Announcements

Balavihar for the year 2012-13 will start at Cross Roads South Middle School at 10 a.m. on September 16th.

For registering online, visit http://chinmayavrindavan.org/

We are looking forward for a fun filled year of learning and growing at our balavihar!

December 18th class review

Hari Om,
    During this Sunday's class we had bhajan singing, dancing, meditation, storytime and drawing. It was enjoyable and rewarding to everyone. We started on a fun note and wished one of our little friends happy birthday in Hindi.
          Janam Din ki badhai! or Janam Din ki shubkamnaayein!
We then took a deep breath and said a loud and long Om when we exhaled. We did one minute of meditation and then said all the regular prayers. Karagare Vasate, Bhrama arpanam, Sarawathi namastubyam, Shubham karothi Kalyanam.

The last prayer of the day is a very important one. We reflect on all our actions for the day and ask Mahadev for forgiveness. Here is the prayer. 

Kara charana kritam vaa kkaaya jam karma jam vaa .
Shravana nayana jam vaa maanasam vaa paraadham.
Vihitama vihitam vaa sarva metat kshama sva .
Jaya jaya karuna abdhe shrii mahaadeva shambho


(Whatever sins i have committed with my hands, feet, voice, body, actions, ears, eyes, or mind, whether prohibited by the scriptures or not, please forgive them all. Hail! Hail! O ocean of compassion! O great god! O benevolent lord!).
Please help the children get into the habit of praying everyday.
    We then practiced  our geeta verses. Please let us know if you don't have access to the audio file that we emailed. The children will need to memorise these verses and chant them without any aid during the competition in Spring.
    Aunty continued with the Ramayanam story. Rama, Sita and Lakshmana vacate Chitrakoot after Bharatha leaves for Ayodhya as the place reminds them of too much of Bharatha and others. It is also too close to Ayodhya for Rama.
  The trio go to sage Atri 's ashram where the sage's wife Anasuya is very attentive to them and gives Sita some divine clothes.The dense forest of Dandaka start from this edge of this ashram. The place is infected by the terror of rakshasas. Rama and Lakshmana help the sages and hermits by killing the rakshasas. They spend the next tens years moving from one place to another in the forest. Sita is concerned that they are killing the rakshasas wearing the clothes of monks. But Rama allays her fears and says it is their Dharma to use their powers to protect and help the rishis and sages
     Since they were nearing the end of their term in the forest, the trio decide to visit Sage Agastya. Many stories demonstrate the power of this rishi. One legendary story involves the spiritual wedding of Lord Shiva and Parvathy devi on Mount Kailasa. All the Devas, Bhootas, Asuras, Yakshas, Kinnaras, Gandharvas etc, and other dignitaries including Brahma and Vishnu, came down from their respective extra-terrestrial realms to Earth, to Kailasa to witness the wedding. Due to the weight of the population in the North the Earth started to Tilt. Lord Shiva  then requested Agasthya Muni to rush to the then South India and balance the Earth from further tilting. Agasthya muni came down sat in mediation and then negated the further tilt of the planet.
 Demon brothers Ilvala and Vathapi, used to kill people who were passing by the forest. Ilvala knew the supernatural slogan using which he could bring back a dead person to life. He fed his brother Vathapi to Agasthya muni. Legend has it that Agasthya muni with his vedic powers foresaw the evil plan and outwitted them by digesting the dead brother with the words Vathapi JeerNo bhava.
     We ended the class with coloring chapter 14. Please ensure that the stapled drawing book is in a binder. Many of our little friends are losing sheets of paper from the book.

Wish you all a happy new year. See you next year.

December 11th class review

   Today we started with some deep breathing exercises before we said our 3 oms followed by Om Sahana vavathu. We then went on to meditation. Many of our little friends put our heads down and tried to visualise their favourite gods.

    After the meditation we said a few prayers from the my prayers book. We said Karagare Vasathe, the prayer to say as soon as we wake up, Shubham karothi kalyanam the prayer we sing when we light the lamps in evenings, Saraswathi namasthubyam the prayer we sing before we study and BhramaArpanam  prayer we say before we eat. 
       We sang the Rama Rama Bhajan. This bhajan is in the my prayers book. It is a fun bhajan, so try it with your kids.
Rama Rama Rama Rama, Rama Nama Tarakam
Rama Krishna Vasudeva Bhakthi Mukthi Dayakam
Janaki Manoharam Sarva Loka Nayakam
Shankaradi sevyamaana divya nama vaibavam
Shankaradi sevyamaana divya nama vaibavam
Rama Rama Rama Rama, Rama Nama Tarakam (2)
Rama Nama Tarakam (3)


The children are getting good at the first two verses of the geeta. We have to learn 15 verses this year. Please practice these at home as well using the cd and the printouts. We have covered six verses
We reviewed the previous chapters and moved to Bharatha and Shatrughana. Following King Dasaratha's death,  a messenger was sent to bring them back to Ayodhya. On arriving in Ayodhya,Bharatha immediately senses the change in the city, the people and the servants. He is received joyously by his mom. But is shocked at her disclosures. He rejects her gifts to him.  Bharatha does not want the kingdom. He is in great mental anguish when he hears that his dear brother Rama has been banished to the forest for 14 years.
         Bharata performs the last rites for his father and proceeds to the forest to persuade Rama to return to Ayodhya. But when the party from Ayodhya reach Chitrakoot, they are unable to persuade Rama to return. Rama will not break his promise to his father. Bharatha then agrees to take care of Ayodhya as a regent till Rama returns. Bharatha takes Rama's padukas so he can place them on the throne and be guided by them.

We had a short quiz on the events, places and people that we have covered so far. The children did very well in the quiz. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

December 4th Class review

    We started another class on time and with almost full attendance. The children know the routine well now. We started with our 3 oms followed by Om Sahana vavathu.
     All these prayers and slokams are in the my prayers book available in the book store. Please make sure the children have access to either the book or printouts of the prayers.
     We went over three guru stotrams after laying out the altar with Guru Chinmaya ji and Goddess Saraswathi's picture. The following stotrams are in page 9 of my prayers book.

Akhand-Mandalakaram vyaptam yena characharam.
Tatpadam darshitam yena tasmai Shri Gurave Namah.

 Agyan timir-andhasya Gyananjan Shalakaya.
Chakshur-oonmeelitam yena tasmai Shri Gurave Namah.

Gurur-Brahma Gurur-Vishnu Gurur-Devo Maheshwarah.
Guru-sakshat Para-Brahma tasmai Shri Gurave Namah.

