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!

February 27th 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 

Meditation: 1 minute 

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 - 14

Story: Vaali slain; Sugriva becomes king

Words of the week: kiShkindaa; vaali; sugrIva

Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'

Activity: Coloring page of sugrIva's coronation

Game time: ramaayaNa quiz

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

Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:
First graders had a lot of fun today as the two sections were combined together.We all gathered in D-100 and kids had a big smile on their faces as they saw their friends from the other section.It took a little longer to settle down. But once we did, we all did some stretching and some other exercises to make us more alert and focussed. We all recited our shlokas together followed by meditation. Every one did a great job. All of us sat quietly for 2 minutes and counted how many times Sri Rama's name was chanted. It is very impressive to see how kids are now so used to sitting quietly during the meditation time.

Geeta chanting was next. We have now finished learning all the 14 shlokas and are all set to participate in the competition. From now on we will continue practicing till the final weeks of the competition. Please keep practicing at home.

Story time was about how Bali was killed by Sri Rama and how Sugriva became the king of kishkindha. We had a interesting discussion about Sugriva forgetting to help Rama find Sita as he had completely indulged himself in the comforts of his kingdom. Also we talked about monsoon in India and how during the time when the story took place the monsoon would completely disrupt everything and hence Rama and Lakshmana had to wait till the rainy season was over to resume looking for Sita.

We all sang bhajans today and also played a game of Ramayana quiz. We asked all the questions related to what we have covered so far.

Aarti and pledge was done in the auditorium and we all enjoyed beautiful presentation from sixth grade.

See you all next weekend.


February 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 

Meditation: 1 minute

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2

Story: shabarI; meeting with hanumaan

Words of the week: shabarI; Rushyamukha parvatam; sugrIva; vaali; dundubhi; maayaavi

Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'; 'हनुमान्'

Activity: Coloring pages of shabarI offering her hospitality to raama & lakShmaNa; raama and lakShmaNa meeting hanumaan who comes in disguise.

Game time: 'raama' ball game.

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

    Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
    We have been adding to our morning prayers every now and then.  Today, we have added the prayer to be chanted in the evening after lighting the lamps.  We have also discussed what prayers should be said as soon as they wake up.  Please encourage the children to make it a regular habit.

    In geeta chanting, we have learnt till verse 12.  We certainly need more practice on the later shlokas.  But their enthusiasm is commendable.  They all listen well and chant with full attention!  Their concentration during the quiet time is laudable as well!  Some of the kids were keen on learning to write हनुमान् (hanumaan) in Sanskrit!  That was a new addition as well.

    During story time we heard the stories of 'shabari', 'how raama and hanumaan met lakShmaNa' and the 'tiff between vaali and sugrIva'.  The morals we took home with us were, the focus and determination of shabarI.  She completely trusted the words of her guru, maata~nga Rushi, who said 'one day Lord raama shall come to her aashram and give her his darshan'.  She very diligently heeded to his words and anticipated raama's arrival every single day!  She would collect flowers and fresh berries everyday, in case that particular day was when raama came!  She would even bite the fruit to taste it and make sure that she was offering him the sweetest ones!  She had waited years together, without giving up or getting dejected!  When raama actually came to her aashram, she was extremely over joyed.  She offered Him her hospitality with the bitten fruit.  raama, without any hesitation, ate them happily.  For Him, what she offered did not matter as much as, how she offered, with total devotion and love.  After that shabarI left and mortal body and traveled towards the heavens.

    Later, raama and lakShmaNa were wandering in the valleys of Rushyamukha mountain, a brahmin came to them.  He was actually hanumaan, who had come on behalf of sugrIva, to find out who they were.  He spoke so beautifully and pleasantly that raama was completely taken by his gestures and demeanor.  Even lakShmaNa grew fond of hanumaan.  After learning who they were, hanumaan showed his true form and carried them on his shoulders to meet sugrIva. sugrIva narrated the whole tiff between him and his brother vaali.  He had banished sugrIva due to a mis-understanding.  He did that because, he let himself come under the influence of anger.  We saw the stark differences between the brothers raama and bharata for that matter, as against vaali and sugrIva.  We saw how anger and greed lead one towards committing blunders beyond words.  raama promised to help sugrIva and sugrIva in turn, promised to help raama in his quest for sItaa.

    We stopped the story at that and played one of our other popular games, 'raama' ball game.  We did a little trivia about the game, as to why we play it the way we do.  Every one knew the answer!  Do discuss with your child what they take away from class as morals and values.  Also, give them reminders of their words and encourage them to keep up with it.

    Enjoy the break.  We will see you in 2 weeks.
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    Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:
    We all assembled in the class room and helped each other set up the chairs and arrange tables. Once all of us settled down we all took three long breaths and did our OMs together. This certainly made us more alert and attentive. After the morning shlokas we all got ready for morning meditation. Many of us wanted the lights to be closed during meditation so we did turn off the lights. It was amazing how all the kids sat quietly and counted how many times Sri Rama's name was chanted by Meera auntie. At the end of the meditation almost all of us got the count right!! We have to give the kids a lot of credit to actually concentrate for full 2 minutes. Keep it up! 

    Bhagwat Geeta chanting is comimg along very well. We are almost done with all the shlokas. We will finish everything by next two classes. Kids are doing a great job. Today also we divided the class in various groups and each group chanted the 13th shloka independently. 

    Then came story time. We did the story of Shabari and talked about her devotion. We had a discussion about how she offered the berries to Sri Rama and Sri Rama gladly ate all of it even though they were bitten by her. Also we covered the story of Sugriva and Bali. We did a comparison between Rama and Bharata and Sugriva and Bali and similarities/ differences between them.

