingly but had guts to go and tell Sravana's parents. He did not lie nor escape from the scene. Sravana's parents also recognized the fact that prince had commited the sin, unknowingly. Though unknowingly King Dashrata killed Sravana, he got the result of his action.

Also we did the trail of Sri Rama.and colored the charan paduka on Chitrakoota. We all described the beauty of Chitrakoota and how Rama and Lakshmana built a hut for their stay during the vanvaasa. We had a interesting dicussion about how there was no navigation system, GPS etc. at that time and how Sri Rama and Lakshmana found their way to Chitrakoota. Also we compared living in the forest to camping and how difficult it was for Sri Rama, Sita and Lakshmana to live in the forest without sleeping bags, food and other comfortable things that we carry with us to stay outdoors for couple of days. Imagine Sri Rama was going to be in the forest for fourteen years!!

We did coloring and Likhita japa and before you know it, it was time to leave. We all had so much fun!!
Have a very good week and our next session is going to be held on the 19th of December!

Stay Warm and see you all soon!!

November 21st Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')
* समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI

Meditation: 1 minute

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Story: To the forest

Words of the week: sumantra; guha; dharma

Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'

Activity: Coloring page of guha washing the feet of raama, who is off to the forest accompanied by sItaa and lakShmaNa

Game time: raama ball game

End of class:

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments:

Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:

Do we have good listeners or what!  Last class, we spoke about being organized.  It not keeps the place clean, but our minds too.  A cluttered place makes our minds chaotic as well.  We spoke about keeping all the shoes in line when we enter the class so that we are not tripping over them.  Today, almost everyone remember and lined up their shoes neatly!!  Three cheers to our good listeners.

After our morning prayers and quite time, we did geeta chanting.  It is going well.  We can see that practice at home has been paying off!  Please continue the good work. 

We did a recap of the story so far.  The kids sure remembered even the minutest details!  We then listened to how kaikeyi was adamant about her wishes.  She had let manthara's words spoil her head.  From this we learnt that it is not a good idea to 'borrow someone's brain', just as we wouldn't borrow someone's nose to smell or someone's teeth to eat ;).  The whole city was grief stricken.  raama was calm as ever.  His brother lakShmaNa is enraged but raama calms him down.  sItaa says that she will accompany him everywhere and gets ready to leave to the forest.  lakShmaNa does not give raama any choice.  He gets ready to leave as well.  They take the blessings of their parents and leave a lamenting dasharatha behind.  The whole city follows them, but raama turns them back gently.  The minister sumantra escorts them to the end of the city on the chariot.  They meet guha, the tribal king, on the banks of river gangaa.  He offers them to stay back with him for the 14 years comfortably, but raama turns him down too.  We learnt from his action, that he did not cheat.  His word was that he would retire to the forest for the duration and he wouldn't by sly to take the easy way out!  We also learnt that he respected the word of his father and would go to any extent to keep dharma. 

Coloring was fun.  Then we played the raama ball game.  Every time the receiver had to say raama before catching.  If not, the player would be out.  Guess what, no one was out!  They all remembered.  The lesson we learnt from the game was that, just as we said raama before getting the ball, we need to remember Him for everything we receive, everyday!  He gives us so many things and we need to receive it with gratitude, remembering Him every time! 

We dispersed after our ending prayers.  Have a nice long weekend everyone.  See you all on Dec 5th.

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Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

Today we had yet another fun filled learning day. We Started with our morning shlokas and then did meditation. Today we all sat silently for two whole minutes. Wow that was AMAZING!! Good job everyone. We were so quiet that a parent who was looking for our class thought that our classroom has changed since there was no noise coming out of our class!! Now that is a job well done. There was a discussion about what happens during meditation and some of us shared our thoughts that God talks to us during this time and how some of us could picture Lord Rama in our minds.
We did very good in Geeta Chanting time and learned 5th shloka today. Please keep practicing at home. Since we all were a little tired sitting down we did some stretching and then sang a Bhajan. Since everyone loves to sing “subramanyam subramanyam” , we all sang loud and clapped with full enthusiasm. Story time was all about Lord Rama leaving for Forest to spend 14 years of exile. We learned that Rama accepted to go to the forest because it was his foremost duty to obey his father. We also recapped the story so far and asked some questions about the story.
After the story we all played the game “ Rama Ball”. Rama nama can be fun. We all stood in a big circle and played catch with a soft toy. Whoever caught the toy would say Rama. The child who did not say Rama was out of the game. But guess what no one forgot to say Rama! So no one was out of the game. All of us won.
We colored chapter 10th in our Ramayana folder and also did likhita japa. When we were ready to head out we all played Ramah Vadati and then did our closing prayer.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday and we will see you all after next Sunday!

