Mar 29, 2020 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM 

Parents,

We have started our classes on Zoom.

We began with chanting "Om" and was followed by our opening prayers-

·        saha naavavatu

.       Vakratunda Mahakaya

.       Saraswathi Namasthubhyam

.       Gururbrahmaa

.       Budhir Balam

Following our morning prayers we had our Yoga session for few mins.

Story time

Churning of Milky Ocean

We discussed the story of the churning of milky ocean.  Once sage duurvaasa was returning from Vaikunta.  He met Indra on his way.  He offered him, as prasaadam, a garland of lotuses that was given to him by Lord Vishnu.  But Indra was arrogant about his power and threw the garland on his elephant airaavata.  The elephant mindlessly threw the garland down and trampled on it.  This enraged the sage.  He cursed Indra saying that he would lose all his power and lustre and so shall the 3 worlds.  With this, the demons became very powerful and started troubling the devas.  The devas approached Brahma, who in turn directed them towards Lord Vishnu himself.  Lord Vishnu asked the devas to churn the milky ocean, taking the help of the demons.  He instructed them to use the 'mandara parvatam' as the stick and snake 'vaasuki' as the rope for the churning.  He told the devas to approach the demons politely for help and accept all their conditions.  More than that, He told them to - not fear the bad and not greed for the good!  That is what set the devas apart from the asuras!

When they started churning, the mountain started sinking to the bottom of the ocean.  The devas approached Lord Vishnu for help.  He took the form of a turtle (kuurma-avataara) and held up the mountain from the bottom of the ocean.  The churning continued.  While churning, first a lot of poisonous fumes came out.  The demons feared it.  But the devas approached Lord shiva.  He sucked up all the fumes into his palms and was about to drink it.  He had swallowed it, but his consort Parvati held his throat, so it wouldn't reach his stomach.  That turned shiva's neck into a deep blue hue.  He hence became neelakaNTha (blue necked one).  Then, one by one, came many treasures.  We have spoken about all those precious treasures and who took them.  Finally, Dhanvantri came out with a pot of amRutam (divine nectar that would make one immortal).  The demons became greedy for that.  The devas just deplored Lord Vishnu.  The Lord came in the form of a beautiful maiden named Mohini.  The demons were infatuated to her and allowed her to distribute the amRutam to all.  She promptly distributed it amongst all the devas.  But raahu, a demon snuck into the line of the devas and took a sip of amRutam.  By then, the Sun and Moon spotted the deceit and told Lord Vishnu.  He in a rage cut off the head of raahu.  But because he had already tasted amRutam, he had become immortal.  He became a planet.

We spoke about the lessons we learnt from this story -
1)  Be polite
2)  Surrender yourself to the Lord and He shall lead
3)  Do not fear the bad
4)  Do not greed for the good

We learnt Dhanvantri Mantra today for good health. Please keep practicing at home.

We concluded our class with Aarti and Pledge.

Stay Safe everyone!

Regards,

Indira/Raji

Feb 16, 2020 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM 

Parents,

 Our class started with chanting "Om" and was followed by our opening prayers-

·        saha naavavatu

.       Vakratunda Mahakaya

.       Saraswathi Namasthubhyam

.        Gururbrahmaa

.         Budhir Balam

·         Guru Stotram  (all verses)  - The kids were paired and each group had a chance to chant the guru stotram.

Following our morning prayers we had a brief discussion on Maha Shivratri. It is a major festival and is observed by remembering Shiva and chanting prayers, fasting, and meditating. Some devotees keep awake all night. Others visit one of the Shiva temples. This year Shivratri falls on Friday, Feb 21st. 

Gitaa chanting

 We practiced verses 1- 7. They have all been practicing and getting more and more comfortable every week!  We are so proud of them!! Continue the good work everyone.  Those who have not registered, please make sure you do so at the earliest.

