3. Gange ca yamune caiva - Before/During bath
4. Sarasvati namastubhyam - Before studies
5. Brahmarpanam brahma havih - Before Meals
6. Subham karoti Kalyanam - Before evening light
We have also chanting these new slokas:
Srirama rama ramethi rame rame manorame - Pg.129 in My Prayers Book
Verse 1 of Guru Stotram - Akhanda mandalakaram - Pg.61 in My Prayers Book
Story: As usual we played the "Concentration game" before narrating the story. After a brief review, we continued with the story of Ramayana. After Rama killed Thataka they all reach Sage Viswamitra's asramam. We described the greatness of the asramam where Narayana performed great tapas and he was born as Vamana. We described Mahabali and how he never refused the request of anyone for anything. Once Vamana approached Mahabali, he asked for three paces of land as paced by his foot. Mahabali looked at Vamana's short stature with small feet and laughed. Mahabali agreed with pride. Vamana was none other than Lord Vishnu, so he grew to the size of Trivikrama. With one pace he covered the entire earth, with the second, the heavens and due to the lack of space, Mahabali offered his own head for the third pace. By this story, kids learned Vamana came in order to humble Mahabali.
Next, the sages started the yagna. Yagna continues for 5 days and 5 nights. On the 6th day, the demons Mareecha & Subahu are getting ready to shower unclean flesh & blood. We explained how Mareecha was thrown into an ocean far far away. Mareecha was not killed and he had an important role to play in the life of Rama. Subahu was killed by Rama's Agneyastra. Visvamitra completed his yagna. Then Viswamitra told them about the great bow of Lord Shiva that is in Mithila kingdom with Janaka. Rama & Lakshmana get excited to go and see the bow. On their way to the Mithila kingdom, they stopped at the deserted asramam of Gautama rishi. We explained why sage Gauthama cursed Ahalya to turn into a stone. After Ahalya apologizes, sage Gauthama grants her the boon that she will turn into a woman as soon as Lord Rama's feet step on the stone. As soon as Rama's feet touched the stone, Ahalya emerges and she was released from the curse.
After that, they proceeded their journey towards Mithila kingdom. King Janaka was the ruler of Mithila kingdom. When he was plowing his own land, he found a beautiful baby among the bushes. He accepted it as a gift from mother Earth and took her home. We explained the meaning of the shloka "Samudra vasane devi". From this, they learned why we pray to Mother Earth (Bhudevi). He named her Sita. Sita grew up to be a beautiful girl with great qualities. Once when Sita was a child, she loved to play with the Rudras's bow and she almost lifted the bow. King Janaka knew she was a special girl and decided that the prince who married her must be very strong and he must be capable of lifting the bow.
Rama, Lakshmana, and sage Viswamitra arrived at Mithila and enjoyed the beauty of the city. They entered into a huge hall. King Janaka ordered the bow to be brought into the court. 5000 warriors brought the bow into the court on an eight-wheeled chariot. Many princes came, but no one could lift the bow. Rama took the permission from Viswamitra, and he easily lifted the bow and pulled the string. The bow snapped into two. Everyone was surprised, and king Janaka was happy to announce that Sita will wed Rama. Rama & Sita exchanged garlands. King Janaka sent messengers to Ayodhya to convey the message and invite Rama's family for the wedding. The wedding of Rama& Sita took place after the arrival of Rama's family. At the same time, Lakshmana was married to Urmila who is also another daughter of Janaka. Bharata & Satrugna were married to Mandavi and Shrutakirti. These were the cousins of Sita. Dasaratha was overjoyed. King Janaka felt sad at the time of departure because he is going to miss Sita & her love and affection. Dasaratha and his family left Mithila and started their journey towards Ayodhya.
Activity: On all good occasions we give gifts to people. So all the kids prepared a gift to offer Rama. What can we give to the Lord who has everything? We must give him that which he does not have. Lord Rama does not have bad qualities. So we decided we will offer him our bad qualities and so he can destroy them. Kids wrote their bad qualities ( ex. cheating, telling lie, homework not done on time, not following directions ) on post-its and put them in a box in front of Lord Rama. We celebrated Rama & Sita wedding by distributing goodies to children.
Coloring: Please make sure that the kids bring coloring books. Every class, after the story is done, they color the lessons that they listen on that day. So that they can get a clear picture in their minds. Please have the kids color till Rama & Sita's wedding if they haven't done so already.
