Hari Om parents,
Hope you are all doing well & had a wonderful weekend! We had another fantastic zoom session this Sunday. Here is the summary of April 26, 2020 -
1. Opening prayers with3 OM's and then we asked one kid at a time to lead the rest of the Shlokas like Vakratunda , Saraswati and Guru Bramha.
2. The we chanted the Dhyaan Shlok
3. Brainstorming: why do we say/ chant shlokas? We got quite a few answers but after a few tries got the correct one. We say a prayer/ sing a bhajan or do Japa to WORSHIP the lord. What are other ways in which we can offer our Worship to the Lord?
4. Story - God is everywhere!! A father and a son lived in a village and the father told his son one night - Beta, never forget that God is everywhere. Days passed. Their village suffered from a terrible famine and their family had nothing to eat. One night the father and son snuck in a farm in neighbouring village which had some corn. The father made son stand as guard while the dad went in farm. Just as dad was about to cut the corn the little boy shouted Stop daddy. The dad looked around and asked the boy did anyone see us. The little boy innocently said yes daddy, God is seeing us. Ashamed of himself for thinking of stealing, the father thanked his son for saving him from doing a terrible action. So always remember God is watching us & so let our actions/ words/ deeds be a worship to God.
5. Story time : A special E-story on YouTube caught everyone's attention. Beautiful story on presence of mind. Here is the link if you would like to see the complete story - https://youtu.be/J2nMBahEaSs. The story is about deer and a crocodile. How the 🐊 wants to eat 🦌 and a few instances in the story show how the deer uses quick thinking and intelligence to save his own life. We discussed the 2 qualities of hanumanji which are in Dhyaan Shlok - intelligence ( buddhi) & Alertness (ajadyam). How these 2 qualities relate to our story and kids came up with a few like bravery, physical strength. The story shows how each of them need to work in tandem for the deer to save his life.
6. Again Story time: The talking cave, story of a smart fox and a lion. Ask the kids the story and we learn how the clever fox saved its life.
7. Chanted the Hanuman Chalisa.. so happy to see kids can recite the verses without looking in the book 👏🏻👏🏻Kudos to kids and parents likewise. Ask them any question from chalisa with a twist and they are ready with answers
8. We ended with closing prayers.
For the next week, 2 important things to note are -
1. Each child will be asked to chant a verse of Chalisa. So please make sure they have the book or the lyrics( you can give them a printout). We would love for everyone to participate so keep the books/printouts ready.
2. The kids need to prepare 1 question for the quiz to ask their friends next Sunday( parents can help). Please send the questions along with your child's name and correct answer by Thursday. So we can prepare the slideshow for the class.
See you all on Sunday at 9:15am. Stay home,stay safe & stay healthy.
Regards,
Rupa & Chitra.