November 14th Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')
* समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI

Meditation: 1 minute


Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Story: paraShuraama; The poisonous seed (of thought)

Words of the week: paraShuraama; viShNu dhanus

Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'

Activity: Coloring page of manthara sowing the poisonous seed in kaikeyi's mind

Game time: 'No, I will be like raama' game

End of class:

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH
• aarati and pledge in the auditorium

Comments:

Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:

The class started off with the 3 om-s and the prayers.  We did the shloka for 'bhUmidevi namaskaara', which we should chant first thing in the morning, sitting in the bed, even before setting foot on the ground.  It is a prayer which asks mother earth to pardon our stepping on her.

We started the 5th verse in geeta chanting.  The words are tricky but with practice, we sure are going to swing it as well.  Parents please make sure you practice with them regularly.

In the story time, we heard how jubilant entire mithilaa was.  They celebrated the marriage of not just raamaa to sIta, but also that of Urmilaa to lakShmaNa; maanDavI to bharata; shuratakIrtI to shatrughna.  As customary, sItaa was to leave to ayodhyaa with her newly wed family.  She bade a tearful farewell to eveyone who were in tears as well.

Then while on their way to ayodhyaa, a furious paraShuraama came.  He had heard the snap of the shiva dhanus.  He challenged raama to string the viShNu dhanus (viShNu's bow), which of course, raama did it as if it were his toy. Then paraShuraama calmed down, gave the viShNu dhanus to raama and left for the himaalaya-s.   After that, everyone returned to ayodhyaa and rejoiced the arrival of their princes as well as the newly wed princesses.   sItaa was adored by one and all.

One day, dasharatha  decided to coronate raama as the next king.  bharata and shatrughna were visiting their grandfather in kekeya (kaikeyi's motherland).  raama was supposed to be coronated the next day.  When raama was told about this, he very calmly accepted the blessings of his father and guru-s.  But manthara, a maid of kaikeyi was not happy.  She conveyed this information to kaikeyi, who too rejoiced.  But then, manthara sowed the seeds of poison in her thought.  She urged her to take measures to stop raama's coronation and make her own son bharata the king.  As a means to this devious end, she told kaikeyi to use the two boons king dasharatha had bestowed her long ago, when she had helped him in a battle.  She taught kaikeyi to ask for - bharatha's coronation as the first boon and raama's exile for 14 yrs as the second!  kaikeyi did exactly that.  She lamented, cried and threw tantrums.  She gave no choice to dasharatha.  When raama was called and conveyed the happenings by kaikeyi, he again, very calmly accepted and also rejoiced for the fact that his brother bharata was to be king.  He did not flinch even a bit and started preparing to leave to the forest.

We saw how if we let the mean words others influence us, we shall be in sorrow as well, just as kaikeyi.  The kids promised to not let others influence them into doing bad stuff. 

After coloring time, we played the game, 'No, I'll be like raama'.  Aunty would say some scenarios where they could either be overly excited or extremely sad (wanting to throw a tantrum).  The children said they would all be like raama and keep their calm under such circumstances too!

We then had ending prayers and headed to the auditorium for the 'diwaali presentation'.
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Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

We had a quiet start today. There were only a few students at the start of the class but more came in as we progressed. We would like to welcome three new kids to our class.Akshaj,Divya and Meghna have joined us today. We hope they have as much fun as we all have. Parents please bring your kids on time.We would like to start 10:00 AM sharp. There are lots of topics to cover and we want to utilize the time fully.

Today we talked about Diwali and how some of us celebrated it. We also talked about the difference in Diwali celebrations back in India and over here in US. Coming back to our regular schedule, we all started with Shlokas followed by meditation. Geeta Chanting is coming along very well but and we need some more enthusiasm while chanting. Please practice at home.

