Hari Om Dear Families,
We had a fun Sunday afternoon with our kids. We did start our class with few yoga poses and some stretching exercise to calm down. Please find below the summary of our class on Sunday, January 14th 2024.
Opening Prayers: We chanted 3 OMs followed by the following opening Prayers
- Om Sahanavavatu
- Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu
- Saraswati Namastubhyam
- Vakratunda mahaakaavya(for Lord Ganesha)
- Buddhir Balam Yashodhairyam
Kids are given an opportunity to come in front and lead the group for chanting. Please revise as we will be asking each kid to lead in our class. We started the classes with the revision of all 8 values of Hanumanji and did a recap of all the verses we did in past Verse 1 to verse 17.
Hanuman Chalisa: We started learning Hanuman Chalisa since last 7 weeks. We have learnt 17 verses so far.
We did verses 18,19 and 20
Verse 18:
Juga sahasra jojana para Bhanu lilyo tahi madhura phala janu (Verse 18)
Meaning:
You leaped quite easily at the sun thousands of miles away mistaking it to a sweet fruit.
Story:
When Hanumanji was born, he saw sun in the sky and thought it to be a fruit and he flew towards sun and tried to swallow it. this shows Hanumanji's Fearless quality.
Group Discussion:
The children recalled the entire story and learned a good message from story that try to be fearless.
Verse 19:
Prabhu mudrika meli much mahim jaldi langhi gaye achraja nahim.( Verse 19)
Meaning:
Holding Lord Rama ring in your mouth, you flew over the ocean, which is no wonder.
Story:
While sitaji was abducted by ravana , all the monkeys were looking out for her. But there was this big ocean that they had to cross to reach Lanka. So, all the monkeys were thinking that how will this be possible. So here Hanumanji shows his Missionary and strength quality. he says by keeping Lord Rama's ring in my mouth that will give me more strength and power to cross the ocean.
Group Discussion:
We did discuss the story of Hanumanji making the bridge by writing the name of Lord Rama on each stone, so now the stone will not sink but it will float. So, doing this they made entire bridge so that will help them cross the ocean and reach Lanka. We did discuss this story in detail and kids did share their inputs on it as well.
Verse 20:
Durganma kaja jagatake jete sugama anugraha tumhare tete. (Verse 20)
Meaning:
By your grace, even the most difficult tasks of the world become easy to accomplish.
Story:
Once there was a boy name Dave he was smallest and skinniest in class. He wanted to be a star athelete and win the letter for his sport. All his friends made fun of him, but only his grandmother gave him positive motivation. She made him believe if you work hard and trust yourself and god, magic does happen. Every day after school he would lift weights and does all things that boosts his stamina. Meanwhile his grandmother passed away, at same time he got the award that he worked hard for. But he was sad as his grand mother was not there to see it. His coach gave a Letter to him and it was the same letter that his Grandma wrote, that she congratulated him as she trusted his hard work will make him a great athelete.
Group Discussion:
All the kids discuused the various examples from the moral of the story we did. Everthing is possible but you have to give your best.
Other Activities:
Yoga: We did do few yoga poses and did some stretching exercises to calm down and get the class started.
Akshar recited his story from Storytelling contest.
We did sing birthday song for Adhiraj.
Likhita japa: We did Likhita japa of the kid's favorite god in the book. Please remember to send it with the kids every class.
We did Listen to the Gita chanting.
Yellow is our house color. To read more about Balavihar Houses, check out this link and participate in the upcoming events.
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 parent's 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)
Hanuman Chalisa book
Balavihar Handbook (Bhagavad Gita)
Regards,
Aastha and Rajeswariji.
