May 19, 2024 - Grade 3 (Sunday PM)

Hari Om Parents, 

Another wonderful week passed today with opening prayers. Still two more classes left for the year to end. Next week we don't have classes due to long weekend and memorial day. JUNE 15 IS OUR ANNUAL DAY. Please attend it and bring your friends along with you so that they can also see our centre and encourage them to enroll their kids in our ashram. 

Today we saw the chapter of the churning of the milky ocean. Sage Durvasa cursed Indra when the latter insulted the sage due to his arrogance and the devas started to lose to the asuras. So all the devas prayed to Lord Vishnu who advised them to churn the milky ocean along with the asuras so that they can acquire the nectar through which they can attain immortality. The asuras also agreed to it. The Mandara parvath became the rod and Vasuki serpent became the churning rope. The devas and the asuras started to churn the ocean. But unable to bear the weight the mountain began to sink and Lord Vishnu took the form of a tortoise, KURMA AVATAR and started to bear the mountain on his back.  The first thing that came out was the deadly HALAHALAH poison. When everyone was afraid even to go near it, Lord Shiva collected the entire poison and swallowed it. Goddess Parvathi caught hold of his neck and the poison stuck in his throat which turned into blue colour. Thus Lord Shiva was thereafter called NEELAKANTA. 

The churning continued and all the riches came out like the wish yielding tree, the Kamadhenu cow which were taken away by the devas, the Kausthubha gem which adorned Lord Vishnu's chest and Goddess Mahalakshmi who became the consort of Lord MahaVishnu. At last Dhanvanthri Bhagavan came out of the ocean with the pot of nectar in his hands. The asuras snatched away the pot and began to run with it. Lord Vishnu assumed the form of a beautiful girl, Mohini and lured away the asuras and distributed the nectar among the devas. But one asura named Rahu saw that Mohini was cheating. So he came disguised as a deva and consumed the nectar. But the sun and moon spotted him and Lord Vishnu cut off his head but his head had already tasted the nectar so the head part became Rahu and the other parts became Kethu which causes solar and lunar eclipses. Thus the devas emerged victorious due to the grace of Bhagavan Vishnu. 

Our next class is on June 2nd. 

Maneesha Bhatt

Malathy Balasubramanian. 

May 12, 2024 - Grade 3 (Sunday PM)

Hari Om Parents, 

Another wonderful week passed starting with our opening prayers and the starting of the chapter "Churning of the Milky Ocean". This chapter will be completed next week. 

The most important event that happened this week was GURU PADUKA PUJA. The paduka puja was performed for our Beloved Swamiji Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji by our Balavihar children. It was wonderful to see children performing the puja with utmost devotion. The blessings of Gurudev will certainly be with them and they will go high up in their lives. 

Another important announcement to be made. Balavihar registration for the next year will start from June 1st 2024. Please keep referring to your emails so that you won't miss any announcement from our Balavihar coordinators. Anytime from the month of June the registration link will be made available and we request all of you to register your children in this wonderful atmosphere. 

Our Vrindavan mela is going to happen on June 15. Bring your friends along with you to attend this mela. There are lots of activities and food and performances for everyone. Along with it our Balavihar graduates are going to give a speech on how Balavihar impacted their lives the most. So please try to attend this mela without fail. 

Our next class is on 19th May. See you all. 

Maneesha Bhatt

Malathy Balasubramanian. 

May 5, 2024 - Grade 3 (Sunday PM)

Hari Om Parents, 

Did you all witness the 5th graders play last week? You all enjoyed it? Please comment. This day we enjoyed the story of King Ambarisha, a great great devotee of Sriman Narayana and King Rantideva, a very very good and noble king. 

Who is a true devotee? 

D - Dear to God and God is dear to whom

E - Ever ready to serve the world

V - Virtuous

O - Obedient

T - Tolerant

E - Enthusiastic

E - Efficient

Everyone love this explanation? The exact form of all these qualities is KING AMBARISHA. He would be constantly thinking of the Lord and not even for a moment forget Him. All his activities and actions would be dedicated and done only with the Lord in his mind. Wherever he went he saw only the Lord. Even in the tiniest of things he saw the Lord. Such a great devotee. Sri Vishnu, pleased with his devotion had given Ambarisha His Sudarshana Chakra for his protection. 

Once King Ambarisha and his wife undertook a special fast called the Dvadasi Vrata. He practiced several disciplines for a whole year. Towards the end he fasted for three full days, and on the fourth day, he was to break the fast. At that time, Sage Durvasa came in and the king invited him to be the guest. The sage accepted his invitation and said he will come after taking bath. But the sage did not return for a long time, and Ambarisha grew anxious because the fast must be completed before the ordained time. If he had partaken the meal, then it would be an insult to the sage. So he just took a sip of water to break the fast and also not to offend the sage. But when Durvasa came to know of this, he was full of rage and thought that the king was arrogant. So he took a tuft of hair from his head and it turned into a demon and it rushed towards Ambarisha to kill him. But Ambarisha remained calm with his mind fixed on the lotus feet of the Lord. The demon was not able to do any harm to him. 