Story time was all about The " Tale of Parashurama" and "The Poisonous Seed". We talked about why kaikeyi's vision of Rama changed and how she allowed Manthara to sow a poisonous seed in her mind. We talked about how Sri Rama was as cheerful as always regardless of the circumstances. Rama remained calm and happy when he was asked to be a King and he did not get depressed when he was asked to go to forest. To emphasize this we played a game where we described different scenes and asked children what they would do, if they were Rama and what they would do if they were kaikeyi. Kids had very interesting answers. Please ask your kids for more details.

Coloring segment was fun as always. Many of us have been absent so we need to catch up on our coloring activity. Meera and I were thinking to have one make up class to catch up on this favorite activity. We all did very well writing Rama on the blank side of the coloring book and some of us wrote it in our composition book. Please don't forget to bring your pencils, Crayons and erasers so we all can concentrate more and get less distracted looking and asking for a particular color.

When we all got ready with our jackets and shoes on ,we played our favorite game " Ramah Vadati". we introduced many new words today. Ask your children if they remember all the new Sanskrit words. We will continue playing/practicing and soon master all these fun Sanskrit words.

The class came to an end with aarti and pledge in the auditorium. We look forward to see you all next Sunday. Have a great week and take care:)

Hari Om!!

November 7th Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')

Meditation: 1 minute

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2, 3, 4

Story: King janaka; raama weds sItaa

Words of the week: mithilaa; swayamvara

Activity: Coloring pages of sItaa playing with the shiva-dhanus; raama breaking the bow; paadukaa-s in mithilaa nagari; Wedding gift for raama & sItaa - surrendering all our bad habits.

Game time: 4 corners game with our limbs ;).

End of class:

• ॐ जय जगदीश हरे - Om jaya jagedeesha hare (My prayers, pg. 22).

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments:

Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

As Ruchi aunty/Meera aunty's classroom was locked, we ended up combining both the sections.  Boy!  did we have double fun or what!!  We did all the chantings loud and clear, yet, during meditation time, it was quite as could be!  Geeta chanting was with full energy as we had double the friends in class today.  They are doing very good with the first 4 verses.  We will certainly introduce the 5th in the next class.

In story time, we heard the part of raamaayaNa where king janaka found sItaa, while tilling the land for a yagna.  We learnt that there is an element of God in each aspect around us.  Even mother earth is considered a deity.  We learnt a new shloka.  It is a prayer to mother earth that we need to chant every morning, before even putting our feet on the ground, asking Her forgiveness for stepping on Her.  It is -

समुद्रवसने देवी पर्वतस्थनमण्डले
विष्णुपत्नि नमस्तुभ्यं पादस्पर्शं क्षमस्व मे

samudravasane devI parvatasthanamaNDale
viShNupatni namastubhyaM paadasparshaM kShamasva me

We then learnt how sItaa was a wonderful, perfect princess who learnt everything taught to her.  She was very attentive, obedient, gentle and kind to everyone.  When she came to be of marriageable age, her father king janaka, wanted to give her to the most perfect prince that there was.  In order to find that person, he set up a challenge.  The person who lifted the bow of Lord shiva and strung it, would be given the hand of sItaa in marriage.  Of course, there was none other than raama who could not only lift it, but He also broke the bow in half!  Everyone rejoiced and started preparing for the wedding.

We all wanted to give a gift to raama for his wedding.  While giving a gift, one gives what the receiver doesn't have.  raama obviously has EVERYTHING!  But then, he does not have any bad qualities like - telling lies, being mean, hurting others, dis-obedience, etc, does He!  So, we decided to offer all our shortcomings to raama as a present.  But then, we also learnt that, by giving up our bad habits to raama, it doesn't make Him bad in any which way, for, he will turn them all into good!  Good habits, for us.  It is a win-win situation!!  After coloring the pictures, all the children wrote down a few of their own imperfections that they wanted to work on.  They gave it as an offering to Lord raama and promised to work on making themselves better in those arenas.  Do take a moment and ask your children what their thoughts were.  Help them and give them reminders about their promise every now and then, so that they can achieve their goal.

We then played the game of 4 limbs.  We had 'raama, sIta, janaka and bhUdevi' for the 4 limbs and had fun along with a good workout, matching with the names called out.

We finished the class with our ending prayers and a reminder to keep our promises about working on our weaknesses.

Have a nice weekend everyone.  See you all next week!

October 24th Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)


Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2, 3, 4

Story: Glass of Milk

End of class:

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments:

Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

We had a fun outdoor balavihar class today!  It was a nice beautiful day, quite warm for an October morning, we should say.  We combined both the sections and had a few friends from 'Bridgewater balavihar' too joining us.

