Hari Om! Parents,
Week 6 of Balavihar class began with the class doing their rejuvenating deep breathing exercise and Om chanting. After "Sahana vavatu" the children chanted the "Sri Ganesha Stavah" (pg 28, My Prayers book). The class began learning the first 2 verses of "Sri Ganesha Pancharatnam" shloka (pg 30, My Prayers book). The audio for the prayer is posted on the parents WhatsApp group. Please remind your child to try and memorise the shlokas. They will each get a chance to lead the shlokas in every class.
Geeta Chanting
Grade 5 is the Partha group and will be learning verse 1- 30 of Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Geeta (pg 18, Balavihar Handbook). This week we completed learning verses 5 and 6 with our Swamiji. Please use the link on the Parents WhatsApp group for your child to practice Geeta chanting at home.
Mahabharata
After a quick recap, the Adi Parva of our Mahabharata story continued with Bhima and Duryodhana becoming disciples of Balarama. They both soon master the skills of mace fighting. Even though Balarama taught both the princes with equal sincerity, he favored Duryodhana in his heart. Duryodhana also had a strong devotion toward Balarama. A proud Dronacharya declared Arjuna the greatest archer in the entire world, but had a few words of wisdom for Arjuna. Learning and humility went together, so never think too highly of oneself. We discussed how it is important for us to not boast and praise ourselves. Dronacharya told Arjuna, "Let others praise you, but you must stay humble yourself." He also asked Arjuna to seek the friendship of Lord Krishna, who was also his cousin. Dronacharya said that if Krishna is on Arjuna's side, even Indra himself could not defeat him. Arjuna decides to meet Lord Krishna and seek his alliance. Yudhistira was crowned the yuvaraja by King Dhritarashtra. Yudhistira was the oldest of the princes and was loved by everyone in the kingdom. He had the support of Bhishma, Drona and Vidura. Within a year he became so popular that people wanted him to be king. This was reported to Duryodhana, who was filled with anger and complained to his father. Duryodhana's jealousy had turned into blind hatred towards his cousins. King Dhritarashtra tries to pacify his son, but Duryodhana declares that he would die rather than see Yudhistira as king. The worried king consults his trusted minister, Kanika, who advises him to protect his own sons by killing the Pandavas. The king sends for Yudhistira and suggests that the Pandavas along with Kunti visit the city of Varanavata. Yudhistira agrees, but is highly suspicious of this sudden command by his uncle. Bhishma gives his blessings and is clueless about the king's true intentions. Duryodhana along with his uncle, Shakuni, plot to end the Pandavas. Duryodhana sends for his trusted minister, Purochana and asks him to go to Varanavata and carry out his evil plan. A palace is built for the Pandavas to live in Varanavata. It is made of wax and flammable materials. The plot was to kill the Pandavas in a fire and make it look like an accident.
Saints of India
Aarin shared the story of saint Ramakrishna Paramahamsa with an informative powerpoint presentation. He spoke about the life story, main teachings and also shared some of Paramahamsa's famous quotes. We then spoke about saint Ramakrishna's favourite disciple Swami Vivekananda. We discussed Swami Vivekananda's contribution to spreading India's culture and values across the world. An interesting website for your child to explore is :-"https://parliamentofreligions.org". Next a few children shared what values they have practiced over the past couple of weeks in their daily life. Please remind the children to continue to update their reflection journal everyday. They will write down the value from any saint discussed in class. They can share with the class which value that they have practiced. The sign up sheet for the in class 'Saints presentation' still has few open spots for children. Please see the link on WhatsApp if they are interested to sign up.
Resources : If interested, your child can read Kamala Subramaniam's "Mahabharata", available on Amazon and Kindle. Youtube channel, "Epified- The Mahabharata", has bite-sized videos of the stories we are covering in class. The individual episodes are available, in case your child misses class, and are contained in this playlist. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5AjK1x6A8j5KPRft76yRbu3A5T_uxY7s
Class material needed: a notebook, pencil, Balavihar Handbook, My Prayers book.
Wishing all Grade 5 families a blessed Diwali/ Deepavali festival!
Pranaam,
-Rashmi and Shanthi
