Hari Om parents,
Hope you all are doing well & enjoying the wonderful fall weather. Our class was awesome with energetic & happy kids. We did a lot of fun things and here is a brief summary
1. We chanted 3 OM's and said our beginning prayers - Om sahna bhavtu then a shlok for Lord Ganesha ( Vakratunda Mahakaya), Devi Saraswati ( Saraswati Namastubhyam) and one for our Guru( Guru Bramha) respectively. The kids know the shlokas by heart. 👍
2. We then chanted the Dhyaan shlok.
3. Reviewed the concepts from our previous class - visible and invisible backbone, vitamins for the backbone - Buddhi.
4. Brainstorming - Balam ( Physical & Mental strength). For physical strength we need to eat well, exercise, take rest. But what about mental strength? When a person has beautiful qualities like wanting to share, help, or pray then a person becomes mentally strong. Hanuman ji is both physically and mentally strong.
5. Story time - Bhima's Arrogance. Here is the link to the story -
https://youtu.be/EVtpsH5LV-Q. So after that story we had a brief discussion Bhima was physically very strong. Why, then, could he not move Hanuman ji's tail? Bhima was temporarily blinded by the arrogance of his own strength and, therefore, became mentally weak. The moral is physical strength without mental strength is not effective.
6. Story time - Cheating is wrong. When Mahatma Gandhi was a student an inspector, in charge of reviewing classes came to school. A dictation was given to the pupils to see how proficient they were in their studies. The class teacher was very anxious to get good reviews. As the dictation was going on, the teacher suddenly stopped near Gandhiji. He secretly signaled Gandhiji to look at the neighbor's notebook and copy it. Gandhiji understood what the teacher wanted him to do but he refused. Why did he refuse to copy? Because Gandhiji knew copying from another is morally wrong. Although granted he was not physically strong, he was mentally very strong because I left my virtues like not cheating.
7. Brainstorming - What is Fame? How do we achieve it? Fame and greatness do not come by luck or chance, but through dedication, good habits and hard work. So we listened to the story of the our great teacher "Gurudev" . Here is the link - https://youtu.be/Am5DkzrOKo4. Are bad people famous? Is Ravan famous? Yes, he is. Our actions good or bad make us famous.
8. Game time - Hanuman Vadati (exactly like Simon says) with a twist. The action words following Hanuman Vadati were in Sanskrit. For example Hanuman Vadati upavishatu ( sit down). It was a lot of fun.
9. Geeta chanting - we also started our Gita chanting this weekend. Here is a link to the first 2 shlokas we practiced - https://youtu.be/-d4Ele2V-Vc
Please keep practicing at home.
10. We closed our class with shanti mantra & pledge.
See you all on Sunday @9:15am. Take care everyone!!
Regards,
Chitra & Rupa.
