Hari Om Parents,
Please find the summary of the 2/21 class below.
Topic of the day: "Shri Hanuman, The Victorious
After reciting the Opening prayer, Hanuman Dhyana Shlokas and Rama Nama Japa, we chanted the whole Hanuman Chalisa and repeated the first 20 several times.
We then went over the meaning and the supporting commentary for 20th Caupai with couple of impactful stories
20th Caupais:- Durgam Kaja jagatke jete ..Sugama anugraha tumhare Tate….
Meaning- by your grace, even the most difficult tasks of the world become easy to accomplish. Whatever difficulties or obstacles we encounter in life, they can be overcome by the grace of Shri Hanumanji .
Then we explained to the kids that there are three kinds of people in this world:
1. Those , who do not start any project for fear of obstacles; hence they never get started
2. Those, who start many projects but the moment they encounter difficultly they at once quit and move to another project.
3. Those, who are fearless like Hanumanji and when they encounter more obstacles they gain more enthusiasm and courage to complete the project.
We emphasized that and learned that Shri Hanumanji blesses the people in the third category and makes their job easier.
To support the above fact, the following story was shared with the children. This demonstrates that fact that - With hard work and prayers, they can overcome the obstacles or difficulties and be victorious.Everything is possible.
Dave a ninth grader was the smallest and skinniest kid in his class . He wanted to be a star wrestler and win an athlete letter awarded to exceptional athletes. All his friends made fun of him telling him that he was not meant to be a wrestler. Only his grandmother told him, "you can accomplish anything by hard work and prayers. Dave worked really hard to reach his goal. Everyday after school, Dave would lift weights to build his strength. He would practice wrestling to improve his technique and he would run miles to improve his stamina. Midway through the season, Dave's coach expressed how pleased he was with Dave's progress and awarded him the athletes letter. The moral of the story is that 'With hard work and prayers, you can be victorious.
We then had an activity where Kids shared some of the hardest things that they wanted to accomplish. We assured everyone that having Hanuman ji in their hearts will dispel all fears; Hard work and prayers will let them accomplish their goals
A second tale was also shared that emphasizes the importance of hard work and how God helps those who helps themselves: Once a farmer was taking a bullock cat full of fruits to a nearby village to sell them and earn some money. On his way, he realized that the roads were full of mud because of heavy rains. He had no choice but to go forward. He proceeded singing bhajans. Just few miles away from destination, his cart got stuck in the mud. He started cursing GOD, exclaiming " Throughout the journey, I have been chanting your name why are you so cruel?" In few minutes, a young boy passing that way asked "Did you even try to pull or push the cart out of the mud ? The boy continues – let's put few baskets of fruits on the roadside to lessens the load and then pushed the cart. This trick worked and the man was successfully able to get the cart out and go to the town on time. he then realized how important it is to use our on intellect( which is god's gift) to get out of trouble rather than blaming god. God helps those who help themselves.
We wrapped up the class with closing prayers after Hanuman Bhajans and reciting chalisa again
Thanks,
Mythili and Madhuri
