Hari Om Dear Parents,
We started our class with Likhita Japa. Kids wrote 'Om Ganeshaya Namaha' for 5-8 min, followed by opening Prayers.
Kids learnt a new bhajan - 'Sri Ganaraya JayaGanaraya…'
We welcome new kids to the classroom. Please note that we have a WhatsApp group and request parents to join the group for faster communication - https://chat.whatsapp.com/FC8EmYbHbu233GjbwjjZUT
After a brief introduction of each other, we jumped to the lesson.
Lesson: Symbolism of Ganesha
As part of recap, we quizze kids on the importance of learning symbolism. Asked them what they remember when they see flag of US country or a picture of their grandparents. As the kids started answering, they realized how its easier to recollect with symbols. We discussed idol worship and how each part of any of God's idol need to remind us of what it attributes to.
We continued drawing Ganesha with easy steps. (All our drawings hopefully resembled Lord Ganesh :)
Ganesha's elephant head reminds us to 'Think Big'
Big ears - Listen to Others. Listening to others does not necessarily mean you don't put your points forward. But when we listen to others, we will realize different perception or approach that we can take to resolve a problem
Tiny eyes - concentration and single-minded focus.
Tusk - broken tusk symbolizes to weed out bad things within us and keep good things
Large belly - Being able to digest or accept whatever life throws at us
4 Hands - Ankusha/Axe - axe to cut off from bondage/attachments, Rope - to pull the goal closer to yourself, Blessing hand - seek HIS blessing and Modhakam in other hand symbolizes rewards for our actions
Rat - Rats tend to live in the darkness. Darkness is our tendencies or ignorance. Ganesha's vehicle symbolizes that we should use of wisdom and intelligence to ride out this mental darkness.
We have given Gurudev's quote as homework to kids for next class discussion
'Actions are the louder expression of thought. The quality of thought is ordered by the nature of inner belief and faith'
Next Class : Sep 22nd 2023.
Thanks and Hari Om
Purnima and Shankar
