Feb 2, 2024 - Grade 8 (Friday)

Hari Om Dear Parents,

We started our class with Likhita Japa, followed by opening Prayers. 

We continued with Gita Dhyanam and completed until verse 6.

Recap :
We recapped  introduction of Sanatana Dharma, the 3 values Dhriti, Forgiveness and Dama that were taught in the previous class

Lesson: Values that characterize Sanatana Dharma

Dhritih kshama damo'steyam saucham-indriyanigrahah 

Dheer-vidya satyam-akrodho dasakaam dharmalakshanam

We continued with the rest of 7 values that characterized Sanatana Dharma, discussing examples from their lives

1. Asteya - Non-stealing
   Kids correctly pointed out stealing is taking away what rightfully belongs to others. We discussed how taking more than what we require like from nature is also a form of stealing and how it has cascading effect. Nature has enough for everyone's needs but not enough for even a single person's wants.
2. Sauca - Purity
   When we quizzed kids about purity they not only mentioned physical cleanliness, they also said purity of mind. We discussed how to keep our minds clean of our negative tendencies such as anger, jealousy, hatred. 
3. Indriya nigrahah - Control over sense organs
   What we see, hear, smell, touch and taste influences our thoughts and thoughts tend to become habits. Exercising control over our sense organs will help us feel free of certain desires that will otherwise stray us away from Dharma
4. Dhee - Discrimination
   The very ability to differentiate between right and wrong is a great asset. We are what we are surrounded with
5. Vidya - Knowledge
   Knowledge is not merely ability to read and write, but its that knowledge that will liberate us from all psychological entanglements.
6. Satyam - Truthfulness
   We asked kids about how would they rate themselves at honesty. We discussed how being truthful will help better our lives.
7. Akrodha - Absence of anger
   All negative tendencies such as greed, jealousy, etc eventually show up in the form of anger, which will make us react to the situation and not act. 

Our life will be a beautiful garden if we implement these values and remove all the weeds (negative tendencies). 

Next Class : Feb 9,2024

Thanks and Hari Om
Purnima and Shankar

Dec 1, 2023 - Grade 8 (Friday)

Hari Om Dear Parents,

Here is the update of our Dec 1^st  2023 balavihar session.

We begin our session by greeting the students followed by Likhita Japa , Opening Prayers and attendance.

 

We continued Geeta Dhyanam chanting today.  We chanted the first 4 verses again.

 

We initiated the 'My Vaca' activity last week with the aim of encouraging children to reflect on their use of words in daily speech. The goal is to prompt them to consider reducing the use and frequency of negative words, lies, complaints, and also inculcate the use of  positive and comforting expressions. At the start of each class, children dedicate 5 minutes to reflecting on the past week. They then mark stars or dots on a display board to visually represent their self-evaluations.

 

Yato Dharmah Tato Jayah (60 Mins)

 

The focus of the class today was to continue to understand the Mahabharata events and analyze the cause and effect of  these key events. Today we covered two key episodes of Mahabharata.

1.        "Lac Palace to Heavenly Palace".

  Here was another attempt by Duryodhana to destroy Pandavas. He had a beautiful palace built for them to live in. However, the palace is secretly constructed to be inflammable (made of Lac material). The Kauravas plan to burn the palace down while the Pandavas are inside. Fortunately, the Pandavas, being warned by Vidura, escape through an underground tunnel. But the Kauravas believed the Pandavas had died.

 

 

Following the escape of the pandavas, they wandered through the forest disguised as brahmins. They heard King Draupada of Pancala  was having a swayamvara for his daughter Draupadi. Swayamvara, those days was a practice where a princess selects a groom from a gathering of eligible princes.

 

In Draupadi's Swayamvara, the challenge for the suitors is unique. They must string a giant bow and shoot an arrow through a revolving target. Many princes try and fail, including Karna, who is denied the opportunity to participate as he is not a Kshatriya by birth. The Pandavas, in disguise, attend the swayamvara. Arjuna, the third Pandava, successfully strings the bow and pierces the target, winning Draupadi's hand in marriage.

