Hari Om!
Dear Parents,
Please find below the summary of our class on Friday, Dec 20, 2019.
Opening prayers:
Om Sahana Vavatu
Om Sri Ganeshaya NamaH
Om Sri Saraswatyai NamaH
Om Sri Sadgurubhyo NamaH
Neelambuja Shyamala Komalaangam (Rama Shloka)
Quote of the day:Comfort- comes in as a guest, lingers to become host and stays to enslave us!
Icebreaker: What is your guilty pleasure?
Ramayana Story: Rama kills Vaali and coronation of Sugriva
Bhagavat Gita: Ch. 1, Verses 14,15,16
Aarati and Pledge : Temple - Lead by Grade 4
Next Balavihar class: 1/3/20
Announcement: Please mark your calendars for our class stage presentation on Jan 10th, 2020
Summary: We had a great class to finish the decade today! There was a surprise guest, Ananya Ramachandran one of our CHYKs. Ananya graduated from Balavihar in 2017. She is a junior in college and actively participates in Balavihar activities whenever she can. After the opening prayers, we started with the icebreaker question. The children were asked what their guilty pleasure is, something they enjoy doing but not necessarily good for them. We had a lot of interesting answers ranging from video games, junk food to getting their siblings in trouble! This was a great opening to discuss our quote of the day. We start doing certain things because it brings us happiness an we get comfortably used to them and suddenly there comes a time when we realize that we can't do without them! The children understood the quote well and had many interesting analogies to describe it. One of them said that Social media is a good example for this quote. We get into social media because it is convenient to communicate,etc., but gradually we get sucked into it ultimately making it difficult for us to be without it. This is true even for us adults many times! we then discussed the need to get out of our comfort zones, analyze and try to kick some habits which make us feel dependent on them.
We then discussed the story of Vaali. Vaali was the brother of Sugriva, who took his kingdom and his wife in an Adharmik way. He was very arrogant and proud of his strength and prowess. Sugriv sought Rama's help to kill Vaali and restore the kingdom back to him. Vaali had the unfair advantage of gaining half the strength of the enemy when face to face with them. So Rama had to kill him from behind a tree. Sugriva was reinsted as king of Kishkinda. He promised to help Rama find Sita after the monsoon season.
Following Gita chanting, we prepared for our upcoming program on Jan 10th. We then went to the temple hall for Arati and pledge. The next class will be on Jan 3rd, 2020. Happy Holidays and a very happy new year to you and your family!
Shanthi & Anandhi
