HariOm Parents,
We met after Thanksgiving break but had a great Friday yesterday with all your children. As we had children coming in we got the children start the day with Likhita Japa. We are writing "Sri Krishna Sharanam Mama" for Likhita Japa this year.
Thank you for making sure quite a few children started doing Likhita Japa at home. We will continue collecting the sheets filled with Likhita Japa so our team Krishnas cowboys points.
We then proceeded to our routine. We said Om 3 times and then starting class with our Opening Prayers(Om Sahanavavatu).
1. Chanting My Prayers: Since all the kids who attended 3rd grade were already taught the My Daily Prayers we chanted it. For the benefit of the newcomers, the Daily prayers are in My Prayers Pg,11 of green book. The following are the shlokas
a. Karagrevasathe Lakshmi
b. Gangecha yamunechaiva
c. Saraswati namstubyam
d. Brahmarpanam
e. Subhamkaroti kalyanam
f. Karacharana kratamvaak
g. Kayenavacha manasaindriyeyva
2. Shlokas : Krishnashtakam : We did the 4th and 5th verse again. Some of the kids knew upto 3rd verse. Many kids know the whole shloka by now. Thank you parents for your efforts. We want all our kids to learn the whole of Krishnashtakam so please practise at home.
3. Bhajan : Radhe Radhe Radhe Radhe Radhe Govinda..
4. Bhagawat Gita: We chanted the 9th and 10th verse of Bhagawat Gita along with Swamiji. Here are the audio links to swamiji's chanting.
5. Story Time :
a. Kuberas sons released : Festival preparations were on in Gokul and people were very busy. So Yasoda was left to do all the chores by herself she had milk boiling on the stove and she was churning butter in the pot. So one day toddler krishna returned to his mother hungry. Maa Yasoda gave her his feed but at the same time her the milk boiling over. So she immediately put down Krishna from her lap to get the milk from the fire. This annoyed krishna a lot so he went ahead broke the matka which had butter and dragged it to the courtyard. Maa yasoda when she returned could not see krishna but finally found him in the courtyard feeding the monkeys the butter she had so painstakingly prepared. This made Yasoda very angry and she decided to punish him as she went to spank him little krishna started running in circles and maa yasoda when she finally caught hold of him could not see his big teardrop and her heart melted so decided to tie him to the pot. She brought a rope to tie him and fell 2 fingers shot. Then she brought bigger and bigger ropes and all the time the rope turned to be 2 fingers short. Then she tied 2 ropes together and tried to tie him still it was short. She got confused and exasperated and did not know what to do. This was the time the Lord let him to be bound by the rope to the mortar. This is the way the Lord plays with those who love Him.
Now tied to the huge mortar the lord wanted to do something. So he started walking and then went outside the house pulling the huge mortar to which he was tied. He then walked in the middle of two trees which grew in such a way that the base were next to one another. As he walked ahead the mortar got stuck between the two trees and finally both the trees fell.
Two glowing beings(Nalakubara and Manigriva sons of Kubera) emerged with their light. They bowed before the Lord the little krishna and they sang his praise as they got lifted off their curse. The loud sound of two trees falling made Yasoda and the villagers run towards and they found the tress fallen near Krishna.
b. The Fruit seller : One lady in a hot summer afternoon walked past Yasoda's house selling Aranyaka fruit. Krishna the little toddler wanted to have the juicy fruit. So he came running to the fruit seller and asked for the fruit. The fruit seller then seeing he was a little toddler asked for some grain in exchange of the fruit. So, the toddler went into the kitchen and gather two fist full of grains and came walking to the fruit seller.
As he reached the fruit seller the fists had no grain as the toddler had spilt the grain on the way to her. But the fruit seller seeing the baby acted as if she took the grain from his fists and put it in her bag and she gave him the fruit. The little boy was very happy and the fruit seller started walking towards her home. As she walked she felt her basket getting heavier. She did not realise why it was so heavy. Once she reached home she put the basket down only to discover that her basket was filled with gold and precious jewels so she could live her life comfortably. Imagine! The Lord of the universe begged a fruit seller for Aranyaka fruits. He did this so that He could bless His devotee for her simple love and generosity.
c. Vrndavana : One day all the elders of Gokula gathered at Nandas house. They talked about the recent calamities that had befallen their village. Gokula had always been a peaceful place. But recently they had been troubled by the Rakshasas.
Upananda, the wisest and the eldest of them looked and said our little Krishna has been narrowly escaping all the time we need to move to Vrndavana. That is one place where Yamuna flows and has enough grasslands for our cows to graze. So, the whole village got into carts and carriages and they all moved as a caravan to Vrndavan.
One day, when the gopas had taken the calves to the pasture, a wicked asura plotted to kill him. He assumed the form of a calf(vatsa)and mingled with the rest of the herd. The asura knew Krishna loves cows and would not hurt a calf. So, Krishna went behind the tree and picked the calf with both its hind legs and then circled him in the air and thrashed him. The body immediately changed to an asura. Krishna was the hero.
d. Bakasura : On another day, Krsna and gopas had gone to a tank to quench their thirst and have a cool wash. When they came from the woods they saw a large crane the size of a large white mountain. It was the asura in the shape of a crane(baka). The monster ran towards Krishna and swallowed the gopis got scared. Krishna gave out so much heat that the asura spat out the little boy. Before it could tell what was happening Krsna grabbed the asuras beak and split it apart with His bare hands. The asura fell dead. The news went to the villagers and they were relieved to see that Krishna was safe.
Please make them practice Bhagawat Gita regularly. We will be recording Verse 1 to Verse 4 next week.
You can record your childs Geeta chanting
a. Please state name of the child and grade then record the chanting
b. Send it to cnjbalaviharhouses@gmail.com OR to the Grade 4 Aunties( meenarajan@gmail.com or lakshari2014@gmail.com )
We will have our next Balavihar next week December 13th.
Pranaam,
Meena and Viji
