Hari Om Dear Families,
We had a fun Sunday afternoon with our kids. This was our First class after the holidays so we all shared how did we spend our holidays. Please find below the summary of our class on Sunday, January 07th 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 15.
Hanuman Chalisa: We started learning Hanuman Chalisa since last 6 weeks. We have learnt 15 verses so far.
We did verses 16 and 17
Verse 16:
Tum a upakara sugrivahim kinha rama milya rajpada dinha . (Verse 16)
Meaning:
You helped Sugriva in regaining his lost kingdom by making him meet Lord Rama.
Story:
Sugriva meets Lord Rama
Sugriva and vali were brothers. Sugriva was a monkey king. Vali drove sugriva out of his kingdom and became king. Fearing for his life Sugriva hid himself in Rsyamiika mountain. One day he saw Lord Rama and Lakshman approaching him, he feared thinking Vali might have sent them to kill him. He started to run away, seeing this Hanumanji chided him gently and said Why don't we find out first who they are? Don't assume these mighty warriors our enemies. Giving courage to Sugriva hanumanji bought Lord Rama and Lakshmana near to estabhlish a deep friendship between them. Lord Rama then killed valli and sugriva was crowned king of Ksiskindha.
Hanumanji expected nothing in return and remained a servant of Lord Rama. Always learn good things from good people and do good things.
Group Discussion:
The children learned a good message from story, what you become, the company you keep. They shared few examples for it. Like we should not hit a friend back once they hit us, try to stop them if it still goes on try to talk to the adult about it rather than hitting them back.
Verse 17:
Tumharo mantra bhibhisana mana lankesver a bhae saba jaga jana. (Verse 17)
Meaning:
Hanumanji advised Vibhishana to surrender to Lord Rama. No sooner, Vibhishana surrendered and Lord Rama approved him as the king of Lanka.
Story:
While Hanumanji went to Lanka in search of Sitaji he heard someone chanting Rama Rama. He was surprised to hear name of Lord Rama in between of all these Rakshas. It was Vibhishana who was a great bhakt of Rama. Meanwhile, aasuming the form of a Brahmin Hanumanji started singing glory of Lord Rama. Hearing this Vibhishana was so happy that he meets Rama's messenger. he was extremely delighted. When Ravana kicked Vibhisana out of Lanka, he thought if he goes and surrenders to Lord Rama, he would not accept him as he was brother of Rakshas ravana. But Hanumanji assured if that if he surrenders to Lord Rama, he will happily accept him. He did faught our ravana and crowned Vibhisana as the King of Lanka.
Group Discussion:
We did a story of Narad muni singing in the Heavens in front of All Gods. All gods were happy but Lord Vishnu was not happy. Now Lord asks him to give his Vina to Hanumanji, but Narad muni out of his pride felt he would not be able to play it but hanumanji played
The instrument and sang for Lord Rama. All the Lord were happy and clapped for him.
We learn from this story always surrender to lord and be the winner. Never proud on your talent.
Kids discussed this by sharing their thought on it and gave few examples.
Other Activities:
Hangman Game: We did play the letter games. We gave out a word and each kid gave a letter to make the entire word. It was so fun for us and kids both.
Akshar recited a story of Hanumanji.
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 Rajeswari