The Sudarshana Chakra at once sprang on to attack Durvasa. Durvasa ran everywhere for protection but none of them dared to save him. At last he sought refuge in Sri Vishnu himself. But the Lord also denied him and told him that He was a slave to his devotees and Ambarisha was a true devotee and those who sought to hurt the Lord's devotee will not be saved by the Lord. He advised Durvasa to go and fall at the feet of Ambarisha himself and beg his pardon. So Durvasa immediately ran to Ambarisha and begged his pardon. Ambarisha was very kind hearted and after he had forgiven the sage the chakra cooled down and disappeared. 

Soon after, Ambarisha made his eldest son the king and retired to the forest to meditate on the Lord. 

Next we will see about King Rantideva. King Rantideva was a very generous and kind hearted king. He found immense pleasure in sharing his wealth with the poor and the needy. He would serve his subjects with the thought that he was serving the Lord and that thought gave him immense happiness. There were abundant riches and wealth and his kingdom flourished. The years passed like this. 

Suddenly there was famine and drought in the country. Rantideva prayed sincerely to the Lord to give him the strength to pacify the needs of his subjects. But the situation grew worse and worse that the king and his own family were not having enough food to eat. Even if he had food for himself to eat, he would feed it to the hungry people. But even in such situations Rantideva remained happy that he had fed his people. He thought he was rendering service to the Lord. At last he received a bowl of porridge to eat just enough for his family. But at that time a hungry man came to his doorstep and Rantideva graciously offered him the porridge. There was only a little drink left. Just then a candala came thirsty for water. Rantideva offered him the last sip of water too he had to the candala. 

All of a sudden Maya appeared before Rantideva and offered him a boon. She blessed him with abundant riches and wealth that would last a lifetime. But Rantideva said he did not want the riches and that his mind was fixed in the lotus feet of the Lord and wanted to meditate on him. Pleased with his devotion, the Lord appeared before him and granted him moksha. Before long, Rantideva became a great yogi and in due course attained the lotus feet of the Lord. 

I hope children you enjoyed the stories of our great kings Ambarisha and Rantideva. Let us also try to be like them and attain the Lord. 

Maneesha Bhatt

Malathy Balasubramanian

3rd grade teachers. 

April 28, 2024 - Grade 3 (Sunday PM)

Hari Om Parents, 

This week we discussed about the six sharks of our life as told by the four Sanatkumaras. The six sharks are Anger, greed, desire, delusion, pride and jealousy. When we allow these six sharks to arise in our mind it will only lead us to destruction. But when we see unity in all living beings there is no chance of any of these six sharks to enter our hearts and ruin our lives. Kids gave a lot of options with regard to these six sharks. Very happy to see children actively participating in class. Their involvement keeps us motivated. We gave them a crossword puzzle to do which they did with great enthusiasm. Those children who were not able to complete and those who did not attend BV, we are posting the puzzle and the words. Please make them do it. 

Then we saw the story of Puranjana. Once there lived a king called Puranjana. He had a very close friend called Avijnata. But no one knew where he lived. The king roamed every where to satisfy his desires. But nowhere was he able to find satisfaction. At last he came across a beautiful city with nine gates and Puranjana started dwelling in that city. He married a beautiful princess and he was very happy with her. But alas one day a monster stroke the kingdom and Puranjana was driven out of the city and he had also lost his dear wife and everything. With her in his thoughts, he one day died. In the next birth, Puranjana was born as a maiden and now she married a king. But here also she lost her husband and was about to cremate herself when a brahmin stopped her from doing so and gave her the knowledge of the Jivatma and Paramatma. 

The main idea of the story is Puranjana represents the Jivatma which roams about in the world of desires to satisfy his own desires. He comes across the nine gate city which is this human body and the jivatma called Puranjana was able to satisfy his desires in this human body. But how long can this continue? The body will one day be carried away by Time. The friend called Avijnata is the Absolute Self, the Paramatma. 

So we must devote ourselves to the Lord and try to attain his lotus feet before it is too late. This story was told by Sage Narada to Pracinabarhi who kept on performing yagnas. Even performing yagnas will acquire good karma which is also a golden chain. Any chain we are bound with, whether it is golden or iron, we are imprisoned. We must break these chains and get ourselves liberated from this cycle of karma.  

Our next class is on 5th May. See you all in the next class. 

Thank you, 

Maneesha Bhatt

Malathy Balasubramanian

Apr 21, 2024 - Grade 3 (Sunday PM)

Hari Om Parents, 

Wow wonderful performance by our kids. We thank the parents from the bottom of our heart for making this play a grand success. Without their help this would not have been possible. This PRAHLAD CHARITRA will stand in our hearts for years to come. Wonderful props and costumes made with our own hands, it was overwhelming. Thanks to all of you. 

We will meet again next week. Classes will continue as usual with amazing stories and activities for our kids. 

Once again kudos to all kids for the wonderful performance. You all united together and made this play a success. We are proud of you. 

See you again next week. 

Maneesha Bhatt 

Malathy Balasubramanian

Welcome to Gr 3 - Sunday PM Session

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