Hari Om Everyone
We began our class by greeting one another as we all joined the Zoom call. Once all of our friends arrived, we started writing our Likitha Japa and tried to learn how to write "Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya" in sanskrit. But it will take some time so we will stick to English for now :-)
Next we chanted our daily prayers one by one, learning the meanings of all the slokas we are chanting, and when we should chant them. Following this,we provided a Recap on the previous lessons by presenting an interactive and informative slide show. This was done to see how much our students remembered from the earlier weeks of the school year.
We reviewed the Vinayaka Bhajan by giving everyone a chance to sing one stanza quickly.
This week's topic revolved around who Pariksit and Kali are and the places where Kali can live. With this, we also learned about how Pariksit got cursed and learned about Moksha, or Liberation.
The kids learned about how the impacts of Kali confused Pariksit and caused him to act disrespectfully towards Sage Samika. This made Sage Samika's son, Sringi, very angry and led Pariksit to be cursed within seven days to die by a deadly snake named Takshaka. Hearing his fate, Pariksit came back to his kingdom, gave away his throne to his son Janamejeya and went to meditate on the banks of Ganges. There Pariksit met Sage Suka, the son of Veda Vyasa, who enlightened Pariksit about the practice of meditation and how to pray. Sage Suka also recounted the Bhagavatham: the stories of Vishnu and his devotees. After listening to these stories for seven days, Takshaka, the deadly snake, bites and liberates Pariksit.
From the story of Pariksit, another important lesson we learned in Friday's class is that two wrongs can not make one right. Also, we learned the value of a smile, and why it is more important to smile than to use hurtful words.
After going through this week's story, we completed a word search that summarized all the chapters covered in class as a group. It is always so fun to see the excitement on the childrens' faces when they try to solve the puzzle.
Following this, we learned the "Madhurashtakam", a beautiful song that describes Krishna. Before we learn the Sanskrit version, we started with a beautiful and simple English version. As usual, the kids never fail to surprise us as they are able to repeat the song with little help after only one listen. We are so proud of our kids and their consistent enthusiasm and energy. They all loved this song and requested we share it so they can practice at home. We concluded class by reciting the Aarti and Pledge.
We will not have class the next couple of weeks but please be sure to participate in our Virtual Navaratri Gala and help our House Arjuna's Arrows earn points. Neel is already planning to play Tabla and submit a video! Hope everyone will participate as well! Please join our Facebook group Chinmaya Vrindavan Balavihar to post your pics and videos.
Thanks and Best Regards,
Jayashree and Sujatha