We started off with sahanaavavatu...  We then did the geeta chanting practice of the 1st 4 verses of chapter 11.  They were all so loud and clear in their chanting!  They were probably trying to do justice to the outdoor location chosen for the class today :). 

Since the walk was for raising money for rural development in India, we spoke about why we were at the park, what our role was in assisting the not so fortunate children.  It was amazing how much the children already knew!

To emphasis the purpose of the walk, we heard a story called 'The Glass of milk'.  There was once a poor boy who was very hungry and cold.  He did not know where to go and stood in the cold for a long time.  Finally, not able to bear it anymore, he thought of asking someone for food and knocked on the door of a house near by.  A kind looking young lady opened the door.  At that moment, the boy hesitated to ask for food.  So, he ended up asking for just a glass of water to drink.  But that lady brought him a tall warm glass of milk instead.  With that, not only his hunger was quenched, he felt warm and energized!

Many years later, that same lady was admitted to a hospital with a grave disease.  When a doctor was looking through her charts and saw the name of her hometown, his eyes lit up.  He went to see the lady and, lo and behold, it was the same lady that had energized him on a cold winter day, years ago!  He was a doctor now!  He immediately took over her case, gave her the best treatment and took special care of her.  After a long battle, she was cured and well enough to go home.  When the bills were being made, the doctor asked to see the bills for his approval.  When it came to him, he wrote something on the bottom of the bill and sent it to the lady.  The lady could not hold her tears back, for, it said, 'Paid in full, with a glass of milk'!!  The deed of kindness she has sown had come right back to her!  Even if you never see the deed again, atleast you would have made the world a better place.

We related to this story, our act of giving to the needy.  We have just assisted in making the world a better place for someone we may never come to know.  But atleast, we know we did our share in helping them.

We finished the class with 'pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam...'.  But wait, we were not done yet!  We did some warm up stretching, exercise and yoga poses, in order to get ready for the fun five mile walk, we were so looking forward to.  The day was beautiful and the weather was perfect!  We couldn't have asked for a better day to be out in the park.  It was a fun, fun balavihar class today!!  By the way, we have some pictures uploaded from today.  Check them out on the top left hand side of the page.

October 17th Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')

Meditation: 1 minute


Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2, 3, 4

Story:  ahalyaa

Words of the week: ahalyaa; gautama rishi

Activity: Coloring page of stone turning into ahalyaa

Game time: I spy... along with questions

End of class:

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
•  aarati and pledge in the auditorium

Comments:

Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
The children are getting into our balavihar routine wonderfully!  They know the scheme of activities and are ever ready with their enthusiasm throughout the class.  After our beginning prayers, in order to celebrate 'vijayadashami', we also chanted 'annapUrNe sadaapUrNe...'  During meditation, we focused on 'raama naama' (remembering Lord raama during meditation).  Looks like a lot of the children are practicing the geeta chanting at home.  They were very comfortable with the words to the first verse.  They needed leading for the 2nd and 3rd though.  We also started the 4th verse today.  At this pace, if they keep practicing regularly, come April, all of them will be pros at chanting :). 

We spoke about the story of ahalyaa in story time.  We saw how indra disguised himself as sage gautama and tricked ahalyaa.  She had turned into a stone.  On the touch of raaama's divine feet, she regained her original form.  mahrShI gautam came back.  Then raama, lakshmaNa went towards mithilaa nagara with sage vishwaamitra.  We were all very curious as to what happens there.  Here's a hint - someone is getting married!  We've told the children to come dressed up in colorful (preferably Indian) clothes, to celebrate the wedding :).

They colored the picture of the stone turning into ahalyaa.  Then, practiced writing राम (raama) in sanskrit.  Parents, please make sure you send the composition books with them every class.  It is very important for them to carry with them, all the supplies needed, for each class.

We played a game of 'I spy...'  Aunty would ask a question and the children had to point out the picture from the chart.  They sure know their raamaayaNa trivia so far :).  They did very well!

We have a bunch of smart kids really.  We got talking about good vs bad.  Where is God?  Why don't we see him physically?  How come if God is in the food, we eat Him?  We ended up talking about bad guys, to bullying at school as well!  They certainly know their ground rules.  They were reeling away ideas regarding how to handle such situations!!  Talk to you kids about these discussions. It is quite interesting and entertaining as well.  It is also amazing how much they know and how far they think!

