Hari Om Parents,
The following is what we did during Sunday's class.
Shlokas:
1. "Om Saha navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
2. "Vakrathunda Mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book)
3. "Karegre vasate" (page 11 in My prayers book)
4. "Akanda-mandalakaram" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
5. "Ajnana-timirandhasya" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
6. "Gururbrahma" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
7. "Thvameva Maathacha" (page 62 in My Prayers book)
8. "Samudra vasane devi" (page 11 in My Prayers book)
9. "Saraswathi namasthubyam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
10. "Subham karothi kalyanam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
11. "Karacharana krithamva" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
12. "Bhramaarpanam bhrama havih" (page12 in My Prayers book)
13. "Srirama Rama Ramethi" (page 129 in My Prayers book)
14. "Manojavam Maaruta" (page 152 in My Prayers book) - New
Activities:
- Please continue to practice Geeta Chanting slokas with your kids. They have been introduced to slokas 1-16 in Chapter 1 & that will be their requirement for the Geeta Chanting Competition. Please refer to the following website gitachanting.net for the right pronunciation. Most kids have familiarized themselves with the first 3 slokas! Please record videos & send your individual child chanting the shlokas to the Geeta Chanting Team cnjbalaviharhouses@gmail.com to earn house points.
- We have introduced most of the Dainikaprarthanah (means Daily Prayers) & 4 slokas from the Gurustoram. Please have the kids make it a habit to chant the above shlokas every morning, (lighting the lamps / evening) after their bath/shower. This will help them learn, memorize as well as develop a lifelong habit of morning prayer & daily prayer.
- We did some coloring towards the end of class. If you have some extra time at home, please have the kids complete their coloring pages in their Bala Ramayana coloring books. Some kids have missed a class or 2, we have had a few abbreviated sessions due to other activities and were unable to fit the coloring activity in. Please stop on Lesson 28. Please reiterate that the kids are recalling the story as they are coloring.
- We wrapped up our class early and headed to the temple to watch the 5th graders perform the wax palace part from the Mahabharata.
We began with a short quiz-like recap of our story so far. It was nice to see that even a few kids who were absent for previous classes were able to answer the questions! Our setting this week was in Lanka. Hanuman was absolutely mesmerized by the beauty, richness, massive architectural marvels, it's moats and novel methods of protection forming a very well laid out city. He snapped out of his trance and immediately got back to the task at hand. It probably felt like getting to Lanka was the easy part...now his real search begins. He had no clue if or not Sita was alive and if she was, where she would be. Hanuman is known as "Buddhimatam Varishtham" - wise among the wisest (Introduced the shloka and discussed the meaning). He instantly plans to enter the city after dark to be able to slip past guards. The soft moon light helped guide him. He encountered a fierce rakshasi. She immediately wanted to find out why a little monkey was snooping around. She shoved him away and Hanuman immediately gave her a sucker-punch and she plopped to the ground, stunned by the unexpected power, she remembered the prophecy! She was the Goddess Guardian of the city and immediately felt that the rakshasa race was coming to an end! She bowed to the little monkey and gave him entrance!
The little monkey continued his expedition prancing from place to place, palace to palace, courtyard to courtyard admiring the riches and splendor of Lanka, still unable to locate Sita. He finally entered Ravana's palace, he saw numerous queens, enjoying the luxury and their surroundings. Then he slowly peered through his bedroom. There stretched out in regal splendor on a solid gold bed, studded with gemstones was Ravana. He was surrounded by several wives, for a second Hanuman was actually looking for Sita and then instantly thought otherwise! She would never be there! He left the palace and feeling highly unsuccessful and dejected went out into the courtyard and sat there on the compound wall. A multitude of negative thoughts were running though his mind.
As Hanuman sat on the wall, he saw an Ashoka Vana in the courtyard. There were beautiful flowers and sweet fragrances from them filling the air. He thought to himself, this is the only place he hadn't searched and it seems to be more like an area that Sita could be. It was heavily guarded by rakshasis that were gruesome in all ways possible! He continued to glance around, the moon slowly crept out from behind the clouds and under an ashoka tree was an elegant lady, simply dressed, pale, eyes red and swollen from constant weeping, lips trembling and constantly chanting "Rama"! Eureka!!! The consort of Ramchandraji has been located! Hanuman's heart skipped a beat and was mesmerized and overjoyed that he has good news for his Rama.
Hanuman was startled by the sudden sound of anklets, women laughing and those voices were subdued but they were getting closer. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ravana approaching. He immediately moved to a spot in the tree that had a lot of thick leaves. The majestic king was stunning from head to toe. He could see Sita growing paler, shivering and watched her turn her head away, as the procession of queens, women and Ravana got closer. He kindly tried to convince Sita to marry him by showing off and talking about all the riches that could be hers. He tried his best to talk down what Rama had, what he was putting her through, who he was at the moment and how he could not provide for her. Ravana had never begged anyone this way before.
Sita plucked a blade of grass and placed it between her and Ravana. She tried to reason with him by saying that it was adharma to have desire for another man's wife. She said she belongs to Rama and will never think of anyone else. If he continued on this disgraceful path, he would not be spared by the wrath of Rama. He may forgive you if you let her go now and forget this ridiculous desire of his. Ravana was furious and gave her 2 more months to change her mind, or be cut up and served as his breakfast!
After Ravana left, the rakshasis in the garden started worrying Sita for rejecting Ravana. Some of them were even eager to eat her up. She was frightened and began to weep, even then, she was constantly chanting Rama's name. Trijata was one of the women there, she was wise and demanded the rest of the rakshasis to leave Sita alone and beg for mercy and forgiveness as she has had dreams of Ravana's 10 heads rolling on the ground and Lanka destroyed by Rama who is an avatara of Lord Vishnu. Saying thus, she bowed before Sita.
Maruti was observing all that had occurred. He was debating on how he would approach Sita without startling her. He decided to stay a monkey. At this point, the rakshasis had enough excitement for one night and had dozed off. Sita suddenly felt an unexplained inner strength. Hanuman began to sing Rama's praises and life story from his birth all the way up to his own journey across the ocean to Lanka. Sita was delighted! She looked up in the tree hoping to see a human figure with deep knowledge but instead saw a cute little monkey smiling down at her. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination or if she was actually looking at Rama's messenger. She had so many questions regarding Rama and about Lakshmana's well being.
Sita wanted Rama to come to her rescue within 2 months, or she said that she'd jump into a fire. On hearing this, Hanuman instantly jumped out to console her, she was taken aback, frightened and doubted if he was some illusion created by Ravana. Hanuman immediately remembered the ring. She was instantly convinced. He asked her to get on his shoulders and he would take a leap back to Rama. He could see the doubt in her eyes, so Hanuman grew to the size of Trivikrama and then shrunk back to the small monkey. Even after that, she insisted that Rama should come with his weapons and fight for her honor & rescue her. Sita gave Maruti a jewel that she had received from her mom. Rama would definitely recognize it. She affectionately called Hanuman, "son", blessed him and requested him to depart immediately. We paused our story here.
Please go to the link below to check out the pictures from this week's class
Each week's update is maintained on Google docs, if for any reason you are unable to attend class on a certain Sunday, you are requested to check for weekly updates so that your child does not miss out. Below is the link
We require at least 1 parent inside the ashram during the full duration of the class. You are free to choose an Adult Study Group or sign up to Volunteer or Meditate/Read in the Temple.
Required books for Grade 1
My Prayers Book
Bala Ramayana Coloring Book
Regards,
Keerthi Kobla and Dipti Chauhan
