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 :). 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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!!