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