 

Key learning from this event:

We played a small game to outline the focus arjuna has during archery.  We had students sit in a circle and had students start saying the number 1,2,3 etc but had them replace 3 and its multiples with 'OM'.  Anyone who failed was out of the game and the came  continued with the rest. The kids really enjoyed this game and understood the importance of focus and concentration.

 

We continued the Mahabhartha discussion:

After winning Draupadi in Swayam Vara the Pandavas came home, the Pandavas called out to Kunti who was busy in the kitchen, to tell here that they had brought a wonderful surprise. Kunti Said 'Whatever it is dear sons , share it equally'. As a result Draupadi was married to all the five pandavas. The cause and effect we see in this event is:

 

Soon people came to know that Pandavas were alive and well. To save face Duryodhana made Yudhistir the king of a barren piece of land. But with divine help, Pandavas converted into a prosperous city (Indraprastha)  and built a wondrous  palace. They conducted a raja Surya Yagna where they invited all the kings including the Kauravas. However Duryadhana felt humiliated and the prosperity of his cousins made him jealous as well. 

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1.       "The Game of dice".

Following the yagna, Duryodhana, knowing Yudhistra's weakness for gambling, manipulates the Pandavas into a game of dice against his uncle Shakuni, who is known for his cunning tactics.

 

As the game progresses, Shakuni ensures that Yudhishthira, the eldest Pandava, loses everything, including his kingdom, wealth, and even his brothers and himself. The game becomes increasingly unfair, with the dice loaded against the Pandavas. In the end, Yudhishthira, bound by duty and unable to refuse, wagers and loses his wife Draupadi.

Draupadi is humiliated in the Kauravas court. Duryodhana's brother Duhsasana attempts to disrobe Draupadi in the assembly hall in front of everyone.  Draupadi begs the help of elders in the assembly hall, but no one comes to her rescue. She finally prayed to Krishna asking for help.  Krishna came to the rescue and saved Draupadi from the humiliation.

 

 There was one more round of dice left. The Pandavas lose again and this time the Pandavas are forced into exile for 13 years, including one year in anonymity. This unjust and deceitful game of dice becomes a turning point, setting the stage for the deep-rooted animosity between the two factions and ultimately leading to the great war of Kurukshetra. Well this event bring up another question that explains  the cause and effect from a different angle.

 

 

Geetha Chanting: (10 mins)

 

Verses 8 & 9 from chapter 4 were covered and practiced this week, guided by the chanting video led by Swamiji. 

 

We concluded the day today with closing prayers and assembled in the main hall for aarti and Pledge.

 

Next Class : Dec 8^th 2023.

Thanks and Hari Om
Purnima and Shankar

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Nov 17, 2023 - Grade 8 (Friday)

Hari Om Dear Parents,

Here is the update of our Nov 17^th 2023 balavihar session.

We begin our session by greeting the students followed by Likhita Japa , Opening Prayers and attendance.

 

We continued Geeta Dhyanam chanting today.  We  chanted the first 4 verses today.

 

Yato Dharma Tato Jayah (60 Mins)

 

We begin our main session with a recap of the last class on Mahabharata overview.

We then discussed the following events of Mahabharata and discussed the cause and effect of the same

Episode 1: King Santanu proposal and the conditional marriage to Ganga.

Ganga's condition for Marriage: "You must never question any of my actions. If you do so I will leave you immediately"

King Santanu of the kuru dynasty agreed to this condition and married Ganga.  We then discussed the cause and effect of this event:

Episode 2: The Condition of Satyavati's Father.

Well in this event, Santanu meets Satyavati  - A fisherman's daughter and proposes to her, however her father had a condition for the marriage – His grandchild would rule the kingdom instead of Devrata. King did not agree initially to this,  however his son – Devratta committed to be a celibate and give up any claim to the kingdom (The great Vow). Thus King santanu and Satyavati got married.

The cause and effect that we see from this event are:

                       

We discussed the birth of Pandu, Dhritarashtra and Pandu's marriage to kunti and madri and the crowning of King Pandu. However, Pandu retired to forest to repent for the accidental killing of a deer (who was a rishi in disguise). Dhritarashtra was crowned as king of Hastinapur and got married to Gandahri.  The cause and effect we see here are:

Kunti had a child (Karna) before marriage when she tested a mantra taught to her by Sage Durvasa. However due the fear of social disgrace she kept this as a secret.

