Hari Om Parents,
Our class started with the Om chanting and opening prayer of Sahanavavtu as always.
We have finished learning Govinda Damodara Stotram and so recited it a couple of times. It would be nice if they could practice at home. We will soon be starting Krishna Ashtakam.
My 24 teachers topic today was Moon. Every chapter in this book begins with a riddle as a way of introducing a teacher and kids are quite curious and excited about it. The moon appears to be changing with time. The cycle goes on starting from full moon to new moon. Though the moon appears to be constantly changing, in reality it doesn't. This teaches us that though the human body and everything around it is subject to change with age, the indweller, Bhagawan, stays the same. We talked about how the ups and downs in life should not make one elated or depressed instead be balanced thinking that, "This too shall pass". We made the kids read a story about the same. We told them about the importance of being thankful to the lord as well as people around them for whatever they have.
Our next story was about the mischievous baby Krishna. We told them the story of how Balarama complains to Yashoda that Krishna eats mud and when asked he denies it.
Mother Yashoda asks Krishna to open his mouth wide as she feels that he is lying and will be aghast once she sees the entire universe in his mouth. She realizes that baby Krishna is none other than Lord Vishnu but the lord makes her forget everything she has seen so that she can enjoy all the aspects of a true mother and would treat him as her son with love, hugs, scolding and much more.
We also covered another story of Krishna where his constant naughtiness makes Mother Yashoda get angry and she ties him to a huge Mortar with a rope. but the lord being his mischievous self couldn't stay put and drags the enormous stone between 2 huge trees uprooting them. In a way Bhagawan does this to liberate two celestial beings from their curse.
Whenever Krishna takes butter or curd from his house he wouldn't eat it alone but shares them with everyone around him. Through this the kids learnt the virtue of Sharing.
The kids did Likhita japa for sometime after which we all chanted slokas 7 & 8 from Bhagavad Gita along with Swami ji. We also recited 1 thru 8. We will be recording slokas 1-4 in our next class to earn our house points.
Balavihar is not in session next Sunday, Dec 1 on account of Thanks giving.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me or Roopa at roopab77@yahoo.com.
Enjoy your Thanks Giving break!
Thank you,
Hari Om,
Purna & Roopa.
