Nov 22, 2020 - Grade 7 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM Dear Families,

Here is this week's update.

Week 7:

22nd November 2020 / 9:15AM

Opening Prayers

Class began with opening prayers -3 OMs and followed by SahanAvavatu.

 One of the students led the chanting  of "Neelambuja shyamala komalaangam".

We had  a volunteer to lead the first 22 lines BalaKandam

We continued to learn Naama Ramayanam- finished Ayodhya Kandam.

Ramayana:

Ravana meets up with Marica, who is still traumatized by memories of his first encounter with Rama at Vishwamitra's yagna. Marica advises him to leave Sita alone. Ravana returns back to his kingdom- but Shurpanakha who was determined to get revenge on Sita, wails before him how unfairly Lakshmana and Rama treated her as she tried to get Sita for Ravana.  Now, hearing Shurpanakha's description of Sita, Ravana was very determined to capture Sita for himself. He went again to Marica and gave him an ultimatum- help in abducting Sita or be killed. Marica, knowing his end was near, decided to help Ravana. He took the form a very attractive golden deer, and roamed around near the ashram where Rama, Sita and Lakshmana lived. Sita was entranced by the beauty of the deer, and asked Rama to capture it for her- something she can take back to Ayodhya as a memento and a novelty. Though Rama and Lakshmana were not too sure that it was not a trick, Rama decided to pursue the deer. He tasked Laskhmana with guarding Sita. Rama pursued the deer far into the woods, and as he hit the deer with his arrow, Marica cried out in Rama's voice "Hey Lakshmana, hey Sita", as if Rama was dying. Hearing this, Sita was distraught. She asked Lakshmana to rush to Rama's help. Lakshmana reassured her that Rama was not likely to be in trouble and this was certainly a trick by some malicious being. Indignant at this refusal, Sita chose to assail Lakshmana, saying he refused to go as he wanted Sita for himself. Thunderstruck at her baseless accusations, Lakshmana had no option but to leave her and go look for Rama. He prayed to the forest gods to take care of Sita and left. As he caught up with Rama, it became obvious to them that this was some ploy to harm Sita. Meanwhile, Ravana, in the guise of a sage, came to the ashram and Sita received him warmly. She was disconcerted that the Sage was describing her beauty, but she patiently served him. Ravana then revealed himself and grabbed her. Furious, she warned him that in capturing her, he was inviting his own death and destruction of all he holds dear. Undeterred, Ravana made his getaway with her. Jatayu, the king of vultures, tried to fight off Ravana and rescue Sita. After a bitter combat, Jatayu was severely injured and Ravana ascended to the skies and went on his way to Lanka. On the way, a tearful Sita dropped her jewellery, piece of yellow clothing and this was picked by some monkeys on the ground. 

Rama and Lakshmana arrived at the ashram, only to find it empty and see some signs of combat nearby. Rama, heartbroken, looked to Nature for giving him clues on Sita's whereabouts. It seemed as though all the trees and animals were pointing South. At once furious and sad, Rama decided to burn the world down for not revealing Sita to him instantly. Lakshmana calmed him down and as they walked around looking for Sita, they saw Jatayu, gasping for his last breath. He told Rama that Ravana had abducted Sita, and he tried valiantly but could not stop him. Rama tearfully thanked him and on his passing performed his last rites.

#Hashtag Ramayana  
A fun game we continued this week, where kids are encouraged to come up with interesting #s associated with the story learned. Please watch out for the week's #lists.

#marchtowardspanchavati, #crazysurpanakhabehindthebothers, #14000to1, #akampanaescape,  #marichascaredoframa, #deeriwant, #deerstrick, #ravanaasasage, #jatayutorescuesita, #nevergiveupjatayufalls, #sitadropsjewells, #itsatrap, #heartbrokenhusband, #naturepointssouth, #natureshedtears, #scaredgodavariquiet, #flowersdropped, #jatayudisclosesthetruthwhiledying, #infinitesouth, #Sitagone #gone!, #gone, #EvilRavana, #WhereIsSita, #whereissita, #ravanatooksita, #askthetrees, #Jtayudead, #LoyalJatayu, #south, #deerdiversion, #Ravanamarichatrickers, #EverythingpointsSouth, #whereissita, #ramasmad, #jewelery stolen, #Southmeanslanka, #GreedyRavana
#Kuberabrotherevil #insultedlakshmana, #Calmdownrama #selfishshurpanakha,
#onlynatureknows, #deathbyrama, #RAGE#RavanaArrogantGuiltyEvil

Character Cards activity. Students are encouraged to work on digital cards picking a minimum of 3 characters (completed their main tasks (or dead) until the story is learned so far) from the list given. This is to prompt discussion on how they apply or derive values relating to each character from the Ramayanam. Please encourage and remind children to work on character cards and send them as an attachment to the email sunamgr7@chinmayavrindavan.org

Characters are- Dasaratha, Viswamithra, Parasurama, Yagnapurusha, Kaikeyi, Mantara, Sumithra, Kausalya, Thataka, Bagiratha, Sumanthara, Trishanku, Vasishta, Janaka, Bharatha, Satrughna, Bharathwaja, Agustya, Atri and Anusuya, Shurpanakha, Kara and Dhoosana, Maaricha

Gita Chanting

We started to learn the seventh and eighth slokas from this year's topic- Chapter 2 Saankhya Yoga. We followed Swamiji's chanting video and we repeated it. We had volunteers leading and the rest following.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK-J_LXuAaM&feature=youtu.be

We worked on the Likhita Japa as a class group activity for 3 minutes.

Our next class is  on December 6th. NO Balavihar on 11/29. Have a Happy Thanksgiving festive season.

Parents, please record the kids memorized video version of Gita chapter 2 (4 verses at a stretch) and send it to house email to gain points for our Bajrangi Bolt's house. Also if the child completes a minimum of 10 pages of likhita japa, please take pics and send as attachment/link. The email to be sent is cnjbalaviharhouses@gmail.com

Please feel free to reach out in case you have any questions.

Hari OM
Abhirami Shrinivas and Vidhya Aiyer
Grade7 Sunday AM