      We then reviewed benefits of meditation and considered the various ways to meditate. After one minute of meditation, the children were ready for geeta chanting. We reviewed the three verses we had learnt in previous weeks and started on 2 additional ones. The children received handouts of all the verses in English. Please help the children memorise these verses at home. We also have cds and will be handing these out in the next class.  We all then got to our feet, stretched and did execises to get our blood flowing.
      Now we got to the most anticipated story time. Rama,Seeta and Lakshmana are in Chitrakoot. Sumatra the minister who drove them has returned to Ayodhya without the princess. The people of Ayodhya are disappointed and angry. King Dasaratha remembers an incident from his past. He recounts it to Queen Kausalya. He was a prince hunting in the forest. He mistakenly shoots a young boy who is fetching water for his blind parents. The young boys is Sravana. He repents for his mistake but the blind parents curse him that he too would one day lose his child and feel the pain that they are feeling. We talked about how our every action has consequences. Kaikeyi is responsible for her action, not Manatara.

       We ended the class with arthi and chinmaya pledge.


November 20th Class review


         We started our class with 3 loud Oms followed by the Shanthi mantraram Om Sahana vavathu. We talked about the importance of lighting the lamps or diyas at home everyday. We set up the altar with guru dev and Goddess Sarawathi's pictures. The children learned that the head of the Chinmaya mission is Swami Tejomayananda. Homework for this week is meaning of the word 'Chinmaya'. Parents please help children research this.
The children then moved on to one minute meditation with couting of the marbles in the metal cup. We urge them to practice this at home as well, so they can calm their minds and concentrate better.

We reviewed the first and second verse of the gita chapter 12 a few times and started on the third verse.

verse 1
 Arjuna Uvaacha:
Evam satatayuktaa ye bhaktaastwaam paryupaasate;
Ye chaapyaksharamavyaktam teshaam ke yogavittamaah.

verse 2 Sri Bhagavaan Uvaacha:  
Mayyaaveshya mano ye maam nityayuktaa upaasate;
Shraddhayaa parayopetaaste me yuktatamaa mataah.
                                                                           
verse 3
 Ye tvaksharamanirdeshyam avyaktam paryupaasate;
Sarvatragamachintyam cha kootasthamachalam dhruvam.


      After the children enthusiastically recounted the events that they had heard in previous classes we moved to the next phase of the story. Today the children heard about how Rama was calm and controlled when his father asked him to exile to the forest. On the other hand Lakshmana was furious. But Rama would not let him fight Kaikeyi. It is a son's first and foremost duty to fulfill a father's wish/command. Rama also says that Kaikeyi had been most noble till now. This had to happen as God wished it so. It is the way the Lord works. Nothing but good will come to good. Rama asked Lakshmana not to be swayed by emotion.
     After giving away their wealth and belongings Rama, Sita and Lakshmana went to Dasaratha to take leave. But Dasaratha was desperate to hold on to Rama. The old king asked Rama not to obey his command. But Rama would not swerve from the path of Dharma. The king asked him to leave the following day. Rama would not delay his departure. He said "Tomorrow will always come". Rama, Sita and Lakshmana departed from Ayodhya but the people followed them.
      
We ended the class with coloring the chapter 10 picture. Hari Om.
Hari Om,
      Next balavihar is on Sunday November 20th in Crossroads Middle school. The annual fund raiser is also being held that evening at the Crossroads school. The program starts at 3:30pm. Please plan to attend this once a year event.


November 6th Class Review

Welcome back after Diwali break. The class started out well with many children seated five minutes before start of class (may have been the end of daylight savings time) .While waiting for start of class we played an interesting game of follow the leader with Ruchi aunty clapping some measures and phrases and children following her lead.

We started our class with our 3 Oms followed by the Om Sahana vavathu. The altar was set up with Goddess Saraswathi and Gurudev's picture. We talked about the altars in our homes and how we light our lamps and pray everyday. We did one minute meditation with couting of the marbles in the metal cup. The children were excellant. There were quite still and focused with two third of the class getting the marble count on the dot.

We reviewed the first verse a few times and started on the second verse of the geeta chapter 12.
                 
sri-bhagavan uvaca
mayy avesya mano ye mam
nitya-yukta upasate
shraddhaya parayopetas
te me yuktatama matah 

      We will give out handouts with all the verses in the next class. Please review these with the children. There are Friday evening classes being offered at the ashram as well.

      We continued with Rama's story. The children reviewed the sequence of events leading up to Rama's coronation.We are amazed at all the details the children pointed out.
      The story moved to the next phase. Dasaratha feels old and wants to retire to the forest. He is eager to coronate and appoint Rama as the next King. He consults his guru Vasistha and they decide the next day is right time. Rama and Sita are informed and asked to fast. The couriers make the announcements and preparations ensue for the joyous occasion. There is riot of festivity.
But one person is not happy. Manthara is Kaikeyi 's maid and she poisons the Queen's mind. Following Manthara's advice, Kaikeyi threatens to kill herself if the King does not grant her the two boons (promises) he had pledged her.
     The king is in extreme mental agony but ultimately concedes to Dharma. Rama arrives at Kaikeyi's palace and is alarmed at his father's state but calmly receives the order to be banished to the forest for fourteern years. Rama says there is no one better than Bharatha. Rama says to help his father fulfill his duty he would do more than be exiled for fourteen years. We ended the story session with Rama, Sita and Lakshmana leaving for Dandka forest.
     Next we played the No, I am Rama game. Rama was calm and steady when he was told he was going to be King and he did not get angry or depressed when he was asked to go to the forest. To emphasize this we played the What will you do if you are Kaikeyi, what will you do if you are Rama. When we think of me and mine we act like Kaikeyi. When we are composed, steady and obedient we are like Rama. Please discuss the game with your children.

We ended the class with coloring the chapter 9 picture. Hari Om.

Happy Diwali and October 23rd class review



WE WISH YOU HAPPY DIWALI.


Thanks to all our first graders.  You spread the word and raised awareness and funds for CORD mission. Your support made the Cord Walk-a-thon a great success. More than 500 walkers participated.
Many first graders walked in Mercer Park this Sunday October 23rd 2011. The view was striking with steady ethusiatic orange t-shirts.

We had a brief combined class before the walk. We started as usual with 3 oms followed by सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6).

We sang three verses of Atma Nivasi Ram bhajan and then closed the class with Purnam Idam

Next BalaVihar is on November 6th at Crossroads Middle School.



Next Balavihar October 23rd

CORD Walk-a-thon on Sunday, Oct. 23rd at Mercer county park (East). Use the Edinburg Dutch Neck road entrance. We will assemble at 10:00 am and have a short class. Light lunch is being provided after the walk. There are many prizes such as ipads, ipods, Amex gift certificate, ear phones... The deadline for raffle tickets is tonight.

