Hari Om! Parents,
We started our class with our beginning prayers followed by the Vedic chant..
Om Namaste astu bhagavan…
We chanted trayambakam 3 times followed by maintaining a 20 second silence, remembering all the people across the world who are sick with the virus.
This week our curriculum was on Purusharthas, or the fundamental pursuits in life as depicted in our scriptures.
This special class was led by Namitha, a JCHYK form 12th grade.
We welcomed her to our class and she talked on the above subject.
She firstly asked the children about what their goals were during the period of being quarantine. in the past weeks.
The children had varied answers like, catching up on their sleep, playing video games exercising etc..
Namitha then talked on Purushartha, which means our goals in life.
Vedas classify the human goals as,
Dharma or ethics
Artha or wealth
Kaama or desires for enjoyment
Moksha or iberation
Discussed dharma in the life of a student towards family, school, country and the world. Also talked about our dharma in the present situation which was to stay at home and maintain social distance.
Discussed Artha in both its aspects, outer and inner. Wealth when earned by dharma is a blessing. It helps to build society. To enrich our outer life we need money, but to enrich our inner wealth we need to cultivate noble values.
Discussed Kama, or enjoyments should be in line with dharma. Namitha talked to us about the ladder of fall which starts with desire.
Talked how an unfulfilled desire leads to anger and finally results in the destruction of a person.
Discussed Moksha or liberation is the way to become one with the lord. Explained this with a story, which was;
A saint was taking a bath in the river. A seeker approaches him and asks how to find God and the way to realize him. The saint did a demonstration. He pulled the seeker close to him and pushed his head under the water for some time and pulled him out. The saint then asked the seeker what he was thinking when he was under water. The seeker said he was only thinking of how to get some air. He also said he could not think of anything else. The saint then said that if his desire to see God was as strong like his desire for air he can realize God easily.
Concluded that a burning desire is the starting point of all our accomplishments and goals.
Also, leading a dharmic life is a secret to success.
Some children had questions regarding procuring wealth and desire versus need. We will take it up in our next class.
The children then took turns to sing the arathi and recited the pledge.
Our next online Bal Vihar class is on April 24th.
Pranams
Nirmala and Purnima
