Hari OM Everyone,
Last week (dec 13) we spent a lot of time learning verses 3, 4 and 5 of the Bhagavad Geeta and recording it. Our class has earned 36 points so far by sending the recordings. We also learned again the first stanza of the Dasavatara Stotram - it seems a little bit tough for them but they are getting it! We learned the first 2 shlokas of the Guru Stotram. After that we reviewed the Dhruva story trying to remember the names and the details of the story.
We then discussed what prevents us from being like Dhruva and seeing God in less than 6 months - everyone unanimously said we are too distracted. We then told them a story of a man who gets a mantra from a sage and when he chants it a 'Genie' appears and does all his bidding. He gets a huge house, whatever he wants to eat, even gets married but the problem is Genie threatens to eat him up if he doesn't give him work. So he runs back to the Sage to ask for a solution..the sage gives him an idea and the man tells the genie to put a pole in front of his house and then asks the genie to go up and down the pole again and again. When he needs something he asks the genie to do it but the rest of the time the genie has to go up and down the pole. Please see if the children remember who the genie is ('our mind') and what the pole represents ('Mantra')! 🙂
This week (Dec 20) after the Daily prayers, we discussed the story of one of Dhruva's descendants King Prthu. The earth had gone barren and no one had any food - mother Earth appears in front of Prithu and says if people put in effort she will yield them everything. Accordingly, Prthu makes sure that everyone is put to work and soon the whole kingdom is prosperous. We discussed how without effort we can't achieve any results. Please ask them for the name given to Mother Earth after King Prthu.
We then talked about the advice of the Sanatkumaras to King Prthu and how to overcome the 6 sharks in our mind - Anger, Jealousy, Greed, Pride, Lust and Delusion. We then discussed all these 6 sharks in detail sharing a small story for each to explain how it is bad. We told them the story of a greedy King who wants a beautiful quilt but the old lady refuses to make it for him unless he gives up all he has. The King starts to give up what he doesn't need, and then what he actually needs and finally when he gives up everything, he doesn't feel the need for the Quilt as well. One of the kids pointed out 'contentment' is an antidote for most of these sharks!! Sharing is the way to overcome 'Lust'.
We discussed about pride and while we should feel proud of ourselves for setting a goal and accomplishing things but we should never forget all the help that we had in reaching the goal - we reminded them of the story of the tortoise and the hare - Vyaan shared the story. Earlier Pradyun shared the story of Bhasmasura!
We discussed about anger and how we can't undo things that we do when we are angry - and how words are esp hurtful than even physical expressions of anger.
We mentioned the story of King Midas for greed and Adhya shared it with the rest of the class for the benefit of those who didn't know!
We then explained what is delusion - we see something that is not there like a monster or ghost in the closet!
There was then a very good question from one of them - 'if God was not just in heaven and was here with us all the time, why did he not stop us when we did bad things'! We explained that when we did bad actions did we not get bad consequences - this was God's way of telling us that our actions were bad and we should not do them anymore.
We then split them up into 2 groups and gave them coloring sheets of a peacock...one group was given only yellow color pencils and the other group was given different color pencils to color in. When they were done and we lined it up, everyone felt that the colorful peacocks looked more beautiful than just the yellow one. We wanted to show them how different colors when they come together harmoniously can build a beautiful picture - so there is no need of uniformity for unity. Seeing Unity in Diversity helps us get rid of the sharks.
Suja Aunty's daughter Shivani Didi visited us in class today and had created a jeopardy for us on all the topics we had learned so far including Shlokas! They did a great job! We then handed out cookies and juice as treats - our small holiday party! 🙂
As mentioned on the Whatsapp group, our class stage program will be on April 3rd. Would appreciate if you can all update your child's availability for that date on the google sheet - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iYFjCSKMgspg6FyXkeCCM9Cba3HvsO-NyKwNHgrTbkg/edit?usp=sharing
Art, Storytelling, Shlokathon and Likhita japa contests are now open. Please check https://temple.chinmayavrindavan.com/index.php/house-contests for details.
We will see them all on Jan 3rd. Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year to all of you!
Thanks & Regards
Jayashree & Suja
Jayashree & Suja
