Hari Om Dear Families,
We had a fun Sunday afternoon with our kids. Please find below the summary of our class on Sunday, Oct 1 2023
1) Opening Prayers
We chanted 3 OMs followed by opening Prayer:
Vakratunda mahaakaavya(for Lord Ganesha)
2) Shloka
We learned and chanted Sahanavavatu. We also learned the meaning of each verse.
Om Sahanavavatu (May he protect us both)
Saha nau Bhunaktu (May he nourish us)
Sahaviryam karavavahai (May we get the capacity to study and understand our scriptures)
Tejasvinavadhitamastu mavidvisavahai (May we study and get along well)
Om Shantih Shantih Shantihi
3. Dhyana Shloka of Sri Hanuman
Buddhir Balam Yashodhairyam nirbhayatvam arogataa
ajaaDyam vaakpaTutvam cha hanumat smaraNaat bhavet
Buddhi (intelligence), Balam (strength),Yasas (fame),Dhairyam (courage),Nirbhayatvam (fearlessness), Arogata (free from diseases), Ajadyam (alertness) and Vakpatutvam (eloquence) - These are the eight virtues that make our invisible back bone strong.
Throughout the next few classes , we will continue to learn about virtues of Hanuman and what constitutes a strong backbone.
4. We then revised what we discussed in the last class - Buddhi, Balam and Yashas. We proceeded to the next great trait of Hanuman ji - Dhairyam
Story: Ratnakara was a professional robber, who had a wife and children. To support his family, he would rob anyone who would pass through a forest, which was close by to his house. Once, sage Narada ji was passing through that forest. Ratnakara stopped him and asked him to hand over all his possessions. All that the sage carried was his instrument Veena. Narada smiled and said, "you can have my veena, but do you know you are committing sins when you trouble people and rob them? I know you are doing all this for your wife and children, but do you think they will share all your sins? You can go home and ask them, I can stay here". Ratnakara tied Narada ji to a tree and went home to check with his family. To his surprise, they all refused to partake in his sins. He realized what a fool he was! He returned to Narada ji and pleaded to give him a solution.
Narada ji asked him to sit and chant 'Rama'.
Ratnakara started chanting 'Rama, Rama, Rama, ……'
Days, Months, Years passed. When Naradaji finally returned, he found that a giant ant hill had formed around Ratnakara. Ratnakara had never left the spot and never stopped chanting the name of Rama. Narada ji woke Ratnakara from his deep meditation and renamed him Valmiki, since he came out of an ant hill which is called Valmika in sanskrit.
Through prayer, Ratnakara had the courage to wash away his sins and he became a saint.
5. After Dhairyam, we discussed the next trait - Nirbhayatvam (fearlessness) .
Story - A rabbit was asleep under a palm tree. At that moment some monkeys dropped a coconut. It fell down on the ground very close to the rabbit. Hearing the noise, the rabbit said " The earth is breaking up" and he jumped up and ran as fast as he could, without even looking back to see what made the noise. Seeing the rabbit run, other rabbits started following. As they ran they got to know that the earth was falling. Seeing the rabbits run, the deers, the zebras, the giraffes, the elephants and all started following and in some time all the animals of the jungle were running.
Looking at this the lion asked why they were running so fast. To this the animals answered one after the other that the sky was falling. The lion then asked who saw the sky falling to this finally the rabbit said he did. The lion then asked where he saw the sky falling and demanded the rabbit to come with him there. After a lot of reluctance the rabbit finally agreed and as they reached the spot the rabbit pointed to the place where he was sleeping. The lion saw the coconut that had fallen to the ground nearby. The lion turned to the rabbit and said it must have been the coconut.
Are we going to be like the timid rabbit or brave like the lion? It is better to enquire understand than be scared without checking whether the fears are real. Always remember that God is our friend and when we pray to Hanumanji we get fearless just like him.
6.Meditation : With beads and string, we did meditation. We chanted "Sree Ram, Jaya Ram , Jay Jay Ram" for 2 minutes.
7.We did Likhita japa of the kids favorite god in the book. Please remember to send it with the kids every class. Yellow is our house color. To read more about Balavihar Houses, check out this link and participate in the upcoming events. https://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/balavihar/balavihar-houses
8.House Inauguration - We went to the main hall for 'House Inauguration', with our house flag and cheering for our House. All the houses sang their respective house Bhajans. Our House name is "Bajrangi Bolts" and the bhajan is Veera Hanumana - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uccazJjyYnw. There was a house challenge and this time the challenge was in preparing cutlery packets. Bajrangi bolts came in second. Congratulations!!. To know more about the Houses and how to earn points, please take a look at this link. https://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/balavihar/balavihar-houses Please encourage your kids to participate in as many events and competitions as possible. They earn points for every participation and will add towards Bajrangi bolts. Lets win the Trophy with our maximum participation.
Things to note:
You will receive class updates through email every week.
WhatsApp group if you haven't joined yet: https://chat.whatsapp.com/JTCTZ4rPWLPH8te76B1QGy
Class starts at 1 PM sharp with opening prayers. Please make sure kids are inside the classroom 5 mins before the class starts.
Please make sure kids use the restroom before entering the class.
This year's parents handbook is available at the following link- https://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/balavihar/parents-corner/handbook
Materials Needed for the Class
Notebook for Likhita japa
Pencil and Eraser
My prayers book
Hanuman Chalisa book
Balavihar Handbook
Regards,
Divya Purushotham and Rajeswari Ummettala
