Hari OM Dear Families,
Week 20: 24th March 2024 / 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 Namasthubhyam
- "Gurur Brahma" (page 60 in My Prayers book)
- "Krishnaya Vasudevaya" (page 105 in My Prayers book)
Govinda Damodara Sthotram - The kids took turns chanting this entire sthotram.
Our lesson Krishna everywhere
Rasa Lila
It was a full moon night in autumn. Krishna sat down alone on the banks of River Yamuna and started playing the flute. The air resounded with divine melody and the notes floated into Vrindavan, into the houses of the Gopis. Lost in Krishna's magic flute, the Gopis stopped what they were doing and ran out. They rushed to the banks of the holy Yamuna. Krishna tells them to go back home, but they pray to him "all wise people in the world constantly find bliss in you, who are the eternal self in all. Please don't send us away." Krishna and the Gopis danced together under the full moon. There has never been another Rasa Lila like this. On the blessed night of Rasa Lila, after much music, dancing and laughter, Krishna began to notice that each Gopi was starting to act a little haughty. Each Gopi was behaving as if Krishna belonged only to her. Krishna knew he had to teach them a lesson. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared! The Gopis searched for him everywhere. Not finding him, they started to sob. They even said they were sorry for what they had done. But there was no reply. There was no sign of Krishna. When the Gopis spoke with each other, they realized how selfish they were. They thought:" Krishna is mine and only mine! They were very sorry for their arrogance and begged for forgiveness. They now had only one thought-"RETURN TO US KRISHNA!" Krishna saw that the Gopis had learnt their lesson. He returned as fast as he had disappeared. The Gopis' love for Krishna was the most pure and unselfish. The Gopis started their rasa dance again. Even the Gods from the heavens came to watch this divine celebration of the Lord with his devotees. They played musical instruments and were delighted. The Gopis' love was pure and simple, and their minds were always fixed on the Lord.
We then discussed "Krishna's flute". A flute player walks into a bamboo grove, cuts a length of bamboo, and makes holes in it. Seven for the musical notes, and one which he blows through. Does the flute play music by itself? Music emerges only when the breath of the flute player flows through the flute and his fingers manipulate the holes. Whether the song makes people happy, or run away is not the fault of the flute. The flute is a mere instrument. The seven holes in the flute represent our mind, intellect and the five senses. The Divine flute player plays his song through our actions, emotions, and thoughts. But our ego makes us think that we are doing everything.
We talked about the pure, selfless devotion of the Gopis. Just like the compass always points to the north, their minds are also thinking about Krishna.
My Twenty-four Teachers
After a brief recap of the teachers and lessons that we had learnt from our previous class we started with the riddle to find out today's teacher.
Ø I resemble an eagle and fly like an eagle. I am relatively=y smaller than an eagle
Ø I perch and build nests on treetops.
Ø I am usually found in the canyons and ravines.
Ø I love to catch fish from ponds, lakes, and rivers.
Who Am I?
The riddle was tough for the children to arrive at the answer – the children guessed falcon, hawk. The right answer was "Osprey" (a Kurara).
We started our lesson today with the story of the Osprey and led the children into discussion. Once there was an osprey flying happily in the sky carrying a fish in its beak. It was attacked by several stronger birds. Osprey tried to do everything he could to get away…but all his effort only resulted in more attacks on him…till it finally let go of that fish.
What do we learn from this Guru……Osprey?
Let go and be happy!!
What was under the Osprey's count (to hunt, catch a fish, try different tactics to outsmart the birds following it), and what was not (behavior of other birds)?
Demonstration : Let Go
We took a couple of coins and held them in our hands very tightly. And then extended the arm with the palm facing the ground. Now when we let go or relaxed the grip, the coins fell out of our hand. The children took turns and did this and understood when they let go of the coins (i.e., things they liked) they felt relaxed.
The Greatest Treasure
Once there was a rich man, he spent all his time counting his money. He had five sons that always wanted to play with him, but as a dad he never had the time to do so. The mom told her boys, "With money you are a dragon, without it you are a worm".
They had a neighbor that was poor. He played the flute and his five daughters sang and danced and enjoyed spending time with their dad.
The rich man got annoyed with the sound of flute music and singing as it messed up his counting. He wanted to put an end to the disturbance. He took a large bag of coins and gave it to the poor man. That ended up being a temporary fix as the poor man was now busy counting the coins the rich man gave him to keep quiet. The poor man's wife said, "He who has heaven in his heart is never poor."
The poor man took all the coins and returned it to the rich man and began to play his flute again and his girls started to dance again and were happy. The poor man felt sorry for the rich man and decided to give him a gift. He gave him a flute saying, 'your treasure almost robbed me of my happiness!" The rich man started playing the flute, and his boys began to sing and dance and were happy!
Ramu In Luck
Once there was a hard-working employee named Ramu. He had never taken a day off for the past four years, so he went and asked his boss if he could go and visit his mom, take a few days off and get his wages. The boss was happy to grant him leave and instead of wages, he decided to present him with a bag of gold. Thrilled by that, Ramu headed off to see his mom. On the way, it got hot and hilly. He was finding it difficult to walk with the extra load of gold in the hot sun, just then he saw a horseback rider galloping. He traded his gold for the horse, then wasn't able to ride it properly, got kicked off and hurt. A passing guy with a cow felt bad for him and traded his cow for the horse. Ramu thought he could get his own milk in this hot sun, but wasn't capable of milking the cow and sat upset. A guy passed Ramu with a cute pig. They traded but the pig was very stubborn and wouldn't budge. A lady with a goose passed by and saw Ramu upset, she traded her goose for the pig. Ramu was excited about having fresh eggs.. That didn't last long, and he ran into a person sharpening his knife. He sat and told him about his day. The person traded a cobblestone from the street for the goose. Ramu took the stone and walked on. He saw a pond and was thirsty. He put the cobblestone down to take a drink when he saw his stone roll into the pond with a splash. The kids were asked if they thought Ramu would be upset. They all said, "yes"! But NOOO...
Ramu was happy and relieved! No more burden! He was able to run to his mom's place, hugged her and got to eat all the yummy food she had waiting for him. Attachment to objects brings misery. The moment the attachment is given up, there is peace and calm.
Lesson Message:
When a man becomes fond of some objects in his possession, that very possession will cause unhappiness. The source of misery is indeed the acquisition of whatever we love the most- holding on to it leads us to be unhappy with worries, just give up and that allows us to be happy. You only need warmth and love to be happy and not possessions. Set one's mind on the Lord. Once he 'let's go' that, he gains happiness and peace of mind.
We are getting closer to the date of our class presentation. We brainstormed some ideas.
Gita Chanting:
The children chanted all 21 shlokas of Chapter 4 of Bhagavad Gītā today. Online Registration is NOW open to all young and adult students of the Gita, for Central NJ Regionals that is scheduled to be held in Chinmaya Vrindavan on April 20th, 2024.
Last date to register online is April 12, 2024, 8:00 PM ET.
This event is conducted every year by Chinmaya Mission Centers all over the world, open to each student of Bhagavad Gītā as envisioned by Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda. Participation is free and every participant will be presented with a medal recognizing their hard work and efforts to participate in this event.
No class next Sunday on 3/31. Enjoy the spring break!! We look forward to seeing the children in our Balavihar class on Sunday, 07th April.
Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you and Hari Om,
Neelima Turaga & Rekha Pai
