Dear Parents,
Hari Om,
Today we kicked off our 2019-2020 Balavihar school year!
Balavihar buzzed with a palpable enthusiasm that matched the vibrancy of the fall leaves. Students, parents, Swamiji, teachers, study group members, moderators, and administrators assembled in the auditorium of the prayer hall. The parents energetically socialized with each other, emitting positive vibes. As the teachers and their classes were introduced, children rose amidst cheers, and followed their teachers with zeal.
We went to our Classroom, named Gopala and greeted each of our bubbly, delightful children with a hearty "Hari OM". The class opened up with breathing exercises, the chanting of OM 3 times, and daily prayers including: Sahanaavavatu, Vakarathunda, Karaagre vasate Lakshmi, Saraswati namastubhyam, Gurubrahma, Brahmaarpanam, Shubhamkaroti, Kara-charana.
We then had a short icebreaker where the kids all introduced themselves with the game two truths and a lie.
The students enjoyed getting to know each other.
Then we wrote a famous quote by Gurudev on the board about the importance of service, and asked the children to interpret it. They had impressive insight into the deeper meaning of the quote.
At this point we introduced the curriculum for the grade entitled" Ramayana " by C.Rajagopalachari
and "Key to Success"
Parents we request you to buy the Ramayana book from Amazon. It's a great book and students are advised to read a few chapters before coming to the class.
Before we dived into exploring the epic Ramayana, we talked about why we study Epics. We agreed that Epics bind all Hindus together with the values they imbibe. They are significant for the cultural, social, and intellectual connections they create in a society. We brain stormed some characters of our epics and what they represent. Here are interesting responses from our students:
"Ramayana and Mahabharata's characters exemplify how to live by the values even in the utmost crisis.
For example, we can learn to be a good son from Rama, to be an ideal brother from Bharata, and to be a devoted wife from Sita. From Mahabharata's Yudhisthra or Dharmaraja we can learn how to follow Dharma, even when it is very difficult, and from Arjuna we learn to fight for the right when Kauravas did not stand by Dharma."
Reading epics is as interesting as reading modern fiction, like Harry Potter or Hunger Games. We learn how to live and conduct ourselves in various situations. We follow our intellect by drawing a clear distinction between good and evil.
We spoke about the history of the Ramayana and how it came about as well as the story of Sage Valmiki.
Then we moved on to explore the authencity of the Ramayana. The class watched this very interesting 7 minute video clip of Ramayana being Itihasa (history) rather than Mythology.
The video explained that several of the key events of the Ramayana are properly dated in relation to each other using the cosmic alignments given within it. It also spoke about how several other cultures used variations of Rama's name and described heroes similar to him.
After the video we covered the first chapter of Ramayana, where Dasaratha ruled Ayodhya, true to its name, it defied all enemies, and people were happy and virtuous. Ayodhya means that which cannot be subdued by war,
In here king Dasaratha's three wives and the birth of his four sons was detailed. We then went into an interesting discussion in which one of the students spontaneously asked how Hanuman was a man with the face of the monkey and had the ability to fly, as well as the general idea of supernatural powers. We explained that during the Treta Yuga, sages and really anyone that did great tapas was able to gain supernatural powers.
Overall, we had an excellent start and we are looking forward to teaching our new class this year!
Pranaams,
Sreyus and Vyjayanti
Grade 7 team