Happy vijayadashamI to all.  Make sure you register for the walkathon online.  Next week is a balavihar week.  But we will be assembling at the Mercer County park.  Follow chinmayavrindavan.org for schedules, etc.  See you all at the park on 24th.

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Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

Before our class started with our usual agenda, we all agreed to keep our stuff in a more organized fashion. Couple of our young volunteers helped in making sure that our shoes were lined up, our bags were neatly place in one assigned table and our jackets were stacked properly. We learned that in order to have a productive class, it is very important for all of us to cooperate and keep the place neat and organized. Thank You for all the help!!

The class started with opening shlokas. All of us recited with lot of enthusiasm and energy. We did our morning meditation and tried to chant the name of Sri Rama as we sat with closed eyes. We all did very well . There was absolute silence. We have already discussed the importance of meditation and how this practice will keep all of us focused and sharp during our studies.

Today we introduced third shloka of Bhagwad Geeta (chapter 11). Kids are doing very well chanting the first two shlokas. We will be practicing more in upcoming classes. Please keep practicing at home.

The story session was very interesting. Before we started  today’s story we had a little quiz on the previous chapters. It was really good to see that kids remember all the details from the previous chapters. Since we covered “Dandaka Forest” and “Tatka”, there was a lot of interesting conversation about beauty of forests and what is scary about the forests etc. We talked about Tatka and how she was killed. We also listened about Maricha and Subahu and how Rama and Lakshmana helped sage Viswamitra protect their Yagna .

We all did the coloring and made sure that we are following Sri Rama’s trail properly on the map. We did not do the likhita japa because of time constraints.

We all will meet next time in Mercer county park. We will be taking attendance there so make sure you all are there with your sneakers, caps and sunscreen.

Let’s all make the “Walkathon” a Huge success!!

Hari Om

October 10th Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')
* बुद्दिर्बलम् - buddirbalaM

Meditation: 1 minute

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2, 3

Story: taaTakaa in danDakaaraNya; maarIcha subaahu

Words of the week: taaTakaa; danDakaaraNya; maarIcha; subaahu

Activity: Coloring pages of sage vishvaamitra with raama and lakShmaNa; raama and lakShmaNa slaying subaahu and wounding maarIcha

Game time: 4 corners, but with a twist - hands and feet represented the 4 corners and the children had to lift their respective limbs when the words of the week were called out ;); raamaH vadati

End of class:

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments:

Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
It's Sunday morning again!  It was a busy morning with lots of activities.  We started off with 3 ॐ-s  and the beginning prayers.  The ॐ-s are getting longer and longer kids.  That's good!  They also remembered the chinmudraa, the way they keep the hands during meditation.  After meditation, we learnt the geeta chapter-11.  We had already learnt the first 2 verses.  We added the 3rd one today.  The kids are pronouncing well, looks like some of them are practicing at home.  Keep it up kids and make sure you all practice regularly.

In the story time, we heard about how sage vishvaamitra took raama and lakShmaNa with him.  In danDakaaraNya (forest), they slayed the demoness taaTakaa.  Once again the forest rejuvenated to its original splendor.  Then during vishvaamitra's yagna, raama - lakShmaNa killed subaahu and threw maarIcha far far away, with an arrow.  After that,... to be continued... ;)

Today, the children started to learn how to write 'राम' in Sanskrit!  They did very good.  Parents, we can not emphasis enough, the need to send all the supplies with them regularly.  Some of the children did not have their note books with them.  Without that, they will not be able to practice all the new things we shall learn.  Please make sure they come prepared to each class.

Then they did their coloring tasks beautifully.  During game time, we played the 4 corners game, with a spin ;).  Their limbs were representing the different corners and they had to raise it according to whatever name that was called.  Boy, do we have some attentive kids or what!  They had a blast with the game.

We ended the class with 'poorNamadaH poornamidam...'.  Have a fun week everyone.  See you next Sunday!

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Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

We had yet another fun filled session this morning. We all started with three ॐ followed by the shlokas. Today we learned one of the shlokas form Sri Gurustotram (verses to the Teacher). We did "tvam-ev mata ca pita tvam-ev". Everyone did very good. Some of us already know this  shloka. The meditation session was awesome today. Each one of us sat quietly for one minute and at the end of one minute everyone was able to get the marble count perfectly correct. Almost all of us got a twenty  count. (Please ask your child more about how we do our morning meditation and what is the use of marbles in this process).