Please hurry up and register to walk using the team webpage.

section 1 team - http://cord.cordusa.net/nj019
section 2 team - http://cord.cordua.net/nj020

sincerely
Grade 1 team

October 16th class review

Today we had a great session. All of us had a wonderful time together. The class started with three loud "OM's" followed by meditation. We all did great. Everyone did super and sat quietly for one whole minute! We have already talked about the benefits of meditation and have promised to practice at home. Please ask your children about how we do the meditation.
Next came the chanting of Shlokas. We all chanted the three shlokas from "Sri Gurustotram". We also recited "Sarawati namastubham". All of us did very good. Please buy "My Prayer" book so all of us can practice at home as well.We also started the Geeta chanting. We did the first shloka of the 12th chapter. Please continue practicing at home. Our grade has to memorize 15 shlokas. We will keep practicing throughout the year and will be ready before the "Geeta Chanting competition".
The story time came next. All of us did a recap of what we learned last time and we continued with the story of "Bala Ramayana". Today we did chapter 7th( King Janaka) and chapter 8th (Rama weds Sita). First we learned about Sita and how Janaka found her among the shrubs and bushes. We all talked about how beautiful earth is. Children gave their inputs about why earth is so beautiful. Almost everyone participated in sharing what makes the Mother Earth so beautiful Some of us thought that mountains are beautiful , some thought that Mother Earth gave us beautiful flowers and some of us thought that trees, plants and leaves ( also the autumn leaves) are the miracle of nature. The same way Sita was as beautiful as Mother Earth. We all marveled at Rama's strength when he lifted the "Rudra's Bow" and it snapped in two. Finally Rama and Sita got married. Everyone was elated. But what do we give them for a gift! Lord Rama has everything. What can we possibly give him? Kids came with different idea of gifts, some said that they would give Lord Rama a framed picture of him and Sita, some said they would give likhta japa. But we all decided that we will give Sri Rama our bad habits and he will change it into good habits. So everyone wrote their bad habits on a piece of paper and put it in a large gift bag. We all offered it to Rama and Sita. What did we write? We wrote that we will not fight with our brothers and sisters, we will listen to our parents, we will help our moms and dad etc. etc. We did our Namaskaram to Sri Rama and prayed that all our bad thoughts and habits will go away.
The last activity was coloring our Ramayana Folder. We did a good job coloring chapter 7th and 8th. Many of us also did likhita japa in our composition books. The class came to an end with arti and pledge.
We all had fun time. Next class will be in Mercer county park. Please come dressed in your sneakers and comfortable clothes so we can spend time outdoors. Enjoy your week and we will see you coming Sunday

October 9th class review

Prayers:

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

The class setup the altar and chanted saraswathi shlokam.

* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')


Meditation: 1 minute.

Geeta Chanting: Bhagavad Gita 12 .
This year our grade will be tested for Chapter 12, verses 1 - 15. All the verses are in your hand book. Please review the first verse with your child.










Story: Vamana is an avatar of Lord Narayana born to humble the proud and powerful Mahabali. We also went over the Maricha and Ahalya story.

Words of the week: Mahabali, Vamana, Ahalya

Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'

Activity: Coloring pages Rama and Lakshmana guarding Vishwamitra's yagna. Rama's purifying step on the stone to releases Ahalya from her curse.

Game time: 'four corners' variation with right/left arm/leg.

End of class: Aarthi and Cord presentation in the auditorium

September 25th 2011 class review


Grade 1 Section 2 update:
Morning prayers is 3 (Om) followed by
Prayers:

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

* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* करग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karagre vasate lakshmi

Meditation: 5 minutes

Followed by Yoga and then

Bhajan : Atma Nivasi Ram bhajan (My prayers, pg. 63)

Story: The class learned about King Dasaratha's yagna and Rama's birth.
Activity: Colored 2 pages of the Ramayana coloring book.The children took the coloring books home and these will need to be brought back every class.


Grade 1 Section 1 updates:
Morning prayers is 3 (Om) followed by

Prayers:
* सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* Akanda Mandalakaram (My prayers, pg. 9, 1st shloka of 'gurustotram')
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')


Meditation: 1 minute. The children were fantastic counting crayons dropped into a jar.

Story: Rishi Vishwamitra has troubles with demons Tataka and her son Maricha. He asks King Dasaratha to send Rama to protect his yagna. Dasartha reluctantly sends Rama and Lakshmana with the powerful rishi. Rama follows rishi Vishwamitra's directions and kills the woman cursed by sage Agastya with use of divine astras.

Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'

Activity: Colored Charan padukas and Sage Vishwamitra leading Rama and Lakshmana.


Game time: The Rama japa train went around the class chanting Rama Rama Rama.


End of class:
* Jai Jagadeesha hare and Chinmaya pledge


    September 18th 2011 class

    Pranaam,
                 We started on the Bala Ramayanam today. 
                                                Ayodhya means where there is no fights  
                 The children imagined Ayodhya of long long ago and came up the settings for the story. All the children actively participated and got engaged with the past. Ayodhya was place of harmony and happiness except for the King. King Dasaratha was unhappy as he had no children. 
                 This lead us to discuss advice and help when we are lost or sad. All the children agreed that parents or teacher are a good source to seek when we are unhappy or need help. 
                 Following his guru Vashista muni 's advice King Dasaratha performed a Putrakamesti yaga or fire ritual. The yajna purusa emerged with heavenly payasam which the King offered to the queens. In due course Queen Kausalya had Rama, Queen Kaikeyi had Bharatha and Queen Sumitra had Lakshmana and Shahtrugana. We went around the class chanting Rama, Rama to celebrate the birth of Rama.

                We learnt the first gurustrotram. Please refer to My Prayers page 9 verse 1.

                                           akhanda-mandalakaram
                                           vyaptam yena caracaram
                                           tatpadam darsitam yena
                                           tasmai sri-gurave namah
                 The children started coloring their Ramayanam books. Please send a folder so we can send these books home. Please contact us if you have any questions
                                    
                         Grade 1 sevikas

    welcome to Grade 1 balavihar 2011-2012

    Dear Grade 1 parents,
    we are very excited to have your children in our grade 1 rooms. On September 11th, opening day we met your lovely children and assigned them to section 1 or section 2.We also discussed the curriculum for this year which is the same as last year. We will be teaching Bala Ramayanam. There is no textbook for the kids. The children will be getting a coloring book. They will need to bring their crayons, my prayer book and their individual coloring books to class everyday. We will be updating the blog with the daily activities and lessons. check often.

    Pranam from grade 1 sevikas
    Ruchi Malaviya & Lakshmi Annamalai (section 1)
    Kalpana Dholakia & Kusuma a Janardhana (section 2)

    June 12th Ananda Mela

    Comments:  
    Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
    Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:
    Today was the grand finale of the balavihar year.  We had practiced rigorously for the last couple of classes and had met some extra sessions for practices as well.  It all culminated in our performance on stage today.  We had asked all the parents to assemble with their children at 11 a.m. for our 11.30 performance.  Promptly, we met all the thoroughly well dressed children by the tents!  Children, each one of you looked so adorable in your colorful costumes!

    When our class was called on stage, the children went up in a very orderly manner.  They lined up nicely and lo and behold, they were ready to perform!  With their dialogues, two of the children introduced their class as well as what they would be presenting.  They all took the cues so well and started simultaneously, without missing a beat!  They chanted the 'eka shlokI raamaayaNa' with appropriate actions that, the meaning of the verse became self evident.  Then, another child came up and introduced the bhajans they were going to chant.  The raama bhajans 'aatmaa raamaa...' and 'aatma nivaasI raam...' came out very beautifully.  The audience was clapping along with the children.  Then another child came up to introduce the hanumaan bhajan they were going to sing.  Everyone had picked up their 'shrI raama' flags by then.  They all sang in unison, 'aanjaneya veera hanumanta shoora...' in one voice and raised their flags to the tune.  (That one has always been their favorite one ;).  At the end, they all took a bow at once and walked down single file, to the loud applause from the audience.

