Hari OM Dear Families,
Here is this week's update.
Week 6:
29th October 2023 / 9:15 AM
Opening prayers and Shlokas
Slokas: Class began with 3 OMs followed by
"Om Saha Navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
Om shrI Ganeśaya Namaha, shrI Saraswatyai Namaha, shrI Sat Gurubhyo Namaha.
"Vakratunda Mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book)
"Saraswathi Namastubhyam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
"Gurur Brahma" (page 60 in My Prayers book)
"Krishnaya Vasudevaya" (page 105 in My Prayers book)
Krishna Krishna everywhere
After a quick recap of last last class, we proceeded with today's lesson.
The story starts with Vasudeva taking baby Krishna in a basket and setting out in a fierce storm, to go to Gokula. The thousand headed Seshanaga is protecting and covering the Lord as an umbrella, Vasudeva reaches the river Yamuna. Her waters are swirling and twirling in the heavy lashing rain. Yamuna, realizing that the Lord had come, is eager to touch his feet and keeps rising higher and higher. Little Krishna, sensing her eagerness, puts his foot out to bless her. Once her wish was fulfilled the waters lowered and made an easy way for Vasudeva to cross. Vasudeva reaches Gokula and while everyone is still asleep, places Lord Krishna in the place of the baby girl next to Yashoda. He takes the baby girl and returns to Mathura. As soon as he enters the prison, the doors lock again and the guards wake up. They hear the baby cry and run to inform Kamsa. Kamsa immediately comes to the prison, snatches the baby from Devaki, not bothering about her pleading to spare the little girl, he gets ready to thrash her against the wall. However, the baby girl slips away from his grip, rises high above and assumes the form of a Goddess. She tells Kamsa that he has gained nothing by destroying the innocent children, as his enemy is already born and is growing up, and when time comes, he will certainly kill him, and Kamsa cannot change the will of God. Kamsa is dumbstruck, and after a few minutes realizes that what he has been doing is wrong and begs for the forgiveness of Devaki and Vasudeva. But this realization is short lived, as he keeps the company of asuras, and they advise him not to let go of his enemy, and all the newborns should be killed. They also tell him that their enemy, Lord Vishnu should also be destroyed. Vedas, cows, austerity, truth, physical and mental disciplines, faith, kindness, forbearance, sacrifices/puja are the limbs of Lord Vishnu. The asuras tell Kamsa that they should be destroyed as well. Kamsa, having an evil mind, easily accepts this advice and directs them to do all the bad things to trouble the good and virtuous.
We briefly discussed the limbs of Lord Vishnu.
Vedas and people who learn them - Vedas are Hindu scriptures that tell us about the Lord. Vedas are in sanskrit, and we may not understand them, but we can always read good and inspiring books daily. We should respect the books and practice the good things we learn. We become the darling of Krishna when we read good books.
Cows - Cows are gentle and give us nutritious milk, Bhagavan wants us to be kind to all animals.
We have to be gentle, As an example, we told a tiny story of the oak tree and the reeds.
An oak tree near a river is uprooted by a strong wind in a storm, The fallen oak tree asks the reeds growing on the banks of the river, that how come when such a strong oak tree could not withstand the storm, how could the gentle and week reeds manage to survive, "You were stubborn, you fought, we bowed and yielded to the breeze, and the storm passed over our head and we survived", came the reply.
Austerity - When we take vows to fix our bad habits and live by them to make ourselves better, it is living with austerity. We will be able to feel the presence and love of God, only when we get rid of bad habits like lying, yelling at people or being lazy.
Truth - A little lamp in a dark room thinks that it is providing all the light and in its pride, thinks that it is greater than the sun. This is due to the ignorance of the glory of the Lord. When we realize the truth we become humble.
Physical and mental disciplines -
Physical disciplines - sitting straight, not talking when chewing the food and keeping the body neat and clean.
Mental disciplines - not lying, not hurting others, not thinking bad of anyone, not gossiping.
When we adopt these disciplines, our heart becomes pure and we are able to see and feel God in our heart.
Faith - Have faith in the Lord. Learn to share. Give to the needy and God will take care of us.
Kindness - Bhagavan is kind and forgiving to everyone. Let us also be kind to all and learn to forgive.
Forbearance - It means patience and tolerance and not reacting even when provoked, to refrain from quarrels or fights.
Sacrifice/Puja - The Lord loves when we do puja. We have to always do our daily prayers.
It was a short class today, and we stopped the lesson around 10. We had a few minutes to talk about what we did for Navratri. We then headed to the temple hall to perform Saraswathi puja.
The Kids performed Saraswathi puja with the guidance of the priest. It was great to see all the kids sincerely perform the puja.
The assembly ended with Arthi and Chinmaya mission pledge.
We look forward to seeing the kids in the class next week. (Next class on 11/5/23)
Please reach out to us with any questions or concerns you may have.
Regards,
Rekha & Neelima
