Apr 21, 2024 - Grade 4 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM Dear Families,

Week 23:
21th April 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)

Our lesson Krishna- Krishna everywhere
After a brief recap of the Krishna story in our last class we continued…

Tale: Journey to Mathura
Akrura, Krishna & Balarama were set to depart for Mathura early the following morning. Nanda prepared carriages and presents for the trip to Mathura. Nanda, some elders and some Gopas joined them. Yashoda was inconsolable. Krishna said, "The world will always know that My Mother is, and always will be, My Yashoda maiya."
Akrura takes Krishna and Balarama with him in the chariot. They start their journey to Mathura. It becomes noon, and as it's very hot, they take a break on the banks of River Mandakini. Krishna and Balarama refresh themselves in the cool waters. Akrura goes into the river to offer his noon prayers. He takes a dip in the river, and lo! He sees Lord Vishnu with all his splendor lying down on the thousand headed Seshanaga, surrounded and worshipped by rishis, and sages, including the Sanat Kumaras, Prahlada, and Narada.

{Who are The Sanat Kumaras - They are four sages (rishis) from the Puranic texts of Hinduism who roam the universe as children, generally named Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana, and Sanatkumara. They are described as the first mind-born creations and sons of the creator-God Brahma}

Tale: Miracles in Mathura
Akrura returns to the chariot reveling in the divine vision he had in the river. They start their journey again and reach Mathura by sunset. Akrura invites the brothers to his house, but Krishna gently refuses, saying that they will come after their mission is accomplished.

Mathura was a beautiful city with wide, clean roads. There were beautiful gardens, parks, and marketplaces. There were simple rest houses for travelers and majestic mansions. Krishna and Balarama were utterly delighted by what they saw.

As they continued to roam the streets, word quickly spread that Krishna and Balarama had arrived. Women and children rushed to the windows to get a glimpse of them. He showered flowers on them and worshipped them with incense, milk, curd, flowers and fruit. Krishna and Balarama entered the home of a garland maker named Sudama. Sudama worshipped them with betel leaves, garlands, and many kinds of flowers. Krishna blessed him in abundance. As they proceeded further, they met a hunchback woman, Trivakra. She was the royal maid at Kamsa's palace and made sandalwood paste and other perfumes for Kamsa. When she saw Krishna, with great devotion she offered all the sandalwood paste and watched them as they put it on their face and arms. Krishna thanked her. With a smile he put his feet on hers and placed two fingers under her chin. Her body straightened up magically then and there. She was transformed into a beautiful woman.

My Twenty-four Teachers
After a brief recap of the teachers and lessons that we had learnt from our previous classes we started with the riddle to find out today's teacher.

Who Am I?  
- I am not really ugly, but people get petrified by me.
- The earth is my home, but nobody wants to be near me.
- Some boys and girls like to keep me as a pet, but mommies still hate me.
Yes, it's the snake.
Saint Dattatreya tells king Yadu that he learnt from the snake to live alone and speak less.
Snake is quiet and lives alone.

Tale: The most beautiful cat:
Once there lived an old couple. The old woman was bored, so asked her husband to bring her a cat. The old man goes to the cat mountain and finds thousands of different kinds of cats. Not knowing which one to pick, he brings all of them home. His wife is surprised that he brought so many cats. They are unable to pick the cat they like, so the old man asks the cats to vote among themselves as to who is the most beautiful. Unable to bear the noise that the cats were making, they went inside the house and shut the door. After some time, they notice that it's completely quiet outside. The cats had all killed each other. Only one little cat was sitting there quietly. The old man asks the tiny cat how he managed to survive. The cat tells him "I am just a simple cat. When they all said they were beautiful, I just did not say a word. I was quiet, so no one bothered me." This story illustrates the importance of staying away from arguments and being silent.

Lesson Message:
- Snake teach us to say only what is necessary.
- Silence is golden.
- Keep your affairs to yourself.
- The man who is always telling what he is going to do, never does anything. This is called procrastination.
•DO NOT TALK; ACT!

One more teacher-
Who am I?
- I use my saliva to build my home anywhere.  
- I use my home to catch my prey.

Our next teacher today is the Spider.
A spider makes the web with its saliva, plays with it, lives in it and then swallows it. Just like the spider makes the cobweb from itself, and swallows it back, the world comes out of God and goes back into God and again it comes out again. That is the fun of it……it never gets destroyed really. It only changes shapes and comes back!

Our next Balavihar class is on Sunday on 4/28.

Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you and Hari Om,
Neelima Turaga & Rekha Pai