Hariom Parents,
We had a great Balavihar class on October 8th. The email gives us the details about our class. Please revisit this as we have come to class after Navratri
Our class started with 3 Oms followed by 4 shlokas
1. Sahanaavavathu
2. Vakratunda Mahaakaaya
3. Saraswathi namastubhyam
4. Gururbrahma Gururvishnuh
We revisited the Buddhir Balam shloka which we learned last week. Then we had Story time. This weeks Stories were
5. Hanuman chalisa verse 7,8 and 9
6. Story Time
Hanumanji's Flight
When Hanumanji flew across the ocean to look for Sitaji. He encountered 3 obstacles which he overcame easily. The first obstacle was the Mainaka Mountain, which appeared in the middle of the ocean. Hanumanji was invited to rest for a while on this mountain but Hanumanji did not give in. Instead he said he cannot rest till his masters work is done and so continued.
The next obstacle that Hanumanji had to face was raksasi name Surasa who threatened to eat Him. This was the second obstacle. Hanumanji pleaded with her to let Him go to finish His Lord's work.She ignored his pleas and showed no compassion Instead she opened her mouth wide to swallow Him. Hanumanji grew bigger and bigger so the rakshasi opened her mouth wider and wider then suddenly Hanumanji became small in size and he flew across his mouth before she could close it. He then said I went into your mouth and out so now let me go. Surasa was pleased with his intelligence and let him go. Then she turned into a beautiful woman and said she was sent by Devatas to test his intelligence. Surasa blessed him to complete his journey and mission successfully.
As Hanumanji continued on his journey he felt a mysterious force pulling him down. That force turned out to be the third obstacle, the rakshasi Simhika who had the power to bring down and devour all creatures flying over her head. Symbolically Simhika stands for jealousy. Jealousy can never bear the rise of another. Jealousy pulls us down and burns us. Obe should destroy jealousy and so Hanumanji mercilessly killed Simhika with one blow.
Burning of Lanka
When Hanumanji reached Ashoka vatika. He recognized Mother Sita sitting under a tree guarded by rakshasis. Ravana approached Sitaji initially tried to tempt her saying she can be his queen. She asked him to get rid of his lustful wicked desire and warned how he will loose his entire kingdom as a king who is not disciplined was destined to loose his entire kingdom. This enraged Ravana who gave her an ultimatum saying she has two months to agree to be his wife if not she would be served as his breakfast.
Hanumanji saw all this and did not know how to convey that he was Rama's messenger. Then it occurred to him he can change his size to the size of mosquito and narrated beautiful story of Rama. Hanumanji presented himself as a miniature form so that no one else except Sitaji could see him. He then gave Ramas ring to Sita and Sitaji gave her ring to him so that he can give it to Rama. After exchanging rings he told Sitaji that she would soon be with Rama. He wanted Ravana to know his powers so he then became huge and roared. He jumped all over the garden and destroyed the garden. Hanumanji then let him get captured and he was brought to the court of Ravana.
When asked who he was Hanumanji spoke fearlessly that he was the messanger of Rama the prince of Ayodhya. He said he had come with a message of peace. Ravana had abducted the Sitaji his queen. So, he said return Sitaji to Rama and ask for his forgiveness and you will be forgiven. Hearing this Ravana got very angry. He wanted to kill him. Ravana's brother advised you cannot kill the messanger. At the most you can punish or ill treat him and send him back.
Thinking monkey's pride is its tail Ravana asked his guards to tie rags to Hanumanji's tail and set it to fire. As quick witted as Hanumanji was he used this opportunity to scare Ravana and destroy half of Lanka. He then grew huge is size and then started jumping from building to building till he set fire to the whole city of Lanka. He then again became small in size shred his rags.
This story shows Hanumanji's resourcefulness and intelligence.
7. Play time: We headed out to play so that all our little children could enjoy being little vanarsena playing Rama says
8. Bhagawat Gita : Next we learned verses 2 and 3 of Bhagawat gita.
9. Aarti and Pledge in the temple.
We had a fun-filled day with your children. Our next Balavihar class is on October 29.
Enjoy Navratri !!.
Pranaam,
Meena Rajan and Ramya Belavadi
