Hari Om!
Dear Parents,
Here is the summary of our class on Friday, Oct 2, 2020.
Opening prayers:
Om Sahana Vavatu
Om Sri Ganeshaya NamaH
Om Sri Saraswatyai NamaH
Om Sri Sadgurubhyo NamaH
Vasudevasutam Devam (Krishna Shloka)
Quote of the day: A person can rise through the efforts of his/her mind; or draw himself/herself down, in the same manner. Each person is his/her own friend or enemy. (for discussion next class)
Lessons: Sins of the body, speech and mind
Activity: Popcorn Reading - Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography
Chanting: Gita Dhyana Shloka
Bhagavat Gita: Ch. 2 Verses 1-2
Aarati and Pledge : Zoom
Next Balavihar class: 10/9/20
Announcement: The next e-Balavihar will be on 10/9/2020
Summary: We had a very busy and interesting class. We started with the opening shlokas, followed by a quick recap of last week's class. Yudhishtra met Bheeshma, his grand sire to get advice on Karma and Dharma. Bheeshma told him that 10 sins are to be avoided - 3 of the body, 4 of speech and 3 of the mind.
We then discussed the sins of the body; to kill someone; to steal; to have an illicit relation.
Humans, being the highest form of evolution on earth, possess a sophisticated intellect which no other species have. Hence we know that the majority of us will never kill another person but what about other living beings, animals, insects, reptiles, birds, plants and trees?! When we kill one of these for our selfish gain, we never consider it as killing! It is indeed considered a sin of the body to take away another life! For example, we may think a tiny ant may be an insignificant form of life and there is no loss in killing it but what we don't realize is that from the ant's perspective, its life is important to it. The ant may be a hero to his son and his family! We forget the fact there may be a whole world around even the smallest of beings! So we need to avoid killing any being! Similarly, we know that stealing is bad. So we will never take away another person's possessions. However, there are other forms of stealing which we are all guilty of. When we are offered one sample to taste, we tend to take a handful. Taking anything more than what is necessary just to waste/throw it away later, depriving another person in need, wasting natural resources, etc are also considered stealing. We should avoid it. Cheating on someone and/or breaking a loved one's heart is also one of the sins of the body to be avoided.
The sins of speech are:
saying bad words
saying harsh words
lying
complaining or spreading rumors
We have created a chart with a smiley face and a tongue with each child's name for an activity called My Vacha (My words). Every class, the children will reflect upon their speech of the week and give themselves a star if they have used kind words and made someone happy or a black dot if they told a lie. They are their own judges and they are not expected to explain why they gave themselves a star or a dot. We will continue with this activity throughout the year.
We,then, did some popcorn reading. Since it was Gandhi Jayanthi, we read an excerpt from his autobiography in which he speaks about his childhood influence watching a play about Harischandra. The principle followed by Harischandra to always speak the truth no matter impacted Gandhiji greatly and he followed it throughout his life.
The sins of the mind are as powerful as those of the body. Even thinking of taking away someone's wealth or harboring ill-feelings towards others are sins to be avoided. We should have faith in the Law of Karma. If we have committed an action (Karma) through our body, the result will go to the body, thoughts will yield results in the mind and so on and so forth. The doer will alone receive the fruit of the action and at the right time.
We discussed last week's quote: The meaning of Karma is in the intention. The intention behind the action is what matters. Even if we did a good deed but if our intention in doing it is to gain praise for it, the purpose of doing the good Karma is lost and the result will not be favorable to us. The children had interesting points of discussion for this quote. Next week's quote is given above and we look forward to an engaging discussion on it.
We then learnt to chant the Gita Dhyana Shloka and learnt to chant verses 1 and 2 of Bhagavat Gita Ch. 2. Please encourage them to practice at home too.
We look forward to seeing the children again next week. Please stay safe.
Mythili Pendyala
Anandhi Ramachandran
