Hari Om Dear Families,
We had a fun Sunday afternoon with our kids. We did start our class with a few yoga poses and some stretching exercises to calm down. Please find below the summary of our class on Sunday, May 05th 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 32.
Hanuman Chalisa: We started learning Hanuman Chalisa in the last 17 weeks. We have learnt 32 verses so far.
We did verses 33 and 34 .
Verse 31:
tumhare bhajana rama ko pëvai, janama janama ke dukha bisaravai.. (Verse 33)
Meaning:
Singing Your praise makes Lord Rama bless and relieves one of all miseries of previous births .
Verse 32:
añta kala raghubara pura jëí, jahañ janma haribhakta kahaí . ( Verse 34)
Meaning:
At the end of one's life when one goes to the abode of Rama, such a person will live as a devotee of Hari (Srí Rama).
Story:
Discuss the following tales and explain who is a real bhakta of Lord.
Tale 1: The Difference Once upon a time, a saint visited a village. People, who met the saint, became devotees of Lord. The king came to know about the fame of the saint. The king was very happy and he built the palace and garden like his for the saint. Saint started living like the king. One day the king and the saint went for a walk. The King asked the saint, "Now, that you are also living in a palace like me, you are also surrounded by the garden and servants like me, what is the difference between you and me?" The saint said, "Let us walk little more and then I will tell you." As they walked little more, the saint said, "O King, let us go to some other town. We do not want to go back home!" The king: Oh no. I cannot do that. My wife, my children, my kingdom…I cannot leave. The saint: Sir that is the difference between you and me. In spite of living like a king, I am able to leave that kingly lifestyle anytime without any regret!
Tale 2: The Desire One saint always said that one who desires, alone is unhappy in the world. One who does not succumb to one's desire is always happy. One time, it just happened that the saint felt like having a rice pudding. He asked one of his devotees that he feels like having a rice pudding, and so the devotee made a rice pudding for lunch. When the saint was served the rice pudding, he refused to eat it. The devotee was surprised. The saint said, "Yes, I would have eaten the rice pudding but not today because I have a desire to eat the rice pudding! To deny a desire is a greatest of tapas. Only through tapas, one progresses in life."
Tale 3: Don't Blame the Lord One old woman had a habit of talking about all the vows that she would take. Whole day long her talks would be: I went for a pilgrimage; I did so many japas today; I fasted; I went to the temple; I offered my puja in the temple; I did so many pradakshina; I helped so many people; I served sick people; I gave so much donation; and still God is not happy with me. He does not give me a grand child. People were tired of listening to her complaints about God. One day a devotee of the Lord told her: You have a nice home to live in; you have a nice healthy son who takes care of you; you have enough wealth so that you can go on pilgrimages; you can give donations; you can help people…who has given all these? Just because you do not have a grand son, you you are blaming God! You are not thankful for what He has bestowed you
Group Discussion:
From the stories about we have kids learn and differentiate between desire, difference and we should not always blame Lord for everything.
Other Activities:
Yoga: We did do few yoga poses and did some stretching exercises to calm down and get the class started.
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.
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.