Story time

Ø  hiraNyakashipu

Ø  prahlaada 

               

 Comments:

In the story segment, our discussions are very enjoyable!  Sometimes, we wish we had more time to continue the conversations, but have to wrap up invariably.We covered today's story of hiraNyakashipu and prahlaada.  When hiraNyaakSha was killed, although hiraNyakashipu spoke words of wisdom about the soul being different from the body, he developed an intense hatred towards Lord viShNu.  He did very rigorous penance for many years, upon which brahma had to give him the boon he asked for.  He wished to be not killed by a god or a man, a boy or a girl, in the house or outside the house, during the day or in the night.... The list went on.  Effectively, hiraNyakashipu had made himself invincible.  This made him extremely arrogant.  He insisted that he be worshiped by all as god himself!  Everyone did so but were fed up of the tyranny.  Lord viShNu promised to take care of the problem.  hiraNyakashipu had 4 sons, youngest of them was prahlaada.  For his father's agony, he was an ardent devotee of Lord viShNu.  No matter how his father tried to convince him, prahlaada would not stop being engrossed in thoughts of viShNu.  Losing all options, the father tried to get rid of him by throwing his own son off a cliff, pushing him in fire, leaving him with poisonous snakes, getting him trampled by rut elephants, even poisoning his food!  But nothing would affect the little devotee of the Lord.  Really annoyed by this, the father got into an argument with the son as to why he worships viShNu.  When the son replies that He is omnipresent everywhere, hiraNyakashipu breaks open a pillar, asking his son if viShNu was in that pillar.  Sure enough, the Lord jumped out of the pillar in the form of 'narasimha' (half man, half lion) and slit open hiraNyakashipu with his bare claws, on the threshold.  (We discussed the work-arounds for the boon hiraNyakashipu was given :).  Then to pacify narasimha, prahlaada sang his glories.  He did not want anything but to be with naraayaNa.  But the Lord blessed him and said, may you lead a successful life of leading others till the end of your time and at the end of it, you shall attain Me.

With this story, we understood that age or size are of no importance.  What matters is the shraddha, the faith we have in what we believe in!  We had interesting discussions.  Please talk to your children more about it.

 **Important Announcements**

No balavihar on Sun Feb 23 (Cancelled)

Next Balavihar Weekend

 Sun March 1st – Team spirit day. We are Arjuna's arrows. Color Green. Please make sure kids wear Green

Regards,

Indira/Raji

Feb 9, 2020 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM 

Parents,

Our class started with chanting "Om" and was followed by our opening prayers-

·        saha naavavatu

.       Vakratunda Mahakaya

.       Saraswathi Namasthubhyam

.        Gururbrahmaa

.         Budhir Balam

·         Guru Stotram  (all verses)

Yoga Time

We didn't practice today as we had many stories to cover.

Gitaa chanting

verses 26-28

Story time

Ø  ajaamila

Ø  Indra and vRutraasura

Ø  chitraketu             

 Comments:

We also heard the story of ajaamiLa.  He was an honest man, who was an ardent devotee, who prayed and did his yagnas, etc.  But he fell in bad company and forgot all about his prior practices.  He became the exact opposite.  He was very sick and was about to die.  Lord yama's men came to take his life.  At that last minute, he being very fond of his youngest son, naaraayaNa, calls out for him.  On hearing the name of the Lord, shrIman naaraayaNa's men come to protect him!  An argument ensues between the men of yama and naaraayaNa.  Having no choice, yama's men leave.  ajaamiLa realizes his mistake and becomes pious again!

Then we heard the story of indra and vRutraasura, as well as chitraketu.  Once when indra got proud and arrogant, he ignored his teacher bRuhaspati.  So, the teacher abandoned the devas and went away.  So the devas got a 'substitute' ;) teacher vishwaroopa (son of tvaShTa).  He was part deva and part asura.  So he was teaching the asuras on the side.  On learning this, indra was angry and killed vishwaroopa.  In turn, his father tvaShTa performed a yagna and created a very powerful asura called vRutra.  vRutraasura's task was to fight the devas.  He was destroying the devas very easily.  On shiva's advise, indra made a weapon (vajra-aayudha) with the bones of a dadIchi (a great devotee of Lord viShNu).  Although vRutra was a demon, when he saw the weapon made of the bones of viShNu's devotee, he was willing to be killed with it.  So, he swallowed indra and the weapon, so indra had to rip him open to come out.

