Hari Om Everyone,
We started the class by requesting the kids to write likhita japa in their notebook until everyone joined and were ready. We asked them to write 'Om Namo Bhagavate Vaasudevaaya'. It is new and a bit long for them so they wrote it only a few times this week. We will continue writing in the beginning of class every week. Please encourage them to write at home as well. They can also earn House Points for this :-)
We then did the beginning prayers - 3 OMs, Sahana Vavatu, and Vakratunda Mahakaya - followed by Daily Prayers (Pg 11 My Prayers Book). We unmuted one child for each shloka so that everyone got a chance to be heard.
We then continued with the same Bhajan (Vinayaka Vinayaka) as last week following the same pattern. Each child repeated one stanza so we got to repeat the Bhajan multiple times until they got it. In the end we made them sing it on their own and they were able to do it nicely. Please ask them to sing it to you. We had shared the lyrics in the last email.
After that we played a wheel game - brain breaks - we spun a wheel to decide what activity to do - the board had things like do Super Brain Yoga 5 times, Spin around 5 times, Do the Tree pose for 3 secs etc. We also included some eye exercises such as trace OM with your eyes. Thanks to Sreenadh's dad who suggested this when we met at the Meet and Greet. We will continue to include more eye exercises every week.
We then moved on to our topic for the year which is the Bala Bhagavatam. We explained what an Avatar is (kids immediately started talking about the TV Show Avatar :-) and how God comes down to earth to destroy evil and protect the good people and teach us lessons. Tejas wondered why God has to kill - is that not bad too? We explained that it is similar to when our parents punish us it is for our own good so that we change for the better. He then wondered why Lord Shiva had to destroy the whole world in the end! We have promised we will discuss more about it in a couple of classes when we will actually do an activity about Pralaya.
We explained the setting where it happens (Naimisharanya) and the background of the story. We talked about what a Gurukula was and how Saunaka Rishi with his disciples lived in Naimisharanya and performed yagnas and Sutaji visits them. Then Saunaka Rishi enquires what is it that gives us the highest good and happiness for all time. Sutaji explains that the answer is in Bhagavatam and how Veda Vyasa Maharishi came to write about it. Even after classifying the Vedas - we asked them if they knew and they could list Rig Vedam and Sama Vedam - and writing the Maha Bharat and many Puranas, he was still not satisfied. At that time Narada Muni visits him and says you have not yet sung the Glories of the Lord and His devotees - do that and you will feel fulfilled. Then Narada Muni relates his own back story - how he was born the son of a maid servant and had an opportunity for Satsang with Sadhus who visited his village and how after his mother's passing, he continued his Sadhana and gets a vision of Lord Vishnu but is not able to see it again. And how at the beginning of the next cycle of creation he is born as Narada.
We had quite an interactive class with many kids asking questions and sharing what they knew. We were quite impressed when we mentioned Satsang, Lakshita immediately said she had learned about it in the summer camp last year - how Satsanga leads to Nissangathvam and from there to Nirmohatvam and then Jivan Mukti! It turns out there were a couple of other kids who had also attended the same camp! We have a bunch of intelligent and thoughtful kids this year! Even the quiet ones in class responded well when asked to participate. We are looking forward to a great year with these kids!
We then showed them a short movie about Avatars and the Naimisharanya forest and Saunaka Rishi, Sutaji etc. We had planned for a drawing activity but did not have the time for it this week. We will do it next week.
We then did the Geeta Primer - learning how to pronounce some important words from the Bhagavad Geeta Chapter 2. We had a set of 15 words and we repeated along with it. Afterwards we went around asking each child to read one. Here is the video - please ask them to listen to it and practice it at home - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m56DjMORpeI&feature=youtu.be. It will be very helpful when we start learning the actual verses from next week.
We then concluded with Arathi and pledge. Apoorva did an excellent job of leading the pledge. We will give each child a chance to lead in the coming weeks.
As mentioned earlier, please make sure that the children are seated at a desk (not a sofa or bed), and they have at least a notebook and pencil and crayons with them. Also we will be doing some physical activity once in a while so it would be better if there is some space to move around a bit. Please ask them to login using a desktop or laptop as Chromebooks and Ipads don't always have all the Zoom options. And ask them to use headphones if possible.
If you are on Facebook please do join our Private Facebook Group - www.facebook.com/groups/ChinmayaVrindavanBalavihar - we will be doing virtual events during the year.
We look forward to seeing all of them next Friday - Oct 2nd.
Thanks & Regards
Jayashree and Suja
Jayashree and Suja
