Hari OM Parents
Hope this finds you all well. Today we had the children dress up for a special occasion in our class. They were all excited for the special event. Before the class started we did some Yoga poses for warm up. The Tree pose, the warrior, the frog pose, the pigeon pose. After some warm up exercises, we started class with 3 OMs, Sahana Vavatu.
The children took turns to recite the Vakratunda, Saraswathi namasthubyam and Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu shlokas. It was so nice to see that most of them have it memorized.
We continued to sing Atma Rama and then chanted Guru Stotram going all the way till Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu. As we talked about the prayers for when we start the day with Karagre vasate, we talked about the prayer to say after Karagre and before stepping foot on Mother Earth. Mother Earth has been so patient with us, for all the stomping, destroying, drilling, tunneling the earth for all our benefits. We chanted samudravasane Devi two times and this was a nice segway into our Ramayana story talking about Sita being the daughter of Mother Earth.
We introduced King Janaka in Mithila who has this beautiful daughter Sita, who is beautiful, pure . She used to play with the Rudra bow when she was a child, and looking at which King Janaka decided that whoever is able to break the bow will marry his daughter Sita. Viswamitra was taking Rama and Lakshmana to Mithila. Once they reached Mithila King Janaka treated them with love and respect. He announced that he is looking for a suitable groom for his lovely daughter Sita and that whoever is able to break the bow will be her husband. Lot of kings and princes were assembled at the palace to try to lift their bow, but none came close to even moving the bow. Rama's eyes shone with excitement to see the big beautiful Rudra bow. He looked at his Guru Visvamitra and he nodded for him to go ahead. Rama lifted the bow with so much ease string it and broke it in no time. The earth shuddered hearing the bow brake. King Janaka was pleased to see a match for his daughter. He sent forth soldiers to bring King Dasaratha and all the people of Ayodhya. Everyone was so happy to hear about Rama's wedding. Entire Mithila was decorated so beautifully. Sita was dressed in silk and Gold for the wedding. Wedding was most beautiful thing the whole palace, people of Mithila and Ayodhya saw. We talked about giving gifts for the wedding.
What do we give Rama and Sita for their wedding,. Rama had everything, as a prince. So we talked to the kids about giving something that Rama does not have. How about we give our bad habits to Rama, so he will take them and convert into positive things for us. We asked each of the children to write on a piece of paper what they thought was a bad habit they had. Everyone wrote it and they dropped into a box that was going to be gift for the wedding.
We distributed candy as celebration for the wedding. The kids also have a craft they got to make at home. A Japamala/bracelet that they can make to chant Rama Nama. Please feel free to add more beads and send the bracelet with them for next class.
We did our meditation saying Rama's name silently in our head. After which we did attendance. We had little time for a quick quiz from the previous chapters. The children were asked of charecters/events that took place till what they had learned. They did fantastic job remembering names and stories.
We took attendance with stickers and some transformers tattoos but only after they said Hari OM. After attendance, we lined up to go to the prayer hall. As always we pick a line leader, a door holder and caboose when we leave the classroom. Each week different child is picked for these responsibilities and they take pride in doing this for the class.
We wished Happy Diwali to each other!
Have a happy and safe Diwali. There will be no Balavihar next weekend.
See you all soon
Hari OM
Yamuna and Subha