It does seem strange why vRutraasura was being so honorable.  That brings us to the background story, that of chitraketu.  He was a very good man.  But one day, when he was travelling around mount kailash, he saw Lord shiva and paarvati sitting together and made a rude comment.  At this, Lord shiva did not respond, but mother paarvati cursed him that he will be born as an asura, for having not had a hold on his tongue.  Hence, he was born as vRutraasura.  With this, we learnt that our tongue can be our very best friend as well as our worst enemy, depending on how we use it!

**Important Announcements**

Next Balavihar Weekend

Fri  Feb 14 / Sun Feb 16

Fri Feb 21 (Cancelled) - (Make up : March 13th)

Sun Feb 23 (Cancelled) - (Make up : March 15th)

Regards,

Indira/Raji

Feb 2, 2020 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM 

Parents, 

Our class started with chanting "Om" and was followed by our opening prayers-

·        saha naavavatu

.       Vakratunda Mahakaya

.       Saraswathi Namasthubhyam

.        Gururbrahmaa

.         Budhir Balam

·         Guru Stotram  (all verses)

Yoga Time

We continued with the poses that Raji Aunty had taught us the previous week. Kids had fun practicing them.  We tried the chair pose, happy elephant and butterfly pose. The Happy elephant pose was a super hit yoga pose in class.

Gitaa chanting

We revised verses 1-5 and recorded verses 9-12. The recorded verses have been sent to Chinmaya Geetha chanting team for points. Please make sure kids practice at home.

Story time

Ø  The Royal Sage Rsabha

Ø  King Bharata         

 Comments:

Rsabha was a descendant of Priyavarta. He was born to his virtuos parents after they offered many prayers to Sri Visnu. Rsabha grew up to be a lovable, gifted, and self-controlled young man. He had great control over his body and his mind.

Rsabha had a pure heart, he engaged in activities for the welfare of his subjects. He was the friend of all beings. He was kind and loving to all. His rule was a happy one. There was peace and contentment everywhere. He taught his sons to be not only good kings but also men of truth and perfection.

We then heard about a Tale: Yes, I know the Answers.

Once a king asked his ministers these 3 questions-

1)       What is the most important work?

Answer- Now

2)       What is the most important time to start work?

Answer- The work that's in front of you.

3)       What is the most important person?

Answer- The person in front of you.

Please ask your kids to narrate the story of how the king got his answers for these questions.

 King Bharata

Bharata, the son of Rsabha was a mighty monarch of his time. After fulfilling his duties to his people, children and country, he left his palace, gave up all his wealth and power and went to the forest to meditate. Bharata went to banks of the river Gandaki and built a small hut. He chose for his meditation the most sacred Gayatri mantra. Bharata enjoyed perfect peace and tranquility in his heart, and thus, passed many days, months & years.

One day Bharata while in meditation noticed a fawn stuck in the river. He rescued it and kept the animal & kept it safe.

This was a beautiful act, was it not? It proved to be the spiritual downfall of Bharata.  He became very fond of the fawn. He looked after it with care, fed soft green grass and fruits till it grew up to be a beautiful deer. It happened that instead of turning more and more towards God, his mind turned more & more towards the deer. He completely stopped his devotional practices!

When the mind is associated with the three gunas- sattva, rajas and tamas it causes bondage and suffering. When it's freed, brings peace and happiness, and consequently freedom.

We should learn to depend on ourselves to be happy.

**Important Announcements**

Next Balavihar Weekend

Fri Feb 7 / Sun Feb 9

Upcoming Balavihar Sessions

Fri  Feb 14 / Sun Feb 16

Fri Feb 21 (Cancelled) - (Make up : March 13th)

Sun Feb 23 (Cancelled) - (Make up : March 15th)

Regards,

Indira/Raji

Jan 26, 2020 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM 

Parents,

 Our class started with chanting "Om" followed by our opening prayers-

·        saha naavavatu

.       Vakratunda Mahakaya

.       Saraswathi Namasthubhyam

.        Gururbrahmaa

.         Budhir Balam

·         Guru Stotram  (all verses) The kids had a healthy competition as they spilt in 2 groups and chanted alternate verses.