The Pandavas brothers were born to Kunti and Madri. Kunti leveraged the boon that was given to her by Sage Durvasa. He taught her a mantra to invoke gods and be blessed with a children by them. 3 of the Pandavas (Yudhistir, Arjuna and Bhima) were born to Kunti and 2 (Twins - Nakula and Sahadeva)to Madri. Years later Pandu and Madri Died and thus Kunti took the Pandavas back to Hastinapur. Gandhari gave birth to the Kauravas (99 Brothers and 1 sister). The Kauravas and Pandavas grew together but Pandavas were generally good in all skills and thus the Kauravas brothers were jealous of the Pandavas and many a times tried to destroy them. The learnings from these events are:

 

We delved into the intricacies of the Kuru Dynasty's family tree, guiding the youths in sketching the lineage. Navigating through this family tree proved instrumental in unraveling its complexity, ensuring a comprehensive grasp of each character's background and relationships. 

Geetha Chanting: (10 mins)

 

Gita: Verses 6 & 7 from chapter 4 were taught and rehearsed this week, following our Swamiji Swami Shantanandaji's chanting video. https://bit.ly/Ch4verses6-7

 

We concluded the day  with closing prayers and assembled in the main hall for aarti and Pledge.

 

Next Class : Dec 1^st  2023.

We do not have class next week as we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your family.

Thanks and Hari Om
Purnima and Shankar

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Nov 3, 2023 - Grade 8 (Friday)

Hari Om Dear Parents,

Here is the update of our Nov 3^rd  2023 balavihar session.

We begin our session by greeting the students followed by Likhita Japa , Opening Prayers and attendance.

 

We started chanting Geeta Dhyanam today.  The intent is to learn to chant the complete Gita Dhynam before our stage performance.  We started with the first 2 verses today.

 

Yato Dharmah Tato Jayah (40 Mins)

 

We started with a recap of the last class on the Sins of the body, mind and speech – The 10 Karmas that one should avoid to have a good life.

We then discussed the 'My Vaca' activity and set up the initial board for marking our observation. Each person in the class has a tag area where they mark their observation. The idea is to inculcate the habit of watching what we do on a daily basis. (more to come on this)

The focus of our session today onwards (for the next few weeks)  was to do a  quick look or analysis of the events in the Mahabharata epic  with a view to understanding Karma and Karmaphala concept. (Cause and effect). 

With that intent we started with an overview of Mahabharata.

We talked about the number of verses in the Mahabharata, the author, the timeline of when this happened, the Scribe and also discussed the number of Parva's in Mahabharata. We noted that this is a ithihassa purana and  thus we have some evidence of some of the events existing even today.

 

We played a short game to understand how difficult it is to scribe when one recites verses in a flow. We read a few list of words and asked youths to write and then discussed who got it right vs many who missed a word or two.

 

Key takeaway: To be a scribe one must be alert, should posses concentration and must write accurately with speed to do the task. (not an easy one)

 

We concluded the day today with closing prayers and assembled in the main hall for Saraswathi Pooja and Pledge.

 

See below for a picture of our class doing Saraswathi Pooja.

 

Next Class : Nov 17th 2023.

We do not have class next week as we will be celebrating Diwali. Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year to all!! Please do join us at the Ashram on Sunday as we will be having our Annakut celebrations. Hope to see you all !!

Thanks and Hari Om
Purnima and Shankar

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Download and Enjoy Chinmaya Bhajans from Google Play , Amazon Music or Itunes Store phones. 

Oct 27, 2023 - Grade 8 (Friday)

Hari Om Dear Parents,

Here is the update of our Oct 27^th 2023 balavihar session.

We begin our session by greeting the students followed by Likhita Japa , Opening Prayers and attendance.

 

Yato Dharmah Tato Jayah (60 Mins)

 

"One must give up the following 10 karmas: Three of Body, Four of Speech and  three of the  mind."

