Shlokas:
1. "Om Saha Navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
2. "Vakrathunda Mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book)
3. "Saraswathi Namasthubhyam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
Activities:
Please have the kids make it a habit to chant the above shlokas every morning, after their bath/shower. This will help them learn, memorize as well as develop a lifelong habit of morning prayer and daily prayer.
Bhajan time - We introduced the class to a new bhajan today & sang it twice: Gauri Ganesh, Uma Ganesh Parvathi Nandhana Sri Ganesh Sharanam Ganesh Sharanam Ganesh Shiva Nandhana Ganapathi Ganesh
We then we went right into, "Great God Ganapathy" (page 36 in My Prayers Book). As we were sitting in one place for a while, this action bhajan got the kids moving a bit. We sang this bhajan twice.
As we were already standing up for "Great God Ganapathy", we decided to do some Yoga stretches. We began with the Tree pose with some swaying, then went into a Tiger pose and had everyone roar like a Tiger or a Lion (we had to prompt them to be louder!). Then we sat on the floor and turned into little butterflies, fluttering in the breeze.
We played the Concentration Game. After the chanting of 3 Om's kids tried to keep their eyes closed. They counted the number of stones being dropped into a box during the quiet time. Later they give the count of the stones dropped. The game quiets the mind and improves concentration. We muted everyone so that the kids wouldn't have any potential distractions from each other. Several students got the count correct! The rest of them were very close.
Story time.
Geeta Chanting, we repeated the 1st shloka in Chapter 2 twice.
Craft time! With Navarathiri around the corner, we decided to make a beautiful Devi craft. An outline was provided. The kids were asked to color/paint the various parts. They were given the option of embellishing their Devis with gem stones/stickers. There were so many details the kids along with the parents came up with for Devi's jewelry, sari and make up! The kids enthusiastically participated in the craft project and were thrilled to show us their completed work.
We took attendance towards the end of class and the kids responded by saying, "Hari Om".
Story Time: When the kids were asked what do you think is next, they enthusiastically said, "story time". They were wide eyed and eager to hear what we had in store.
Conceptualization of Devi:
Character intros:
Brahma - A puppet of Lord Brahma popped up on the screen. One of our friends was able to identify him! Impressive. Then we discussed that He has 4 heads and that one is on the back even though only 3 heads can be seen, 1 in front, 2 on each side and 1 in the back. He is the "Creator". Had a bit of a diversion when we went into a mini discussion of Lego "Creator" sets:).
Vishnu - A puppet of Lord Vishnu was showed on the screen. We got several kids say "Krishnaaaa"! That was an acceptable answer, but then went on to say that the character is Lord Vishnu. We discussed what He was holding in his 4 hands, a conch shell, a chakraa, a gadha and a lotus flower. He is the "Preserver" or "Protector".
Shiva - As a puppet of Lord Shiva emerged on to the screen, most of the kids said Shiva. From the story during our previous class, the kids knew that Lord Shiva is usually meditating. But this week's Lord Shiva was in a different pose. When the kids were asked what He was doing here, they said that He is dancing:) and he had a Trishul with Him. He is the "Destroyer".
After character intros of the "Trimurthi", we jumped into our story. The besties liked to meet up often to discuss important happenings. One day when the three friends, Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva were having a meeting, then suddenly Lord Vishnu realized that their group was lacking a bit of diversity. They were three boys and they thought that they needed a girl to join their gang. The other two agreed. Then they started to go into detail about how this Goddess needs to be very strong, as She will have tough challenges to face. We discussed that there are times when kids can become lazy and they need to be reminded not to be so and to get back to work. Its hard to make lazy people work. To work, we need to be strong! We all showed off our strong muscles to each other. There are also naughty kids that need to be reminded to be nice. Those were some of the duties that the Goddess would need to be responsible for.
As the Trimurthi were discussing the Goddess, "Poof", like magic, a beautiful Devi was formed. She looked stunning with long black hair, big beautiful eyes and she was draped in a bright red saree. An image of the Trimurthi conceptualizing Devi to life was shown on the screen. They were are all so happy to see Her and They instantly became friends.
The Trimurthi wanted everyone to meet her, so they decided to through her a welcome party. This gave everyone an opportunity to meet, greet and of course give some gifts to the Her. What's a party without dancing??? We discussed dancing with some dandiya sticks as props. Guests arrived and were chanting Mantras like 'Sarva mangalya..." The Trimurthi wanted to be the first to give Devi Their gifts, They gave Her all of Their powers. Then Lord Shiva gave Her His Tirushul. Lord Indra gave Her thunder. Others came with clothes and sweets. We asked the kids what they would bring as gifts to the welcome party...they said sweets, fruits and other presents. The more gifts Devi received, the more hands She needed. An image of Devi with a lot of hands was shown on the screen. The class was ready to party too! Devi received such a warm welcome from everyone and was bestowed with so much that she was all set to perform Her duties to make sure that everyone stays on track.
We wish you all a very happy Navarathiri. We will see you back in class on November 1st. Please do share some of your Navarathiri celebration images with us and do participate in the Navarathri Virtual Field Day.
We concluded class with Om Purnamadha (page 15 in My Prayers book)
Pranaam,
Keerthi and Pramila