    You gave your best and performed so well.  You were all so disciplined and a well behaved group of children too.  Children, you all made us very proud! Thank you for being such an awesome bunch and parents, thank you for letting us work with your children.  We are going to miss them a lot next year :(.  They have all done a great job and will be moving on to second grade...  You will remain in our fondest memories as one of the best classes ever!  Give us a shout out when you see us in the corridors next year.  You would have all grown so much and become taller by the time we see you again :).  Enjoy the summer break and come back next year for another fun filled year at balavihar!!

    Take care everyone!  Hari Om!!

    June 5th Class

    Prayers:

    * 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: None

    Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 - 14 

    Story: The talkative tortoise

    Words of the week: Review of many done so far

    Likhita japa: None

    Activity: None

    Game time: Stories by the children!

    End of class:
    • पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
    Comments:

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

    Another rocking day as we come closer to the grand finale!  It was officially the last day of balavihar 'classes'.  We will be having our final day on June 12th, at the Chinmaya Ananda Mela.  It will be held at the ashram premises.  Our class will be performing on stage, for which we have been practicing rigorously.  We had a practice yesterday at the ashram.  Thanks to all the parents taking interest and bringing the children for these extra practice sessions.  We will be having our final rehearsal on June 4th, Saturday at 10 a.m. at the ashram back office room.  Please make sure the children arrive on time.  We need this extra time for them to give their best on stage. 

    With what we have seen so far, the children are doing a wonderful job!  We are so impressed with their eagerness to listen and learn!  Makes us want to come back with more for them :).  Today, we did several practices, along with having loads of fun.

    For a break, we listened to the story of the talkative tortoise.  We concluded that it is not essential for anyone to keep talking all the time.  It almost seemed like the story had an effect on the children instantaneously.  They all became even better listeners suddenly :). 

    We went back to our practices again.  After doing a wonderful job, since we had some time to spare, we had an impromptu story telling session by the kids!  They came up and narrated such wonderful stories and concluded with appropriate morals that we were so impressed!  Made us sad to think that we will be missing these wonderful Sunday morning get-togethers soon :(. 

    Children, you have been one of the best classes we have seen!  Keep up the good work and become wonderful young people!!  Parents, our hearty thanks to you all for giving us the opportunity to work with your kids.  Hope your experience was just as wonderful as ours!  Hope to see you around.  Children, you are always welcome to stop by our classes and say hello, we would love that :).

    May 22nd Class

    Prayers:

    * 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')
    * करग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karagre vasate lakShmIH 
    * समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI
    * बुद्दिर्बलम् - buddirbalaM

    Meditation: 1 minute

    Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 - 14

    Story: Monkeys go fasting :)

    Words of the week: Lots of them!

    Likhita japa: None

    Activity: None

    Game time: 4 corners with quiz cues; yoga

    End of class:
    • पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
    Comments:

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

    With the year end programme fast approaching, we are doing practices in our balavihar sessions.  Today, we met at 9.30 am as spoken in last class.  Although lot of the children came on time, not all of them made it at 9.30.  Parents please make sure they come on time as we need this extra half hour, so that we don't have to scramble towards the end.

    We did our morning prayers, meditation and gItaa chanting as usual.  We then practiced for the mela performance.  It is coming along nicely.  We need everyone to practice their words at home so that they don't need to hold on to the sheet.  Parents please encourage them to learn the words by heart.

    In between practices, we heard the story of a group of monkeys that decided to go fasting!  A bunch of monkeys, vowed to fast till sun set, one day.  After a few minutes, one of the monkeys came up with a brilliant idea.  He said that they should find a banana grove and wait by the grove, so that at sun set, they can quickly break their fast.  Everyone agreed and they went looking for a banana grove and found it too.  In a few minutes, another monkey suggested that they should each locate a banana plant, which has nice ripe bananas and wait by 'their' plants so that it will be easier at sun set.  All the monkeys agreed and found a plant with lots of ripe fruit.  They started looking up at the sun and pacing around a little bit.  After a few more minutes, one smart monkey said, after fasting till sun set, they would all be weak and frail to climb the trees.  So, may be they should climb up right now and wait for the sun to set, that way, their energies will be conserved...  So, all the monkeys agreed and climbed up their respective trees.  In a little while, one other monkey yelled to all other monkeys, 'may be, we should pluck a banana and hold it readily so we will not lose time later!'  They all did so.  Then another monkey said, 'we are just sitting right now, might as well make use of the time to peel the banana and keep it ready of later!'  Okay..., everyone peeled their bananas and held them out....  After five minutes...., there was peel all over the ground!  It was not even late morning!!  All the monkeys had eaten up dozens of banana and were burping!!!   They had failed their vow miserably! From this story, we learnt that, to achieve anything, we need to have will power, determination, courage and especially patience!  We can't achieve anything without these very essential characteristics.  Or, our tasks will be as successful as the fast of the monkeys :).

    After that, we did more practice.  We then played the 4 corners game with clues to the names of the corners.  It was time for some yoga.  We had lots of fun stretching, jumping, bending and reaching.  It was time to disperse with the ending prayers.

    Parents, please remember to bring the children at 9.30 next class.  We will be needing a couple additional practices on Saturdays possibly.  It will be at 'Chinmaya Vrindavan'.  We will be sending out emails regarding the time slots, once we get a confirmation at the ashram.  We thank you in advance for you co-operation.  Keep practicing!  Have a nice long weekend everyone.  See you soon.

    May 15th Class

    Prayers:

    * 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')
    * करग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karagre vasate lakShmIH 
    * समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI
    * बुद्दिर्बलम् - buddirbalaM
    Meditation: 1 minute


    Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 - 14

    Story:  Monkeys and the pickle

    Words of the week: Many many :).

    Likhita japa: None

    Activity: None

    Game time: Four corners game, along with quiz cues, yoga

    End of class:
    • पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
    Comments:

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

    We combined the classes and will be doing so for the rest of the year.  We did our regular morning prayers and gItaa chanting.  The chanting is only getting better as the days go by :).  Our hearty congratulations to VIBHAV AMBUGA for winning 2nd prize in the finals of the gItaa chanting!  (Interestingly, he came second only to his own sister, who bagged the 1st prize :).  We are so thrilled!  Keep it up Vibhav.

    We handed out the scripts for the mela performance and practiced in full swing!  In between, we heard a fun fun story of the monkeys and the pickle.  After that, we promised to try not to be monkeys and copy someone thoughtlessly :). 

