Hari Om Parents,
Welcome to week 1 of Balvihar 2020-21. It was very nice to see all the cheerful, happy children. They were excited about knowing us and learning about Lord Rama.
We started our class with introductions. As an icebreaker we shared who is our favorite God/Goddess, food and activity. Majority of us love "Lord Krishna", Pizza and different games!
This helped to set the mood for the structured class-
We chanted "OM" 3 times with eyes closed.
"Om Saha navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
"Karagre Vasate Lakshmi" (page 11 in My Prayers book) .
We talked about the meaning of each shloka. Every week we will chant the Shlokas we did last week to help them memorize and pronounce correctly. Also will try to introduce one new Shloka. Please help the children to practice the Shlokas everyday at home.
Topic of the day:
We talked about this year's story "Bala Ramayana" and "Rama" avatara of Lord Vishnu. We started our story at Ayodhya. We tried to locate Ayodhya on the map of India. It was a bit hard to see on the screen. We described the beautiful city of Ayodhya located on the banks of river Sarayu. We talked about the ruler of the city- King Dasharatha and his three queens (Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi).
Ayodhya means a place where there is "No Fight". King Dasharatha was a virtuous king and a wise ruler.But the king was sad because he had no kids. We asked a question, what do we do when we have a problem. Kids replied that we go to Mom or Dad or someone who can solve the problem. Similarly, King went to his guru, Sage Vasishtha. Sage Vasistha said that they will do a "Putrakameshti Yagna" and it will help the king. We discussed with kids what is a Yagya- a big fire ritual.
We will progress the story every week while learning the key message.
Activities:
We did jumping jack as a part of our movement activity.
We drew the city of Ayodhya with a river, mountain, trees, birds, Sun, Palace, etc. Kids were excited to show their drawing skills.
At the end kids signed-off to join their parents for the Aarti and Pledge.
We request you to please purchase a coloring book and My Prayers book from the temple bookstore (Vrindavan ashram). Bookstore timings are 5:30 to 6:30 pm (Friday & Sunday). Also Balavihar handbook is available at the store.
Zoom Link:
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/78847926317?pwd=ZWdJRzluNldSVThsc2gyNXZjYkxFZz09
See you all next Friday. Class starts promptly at 7:00 pm.
Regards,
Sangita Patankar and Uma Bhashetty