We continued our discussion on the "10 Karmas that one could avoid to have a good life" in detail with examples from our scriptures (Mahabharata)  and also from our daily life experience as well.

Sins committed by the body are:

-          To Kill someone (living being)

-          To steal

-          To have illicit-relation.

Sins committed by speech (Vaca) are:

-          To say bad words

-          To say Harsh Words

-          To lie

-          To complain or spread rumors  about someone to look good or gain a point.

Sins committed the by the mid are:

-          To think of taking away someone else's wealth

-          To have ill-feeling for anyone

-          To not have faith in laws of action

We also briefly  discussed the karma and karmaphala concepts and will further elaborate on this as we discuss this with the Mahabharata story context in the next few weeks.

And the advice is: give up the above ten sins, because such actions lead to a miserable life. Remember the law of karma never fails!

We plan to start the 'My Vaca' activity starting next class and follow it up for 6 classes. It is a way to observe our speech and note the observation.  Self-Observation or monitoring is the first step to improving our actions (karma)

Geetha Chanting: (10 mins)

 

We concluded our class by listening to Swamiji chant verses 4 & 5 of Bhagavad-Gita  Chapter 4 and repeated the same.

 

We concluded the day today with closing prayers and assembled in the main hall for Aarthi and pledge.

 

Next Class : Nov 3rd 2023.

We all get to perform Saraswathi pooja in the assembly hall. Thus request the kids to be appropriately dressed in traditional clothes for the event.

Thanks and Hari Om
Purnima and Shankar

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Download and Enjoy Chinmaya Bhajans from Google Play , Amazon Music or Itunes Store phones. 

Oct 6, 2023 - Grade 8 (Friday)

Hari Om Dear Parents,

Here is the update of our third balavihar session:  Oct 6^th 2023.

We begin our session by greeting the students followed by Likhita Japa , Opening Prayers and attendance.

 

Symbolism in Hinduism (15 Mins)

 

We started our class today with a short discussion on the upcoming festival of Navratri. We talked about how each of our families celebrate Navratri.  We then discussed the meaning and significance of Navratri and concluded with explaining the symbolism of Devi's - Durga , Laksmi  and  Sarasvathi. We also listened to this short Chinmaya mission video on Navratri The Festival of Navaratri: Thinking About It

Yato Dharmah Tato Jayah (40 Mins)

 

We continued our discussion on the laws of karma .

·       Started with a  Recap of the last class discussion on  laws of karma including the takeaway from the activity game to depict the laws of karma.

·       Highlighted the section in Mahabharata where the laws of karma are discussed ( Danadharma-in Anushashana Parva - 13^th Parva of Mahabharata) and thus set the context of how our puranas  guide  us on how to act (karma) to lead  a peaceful and happy life. One among the many teachings.

·       Purnima ji then narrated the story of a king who went in search of answers to 3 key questions that was nagging him and how the Wise man (saint) helped the king understand

o   that the right time to start the most important work is -  'now'

o   The most important person is the -  'person in front of you'

o   And the most important work is to serve others

Key message being to live in the present moment and serve others is the right thing to do.

·       We then briefly discussed the dialogue between Bhisma Pitamah and King Yudhisthira where the King asks 'if one wants to have a good life , What should one do ? what actions should one avoid?' and the reply of Bhishma Pitamah is "One must give up the following 10 karmas: Three of Body, Four of Speech and  three of the  mind."

 

We introduced the 10 karmas that a person must give up  to lead a peaceful and happy life. We will continue this topic into the next class as well.

Geetha Chanting: (10 mins)

 

We concluded our class by  listening to Swamiji chant verses 2 & 3 of Bhagavad-Gita  Chapter 4 and repeated the same.

Link: https://bit.ly/Ch4verse2-3

 

We concluded the day today with closing prayers and assembled in the main hall for Aarthi and pledge.

 

Next Class : Oct 27^th 2023.

No Balavihar class for next two weeks – Which you all Happy Navratri to all Oct 15th to 24th 2023. Celebrate the festival with your kids, families and friends.

Thanks and Hari Om
Purnima and Shankar

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Download and Enjoy Chinmaya Bhajans from Google Play , Amazon Music or Itunes Store phones.