Hari Om parents!
Following is the update of last Friday's class ( 10/18):
Since we had Balavihar House inaugural, we had a short 45 minute class. During that time, we delved into the virtue 'Nirbhayatvam' from the Dhyana Shloka.
After Opening prayers, we spent some time doing 'Rama nama japa'. During memory time, we chanted 'Bhudhir balam'. Few kids in the class memorized this completely. We encourage everyone to memorize this by next week's class. We are running a memorization challenge in the class to encourage the kids learn and memorize as much as possible.
Nirbhayatvam: (Fearlessness): A state being free from fear
We explained what is Nirbhayatvam and
· The kids were asked to answer 'what they are most afraid of'. we had variety of answers - some funny and silly ones as well :).
· We discussed with the kids that we are either afraid of the unknown or we are afraid when we don't live by our duties. When we are afraid, we imagine and we project. We are unable to think straight and function normally.
· When we live honestly, keep God in our heart like Hanumanji, we become fearless.
· To emphasize how one can become fearless by living honestly and having faith in God, we reviewed three stories - "The wandering saint of the Himalayas", "My Daddy will Save Me' and 'The foolish, Timid Rabbit.
o The wandering Saint of Himalayas is about' Swami Tapovanji' and how he used to be fearless and wander all the forests across Himalayas in freezing cold weather. He is a great saint who sees unity in the universe. Our Upanishad's say " From the Other, fear arises".
o My daddy Will save me is a story about a little girl who trusts his daddy completely and remains fearless when the ship gets very rocky in a severe storm. She says- He is not going to let the Ship sink. I know he loves me very much'. Just like the girl has faith in her dad, have faith in Hanumanji. Pray to him. H is our father, the Super Superman and he will help us conquer our fears.
o The Foolish, Timid Rabbit story explains how a timid rabbit having 'unreal' fears makes all animals in the forest believe that the earth was breaking. The wise and courageous lion comes to rescue and clears the confusion. Through this story, we learned that ' Before we say 'I am sacred', determine whether the fears are real. Having Hanumanji as our friend, there is nothing to fear. By praying to him, we become strong and fearless like him.
We then did our closing prayers and headed to the temple hall for the house inaugural.
P.S- please send the kids on time.
Thanks and regards,
Mythili