    As always coloring time was fun and enjoyable. Many of us did a fabulous job coloring all the details in the pictures. As always kids came up with their colored pages and shared their work with all of us. But it was really nice when one of the boys came and shared that he was not only coloring the pictures but also chanting Lord Rama's name in his mind. This is what we all want to do. Always chant Lord Rama's name in our minds when we are doing our work and not only the task in hand will become more enjoyable but it will be done with perfection.

    After coloring, some of us did likhita japa. It is very interesting to see that the kids are so absorbed in writing Lord Rama's name on their notebooks. Some of us did not even get disturbed by the noise and could fully concentrate on our writing. Great !!

    The class ended with aarti and pledge.  Please remind your kids not to leave the class untill they see their parents/guardians and please pick up your kids promptly after the class.We do not have balavihar next week. Enjoy your week and we will see you soon! 

    February 6th 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

    Meditation: 1 minute 

    Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1- 12

    Story: Faithful jaTaayu; slaying of kabandha

    Words of the week: kabandha; jaTaayu

    Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'

    Activity: Coloring pages of raama consoled by lakShmaNa; slaying of kabandha

    Game time:  I know my boundaries; I am not kabandha (with real life examples)

    End of class:
    • पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

    Comments:

    Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
    We have introduced a new prayer to our beginning prayers.  It is the verse we say in the morning, as soon as we wake up, looking at our palm 'karaagre vasate lakShmIH...'.  That should be followed by 'samudra vasane devI..'.  In the gIta chanting we learnt till verse 12.  Also, we had a few of our friends come up and chant the verses they could manage to say by themselves.  A few of them volunteered and chanted alone!  That was quite impressive!!  Next week, they have all promised to try as many verses as they can, to chant all by themselves!  Parents please encourage them and practice at home.  Also ask them what chapter 11 talks about and what they understand about the conversation in the gItaa.

    In the story time, we heard about how raama and lakShmaNa were in sorrow after discovering that sItaa was missing.  lakShmaNa tried to console raama.  They looked around and found an injured jaTaayu.  He was holding on to his breath, so he could inform raama, the whereabouts of sItaa.  He narrated to raama, how sItaa was struggling but evil raavaNa carried her away.  He apologized to raama that his old frail body could not stop mighty raavaNa from his hideous act.  He then passed away.  raama and lakShmaNa, with due respect performed the last rites of the brave bird.  It shows us that they were not engrossed selfishly in their own agony, but had the presence of mind to do the right actions at the right time.  They went in the south direction, as per jaTaayu's description.  There suddenly, they were grabbed by a huge monster called kabandha.  He was hideous looking, for he did not have a head or legs.  He just had a torso and two hands coming out of it.  He had one eye on the top of his torso and an enormous mouth in the middle.  He was a greedy and selfish being and he devoured everything that came his way.  Anything he lay his eyes on, he would grab!  raama and lakShmaNa, realizing that his only strength were his arms, drew swords and cut off his arms.  Suddenly a divine being rose from kabandha's body.  He was a siddha purusha, under a curse actually.  This established to us, we would be like kabandha too, if we were so greedy and wanted anything and everything we laid our eyes on!  We need to use our wisdom and weigh our own needs and excessive desires.  With the Lord's help, when He cut off the arms, a siddha purusha was released.   So shall we attain our best with the Lord's assistance. 

    We colored the pictures that went with the stories.  Then, in the game time, we played our new favorite - do you know your boundaries.  Our kids sure know theirs!  Not a wrong step!!  We also played the 'I am not kabandha', with real life examples.  They knew when the attitudes were greedy like kabandha's and when the thoughts were noble!  Do we have a bunch of wonderful kids or do we have a bunch of wonderful kids!!

    We love our class and can't say that enough times :).  Have a nice week everyone and see you next week.
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    Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

    We started with three OM's followed by shlokas. All the children remember the shlokas very well and all of us chanted out loud. Meditation came next and we all did excellent. As always we had a brief discussion about how important this practice is in order to be successful and confident in life. We asked the children to practice meditation at home as well.It could be done before bed time or soon after getting up. We had a very enthusiastic response. Let's see how many of us practice to remain quiet at least 2-5 min a day.

    We completed 12th shloka in Geeta Chanting. We divided the class in different groups and let each group chant. It gave us a clear picture of how the kids are doing. We only have 3 more shlokas to go and we will be done with the number of shlokas 1st grade is supposed to chant in the competition. Please make sure that the kids bring their Geeta chanting book/photocopy with them so they can look at it and try to read.

    Story time covered the episode of Rama and Lakshmana discovering that Sita was not in the ashram. How Rama was very upset and grief stricken. How Jatau told them about where Sita was taken. Also we covered the story of "The slaying of Kabandha". We learned that "Kabandha" is someone whose purpose in life is just to grab things and take as much as possible without thinking about others. It is miserable to be a "kabandha". Therefore do not be greedy. Learn to share. We all shared what was the most important things for each one of us and how we should learn to share with our friends and family.

    Next we all did coloring. It was hilarious when some of the kids colored Rakhas Kabandha's teeth brown explaining that he never brushed his teeth and hence he had stinky breath. Many of us have a lot of coloring pages to finish.We will try to color more pages in each class so we all can finish the coloring book.

     Before we knew,it was time to go home. The class ended with aarti and pledge.

    Stay Warm and we will see you again on Sunday!!