    Later, we played the 'four corners' game with a twist.  Aunties would give clues and the children had to figure out the answer and go to that corner accordingly!  We tried to trick them, but they were too smart.  We tried to give them questions with more than one possible answer, but they figured that working as a team works.  They split into smaller groups to represent all the correct answers!  How smart is this class, really!

    The children were so attentive that the day was so productive and we had time for more fun!  We did some great yoga stretches and moves.  Then, we also did the naama japa, with the names of - raama, sItaa, lakShamNa, bharatha, shatrughna.  They wanted to do more!!  So we did - hanumaan, sugrIvaa, jaTaayu, as well :).

    See you all next week.  We will be meeting in room D-100 at 9:30 for next two classes as we need that extra time for practice.  Please bring your children on time and we promise to make sure they will have a good time :).  Also please make them practice the script we have sent home with them today.

    See you all next week.

    May 8th Class

    Prayers:

    * 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')
    * करग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karagre vasate lakShmIH 
    * समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI
    * शुभं करोति कल्यणम् - shubhaM karoti kalyaNam 
    * बुद्दिर्बलम् - buddirbalaM

    Meditation: 1 minute

    Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shlokas 1 - 14

    Story: None (We have finished our 'raamaayaNa' curriculum for the year)

    Words of the week: Lots of them :).

    Likhita japa: None

    Activity: None

    Game time: Do you know your boundaries - game

    End of class:
    • पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

    Comments:

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

    Today after our morning prayers and gItaa chanting, we combined both the sections, for a very exciting reason!  (It will be done this way for the rest of the remaining classes for the year.)  We all settled down and discussed about what we have learnt so far in our classes.  After the recap, the kids learnt that we will be learning some new, fun and exciting things to present in the upcoming Chinmaya Ananda Mela!  Our class will be performing on stage.  The children will give you more details about our presentation :).  Please encourage your children tell you more about it.  We will be practicing in the next classes.  They will also be bringing home the script next week. 

    We are so eager to see them all on stage!  We are sure they are going to rock the show!!

    After the practice, we played one of our favorite games - do you know your boundaries.  We are very impressed that the children understand very subtle differences too!  If we say, being determined like raavaNa, they come into the boundary.  When we say, using the determination for wrong purposes, they run out instantaneously!! 

    We ended the class with our ending prayer and headed to the auditorium for a special 'Gurudev jayanthi' and 'Mother's day' presentation.

    See you all next week.

    April 17th Class

    Prayers:

    * 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')
    * करग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karagre vasate lakShmIH 
    * समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI
    * शुभं करोति कल्यणम् - shubhaM karoti kalyaNam 
    * बुद्दिर्बलम् - buddirbalaM

    Meditation: 1 minute

    Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2

    Story: The coronation; I know raamaayaNa

    Words of the week: pushpaka vimaanam; ayodhyaa; pattabhiShekam; raamakathaa

    Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'

    Activity: Coloring page of raama's coronation

    Game time: Quiz on raamayaNa IQ.  Discussion on the relevance of ethics and values that we have learnt through hearing raamaayaNa.

    End of class:
    • पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
    Comments:

    Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
    We had quite a few kids in class, inspite of it being the spring break week!  We did miss a few of you though.  We did the morning prayers, followed by meditation time.  Today's gItaa chanting was the bestest!  Aunties did not have to help them one bit!!  They did all the 14 verses, all on their own, to perfection, without any stuttering or pauses!!!  We were so extremely ecstatic!  We don't have enough words to express our joy :).  Parents, thank you very much for all the practice and encouragement you have been giving them at home.  It truly is showing its colors now!  Many of you have already registered.  Those who have not, please make sure you register them, as the registration will be closing on Tuesday.  After that, you will receive an email with your child's allotted time slot for the 23rd.  Best of luck everyone!  We are rooting for you all :).

    After the chanting, was our favorite segment - story time :).  Today, we were finishing up our raamaayaNa!  We did a review of what we have heard so far in the story time.  raavaNa was slain.  The city of lankaa was handed over to vibhIShaNa as king, for restoring it to its original glory.  By now, the 14 years of exile were almost up.  They all sat in the puShpaka vimaanam.  (A small tidbit - puShpaka vimaanam was an aerial chariot, which would always have room for as many people who wanted to ride AND an extra seat!).  So, raama, with his wife sItaa, brother lakShmaNa, dearest hanumaan, sugrIva, vibhIShaNa and all the monkeys, sat in the chariot and left towards ayodhyaa.  They were reminiscing their experiences as they flew over the mountains and valleys of panchavatI, chitrakUtaa, etc.  They sent word to bharata and guhaa, about their arrival.  The joy of the people of ayodhyaa was unbound.  The whole city was festive and joyous.  Everyone celebrated the arrival of their beloved prince raama and princess sItaa.  bharata came running on bare feet to raama.  He fell at his feet and embraced him with love.  He returned the throne to raama immediately.  At an auspicious time, raama was crowed the king of ayodhyaa.  Everyone rejoiced and there was celebration for days.  After the coronation, sItaa gave a pearl garland to hanumaan.  He said that it did not have the sweet taste that chanting raamanaama gave him!  He asked to be blessed that he would be able to sit and listen to raamakatha, where ever it is being told with love, always!  That meant that hanumaan was sitting in our class every balavihaar Sunday, though out the year and listening to the raamakatha we were learning!!

    Aunty told a small side story after that.  When all the monkeys were feasting, they were seated in a line for lunch.  Varieties of food was served.  A pickle was served too.  One of the monkeys was trying to pinch a piece of it, when it slipped and jumped off it's hand.  This monkey thought that the pickle was jumping and so, he jumped up to show that he could do that too.  The monkey sitting next to him, said 'I can jump too', so he jumped.  The one sitting next to him... he jumped too :).  Like this, the whole line of monkeys were jumping!  When raama came, he was surprised.  When he questioned one monkey about the jumping, it was clueless!  The whole line of monkeys pointed at each other, without knowing why they were really jumping.  Finally the first monkey pointed to the pickle :) and everyone rolled with laughter :).

    After coloring the last page of the book, the kids were very excited to learn that they get to take their precious books home today, to keep!  They had kept the books very well though out the year and aunty had promised a surprise if they did so.  Sure enough, they all go key rings of hanumaan, to go on their back packs or balavihar bags, reminding them to keep ALL their books well, always!

    We have also given a consolidated list of relevant values from raamaayaNa, that we want to absorb through the years.  We had a quiz on those values and lo and behold, we got each and every answer correctly from the children!

    It was a wonderful class in all!  Enjoy your spring break everyone and keep practicing the gItaa chanting.  We are sure you will all do a wonderful job on 23rd.  Best of luck!

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

    Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

    Today was the most exciting day of all.Today we finished our Ramayana Book and were able to give all the coloring books back. Since the books were kept so neatly and carefully everyone got a beautiful Hanuman key-chain as a reward.

    The class started with three loud OM's followed by morning shlokas. Today we discussed the meaning of each shloka and the God associated with them. Meditation time came next. We all sat silently for three minutes chanting and counting the names of Lord Rama.

