Hari OM Dear Families,
Week 18:
03rd March 2024 / 9:15 AM
Opening prayers and Shlokas
Shlokas: 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 - We practiced the first five verses and then started learning the next three verses of the Govinda Damodara Sthotram and completed it. The kids took turns chanting this sthotram and it sounded beautiful and melodious!
Karaa-ravindena padaa-ravindam
Mukhhaa-ravinde vinivesha yantam
Vatasya patrasya pute shayaanam
Baalam mukundam manasaa smaraami
Shree Krishna Govinda Hare Muraare
He naatha Narayana Vaasudeva
Jihve Pibasva amritam-eta-deva
Govinda Damodara Madhaveti
Vikretu kaama kila gopakanyaa
Muraari paadaarpita chitta vrittih
Dadhyaadhikam mohavasaadavochad
Govinda Damodara Madhaveti
Grihe grihe gopavadhookadambah
Sarve militvaa samavaapya yogam
Punyaani naamaani pathanti nityam
Govinda Damodara Madaveti
Sukham sayaana nilaye nije pi
Naamaani vishnoh pravadanti martyaah
Te nischitam tanmayataam vrajanti
Govinda Damodara Madaveti
Jihve sadaivam bhaja sundaraani
Naamaani Krishnasya manoharaani
Samasta bhaktaarti vinaashanaani
Govinda Damodara Madaveti
Sukhaavasaane idam-eva saaram
Dukhaavasaane idam-eva jneyam
Dehaavasaane idem-eva jaapyam
Govinda Damodara Madaveti
SriKrishna Radhaavara Gokulesha
Gopaala govardhananaatha vishno
Jihve Pibasvaamritam-eta-deva
Govinda Damodara Madaveti
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 You may think I am a thief.
Ø I loot hard earned savings of busy workaholics.
Ø Not only that, I drive them out of their homes.
Ø But, in the end, people enjoy the sweet rewards, my loot.
Who Am I?
This was a tricky one, we had a lot of responses, but it took a while to get on the right track. One child said, maybe, a bee and another caught the beekeeper!
Honey-Gatherer/Beekeeper
Riches amassed with great pains by misers are neither enjoyed by them nor gifted away; they are enjoyed by others, who like the beekeeper discovers the hoard and appropriates it.
§ Bees collect honey with great trouble, but beekeepers take away honey depriving the bees.
§ Similarly, people hoard wealth and other things with great difficulty, but they have to leave them all when they depart this world for others to enjoy.
§ Learn to enjoy what you have now!
§ Honeybees teach us not to hoard.
§ Honey-gatherers teach us to judiciously enjoy what we have saved.
§ Miserliness only leads to misery.
Tale : King Alexander The Great
King Alexander waged war against countries and looted people.
§ He was powerful, greedy, selfish and cruel.
§ He was considered the richest man on earth!
§ When death was nearing, he reflected upon his actions: "I have committed so many evil deeds to collect this wealth. When I die, I will be leaving everything behind and going alone without taking a single coin."
§ He told his ministers: "When my body is taken to the grave, you have to see that my two hands are stretched out with palms open, and fully exposed, while the rest of the body is covered, so that my subjects may see that I, a great king, the richest man in the world, went on my final journey, "empty-handed," as I could not take anything with me."
Tale: The Miser
A miser had a lump of gold that he had buried in the ground, and he came to that place every day to check on it. One day, he found the gold was missing and started screaming loudly. A neighbor saw him and asked him not to grieve. Bury a stone in the same place and believe that it was 'the gold' that he had buried. It would serve him just as well, for when the gold was there, he made no use of it.
Tale: The Greedy Barber
Once there was a barber who was working for a king. He was very good at his services and the king was very happy with him and paid him well. The barber was living happily with his wife on the other side of the forest adjoining the palace. One day while returning home, the barber heard a voice, "O'barber, do you want a lot of wealth, gold, diamonds?". The barber was scared and started walking faster and then started running as fast as he could, and as that voice posed the same question repeatedly, he finally shouted 'yes' while he was still running.
When he reached his home, he was surprised to see that there were seven huge jars before him. Six jars were full upto the brim with shining gold coins, glittering jewels, and diamonds except the last one which was one-fourth full. The barber and his wife looked at each other in dismay because the last one was not full and thought this must be because the barber ran too fast, and that unknown benefactor did not have enough time to fill-up the seventh jar.
The barber and his wife decided to sell the farm, land, cattles, ancestral property to get more gold, money to fill up that last jar. They started skipping meals to save more, despite all their efforts they were not able to fill up that seventh jar. Next month the barber asked the king for a raise and the king agreed and doubled the barber's salary. Despite skipping meals, getting a raise, the last jar was still half empty.
After six months the barber went back to the king and asked for a raise again. The barber looked weak and didn't appear that he was doing well. The king said it does not appear that you are using any of the money that you have, you seem to be barely eating anything. Are you trying to save and trying to fill up that seventh jar of the Yaksha?
The barber was stunned. The king said the Yaksha knows how greedy the human mind is and he gave the seventh jar half-filled to kill you both. On the way back that day the barber followed the king's advice and shouted that he did not want the riches anymore. When he reached his home all the riches and seven jars had disappeared. The barber and his wife did not grieve, because he and his wife had regained their mental peace. Their greed had vanished and so did their worries!!
Lesson Message:
When we collect too much of anything, more than our needs, then our fate is like that of the honeybees, whose honey is taken by the honey-gatherer. Use what you have and do not hoard.
Today's activity - Quiz
The kids were excited that they were going to have a quiz today. The class was divided into two groups, and we asked them questions from the Krishna stories that we learnt so far. The kids were very competitive and participated with enthusiasm and got most of the answers right. Both the teams did very well!
Today was a short class due to grades 6th monthly performances on stage and that was followed by the Pledge.
No class on 3/10. We look forward to seeing the kids in the class next week (3/17).
Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you and Hari Om,
Neelima Turaga & Rekha Pai
