Week 4
Hari Om Parents,
Welcome to week 4 of Balvihar.
Shlokas:
"Om Saha navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
"Vakratunda mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book) .
"Gurur Brahma" (page 60-61 in My Prayers book)
"Karagre Vasate Laxmi" ( page 11 in My Prayers book)
"Samudravasane Devi" (page 11 in My Prayers book)
Eshwar led us with Om Saha navavtu and Gurur Brahma , Krish led us with Vakratunda mahakaya.
Every week we will repeat the Shlokas we did last week and introduce one new Shloka. Please practice the Shlokas everyday at home.
Story:
We started with locating where we are on the map of India. We reviewed the name of our princes and the sage. After defeating the demons and help successfully complete the yagya , Rama and Laxamna went to Sage Vishvamitra and asked what was the next thing they were going to do. We talked about how we ask for instructions of our teachers and elders when we don't know what we have to do next. Sage Vishvmitra told Rama and Laxmana that they were going to Mithila to see Rudras bow. Both princes were very curious to see the bow and they started their journey.
Before reaching the city of Mithila, they came across a deserted ashrama , it was covered with creepers and it was taken over by the forest. No flowers or birds were around there. This was home to rishi Gautama and his beautiful wife Ahalya. They lived here peacefully and happy among the birds and animals of the forest. Ahalya grew beautiful flowers and did all the work needed to be done. Every evening sage Gautama would go to the river for his bath and prayers. Lord Indra , we asked kids if they knew Lord Indra and they said the lord that flies on the white elephant. He had power to change himself into any form. So he went to Ahalya disguised as Gautama risi . Ahalya was a little shocked to see risi come back so early. But they had their dinner and went to sleep. When the real Gautama risi came back, he was very angry to see Ahalya with someone else. Ahalya was very shocked to see two Gautama risis. She begged for forgiveness as she was tricked and it was not her fault. But Gautama risi cursed them both. He made Ahalya into a rock. He realized later that it was not Ahalya's fault , so he told her that Lord Rama will come and when he touches you with his feet then the curse will be broken. And Gautama risi went to the Himalayas.
Here was Lord Rama at this Ashrama and while looking around with Sage Vishvmitra , he touched the rock that was Ahalya and she rose as a great tapasvini . She thanked Lord Rama. Lord Rama bowed down to her too. She welcomed them to her ashram and gave them food and water. Then they continued their journey to Mithila.
Mithila was a beautiful place ruled by king Janaka. He was a very learned king. He studied scripture and had knowledge of self. Once as a part of the yagya , he ploughed the land with his hands. When he was ploughing he found a baby girl on the land. She was very little and very beautiful. King Janaka took her and thanked Bhumidevi (Goddess Earth).King Janaka named her Sita. We talked about what ways does earth help us. Kids answered that earth gives us water, trees ,oxygen , rocks , food. We all thanked mother earth for all that she gives us. We also said the prayer "Samudravasne devi" is us saying thank you to mother earth and saying sorry that we put our feet on it when we wake up. We don't touch our feet onto anything during the day. But because we cannot fly we have to put our feet on mother earth.
Sita was a very beautiful and brave princess. She was learning all arts and crafts and warfare as a princess. Kids asked if a girl was allowed to do that to learn how to fight. YES a human being should learn all he/she wants. If you live like a boy or a girl , you only live half the life. There are only certain things that one gender can do. So yes Sita also learned all that she would like to learn. She was also learning the scriptures and getting knowledge of self from her father. She used to play with the Rudras bow, which was a family heirloom. It was given to King Janaka by his forefathers.
Now that she is getting the age when she is ready for marriage. Her father wanted to find the right groom for her. So he decided to call princes and gave them a challenge. For such a joyous occasion the whole of Mithila was decorated.The challenge was to lift the bow and tie the string on it.He thought if any person can do that he would definitely have good qualities, which would make him a good partner for Sita. Many princes had come but so far no one had even moved the bow an inch.
King Janaka was very honoured and delighted by the news of Sage Vishvamitra visiting him. He went ahead to welcome the sage. King Janaka took blessings from the sage. Sage Vishvamitra introduced Rama and Laxmana to King Janaka , who were his friend Dasharatha's sons. King Janaka was very charmed by the aura of Rama. Aura is a distinctive quality generated by the person. He welcomed all three of them to Mithila to be the part of ongoing celebrations.
Geeta Chanting:
We did chanting as a part of Geeta Chanting. We play a Geeta Chanting video that kids listen to and follow along.
Activities:
We did marble mediation. We closed our eyes , then chanted Om three times and kids counted the marbles as I dropped it in a container. Total of 17 marbles were dropped. Then kids opened their eyes and we guessed the number of marbles. This time all kids said 17. Then we counted the marbles together. We recognized our excellent efforts on getting it all correct.
We all became an elephant, a stick and wiggly worms as part of our movement snack. We all made elephant trunks with our hands and we moved it up and down.We pretended to drink water with our trunk from the river(floor). Then we became a stick ,straight and steady, not moving at all for a min. Not even talking or smiling. Then we became wiggly worms and moved all parts of our hands and legs and heads.
We continued with the next line of Bhajan - Khate bhi Ram kaho(My Prayers Book ,Page:144-145 ).
We colored in our coloring books. We page number 8 and 9. And we colored the padukas at Mithila. If kids have not colored
We ended with Aarti and Pledge. We played the recording to Aarti and we all sang with it. Chirag led the pledge for us. If kids can, we will be led by different kids for our Pledge every week.
Pls check the link below to see pics taken during the class:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9UdwTrFcBKAYqGEg8
Zoom Link:
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/75507967979?pwd=Mk8vK0NxQmpkY29VZm1ORDVkVWorQT09
Books we will use:
My Prayers Book
Bala Ramayana Coloring book
Handbook
See you all next Sunday. Class starts promptly at 9:15 A.M. We will start Aarti and Pledge at 10:40.
Regards,
Dipti Chauhan and Nancy Thakkar