    Geeta Chanting came next.Today was the last day to practice the Shlokas. We have been practicing for almost 7-8 months. The kids are now ready to participate. Best of luck to all of you.

     Story time was the grand finale of our chapter book "Bala Ramayana". Today we described the coronation of Sri Rama and the festivities and celebration in and around Ayodhya. What a joyous ending of the great epic.

    We distributed the coloring books back to the students and looked at each and every picture that was colored. Each child described what they thought about each picture.We also discussed about the qualities and values each character represents in Ramayana. We have given a card to all the children with the symbolism in Ramayana.

    Lots of pictures were taken today and everyone got the Hanuman keychain for their participation in class as well as keeping their coloring book nice and neat.

    The class ended with Arti and pledge.

    Enjoy the spring break and we will see you soon!

    April 10th Class

    Prayers:

    * 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')
    * करग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karagre vasate lakShmIH 
    * समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI
    * शुभं करोति कल्यणम् - shubhaM karoti kalyaNam 
    * बुद्दिर्बलम् - buddirbalaM

    Meditation: 1 minute

    Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 - 14

    Story: indrajit; raavaNa himself; The fire test

    Words of the week: indrajit; raavaNa; sanjIvinI parvatam; agni;

    Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'

    Activity: Coloring pages of hanumaan bringing the sanjIvinI mountain; raama and raavaNa duel; fire test for sItaa

    Game time: Know your boundaries AND four corners

    End of class:
    • पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
    Comments:
    Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
    We started the class with the 3 om-s.  Some of the children were saying the om really long... not because they were holding there breath longer, but they were sipping a small wisp of air in between and continuing to stretch their om-s :).  After having a good laugh over it, we did our regular prayers.  The meditation time was quite.  We discussed how meditation is not just about sitting quietly and chanting in our heads, but also, keeping our minds focused and calm.  We gave examples of how the mind could wander and think of birthday parties, cakes, presents, donuts, etc. :).

    We have been practicing gItaa chanting in full swing.  Parents, we urge you to register at the earliest, as the online registrations will close very soon.  The children are doing very well.  Encourage them to practice everyday.

    During story time, we reviewed many bits and portions of the story covered so far.  It was amazing to see how perfectly the kids knew all the little details epic so far!  We then continued to hear what had happened after kumbhakarNa was slain.  raavaNa's son indrajit consoled his father and assured him that he will go back to the battle ground again.  He was rampant on the battle field, killing many a monkeys.  He then shot powerful darts and made raama and lakShmaNa swoon!  The only remedy was 4 herbs found on a mountain called 'sanjIvinI parvatam'.  But that was situated in the far far himaalayas.  hanumaan was sent to fetch the herbs.  Since he could not identify the herbs, he brought the whole mountain back to lankaa, in order to save time!  Once the brothers were revived, hanumaan took the mountain back and replaced it where he originally brought it from!!  We understood the importance of cleaning up after we use any toys or books or anything else!  After that, indrajit was slain by lakShmaNa.  raavaNa was drowned in sorrow.  He went himself to the war field and fought fiercely.  Finally, he faced raama.  A very fierce battle ensued.  But in the end, raavaNa was killed by raama, using the astra that sage agastyaa had given.  On hearing the new of raama's victory from hanumaan, sItaa was overcome with joy!  She was dressed up like a queen and brought in a palanquin to raama.  But raama stood cold and stern.  He told her that he did his job of rescuing her and now, she was free to go anywhere, because she lived in a stranger's house for so long.  On hearing this, sItaa was flabbergasted!  She was so devastated that she asked lakShmaNa to set up a fire and she entered into the fire.  Then, fire God himself came, declared her purity and gave her to raama...  We have stopped the story at that and eager to see what happens finally :).

    We then did our coloring pages.  We were such a good, keen and listening class that we had time for two games today!  We had a lot of fun.

    Our next class is filled with a lot of surprises!  We can't wait to see all that the class has in store :).

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

    Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:
    We all began with three loud Om's and shlokas followed by meditation. Today in meditation we all sat for full 3 minutes counting the name of Lord Rama. It is  a great accomplishment that we can now sit quietly with our full focus on Lord's name for this much time. All of us did very well. No one was distracted and everybody concentrated and remained quiet. Well done first graders!!
    It is almost time for the Geeta Chanting competition. Please register for the competition as soon as possible. We all have been practicing with lot of enthusiasm. Let's all do our best chanting the shlokas.
    Story time covered the topics of Indrajit (chapter 35), Ravana Himself ( Chapter 36) and The Fire test (chapter 37). We learned that the real cause of Ravana's sorrow was his wrongful act of abducting some one's wife.Also he was never ready to see his own faults and only listened to people who praised him. We also heard about the battle between the spiritual hero Rama and the intellectual hero Ravana. At the end Rama destroyed the ten headed Ravana.
    Coloring session was next.All of us colored chapter 35,36 and 37. We have now reached the end of the book. In the next class we will give the books back to all of the kids. We will also recap all the events and stories according to the pages colored by the kids.
    Before we realized, it was time to go home. The class ended with arti and pledge.

    April 3rd Class

    Prayers:

    * 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')
    * करग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karagre vasate lakShmIH 
    * समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI
    * शुभं करोति कल्यणम् - shubhaM karoti kalyaNam 
    * बुद्दिर्बलम् - buddirbalaM

    Meditation: 1 minute

    Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 - 14

    Story: sItaa deceived; princes revived; kumbhakarNa

    Words of the week: indrajit; sarpaastra; garuDa; kumbhakarNa

    Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'

    Activity: No coloring pages

    Game time: 'Know your boundaries' - along with pointers from today's story.

    End of class:
    • पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
    • aarati and pledge were done in the auditorium.

    Comments:

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

    The two sections were combined today.  We settled down quickly and started off with our morning prayers.  We spoke about the significance and meaning of some of the prayers we did. 

    The gItaa chanting competition is fast approaching.  The practice in class is going in full swing.  Parents, please encourage them to do it regularly at home and make sure you register them online for the big day.  If you saw how well they were doing in class, you would, without a doubt register each and everyone for the competition!  We were so impressed!!  

    Meditation time with 40 some kids in class, happened in total silence!  Good job kids.  You were all very composed and focused, just like shrI raama. 

    Before going into the story time, we spoke about the 11th chapter of the gItaa we are learning.  We spoke about what happened in this chapter and what was the topic of conversation between kRuShNa and arjuna.  We saw the picture of the viraat swaroopa viShNu, like we do in each class.  We also spoke about how arjuna needed special vision to see that.  He could not possibly have seen it with his plain eyes.  We compared it to how we need 3D glasses to see a 3D movie.  Similarly, to see the entire swaroopam of the Lord, we need special vision for sure!  The conversations and questions were very interesting.  Please discuss with your children what their ideas were and what they spoke in class.