Yoga Time

Today Raji Aunty taught us some new poses. Kids had fun learning and practicing them.  We tried the chair pose, happy elephant and butterfly pose. The Happy elephant pose was a super hit yoga pose in class.

Gitaa chanting

We learnt 22 and 23 verses of Chapter 1. 

We have already recorded 1-8 verses and sent to Chinmaya Geetha chanting team for points. Next week we plan to record verses 9-12 in class and send for more house points. Please make sure kids practice at home.

Story time

Ø  Priyavrta

Ø  Everything that happens, happens for the best

 Comments:

 We heard the story of Priyavrita, who was Manu's third son. At a very young age itself he was taught the spiritual truth by Sage Naarada himself.  He wanted to renounce the world and accept sanyasam but his father, Manu wanted him to be a king and rule the world. One day when he was in deep discussion about Brahman with Naarad ji, Brahma ji appeared before them and advised him to surrender himself to the Divine will of the Lord and that he too wants him to be the king. Brahama ji explained him how he can live a pious life and at the same time do the duties that he has to do without getting attached to it.  Thus, Priyavrita accepted Brahma ji's command and became king.

We heard a story of a king who had a minister who believed that everything that happens, happens for the best. The king didn't initially think the way his minister thought but as we progressed, we saw that the king too realized that his minister was right. Ask the kids to retell the stories they heard today. 

It was a fun class overall!  

Regards,

Indira/Raji

Jan 12, 2020 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om 

Parents-

Beginning prayers

·      saha naavavatu

.      Vakratunda Mahakaya

.      Saraswathi Namasthubhyam

.      Gururbrahmaa

.       Budhir Balam

Slokha time

We have finished all verses of Guru Stotram and kids have memorized a few verses. Please keep practicing at home.

Gitaa chanting

Verses 19, 20 & 21

Geeta-Ch1-V-19-20-21-Low.mp4

We recorded verses 5 -8 as most of our kids have them memorized. We hope to score more points for our house team Arjuna's Arrows.

Yoga Time

Breathing exercises, tree pose, flamingo. Kids were very happy to do 20 jumping jacks.

Story time

·      Puranjana

 Comments:

We heard the story of puranjana.  It was told by naarada to praachInabarhi, who was constantly indulging in performing rituals alone.  To make him realize his mistake, naarada told him the story of king puranjana.  He had a best buddy named avijnaata, who would constantly keep him off from wrong tracks.  But he was chasing his search for something more interesting.  He finally found a city with 9 gates and a beautiful princess.  He married and even became enslaved to the princess, abandoning avijnaata.  When the princess died, he lamented for her and was born as a girl in his next birth.  This time, she married a king and got tangled in the same cycle.  When her husband died, she lamented again.  At that time, the old friend avijnaata came to him and reminded him of the follies he was committing and the cycle he was getting stuck in.  Then naarada explained to king praachInabarhi that puranjana is none other than our soul (aatma) and his friend is none by the Lord Himself (paramaatma).  The city of 9 gates is the body itself (with 9 openings) and the wife was the intellect.  He explained to praachInabarhi that he should not entangle himself in indulging in the pleasure of his senses or in performing rituals alone.  There is a higher goal to life and we are all required to work towards that self- realization through meditation, service, etc.  We come across these kinds of situations in real life.  Our eyes want to watch tv when we have pending homework.  The mind wants to watch, but a small voice inside tells us that it is not a prudent idea!  That small voice is the voice of our true buddy avijnaata, the bhagawaan Himself!  We should befriend this inner conscience to attain our ultimate goal.

Pranams,

Indira/Raji

Jan 5, 2020 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM Parents-

Happy New Year 2020!

