HariOm Parents,
We had a great Friday yesterday with all your children. It was amazing to see how they were all prepared to join the class to have some fun. Yes, it is kind of difficult for them to focus from home but they are getting a very good feel about it. So, I am sure they will enjoy it more as we progress.
Additional Guidelines for Zoom class to be followed (from what we observed yesterday)
1. Keep your balavihar bag ready with you as you login (My prayers, Govinda Damodara stotram printout, Balavihar handbook, Likhita japa notebook, pencil and sharpner)
2. No screen sharing or chatting. Only children are allowed to mute and unmute so they can speak.
3. No sitting on bed or leaning in bed while doing balavihar class
4. No eating please during the class.
We started the class with 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 once we are done with this eclasses. Please ask the children to continue writing likhita japa. It is the time we show our children to do prayers and stay positive.
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 children had screen time as we called out one child to lead one shloka
a. Karagrevasathe Lakshmi
b. Gangecha yamunechaiva
c. Saraswati namstubyam
d. Brahmarpanam
e. Subhamkaroti kalyanam
f. Karacharana kratamvaak
g. Kayenavacha manasaindriyeyva
2. Krishnashtakam : We then had our children say Krishnashtakam Children again did one verse at a time and the completed the whole class participated.
3. Govinda Damodara Stotram :
4. Bhagawat Gita : We did not do Bhagawat Gita Practise today. We have done verse 1 to verse 14. I am sure all the children practiced verse 1 to 10. Please continue good work and memorise this week verse 11 to verse 14. Next week we will call out children by name and ask them to chant verse 1 to 14.
5. Story Time
Riddle : Believe it or not I used to be a mailman long time ago. My kind is found all over the globe, but we tend to like Trafalgar Square in London the most. Who am I ?
As we asked the question children took some time from post office to airplane to bird to pigeon.
Pigeon Story :
Once, there lived a pigeon on a tree with his mate. They were very happy. They had few baby pigeons. One day the pigeon couple had gone to look for food. A hunter came and trapped the baby pigeons. When the parents returned, they saw the children in pain. The mother pigeon could not bear the signht and jumped into the trap. The father started thinking, what is the use of living when my family is no more! He also jumped into the trap. Thus the whole family was killed.
Dattatreya said " O King, I learned from this pigeon couple that when are overly attached to things and beings, you lose control of your life. Troubles do come in life, but face them with courage and try to find proper solution.
b. Krishna Story : Indra – Yajna Bhangam
The rainy season was drawing near and there were grand preparations underway for a yajna. Krsna curiously asked his father, What is this all for baba? In whose honor is the yajna being performed? What are the benefits of doing this yajna?
Nandababa said "Indra is the god of clouds and rain. Rain gives life to all beings. Therefore we are worshipping Indra to thank him and ask him to remain kind to us. This is the tradition handed down from our forefathers.
Krsna replied to his father why are you thanking Indra? Each persons birth, death and fotune are preordained based on one's own past karma. Where does Indra come in.
Our cows are our wealth and means of livelibood. Why don't we worship them ? Why don't we worship the brahmins who are our wealth of knowledge? Why don't we worship mount Govardhana for giving us its green grass and rich pastures? This would make more sense.
Nandababa and elders were not happy with the idea and wanted to continue the age old tradition. But when Krsna argued they unanimously decided that the cws, brahmins and mount Govardhana would be worshipped each year and not Indra.
When Indra learned of this, he felt insulted and became terribly jealous and angry. He made up his mind to seek revenge and punish the villagers for their insolence and arrogance. He summoned clouds, lightining and winds that were generally reserved for disasters, and instructed them all to wreak havoc on Vrndavana and completely destroy the land and its residents.
Thunder and lightining stormed the earth like never before. Torrential rain and hail lashed ruthlessly upon the helpless people, animals and trees of Vrndavana. Water flooded into every house and hut and cowshed. Everyone was in pitiable distress.
The whole village ran to Krsna asking Him to save them from Indra's fury. He lifted Govardana with one handed and placed it on his pinky finger. Everyone clamoured under the mountain and took shelter.
Krsna's gopa friends were so sweet that they thought Krsna would not be able to hold the mountain for long. So his gopa friends supported it with sticks under the mountain trying to give Krsna some relief. Krsna pretended he needed all the support that he could get.
For seven days and nights this went on. Krsna had decided to teach Indra a lesson. For seven days the storm neither subsided nor stopped. Indra saw how futile his effort was and so recalled his forces of destruction. The rains stopped, floods subsided and gopas and gopis went back home. The sun shone again and gave much needed warmth to the people of Vrndavana.
The village elders marveled at their blue boys superhuman feats. They remembered all His deeds since infancy and spoke to Nanda. It was then that Nanda told them that Risi Garga had told him that Krsna was Lord Narayana himself. The people of Vrndavana accepted this but soon Krsna made them forget this. He made sure everybody looked at him and loved Him as their mischievous boy.
Soon, Indra arrived in Vrndavana with his head hung low and begged for forgiveness. He humbly appraoached the Lord and prostrated before Him.
Krsna said "All this was done to break your pride, Indra. I take away the powers of those whom I want to favor. Now you may go and perform your duties faithfully.
What is Karma?
Karma is a Sanskrit word. It means action. When I am hungry I eat. And thereafter I feel full. Eating is an action. It is Karma phala or a result is a sense of fullness.
If I sow lemon seeds can I eat oranges from these seeds? No. It would be unnatural and impossible for lemon seeds to yield oranges-the whole order of the universe would be disturbed if we got haphazard results. Like the saying goes " As you sow , so shall you reap"
If I perform good karmas we will get good karma phalas. IF we learn to play the Cello we will be able to play Cello well not the viola.
It is also important to remember that all of us are interconnected. Our karmas will always have direct or indirect effect on the world we live.
The kind of karma that the Lord loves niskama karma.
Mother Teresa often prayed to the Lord"If you want me to draw a thick line make me a blunt pen and if you want me to draw a thin kine make me fine. Like Mother Teresa may we pray to Krsna so that He can use us for all His work. Thus day and night 24 hrs a day 7 days a week, we can serve our beloved darling. Actions performed with this attitude are niskama karmas.
4. Closing Prayers : We did aarti and pledge
Things To DO
1. Please practice Bhagawat Gita (Verse 1 to 14) and register for the Gita Yagna
2. Also please register for Shlokathon and ask them to practice(any one of the following) - we have sent the link over whatsapp...
a. Opening Prayers
OR
b. Hanuman Chalisa
OR
c. Govinda Damodara Stotram.
3. List out the qualities of Krsna. Write about 4 qualities you love in Krsna and write about them.
a. Describe the Quality
b. Describe in which story of Krsna you found the Lord exhibiting this quality
c. What action in your life do you show this quality
Please stay healthy and we will see Next Class is on April 2nd and Sholokathon on April 4th by Zoom
Pranaam,
Meena and Viji
