Hari Om!
Here is a brief summary of the class activities from Week 2, 22-Sep-2019 @ 09:15 AM:
1. Beginning Prayers
2. Self introductions by new members who missed Week 1
3. Revision and Q&A for the Mahabharata story covered in Week 1 (15-Sep-2019)
4. Saints of India- Ramana Maharishi, Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, and Swami Vivekananda
This discussion was led by Shrinivas ji (Abhirami ji's husband)
§ Brief discussion on Ramana Maharishi's life:
○ Born near Madurai, South India on December 30th, 1879
○ Loved playing sports as a boy and was not interested in academics
○ Left home at the age of 16 to Thiruvannamalai, the town where the Arunachala mountain is located, as a result of deep self-inquiry
○ Taught in silence, the process of inquiry "Who am I?"
§ Brief discussion on Ramakrishna Paramhamsa's life:
○ Born near Kolkata, Eastern India on 18 February, 1836
○ Was spiritual from a young age, would go into trance at the mention of God's name and when playing such roles on stage
○ Never interested in the politics and issues going on in outside world
○ Teacher of Swami Vivekananda
§ Brief discussion on Swami Vivekanda's life:
○ Born as Narendranath Datta, or Narendra to a rich family
○ Throughout his school life, he was known for his unbelievable intelligence
and was an avid reader, good at sports, music
○ Read various works of philosophy: vedic, western, scientific, etc.
○ Was a prodigy at memorization & speed reading
○ When Narendra's father passed away and he was under tremendous mental pressure and was restless over the idea of what the purpose of life was
○ Leading to a conversation between his guru Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and him that stirred something great in him…
○ Watched video related to conversation between Swami Vivekanada and Ramakrishna Paramhamsa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=REPjjbVYxjU
○ Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached – slogan by Swami Vivekanda
We will be having an ongoing discussion with the children, going over the revered saints learnings, and how we can apply those learnings in our day to day lfe in the coming classes. We will try to keep these sessions interesting with lot of Q&As and quizzes.
5. Continued further into the next set of Mahabharata chapters
○ Devavrata's vow- Bheeshma
○ Shantanu and Satyavati's marriage
○ Birth of Chitrangada and Vichitravirya
○ Chitrangada's death after combat with a Gandharva of his same name
○ Bheeshma getting Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika from King of Kasi
○ Vichitravirya's marriage to Ambika & Ambalika
○ Death of Vichitravirya without any children/ heir to Kuru dynasty
○ Satyavati calling her son Sage Vyasa (Dwaipayana) to help her beget children to Vichitravirya's wives
○ Birth of Dhritarashtra, Pandu & Vidura
○ Family Tree of the Mahabharata discussed in the session thus far
6. A video of how to pronounce Sanskrit svara and vyanjanas and common words was played. Children repeated these to practice them to say them the right way.
7. Listened to Ganesha Pancharatnam Bhajan
8. Conclusion prayers
9. Aarti and pledge in the auditorium
Next week
Grade 5 to assist in the Saraswati puja seva. Assemble in the auditorium @ 09:15 AM in traditional attire (preferably)
Questions Parents can ask children this week
1. Briefly go over the life and teachings of the three saints that we introduced in the class on Week 2 and what is it that they liked the most and/or would like to learn more about
2. Please join the class WhatsApp group using this link -
https://chat.whatsapp.com/FJ9ozjX4mxK68EHAhSNhW7
https://chat.whatsapp.com/FJ9ozjX4mxK68EHAhSNhW7
3. Our contact phone numbers are in the WhatsApp- please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Regards,
Abhirami Shrinivas
Abhirami Shrinivas
Rekha Pai