•  Beginning prayers

  ·        saha naavavatu

  .       Vakratunda Mahakaya

  .       Saraswathi Namasthubhyam

  .        Gururbrahmaa

  .        Budhir Balam

  ·         Guru Stotram (all verses)

  Gitaa chanting

  Verses 17 & 18

  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yh2z8khZ6TmiRB2OGnuZ17evPq2ALbk6/view

  Yoga Time

  Breathing exercise, tree pose, flamingo.

  Story time

  ·      Recap of King pRuthu's story

  ·      Teachings of sanath kumaaras (6 sharks of samsaara)

   Comments:

  During story time, the children narrated the story of pRuthu by taking turns!  Then we learnt about how the sanath kumaaras visited king pRuthu and advised him about how to cross the ocean of life.  They told him about the 6 sharks in the ocean of life called samsaara.  They are - Lust, Anger, Greed, Pride, Delusion and Jealousy.  We heard individual stories about these 6 traits and how to overcome them.  (Do talk to the children about the stories and the long discussions we had in class on the topics.

  By crossing the ocean of samsaara (life) one can reach his goal called moksha (salvation).  To avoid these 6 ferocious sharks of life, we need the aid of paramaatmaa (the Lord Himself).  To be able to recognize these sharks in our life is a task in itself.  As soon as we recognize our own follies, the easiest way to overcome them, is surrendering to the Lord.  Hence, we all chanted 'Om namo bhagavate vaasudevaaya' 11 times.

  
  

  
  

  Regards,

  Indira/Raji

  
  

Dec 15, 2019 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM 

Parents-

Beginning prayers

·        saha naavavatu

.       Vakratunda Mahakaya

.       Saraswathi Namasthubhyam

.        Gururbrahmaa

.         Budhir Balam

·         Guru Stotram 10 verses

Gitaa chanting

 We first practiced verses 1-7.

Verses 14, 15 and 16

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DeOK5YZJa-u8phk13julB9zszHvtTo2C/view

Yoga Time

Breathing exercises, cat & cow pose, tree pose

Story time

·         Dhruva

 Comments:

King Uttaanpaada, the first son of Manu had two wives, Suniti and Suruchi. Suniti's son was Dhruva and Suruchi's son was Uttama. Suruchi was very beautiful and so the king liked her more. But she was terribly possessive that she would not even let the King meet Suniti and her son, Dhruva. 

Disheartened, when he approached his mother (sunIti), she consoled him and explained that it was only Lord viShNu who could grant him all his wishes. Dhruva thought over his mother's words and that night sneaked out of the palace and went into the deep forest. He spent many days and night without food, water and rest. Narada, heard the cries of the little boy and advised him to go back where he belongs and that the path he is treading on is really difficult. But the boy did not want to retreat from his desire and told Narada Ji that he is not going back without seeing the Lord. Upon talking to the boy, Narada understood that Dhruva was a sincere seeker and then taught him japa and showed him how to meditate. He gave him the sacred mantra "Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya" and asked him to meditate constantly. 

During the first few days meditation was hard then found the ultimate joy in it. He took terrible fasts, sipped water and breathed only once in a while. His penance was so strong that the three worlds began to rock. The Lord, now had to go and meet His devotee, mounted His Garuda and gracefully landed in front of Dhruva. Slowly Dhruva opened his eyes and was dazzled by the presence of the Divine Lord. Dhruva prostrated but was so struck that he could not utter a word.  Dhruva didn't ask for anything but only asked the Lord that his mind should always revel in Him. The Lord agreed and gave him a permanent unchanging place in the celestial sky and be called "Dhruva Nakshatra". Then the Lord asked him to go back to his father and rule the kingdom. With this blessing the Lord disappeared.
Obeying the Lord, Dhruva went back to his kingdom and soon succeeded his father as the king. He ruled as a wise and noble ruler for many years. 

Tale: The Legend of the Dipper

We all can be like Dhruva by caring for others. Please ask your kids to retell the story and what they understood from it. 

