Hari Om! Parents,
Week 9 of Balavihar began with the "Sri Rama Nama" deep breathing exercise and Om chanting. After "Sahana vavatu" the children took turns and chanted all the verses of "Sri Ganesha Pancharatnam" (pg 30, My Prayers book). Here is a link to the lyrics and English meaning of the shloka: https://greenmesg.org/stotras/ganesha/ganesha_pancharatnam.php. The audio for the shloka is posted on the parents WhatsApp group. Going forward each child will memorise their assigned lines and chant one by one in class.
Mahabharata
Adiparva of the Mahabharata story continues with Bheemasena marrying Hidimbi. The Pandavas along with Kunti and Hidimbi settle down in Salivahana. Seven months later a son, Gatotkacha, is born to Bheema and Hidimbi. The baby is showered with love by all his uncles, and is a favorite of Yudhistira. Sage Vyasa visits them and tells them it is time to leave. He assures Kunti that the troubled days would soon pass and that Dharma would win in the end. Bidding goodbye to Hidimbi and the baby, the Pandavas disguised as brahmins with their mother go to a city called Ekachakra. They are given refuge in a brahmin's house. One day, Kunti learns that their host is picked as the sacrifice to a rakshasa called Baka. The story is that Baka terrorised Ekachakra and killed several people. A pact was proposed by the people, where one person along with a cartload of food would be sent to Baka regularly. In return Baka would not enter Ekachakra and would protect it from any invaders. Kunti proposes to send Bheema with the food instead of the brahmin. At first, Yudhistira is angry, but soon agrees. Bheemasena leaves for the forest with a cartload of food. He stops outside Baka's cave and begins eating the food. The enraged Baka attacks Bheema, but is no match and is soon killed. Bheema returns to Ekachakra and asks the brahmin to never reveal what had happened. The brahmins' kindness was repaid and Ekachakra was rid of a menace.
Saints of India
We did a review of all the Saints covered so far and the values we learnt. The class was introduced to the Marathi Saint Tukarama ji. Born to a pious couple, Tukarama loved to participate in puja rituals and prayers. He had a courteous manner and was liked by everyone. Tukarama was generous and always helped the poor. Even as a boy Tukarama sang songs in his melodious voice. He wrote several Marathi "abhangas" in praise of Bhagwan. The children listened to one called, "Jethe jato tethe tu maza sangati". Here Saint Tukarama ji says wherever he goes Bhagwan is always by his side. Bhagwan carries all his burdens and guides him through his life. We discussed how as a toddler needs to hold on to his parents' hand for support, we all need Bhagwan's support in case we stumble in life. The values we learnt from Saint Tukarama ji are: Be forgiving, Be courteous, Be kind, Share.Reflection Journal: The students pick one value from the 20 values followed by our Saints covered so far in class, and apply that in daily life. They write down one example of how they followed that value each day of the week. The children are given a chance to share their journal notes every class. This reflection will help them notice their behaviour and change their reactions to everyday situations.
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 11 and 12 with our Swamiji. The actual "Geetopadesha" from Bhagawan Sri Krishna begins from here. Please use the link on the Parents WhatsApp group for your child to practice Geeta chanting at home.You can also send your child's chanting recordings to cnjbalaviharhouses@gmail.com to earn Houses points for Arjuna's Arrows.
Announcement: Balavihar Houses Contest registrations are now open. Please use links in the Parents WhatsApp group posted this week.
Resources : If interested, your child can read Kamala Subramaniam's "Mahabharata", available on Amazon and Kindle. On the 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. This is the playlist. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5AjK1x6A8j5KPRft76yRbu3A5T_uxY7s
Class materials needed: Journal/ notebook, pencil, Balavihar Handbook, My Prayers book.
Pranaam,
-Rashmi and Shanthi
