Hari Om Parents,
The following is what we did during today'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)
Activities:
- We sang our Rama bhajan "Jaya Jaya Tulasi" (page 141 in My Prayers book) twice, we repeated it once and sang it together 1 time.
- We have introduced most of the Dainikaprarthanah (means Daily Prayers) and 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 and daily prayer.
- We played the Concentration Game. After the chanting of 3 "Om's kids keep their eyes closed. They count the number of stones being dropped into a box during the quiet time. Later they give the count of the stones dropped. The game quiets the mind and improves concentration. I muted everyone so that the kids wouldn't have any potential distractions from each other. Almost ALL of the students got the count correct! The rest of them were very close. They all were visibly thrilled!
- We practiced our "Likita Japa" with the kids today, we taught them how to write "Rama" in Hindi and had them continue to write "Rama" as they listened to Swamiji's Geeta chanting. The kids are welcome to practice "Rama" likita japa during the week if they would like to do so. They were happy to show off their pages today. If the kids have some incomplete pages in their coloring books, they may color them, Please Stop on Lesson 31.
We began our story with a brief recap of where we were last week.
Our setting was in Lanka. Both sides are prepared for the war to commence. Rama signals the vanara army to attack. They are completely pumped up and energized chanting "Victory to Rama, Jai Sri Ram, Long Live Rama", they approach the city gates. Ravana and his rakshasa army are ready to attack with full force, charging out with their mighty weapons. As the vanaras arrived empty handed, they made use of rocks, boulders, mountains, trees, columns, pillars, etc. as weapons. The generals from both sides were equally matched. Angadha was assigned to take his stance against Indrajit, the mighty son of Ravana. Angadha killed Indrajit's charioteer and his horses. He then smashed Indrajit's chariot as well. Furious at the outcome, Indrajit decides to use some black magic to make himself invisible. He decided to then go and torment Rama and Lakshmana by shooting arrows at them from all different directions. After that he sent serpent arrows at the duo, those serpent arrows tied them up and made it impossible for them to move or talk!
Sugriva and the vanara army were grief stricken! They assumed the worst had happened and started to cry in defeat. Vibhishana was not convinced as he was still able to see luster in the faces of the brothers. Indrajit thought that his hasty master plan had worked and went to rejoice with his father. Ravana was so pleased that he started to party himself and ordered his trusted rakshasi to accompany Sita on the flying Pushpa vagana to witness their victory. He demanded that the rakshasi to now convince Sita to be his queen. Sita could not bear the sight and lamented uncontrollably reliving all the hardships that they had faced to get themselves to the current situation. Trijata, the good rakshasi too thought like Vibhishana and tried to console Sita by saying that the duo don't seem to be dead. She went on to say that there was a vibrant glow radiating from their faces. These consoling words gave Sita hope and she continued to pray for their recovery and victory.
At this point, the ocean waves rose to incredible heights and the winds started roaring! Garuda the king of the birds arrived amongst the vanaras and immediately the serpents disappeared in fear! Garuda softly brushed his wings along the brothers' faces and whispered to Rama that he was an old friend of his and that they would meet again after the war is over. The duo awoke with immense strength and immediately began planning their new war strategies. There was a roar of joy amongst the vanaras that reverberated across Lanka. Immediately Ravan climbed his tower to see what was going on and was astonished to see that the brothers were alive and beyond looking well! Sita too could hear the joy and was immediately filled with a revived sense of hope. 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
Regards,
Keerthi Kobla and Dipti Chauhan