Geeta Chanting is coming along very well. We did the first two verse. Please continue practicing at home. In the story time we discussed about how King Dashrata allowed  young Rama to go with sage Vishvamitra to kill the demons. Guru Vasistha advised the king and the King followed the command of his Guru,trusting it would be for his good.

After the story time some of the kids wanted to sing a bhajan and so we all sang "Subramanyam, Subramanyam". We sang it loud, louder, loudest and then very very gently. All of us got energized for the next activity.

The coloring was a lot of fun. Kids did a wonderful job choosing which crayon they wanted to use to color the details in the pictures. Since we all had been sitting for a long time we took a game break. We all made a big circle and played "raamaH-vadati" and also Incorporated some yoga moves in  between.

We ended the class with likhita japa. We wrote "OM" on a laminated paper. Some of the kids finished one page and wanted to write one more page!! All the kids were absolutely quiet wrtiting and chanting in their minds as instructed. It was amazing to see how these energetic young kids were sitting so quietly and writing their OMs.

We all look forward for the next class. Please do not forget to register in "Walkathon" coming up on the 24th of this month.

Hari OM!

October 3rd Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')


Meditation: 1 minute

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2

Story: Birth of raama, bharata, lakShmaNa, shatrughna; their growing years; visit from maharShI vishvaamitra

Words of the week: raama, lakShmaNa, bharata, shatrughna; maharShI vishvaamitra

Activity: Coloring pages of putrakaameShTi yaaga; infant raama, lakShmaNa, bharata, shatrughna with their mothers

Game time: raamaH vadati (see link); 4 corners

End of class:

• ॐ जय जगदीश हरे - Om jaya jagedeesha hare (My prayers, pg. 22).

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments:  
Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
Activities are in full swing.  It is nice to see the enthusiasm of the children when they come into the class with a smile.  We started off the class with prayers, followed by meditation.  We practiced the 1st two verses of geeta chanting.  Parents, we can not emphasis enough, the importance of practice at home.  This is a tricky chapter with quite a few tongue twisters :).  We will be introducing 2 new shlokas every month, since we have to learn 14 by April.  The cd-s are being given out at the front desk.  Play them in the car or at home, as often as possible.  The kids are so smart that they will involuntarily pick up the words.  Within no time, they will be very proficient :).

In our raamaayaNa learning, we proceeded to hear all about the yagna puruSha who came out of the holy fires and gave a bowl of paayasam to king dasharatha.  He gave it to kausalyaa and kaikeyI, who both in turn shared it with sumitraa, his third wife.  They all begot sons.  kausalyaa had raama; kaikeyI had bharata; sumitraa had lakShmaNa and shatrughna.  They all learnt vedaas, upanishads, archery, etc.  When they were young lads, sage vishvaamitra visited them and asked dasharatha to send raama and lakShmaNa to help him overcome demons.  dasharatha reluctantly agreed to send them with maharShI vishvaamitra.  We had to stop the story at that as it was time for our activity of the day.

The children colored pictures of the yaaga and infant raama and his brothers.  Some of them were so fast that they went ahead and colored sage vishvaamitra with raama and lakShmaNa as well!  They all have a book of pictures each.  We collect them back every week.  That will be their take home book at the end of the year.

They are learning some sanskrit words during game time.  We played a game similar to 'Simon says...' but only, it is 'raamaH vadati...' (raama says...) in sanskrit.  They got to learn a few verbs and respond accordingly.  We then played the 4 corners game with the names of raama and his 3 brothers and finished off with a few stretches.

Parents please make sure you send the 'things to bring' without fail to each class.  It will be hard to share crayons, etc during every class.

See you all next Sunday.

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Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

Today we had fun and productive session. We started with few yoga stretches so all of us could focus well and have good sitting posture throughout the class duration. This was followed by opening shlokas and meditation. Some of the kids were a little restless and could not sit still but we have talked about the importance of meditation and we will do better next time.Geeta chanting is coming along well. We need to practice at home. 