    In the story time, we saw how raavaNa tried to deceive sItaa with a fake head of raama on a plate, which he created through his magic.  But it vanished as soon as raavaNa left.  This confused sItaa, but she was consoled by a kind raakShasi, saying that it was a trick of raavaNa.  Even raavaNa's grandfather advised him to return sItaa but he wouldn't budge.  They were all set to start the battle.  Then, sugrIva suddenly got enraged and jumped off into the palace quarters of raavaNa to deal him, himself!  They both fought fiercely.  But raavaNa resorted to magic, which sugrIva was no match.  He returned to raama's camp.  raama advised him that, being a king, it was not wise of sugrIva to be hasty.  Although he was a king, sugrIva was not arrogant.  He acknowledged his mistake and apologized.  The battle began.  Both sides fought fiercely.  Many rakShasas, as well as monkeys died on both sides, many more were injured as well.  Once, raavaNa's son indrajit, used 'sarpaastra' (snake darts) against raama and lakShmaNa.  They both fell down unconscious.  In a haste, indrajit concluded that they were dead!  He went and reported to his father as well.  Rejoicing, raavaNa asked sItaa to go take a look in his puShpaka vimaanam.  When she was in utter sorrow on seeing the sight, trijaata, a kind raakShasi consoled her saying the divine glow on their faces is proof enough that they are not dead.  Soon after, garuDa, Lord viShNu's vehicle, came swooping down.  At the very sight of the bird, the snake darts left raama and lakShmaNa!  They were revived.  (We also spoke about how aadisheSha, viShNu's bed and his vehicle, the garuDa, live cohesively in vaikuNTa!  How come?  The difference being the goodness in a person.)  raavaNa had lost a lot of his strong soldiers.  His only resort was his brother kumbhakarNa, who was cursed to sleep for six months continuously.  He was in one of those spell currently.  He HAD to be woken up.  After a lot of efforts, he awoke.  After listening to the narration of the happenings from raavaNa himself, kumbhakarNa told him that it was very wrong of raavaNa to have stolen sItaa.  But he would still be loyal to his brother and lay his life for him.  He fought fiercely.  But he knew his end was nearing.  He made his way towards raama, as he wanted to die in his arms.  After a long battle, raama cut off his arms, limbs and killed him!

    We will see what happens in the next class.  We had such a long story today, we did not do any coloring pages :).  Not really.  There were no coloring pages filled with the gory details of the war!  We enjoyed playing the game of 'know your boundaries' along with examples from the story today.  We went to the auditorium for aarati and pledge.

    See you all next week for another fun session.



    March 20th Class

    Prayers:

    * 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')
    * करग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karagre vasate lakShmIH 
    * समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI
    * शुभं करोति कल्यणम् - shubhaM karoti kalyaNam 
    * बुद्दिर्बलम् - buddirbalaM


    Meditation: 1 minute 

    Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shlokas 1 to 14

    Story: Ravana rejects good counsel; Bridge across the ocean

    Words of the week: vibhIShaNa; raavaNa; indrajit; maNDodarI

    Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'

    Activity: Coloring pages of vibhIShaNa advising raavaNa; monkeys building the bridge across the ocean

    Game time: 'Know your boundaries' game, along with applying the morals learnt in the story today.

    End of class:
    • पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
    Comments: 
    Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
    Today was almost a full class, but yet, what a quite, wonderful and attentive group!  We started off with our morning prayers, which we almost need no help.  We had learnt a new hanumaan shloka last week, we practiced it today as well.  Meditation time was the quietest!  That was a great way to start our gItaa chanting.  The first 6 verses, aunty did not even have to say with the kids!  They did it on their own!  Please keep practicing regularly and come April 23rd, each one will be able to perform their best.  Parents make sure you register them online (you can use the link above) and encourage them to practice everyday.

    During story time, we saw how raavaNa, inspite of good counsel from his very brother vibhIShaNa and wife maNDodarI, heeds to his aasurI ministers and friends, who egg him towards his misdeeds.  They remind him of his previous victories over kubera, how he had snatched the pushpaka vimaana (the aerial chariot) and the city of gold, the very lankaa from kubera.  That boosted his confidence and he was not ready to receive anything other than his praises.  We learnt how company can either lead us towards betterment or spiral us down.

    On the other side, all the monkeys from the south had reached kiShkindaa.  They were all celebrating their success.  hanumaan was calm and collected.  On jaambavaan's instigation, he quietly started off 'On seeing sItaa...'  He was so watchful of raama's feelings that, he did not want him to get anxious giving unwanted details or bragging about his own endeavors.  We learnt how the humble never blow their own horns and trumpets.

    vibhIShaNa, left raavaNa's court, with 4 of his faithful friends and flew towards raama's camp on the other side of the ocean.  Since he was a raakshasa too, he had magical powers as well.  On seeing him, all the monkeys, etc, got anxious and concluded that he was an enemy.  But raama was calm and composed.  Seeing this, vibhIShaNa announced to the onlookers that he had left raavaNa and had come to join them as a friend.  raama asked hanumaan for his opinion on vibhIShaNa.  Only after asking, did hanumaan express his opinion.  He said vibhIShaNa had an honest face and he was announcing that he was seeking friendship.  He should not be punished just for the fact that he was raavaNa's brother.  raama agreed with hanumaan's opinion.  vibhIShaNa explained the situation and how raavaNa had rejected his counsel.  raama performed a simple 'pattabhiSheka' of vibhIShaNa as the future king of lankaa!

    They then took up the task of building the bridge across the ocean to reach lankaa.  raama performed a pooja, asking the ocean for help.  After 3 days, when nothing happened, he took up his bow and arrow to dry up the whole ocean, when the ocean God appeared and pleaded raama for mercy.  He said that his very nature is to be deep and flowing always.  He couldn't possibly dry up and pave way for them.  But he promised that if a monkey named nala in their army, an excellent engineer, built a bridge, he would hold up all the rocks and boulders and trees, so that they don't sink.  Now all the monkeys started throwing huge trees and boulders into the ocean, chanting raama's name.  We also heard about the little squirrel, who was watching all this.  He was a tiny squirrel alright.  But he wanted to do his share in building the bridge.  He brought whatever little his little hands could hold and threw it into the ocean saying raama's name!  On seeing that raama blessed him and they say that the 3 lines on a squirrel's back are raama's finger marks!!  With this, we learnt that our contribution is very important, in whatever capacity.  Even at home, whatever we can do to help our parents, we need to do it!  It matters a lot to our parents too.  The bridge was built in 5 days and they all crossed over to the other side.

    We stopped the story at that and did our coloring pages and played the game of boundaries, applying the morals learnt from the story today. 

