Hari Om Parents,
The following are the synopsis of today's class.
We commenced our class with Om chanting and opening prayer of Sahanavavtu, and then recited Govinda Damodara Stotram a couple of times.
The topic from My 24teachers today was about the honey gatherer. What we learn from him is that when we collect too much of anything, more than our needs, then our fate is similar to that of honey bees, whose honey is taken by the honey gatherer. Use what you have and do not hoard.
We narrated the story of a Greedy Barber. There was once a barber who was employed by a king. He was a nice person whom the king was fond of and worked for him for a long time. One day while the barber was going back home after his job, he heard a constant voice that kept asking him if he wanted more wealth, gold and diamonds. Though he initially was scared of the voice, he eventually felt tempted and says Yes to the offering. As soon as he reaches home he finds seven pots of gold and diamonds of which the seventh one is only half filled. He and his wife were very surprised to see the immense wealth and instead of being happy they start grieving as the seventh pot is only half filled. Most of the kids very smart enough to point out why they weren't happy with the six pots full of gold. This is where Greed comes into picture. Both the barber and his wife start working harder, loosing their sleep and appetite in order to fill the seventh jar but all the their efforts are in vain. The jar never get filled. This was actually a test by the god to see if they were content with what they had. The greed of wanting more makes their life full of misery and their worries vanish only when the greed disappears from their hearts.
Be content with what you have is the moral.
We covered the lifting of the Govardhana giri story from Krishna's book.
Preparations were underway for the grand celebrations of Yagna to Lord Indra. Lord Krishna tells his father that it would make more sense to worship the cows which are the means of their livelihood, which provide them with milk and also worship mount Govardhana for giving green grass and rich pastures. Once everyone unanimously decides on worshipping the cows, brahmins and mount Govardhana and not Indra, it makes him terribly jealous and angry.
Lord Indra out of arrogance creates havoc in Vrindavana by unleashing torrential rains, hail, thunder, storms and flooding upon the helpless people. The whole village goes to Lord Krishna asking him to save them from Indra's fury.The lord was moved at their plight and lifts the Govardhana with one hand and places it on his pinky, providing protection to all not just for a day or two but for seven days and nights. Indra gets puzzled at this and realizes his mistake of being arrogant and feels sorry.
Arrogance never does good to anyone is the moral.
We also had a small discussion of what Karma (action) and Karma phala (result) mean.
A person who is hungry must perform the Karma of eating to get the Result of fullness.
If one sows Lemon seeds, it would be impossible and unnatural to yield Oranges. As you sow , so shall you reap! We also talked about selfless acts, of which Mother Teresa was a perfect role model, who most of the kids were familiar with.
We concluded our class by chanting the 22nd, 23rd verses from Bhagavad Gita following Swami Ji's video.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me or Roopa at roopab77@yahoo.com.
Thank you,
Purna and Roopa.