Story session was fun and everyone participated fully. We talked about the "Yagna" Preparation. What is a Yagna and why did Sumitra get twins. Everyone participated and lot of interaction happened between the kids. The best part though was distributing the Ramayana folder where kids are going to be coloring and making projects. It was exciting and kids did a great job writing their names and coloring first and second lessons. At the end of the school year we will give the finished folder back to the kids and it will be a wonderful art project to keep.

The last activity was a fun game called raamaH vadati (raama says.... like Simon says). The details can be found on the blog page. We all had a blast playing this game.We will continue practicing the sanskrit words throughout the year.

Please make a note that we will be changing classroom next week from D-109 to D-112. Please see the class assignment list at the front entrance of the building.

We look forward to see you all next week. 

Hari Om!

September 26th Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')

Meditation: 1 minute

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2

Story: ayodhyaa; putrakaameShTi yaaga

Words of the week: maharShI vaalmIki; ayodhyaa; dashratha; vasiShTha

Activity: Coloring raama, sItaa, lakShmaNa and hanumaan picture

Game time: 4 Corners

End of class:

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments:
Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:

Do we have an awesome group of 1st graders or what! We have such wonderful listeners and very smart ones too. They were very attentive, listened very well and participated very actively! We are very excited to see their interest.

Today, we did some beginning prayers. Most of them know the shlokas pretty well! Looks like they have been attending balavihar for a while :). During the meditation time, they kept still and concentrated for a whole minute, on their favorite deity. We learnt the words to the first two geeta shlokas. They could get the first verse well, but found the words to the second one a little hard. Parents please practice with them regularly. The script can be found in the handout books that were given to you.

During story time, we will be learning the story of raamaayaNa through out the year. They listened to the description of ayodhyaa, how it was different from the cities today, how they commuted from place to place, how they valued different art forms like music and playing instruments, etc. They also learnt that the city was called 'ayodhyaa' as the city was peaceful and nobody fought with each other. Then the whole city of ayodhyaa got ready for the putrakaameShTi yaaga. We have stopped the story at that.

Then it was time for our coloring project. They colored a picture of raama, sIta, lakshmaNa and hanumaan. We truly have some wonderful artists! They were very creative in the color combinations they used.

We played the game of 4 corners where we named each corner with the 4 words of the week. They were good listeners. When the aunties tried to trick them with 'sIta', they wouldn't budge :). They waited till the right name of the corner was told.

We finished the class with ending prayers.

Parents, please remember to dress them in some warm clothes as one of our room tends to be cooler. Also, do not forget to send their bag with the supplies listed above. We expect to have a lot of fun learning the raamaayaNa. See you all next week.
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Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

Today was an exciting day as it was the first day of the class. Although there was some confusion regarding which section the kids were supposed be but overall it was a smooth sailing. We all started with some deep breathing and yoga stretches followed by short meditation. Kids did very well. Each week we plan to increase the time by one minute until we reach two or three minutes. It's hard but we can do it.

The rest of the activities included Geeta Chanting (chapter 11 Ist shloka), story time, coloring and game (Four Corners). We did not have time to do likhit japa this time but we will do it next time. The class ended with Aarti and pledge.Kids enjoyed listening to the story about "putrakammeshti yagna". Coloring was a favorite activity but four corners was a lot of fun.

We all look forward to have a fun and enjoyable learning experience this year!

Hari OM!

September 19th Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1

Game time: Krishna, Arjuna game.

End of class:

• aarati and pledge were done in the auditorioum
  

Comments:
Rashmi aunty; Kusuma aunty; Ruchi aunty; Meera aunty
Welcome 1st graders! It was our first class today and we got to know all of them a little bit. It will certainly take us a little while to memorize all the names, but we will get there :). We chanted a few shlokas. Looks like they were all very good students in kindergarten class, because most of them knew the shlokas already!

This year, for the geeta chanting competition, the 1st graders are required to learn the first 14 verses of chapter 11. The competition will be on April 23 and the finals on April 30th. So we started right away with the very first verse. The kids did really well! We will be giving handouts in the class next week. Please practice with them regularly so that they will be very comfortable by presentation time.

Then we played the 'krishNa, arjuna' game, which helped improve focus and promoted attention in the class :). They were all good listeners.

We then split the class into two sections. We will have a section A and a section B. Please drop the kids in their respective sections every week. 1st grade rooms will be D100 and D109. We are very excited to have your children in our class and look forward to a wonderful, fun year of learning.

