Hari Om! dear Parents,
We started our class with the beginning prayers followed by the vedic chanting of,
Om namaste astu bhagavan..
Trayambakam yajamahe, chanted 3 times followed by observing a 20 second silence
Om bhadram karne bhih...chanted 3 times
We then went on to our curriculum:
Recapped the 16 samskaras we have learned through the year
Shared a slide showing the classification of all the 16 samskaras to be followed in the 4 ashramas.
Discussed that samskaras were taught by the rishis and a very good tool for the purification of our mind.
Discussed the inner samskaras taught by Gautama Muni. Listed 8 noble qualities to be developed in oneself. These are:
Compassion to all beings, forgiveness and patience, being free from jealousy, purity in thoughts words and deeds, being free of mental stress, cheerfulness, giving danam and being free ftom binding desires and greed
Concluded that planting noble values in ourselves is the way to reap peace and happiness in our mind
Our next part in our curriculum was discussion on the last samskara of a person’s life or Antyeshti
Discussed like we have s birth date we have an expiration date
Discussed, the body dies, but the individual jiva living in the body travels to get another body to exhaust residual Vasanas
Molding the Vasanas is a lifelong project. This can be done by leading an alert and vigilant life.
Told the story of the saint Bhartrahari.
He was the brother of the king of Ujjain named Vikramaditya. Bhartrahari chose to be a sanyasi and lived a pious life. He wrote great books for the upliftment of mankind
On his death bed he invoked the five elements and thanked them for giving him a healthy body to pursue his spiritual life. He knew his body was going back to the five elements. Since he led an alert life he could leave the world in an attitude of gratitude at the time of his death
Discussed the final samskara Antyeshthi and how it is different for the saints when they attain Mahasamadhi.
Three children from the class did wonderful presentations with slide share on
The Gunas
Dharma
Dharma and karma based on events form the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
We had a good discussion on these topics.
The children took turns in doing the arathi and recited the pledge.
Pranams
Nirmala and Purnima
Announcement for parents:
Please avail of the fantastic e-summer camp being conducted by Chinmaya Mission West. Please register at the following link
https://tinyurl.com/CMWSummerCamp