    See you all next week.
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    Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:
    Today was a relatively quiet day because of low attendance.I guess everyone was busy playing Holi or watching World Cup Cricket! Happy Holi to all of you who celebrate the festival. May the colors brighten your life.. Anyways we all assembled and started with our regular routine of morning shlokas,meditation and geeta chanting. As always we are doing awesome in all three.
    The story time covered lessons 30 (Ravana Rejects Good Counsel) and lesson 31 (The Bridge Across The Ocean). We learned that truly great never push themselves forward and praise their own exploits. Also Ravana's ruin was certain because when a man has lost his reason and is advised by fools around him,his ruin is certain. Ravana had become proud and his ministers too were asuric rakshas who had taken to evil ways. The evil can give the evil nothing but evil counsel which can bring only ruin. We had a lively discussion about the possible ways to cross the large ocean. Kids had a very creative ideas about how the vanara sena could cross the ocean. I found some of them very interesting like Hanuman could take all the vanaras up in the sky towards the clouds and then the whole army could walk on the cloud to reach Lanka. Other suggestion was that Hanuman could elongate his tail and everyone could walk on it and cross the ocean.
    We all also took a march along the classroom chanting Sri Rama's name and each child got to lead the chanting once. We all imagined that we had reached the sea shore and we had to plan the next step in reaching Lanka.
    Everyone colored in their coloring books and we all ended the class with aarti and pledge. We are going to select one or two kids to lead the pledge. So let us practice the pledge and be confident when we are asked to lead.
    Our next class is going to be held on 3rd April. Have a good week and see you soon!!!

    March 13th Class

    Prayers:

    * 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')
    * करग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karagre vasate lakShmIH 
    * समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI
    * शुभं करोति कल्यणम् - shubhaM karoti kalyaNam 
    * बुद्दिर्बलम् - buddirbalaM

    Meditation: 1 minute

    Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2

    Story: Lanka; Fire, fire, fire!

    Words of the week: jambumaalI; aksha; indrajit; vibhIshaNa

    Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'

    Activity: Coloring pages of sIta in ashokavanam; hanumaan setting fire to lanka with his tail

    Game time: None - we had to catch up on our coloring pages as well as the story time was elaborate :)

    End of class:
    • पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
    Comments:

    Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
    We had a slow beginning, probably due daylight savings time beginning today.  But then, the kids started trickling in one by one.  We did our prayers and revisited our reasons for saying particular prayers.  Meditation time was observed with pin drop silence!  Gita chanting is coming along well.  Parents, a link to register the kids for the competition is given in the announcements section.  Please make sure you register your children at the earliest.  All of them are doing very well.  They are all comfortable with the first 8 already.  There is still a month's time to perfect 6 more.  We are required to learn 14 shlokas from chapter 11.  Your children will give you more details about the ice-cream/pizza party for the class with maximum participants, etc. :). 

    In the story time, we continued to hear about hanumaan's endeavors.  After setting his foot on the land of lankaa, he faces lankiNI, the demon who guarded the palatial gates.  On suffering a blow from hanumaan, she realized that, as per forecast, lankaa's end was close.  She bowed to Him and let Him pass.  He searched in every nook and cranny of the city, in every chamber of the palace.  There was no sight of sItaa.  For all given purposes, he had never seen sItaa so far.  But he had a picture of her in mind, as per the description he had heard.  When sitting atop a wall, he saw a beautiful garden with flowering plants and ashoka trees.  He found a beautiful maiden dressed in simple robes, her hair undone, with stains of tears on her cheeks.  He knew that she was sItaa for sure!  raavaNa came there and started to harass sitaa to marry him.  But sItaa would not even look at him.  She put a blade of grass and address raavaNa as equal to that!  All the demons harassed her further, but one demon named trijaataa comforted her and sent away all the mean ones.  When sItaa was alone, hanumaan, who was in the form of a cute little monkey atop the ashoka tree, started singing praises of raama, melodiously and also about how raama was longing for sItaa and looking for her desperately.  sItaa was amazed by looking at the little monkey.  She first thought it was a trick by raavaNa.  But after seeing raama's signature ring, she was overcome with love for her beloved.  She blessed hanumaan and gave him her crest jewel, chUDaamaNi, as a sign to show raama. 

    After that, hanumaan, wanting to meet raavaNa and give him and earful, grew huge in size.  He trampled the gardens and pulled out the trees to draw attention.  When raavaNa sent jambumaali, a powerful demon, hanumaan, mashed him up to pieces.  raavaNa then sent his son akSha, who met his end as well.  A devastated raavaNa sent his son indrajit to capture hanumaan.  hanumaan pretended to yield for his 'brahmaastra', a powerful weapon.  When taken to raavaNa, he advised raavaNa to return sItaa.  In a fit of anger, he wanted to kill hanumaan.  But his brother vibhIShaNa, who was more sensible, advised raavaNa that a messenger should never be killed.  So, raavaNa wanted to punish hanumaan.  He ordered his tail to be set on fire.  hanumaan's tail kept growing and growing.  Finally, when they got tired, wrapping oiled rags on the tail, they set it on fire.  But fire did no harm to him.  He jumped from roof to building, from palace to house and set everything on fire!  Then, he dipped his tail in the ocean, went to visit sItaa to make sure she was fine, took her blessings and leapt back across the ocean, to his monkey friends.  More story in the next class :).

    Did our coloring pages after that.  There was no time for any activity today as we had a lot of discussions during the story time :).  Ask you children to give you more details!  Keep practicing the gItaa.  See you all next week.

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    Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:
    Today was a quiet day probably because daylight savings began. There were only ten students in class. As usual we began our class with a couple of breathing exercises followed by three Oms and shlokas. We all chanted loud and clear. Meditation time came next. We all sat silently for two minutes counting Sri Rama's name. A couple of kids suggested to drop marbles at the end of two minutes instead of counting Sri Rama's name for two minutes but some of us understood that counting for whole two minutes takes more concentration than counting marbles at the end of two minutes. Please ask your kids about the difference in the meditation technique used in the beginning of the year and now. Geeta chanting came next. All of us are practicing and getting ready for the competition. We all need to practice more at home to get better. 

    Story time covered the topic of  Sri Hanuman reaching Lanka and meeting Sita. It was really fun describing how beautiful Lanka was and how mighty Ravana was and how Hanuman was so happy to finally meet Sita. We all learned about Hanuman's strengths and intelligence.He was wise among wisest because he never underestimated any situation; never over estimated himself; was always humble. We also did chapter 29 of the book where Hanuman destroys Lanka with his burning tail. Hanuman Ji did not even feel the heat of the fire on his tail. We learned that even the elements themselves do not trouble one who is engaged in service of Rama. 

    After story time, we played a game of obstacles. All the kids stood in one corner and were asked to cross all the hurdles and sit on the beanbag at the end of the classroom, being timed. The kids who could cross the hurdles and sit on the chair on time were Hanumans. We had four Hanumans today.The game was played just to signify Hanuman's triumph against all the obstacles.  

    The final activity in class was coloring. We colored chapter twenty-eight and twenty-nine. It's really interesting to see how kids color different characters in different colors.For example many kids colored the rakshasis black and Sita golden and Hanuman red etc. Many of us did a good job in likhit japa. It is delightful to see how sincere these kids are writing Sri Rama's name so many times. 

    The class ended in the auditorium with ninth grade performance. Aarti and pledge were done in the auditorium as well.