The blog will be updated by evening, every balavihar Sunday. Visit regularly for class information, curriculum dealt in class, announcements, etc. Feel free to contact one of the sevikas if you have any questions or concerns.

Hari OM!

Welcome to the Chinmaya Vrindavan First Grade Balavihar blog.

Please continue to regularly visit this online journal to learn about our weekly Sunday morning class activities, as well as other important announcements pertaining to the First Grade Class. For your convenience, we have made this blog available for subscription. Just click on "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" at the bottom of the front page to set your preferences. By subscribing, you will be instantly informed of any new postings or updates.

Words of the week

Apr 17: pushpaka vimaanam; ayodhyaa; pattabhiShekam; raamakathaa
Apr 10: indrajit; raavaNa; sanjIvinI parvatam; agni;
Apr 03: indrajit; sarpaastra; garuDa; kumbhakarNa
Mar 20: vibhIShaNa; raavaNa; indrajit; maNDodarI
Mar 13: jambumaalI; aksha; indrajit; vibhIshaNa
Mar 06: hanumaan; raama mudra ungura; mainaaka parvatam; surasaa
Feb 27: kiShkindaa; vaali; sugrIva
Feb 13: shabarI; Rushyamukha parvatam; sugrIva; vaali; dundubhi; maayaavi
Feb 06: kabandha; jaTaayu
Jan 30: dharma; adharma; puShpaka vimaana
Jan 23: sUrpanakhaa; khara; dUShaNa; maarIcha
Jan 09: agastya, shUrpanakhaa
Dec 19: paaduka; chitrakUTa; jaTaa; parNakuteera
Dec 05: kaavaDa; shabdavedI baaNa; shaapa
Nov 21: sumantra; guha; dharma
Nov 14: paraShuraama; viShNu dhanus
Nov 07: mithilaa; swayamvara
Oct 17: ahalyaa; gautama rishi
Oct 10: taaTakaa; danDakaaraNya; maarIcha; subaahu
Oct 03: raama, lakShmaNa, bharata, shatrughna; maharShI vishvaamitra
Sept 26: maharShI vaalmIki; ayodhyaa; dashratha; vasiShTha

Sri Sadguru Aarati

aarati shri chinmaya sadguru ki
divyaroopa mooruti karunaa ki…. aarati shri...

charano me unake shaanti samaaye
sharanaagath ki bhraanti mitaaye
paap taap santaap haran ki….. aarati shri...

ved upanishad geetaa ko gaayaa
dharm sanaatan phir se jagaayaa
shuddh neeti preeti shankar ki…. aarati shri...

siddhabaari ke tapobhoomi me
nitya viraaje guru hamaare
bhakta hridaya aanand srota ki…. aarati shri...aarati shri..

raamaH vadati

रामः वदति... (raamaH vadati...) - raama says...

उपविषतु (upaviShatu) - sit
उत्तिष्ठतु (uttiShThatu) - stand
उत्पततु (utpatatu) - jump
धावतु (dhaavatu) - run
नृत्यतु (nRutyatu) - dance
तरतु (taratu) - swim
गच्छतु (gachChatu) - go
आगच्छतु (aagachChatu) - come
पठतु (paThatu) - read
लिखतु (likhatu) - write
निद्रां करोतु  (nidraaM karotu) - sleep

What did I learn from raamaayaNa?

  1.  Obedience, calmness, composure - like raama
  2.  Love for siblings - like raama, lakShmaNa, bharata, shatrughna
  3.  Respect for elders and teachers – like the 4 brothers
  4.  Using my own judgment – unlike kaikeyI
  5.  Not cooking evil plans against others – unlike mantharaa
  6.  Trusting and serving my parents and elders – like shravaNa, shabarI
  7.  No lying or being greedy for what is not mine – like bharata; unlike shUrpanakhaa or raavaNa
  8.  Thinking with my head and heart – unlike kabandha
  9.  Not to be devious, arrogant, greedy, jealous, adamant, etc. – unlike raavaNa
10.  Being brave and confident, even when in trouble – like sIta, jaTaayu
11.  Being a good friend – like sugrIva, hanumaan, jaambavaan, jaTaayu, sampaati
12.  Listening to good counsel from others – unlike raavaNa
13.  Speak up for myself – like vibhIShaNa
14.  Not to brag; speak, work and think clearly – like hanumaan
15.  Humility, even when strong and able – like hanumaan