Hari Om Families!
Hope you are well.
We have been delving into Section 2 of the curriculum in the past few classes. The students received a wonderful introduction to the Hanuman Calisa and explored who wrote the prayer. Various words such as calisa, caupais, and doha were reiterated and students are more than comfortable using them! Your wonderful children have taken on the challenge of reciting as much as they can in front of the class, and so far they are doing a wonderful job. Regardless of how much they are able to say, it shows immense dedication and the ability to absorb what they hear. We started dissecting the first doha and spoke about the term, "guru". Students spoke about who their teachers were apart from the ones they have at school. We then studied the second doha and spoke about how we can serve and do our duties just like Hanumanji. Your children do an impressive job in fostering comparisons between their home life and our curriculum, and that in itself implicates a solid understanding of the content. Caupai 1 introduced the children to how Hanumanji got his name, and they heard the story. They are always very attentive when hearing stories, and they are able to discuss with their peers and eventually come to an agreement of the moral.
A few classes ago we learned about Hanumanji's job as a messenger to Lord Rama through Caupai 2. We spoke about the qualities of a good messenger and played the Telephone game to test whether we would be an efficient messenger. This simple game taught the children that in order to be a good messenger, one must be a good listener, deliver the message to the right person, and deliver the correct message. In telephone, one child is supposed to create a phrase and whisper it in the ear of the person next to them. Then, every child does the same action with the person sitting next to them until it reaches the last person, who then says what they heard aloud. It was very funny; it was nothing like the original phrase! But it did teach them the importance of being a good messenger and how incredibly difficult Hanumanji's job was at times but how he remained resilient.
In the last two classes, the children worked on making Japa malas. They enjoyed this activity very much and are able to use it to chant Sri Rama Jaya Rama. We also spoke about Kumati and Sumati and the students heard two stories distinguishing the two.
The children have began to get used to chanting the Hanuman Calisa and Bhagavad Gita. I hope you are planning on enrolling your child in the Bhagavad Gita competition. It is a wonderful experience and challenging yet fulfilling. Please be sure to chant both of these things with your child regularly.
Thank you for reading! Please reach out on Whatsapp with any questions!
Hari Om,
Lakshmi and Pooja
