Hari Om Parents,
Happy Deepavali! Thank you to the 6 students that showed up for class this week. Please take a moment to review with your child what we did during class.
Shlokas:
- "Om Saha navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
- "Vakrathunda mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book)
- "Om Saraswati namastubhyam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
- "Karegre vasate" (page 11 in My prayers book)
- "Samudra vasane devi" (page 11 in My Prayers book)
- "Akanda-mandalakaram" (page 61 in My Prayers book) - New
- "Subham karothi kalyanam" (page 12 in My Prayers book) - New
Activities:
- We told the kids the significance of Deepavali, how different people may celebrate it in different ways & the reason why we celebrate the festival & narrated a few stories.
- We introduced the first shloka of the Gurustotram and thought it was the perfect day to introduce Subham karoti kalyanam as well. We explained the meaning of the shlokas to the kids.
- We introduced shlokas 1 & 2 of Chapter 1 in The Geeta. They are in our handbooks in both Sanskrit & English. Please help the kids practice the slokas that were taught in class. The kids will be learning slokas 1-16 & that will be their requirement for the Geeta Chanting Competition. Please refer to the following website gitachanting.net for the right pronunciation. Swamiji's Geeta Chanting link is also available for the kids to learn from.
- We did a Diwali craft with Diyas (lamps) where the kids shared what they did and or plan to do for Diwali.
- We did some yoga stretches.
We got back to our story after a brief recap of how Rama and Lakshmana along with Sage Vishwamitra, ended up in Mithila. We kept our story short this week as many were absent.
It was an emotional reunion between the 2 boys that had left Ayodhya on a mission and their father! They all got the blessings of the elders. The wedding of Rama & Sita took place after the arrival of Rama's family from Ayodhya. Mithila was decked up with all things bright and beautiful, rangolis, flowers, dias, etc. everywhere. The people were overjoyed. Not only did Sita & Rama get married, Urmila married Lakshmana, Mandavi married Bharata and Surtakirti married Shatrughna.
We then continued the story of how King Janaka felt that his daughters & nieces were leaving, his heart & kingdom empty & how King Dasharatha was overjoyed! But his happiness was short lived as they encountered Sage Parasurama (who had vowed to kill all ksatiyas as his father was killed by one), on their way back to Ayodhya. Rama takes care of the mighty Parasurama and relieves his father of his anxiety by completing the challenge of picking up and stringing the bow that Parashurama gives him. But Rama says he needs to fire the strung bow at something and that he cannot kill a brahmana, so he shoots away all of the "Tapas" that the sage had accumulated. After this encounter, Parashurama is humbled and he goes to the Himalayas. They newly weds arrived in Ayodhya and everyone were overjoyed! We stopped our story here.
Please go to the link below to check out the pictures from this week's class
Each week's update is maintained on Google docs, if for any reason you are unable to attend class on a certain Sunday, you are requested to check for weekly updates so that your child does not miss out. Below is the link
We require at least 1 parent inside the ashram during the full duration of the class. You are free to choose an Adult Study Group or sign up to Volunteer or Meditate/Read in the Temple.
Required books for Grade 1
- My Prayers Book
- Bala Ramayana Coloring Book
Regards,
Keerthi Kobla and Dipti Chauhan