Regards,

Indira/Raji

Nov 24, 2019 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM 

Parents-

Beginning prayers

·        saha naavavatu

.       Vakratunda Mahakaya

.       Saraswathi Namasthubhyam

.        Gururbrahmaa

.         Budhir Balam

·         Guru Stotram 8 verses (each week we are adding 2 verses similar to building blocks). Please keep practicing at home.

Gitaa chanting

Verses 7-8

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16-pnteZb13zxiYYVvlFX7NTbJ1stheMo/view

Yoga Time

breathing exercises, tree pose, flamingo, 15 jumping jacks

Story time

·         kardama and devahuti

·         kapila

It was story time and during the review, we revisited the story from previous week.  In today's story, we saw that a sage by name kardama had been doing rigorous penance on Lord viShNu.  When He appeared, he blessed the sage and said that he will beget a virtuous wife and have 10 children.  9 would be daughters and for the 10th, Lord viShNu himself would be born as his son.  After that, he would do greater penance and attain salvation.

manu and shatarUpa had gotten 5 children, one of which was a beautiful daughter named devahuti.  They came in search of a suitable groom for her and found sage kardama.  They gave devahuti in marriage to him.  They had 9 daughters and just as Lord viShNu had said, the 10th was a son, which was none other than viShNu himself.  He was named Kapila.  After that kardama went away to do his penance.  kapila was a divine child and he told things that no one ever could.  He gave the saankhyan philosophy to the world.  Even his mother would sit and listen to his teachings intently.  One day she expressed that she wanted to know how to attain moksha (salvation).  Kapila said that is possible by having a pure heart.  

To have a pure heart, one has to follow 7 rules -

*  Obey the rules of life
*  Perform one's duties
*  See work as worship
*  Chanting the Lord's name
*  Trusting the Lord
*  Seeing the Lord in all creatures
*  Loving God as one's own child

This is called devotion.  We had quite a few interesting discussions and examples about these rules.  Do discuss with your children what we spoke about.  During the discussion, the kids promised to practice gItaa chanting at home.  Please remind your children and encourage them to keep their word.

Regards,

Indira/Raji

Oct 20, 2019 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

Parents-

Beginning prayers

·       saha naavavatu

.       Vakratunda Mahakaya

.       Saraswathi Namasthubhyam

.        Gururbrahmaa

.        Budhir Balam

·         Guru Stotram 6 verses

Gitaa chanting

·      verses 3 & 4 chapter 1

Yoga Time

4-5 poses

 Story time

·         parIkShit meets kali

·         kali's address

·         the curse

·         parIkShit meets shukadeva

Comments:

We did a recap of the story with all the names and representations we had learnt so far.  We were so amazed at how well the children remembered so many details!  We then continued to learn about how kali was so cruel to the white bull that represented dharma.  It's 4 legs were - austerity, purity, kindness and truth.  Kali had broken 3 of its legs and the bull was standing limp on truth alone.  King parIkShita saw him at this time and was about to punish him.  But then kali begged for mercy.  King parIkshita allowed kali to make his home where there was no dharma.  So kali was granted permission to live in 4 places where there was - gambling, drinking, lust (overwhelming desire) and cruelty.  Kali begged for more places to live and parIkShita granted him to live where there was rajoguNa (running after wealth).

Building on the story, we heard how once king parIkShita went on a hunting venture.  After a long time, he got weary, hungry and thirsty.  He walked into the ashram nearby where sage shamika sat in very deep meditation.  The king asked him for food and water, but the sage was unaware of the king's arrival.  Restless and hungry, the king lost guard of his thoughts and actions.  The king got annoyed.  He placed a dead snake that was lying near by, on the sage, in order catch his attention.  But the sage was in such deep meditation that he did not know what the king had done.  His son, sage shRungI, saw this and cursed the king, saying that he shall die in 7 days, by getting bitten by a snake called takShaka!  On waking up from his meditation, sage shamika was not happy with the events that had happened.  He scolded his son for having cursed and asked him to go and apologize to the king!  This showed us that, one mistake cannot be fixed by another mistake!

We had a wonderful discussion with examples, how we forget guarding our thoughts at times and get in trouble.  

Regards,

Indira/Raji