Hari Om!
Dear Parents,
Here is the summary of our class on Friday, Dec 4, 2020.
Opening prayers:
Om Sahana Vavatu
Om Sri Ganeshaya NamaH
Om Sri Saraswatyai NamaH
Om Sri Sadgurubhyo NamaH
Vasudevasutam Devam (Krishna Shloka)
Activity: My Vaca, Gratitude Journal
Lessons: Mahabharata - conclusion; Yaksha Prashna
Discussion: Cause/Effect - Gandhari's curse
Character Analysis: Dhritarashtra and Gandhari
Chanting: Gita Dhyana Shloka
Bhagavat Gita: Ch. 2 Verses 7-8
Ending Shloka
Next Balavihar class: 12/11/20
Announcement: The next e-Balavihar will be on 12/11/20.
Summary: We were happy to meet the children after the Thanksgiving break! We started out with the opening shlokas and went on to reflect upon our week and our words! The best thing about the children is that they are so honest with their self appraisal! Some of them shared about the kind words that they spoke and some shared that they complained a little when it was not their favorite food or if their friends had not done their part on their school project! The point of the exercise is to reflect on our words and be mindful of them! Hopefully, by the end of the year we all will be able to replace any harsh words with kinder ones!
This week we also started our reflection on a gratitude journal. Everyday the children will write in one word, what they are thankful for that day! It doesn't necessarily have to be something big like family, food, shelter, etc., but also anything that we are thankful for at the moment. After a month or two, when we look back on that journal we will see that we have so many things to be thankful for in our day to day life! This is a great exercise of mindfulness!
We then proceeded to the Mahabharata story. At the end of the war Yudhishtira was crowned king of Hastinapura. He took advice from Bhishma on the righteous way of governing after which Bhishma gave up his body by Lord Krishna's grace. Dhritarashtra and Gandhari were distraught after losing their 100 sons! They left for the forest along with Kunti and gave up their bodies in a forest fire! Yudhishtira ruled justly following Dharma and after many years, when Krishna left the Earth, the Pandavas crowned their grandson Parikshit and embarked on their final journey. One by one, they gave up their bodies. When it was Yudhishtira's turn he refused to go to heaven leaving his faithful dog behind, as it was not his Dharma to abandon his loyal subjects! The dog, actually, was Yama himself testing his son's righteousness! He was very pleased and blessed Yudhishtira to go to heaven with his mortal body!
Although she knew that their sons were Adharmis and their own actions were the cause of their demise, Gandhari was overcome by grief due to her attachment to her sons and she cursed Krishna that his clan too will be destroyed in a similar way! The lord graciously accepted this curse! In doing so, He established that Karma (actions) do have consequences that are unavoidable, even if these actions were performed for the sake of righteousness! The law of Karma states that every action performed, whether good or bad, has consequences and the doer has to experience and accept the results! Even Bhagavan is not exempt from this! This was the topic of our cause and effect discussion. We also analyzed the character of Dhritarashtra. Like many of us, he knew what the right thing to do was but was easily swayed by temptation (to be king) and attachment (to his son)! We should always strive to rise above such temptations and delusions and walk the Dharmic path!
We discussed some Yaksha Prashna questions:
What is the best quality of an accomplished person?
A person who possesses the dexterity, the ability to perform the right task at the right time efficiently is a praiseworthy person. This very ability of such a person is their best quality.
What is the best of riches?
The best of riches is knowledge. Knowledge cannot be stolen from a person and it cannot be divided like a tangible wealth (riches). Knowledge will only increase and cannot be reduced.
What is the best of joys?
Contentment is the best of joys. This, however, does not mean that a contented person has no ambition to improve productivity. A contented person does not have any hang ups or disappointments looming over them, boggin tem down. They have their entire mind fully available to focus on the tasks at hand and thereby, increase their productivity. We watched a short video of Swami Sarveshananda ji ( from Chinmaya Mission, Dallas) explaining this. Here is the link if you would like to watch:
We reviewed the Geeta Dhyana Shloka. We encourage the kids to keep practicing at home too. Our goal is for the students to be able to chant it fluently by the end of the 8th grade year. This was followed by Geeta chanting verses with Swamiji's video.
Finally, we finished with the ending shlokas. We will meet again on Friday with more interesting discussions and activities. Until then, please stay safe and be well!
Pranaam,
Mythili and Anandhi
