Dear parents,
Hari Om!
We were so delighted to see our students taking a deep breath and chanting Om three times followed by prayers from Karagre vasate lakshmi to Kara charana kritam vaha. Then, we put up the following Guru Dev quote and asked for their interpretations:
"Happiness depends on what you can give not on what you can get" - Swami Chinmayananda
Their answers varied significantly including the following:
It always feels good to help someone, rather than receiving help and thinking how to pay them back
Happiness is embedded in giving, since god gave an opportunity to share and make friends.
We always feel happy to give to than receive except on birthdays
We can only give what we have, so both ways it's a win win situation, as there is happiness in giving.
We then received a response that sparked an interesting discussion: Sometimes people have the urge to prioritize their own happiness. For example, if someone found a dollar bill on the ground, they may be happier by keeping the dollar instead of finding out who it belongs to or drop it in lost and found. As a result of this response, we discussed what gives us temporary or instant happiness through the example of the dollar bill. Although it may feel better to take the dollar bill in the moment, knowing that it's not the moral thing to do will cast guilt upon one's happiness and thus make the happiness short-lived. Instead, returning the dollar bill to whomever it belongs, which is the morally correct thing to do, will create long-term happiness with oneself.
After this lengthy discussion, we moved on to sing Prema mudita bhajan.
We quickly recollected the Ratnakara story, who later became sage Valmiki through Narada, and narrated how he was moved by the Krauncha birds episode, Valmeeki's curse of the hunter then the sorrow (soka) leading to the verse (sloka) and the composition of Ramayana.
Before we started Rama's story, we had a brainstorming session with our students: who is a hero for them or how do they define a hero?
The class came up with these answers:
A person noted for courageous acts or nobility of character, is called a hero.
A hero is someone who does good and courageous things for other people when they are in trouble without being asked to do for them.
He is selfless, and genuine not seeking the name and fame for the sake of it. He does good for society.
He is someone willing to risk his own life to save another.
Through personal qualities one is regarded as a role model or ideal.
They came up with these fictional superheroes examples, including Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, and Captain America
Adding on to the list, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King to Lebron James, Malaela, Kate Davis and more
We said this year we'll explore Rama, a historical figure and an epic hero and his journey captured in the great epic Ramayana. We consider Rama a great hero, who lived his whole life by the rules of dharma. The story of RAMA is the story of an ideal son, an ideal brother, an ideal husband, an ideal friend and an ideal king. He is known to be kind, affectionate, empathetic, noble, generous, fearless, simple and free from flamboyance. Sri RAMA is widely known and revered by Hindus as "Maryada Purushottama "
Many of our students either did not know Rama's story or forgot, so we started narrating it with Rama's birth.
Ayodhya, which means that which cannot be conquered, was the capital city of Kosala, situated beside the Sarayu river,was a beautiful well planned city with forts was ruled by a great king Dasharatha of the solar dynasty. His three wives- Kausalya, Sumitra, and Kaikeyi, dearly loved, had no sons to inherit his throne so was in deep sorrow, consulted his guru Vasishta, on his advice performed Pushtta Kaameshetti yaaga, led by Rishyashringa.
At the same time Devas held a conference in the Swargaloka or the heaven as rakshasa Ravana was growing more powerful, employing devas as per his wishes became a threat to Devas and mankind as well. Lord Brahma and Devas went to Vaikunta to see lord Vishnu and appealed to him about rakshasa Ravana, and the boon he had obtained from Brahma and the omission as well. Lord Vishnu assured them he would be born to Dasharatha as his son Rama and will slay rakshasa Ravana.
At the end of the Dashratha's yaaga, the god of fire, Agni deva emerged holding a golden bowl in his hand, which had payasam and the king's wives were asked to drink the special payasam in the bowl. The king was happy, asked his eldest queen Kausalya to drink half of the payasam, gave half to Sumitra and a part was left to Kaikeyi, and he asked Sumitra to drink the remaining in the golden bowl. So Sumitra got two parts of payasam. Soon four sons were born to Dasharatha. Kausalya gave birth to Rama, who was the incarnation of Vishnu, Bharata was born to Kaikeyi, Sumitra became the mother of the twins Lakshmana and Shatrughna (as had partaken the divine payasam two times). King Dasharatha loved all his four sons, but Rama was the apple of his eye.
One day Brahma Rishi, Vishwamitra visited the court of Dasharatha, and the king did the due honors, and gave him a word that he would obey his command. Sage Vishwamitra asked the king to send Rama with him to kill the rakshasas Mareecha and Subahu to perform his yagna peacefully. They were polluting his yagna by throwing human flesh and blood. Dasharatha was unprepared and shocked to hear this as Rama was young. Sage Vishwamitra became angry as king was not keeping his word, Sage Vasishta convinced him and explained the glory of Vishwamitra as a great warrior, skilled in divine weapons, performed severe tapas to attain the exalted position of "Brahma Rishi". So the king sent Rama and Lakshmama encouraged by Vasishta's words. As they journeyed along through the beautiful and wild forests, entered dense Dandaka forest, and was told by the sage that none lives there with the fear of rakshasas Taataka, a woman and Mareecha. He asked Rama and Lakshmana to slay them to restore it's former beauty. Rama made a protective circle in the sky above the sacred fire where sage was doing his rituals. Taataka came out angrily as the sound reached her ears, and in a fierce battle Rama killed Taataka, and the Dandaka forest regained its beauty.
Vishwamitra was delighted with Rama's skill in archery and imparted the knowledge of using effective weapons. As they reached Vishwamitra's Siddhashrama, the sage began his yaaga. On the last day Rama and Lakshmana looked up and saw a team of rakshasas, led by Mareecha and Subahu, flying over the area, throwing flesh and blood polluting the sacrificial fire. Rama shot a divine weapon, learnt from Vishwamitra. It hurled Mareecha hundreds of miles away and Subhahu was killed by a flaming weapon flung at him by Rama. All the disciples of the sage were very happy and applauded the brothers.
Later Ramam and Lakshmana agreed to go with Vishwamitra on the invitation of King Janaka, who ruled the city of Mithila in the kingdom of Videha, as the king set to perform a great sacrifice, and they were invited to see the great bow of Shiva.
We ended Rama's story here, as the students were eagerly waiting to play the online game. As a reinforcement of the class lesson today, students played Ramayana Kahoot games with important names that they need to remember. They had a ball with it.
We had a great class today. As always, we concluded with Aarti and pledge.
Stay tuned until next week!
Pranaams,
Grade 7 PM teachers
