हरी ॐ Dear Parents,
With Gurudev's grace and our Swamiji's blessings we had another wonderful Friday evening Bal Vihar Session -
with your absolutely adorable, curious & enthusiastic group of kids.
Here's a brief summary of this Friday class (September 25th, 2020):
1.) Started with chanting "OM" three times
2.) Opening Prayer (Shanthi Mantra):
OM saha naavavathu
saha nau bhunakthu,
saha veeryam karavaavahai,
tejasvinaavadheetamasthu maa vidhvishavahai
OM shanthi shanthi shanthi
3.) Recap of Alphabet "A"
"A" for Aspiration
4.) Lesson on Alphabet "B"
"B" is for Brotherhood
We talked about -
(a.) What makes a Family....Mother, Father, Sister, Brother etc.
(b.) How love, caring, sharing & doing things for each other keeps the family together.
(c.) How we should love each other irrespective of color, race, place, status etc.
(d.) How we all can extend that caring, sharing & love with others --- to our friends, neighbors, community, city, country & the entire world.
(e.) Also, how the entire world is one big family and GOD is the Father/Mother of the entire world
5.) Story on Alphabet "B" --- THE COMPLETE PICTURE
(a.) The story is about a box of Crayons that did not get along with one another & how a little girl made the crayons realize their mistake.
(b.) Through the story we understood how each one of us is unique, special & gifted in some way.
(c,) How with the feeling of Brotherhood, everyone in the world can live as one family...
VASUDHAIVA KUTUMBAKAM
(meaning - the whole world is One Family).
6.) We watched a short animated video called 'World's Family', related to our topic of Brotherhood, which explains even in spite of various cultures, languages, festivals, religions and colors we should embrace the world as a family.
7.) Kids enjoyed playing a fun Game of "Krishna Says" and also they took turns giving instructions to their friends.
8.) Ganesha Bhajan:
Ganesha Sharanam, Sharanam Ganesha (2)
Vaageesha Sharanam, Sharanam Vageesha (2)
Saareesha Sharanam, Sharanam Saareesha (2)
9.) We talked about:
(a.) Why we should do Aarti ?
(b.) How to do Aarti?
Kids were curious and watched as we prepared the Aarti plate on zoom. We also discussed that with Aarti plate we do a circle around the picture or statue of the God to see His whole form, and then we do a semi-circle at the bottom because devotees always want to see the feet of the God to get his blessings.
10.) Aarti (Please refer to Balavihar Handbook Page 26 to Page 28)
11.) Pledge (Please refer to Balavihar Handbook Page 30)
Soon we will start reciting Bhagavad Geeta Chapter 2 (verses 1-8) with kids. Please refer to Balavihar Handbook page 18 &19. Here is the link for the information on Geeta Chanting Yagna.
http://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/geeta-chanting/
Looking forward to our next class on Friday evening at 7pm sharp.
Many thanks to all the wonderful parents for your support through the entire session.
Sincerely,
Friday, Grade KG Sevikas
