Hari Om Parents,
We started the class with opening prayers and "Om", followed by practice of the Guru Sthotram.
We did a recap of the earlier lesson and proceeded to the lessons for today.
Today's story was about Kardama and Devahuti and their son, Sage Kapila.
Kardama was a great Sage doing penance on the banks of River Saraswathi. One day Lord Vishnu appears before him and blesses him that he will get married soon and he himself will be born to Kardama as a son. Soon, as per the Lord's blessing, Manu and Satarupa (the first two humans created by Lord Brahma) offer their beautiful daughter, Devahuti in marriage to Kardama. Kardama accepts on one condition that after a son is born, he will take sanyas and leave the ashram. They both are married and eventually nine daughters are born to them. Then a son is born, who is named Kapila. As per his vow, Kardama leaves the ashram to become a monk.
Here we talked about what is "Tapas". Tapas is to take a vow and live by it. It is to make a promise to oneself and stick to at all times. For the kids, it could be something as simple as promising to oneself that they will brush every night, and keep it up no matter what.
Continuing with the story, Sage Kapila grows up to be a great and divine teacher. He teaches many things to his mother, as to how to live happily without being tied down by desires, and how to see the Lord in everything. He tells that one must have a pure heart to achieve this. How does one make the heart pure? There are seven principles given, that we discussed with examples.
1. Obeying the rules of life - to follow Dharma. Be good and kind to everyone.
2. Performing one's duties - Everyone has duties, as a brother, sister, child, friend and student, and we must perform the duties in the best possible way. As children our duties are to study well, respect parents, and pray to God everyday.
3. Seeing work as Worship - To explain this we told the kids a story about Sage Narada. One day he gets a feeling that he is the greatest devotee of Lord Vishnu. Sensing this, the Lord sends him to see a farmer and says that he is the greatest devotee. Sage Narada sees that the farmer is working in the fields all day and prays to the Lord for just a few minutes in the morning and again in the night. "How can he be the greatest devotee, when I am chanting the Lord's name all day?" He returns and asks Lord Vishnu. The Lord gives him a pot full of oil. Naradaji has to carry this pot on the head to Sivaloka and back, without spilling even one drop. Naradaji accomplishes this task. When he returns, the Lord asks him how many times he thought about the Lord while doing the task. Naradaji replies that he was concentrating on the task, so he didnt think. Then the Lord explains that the farmer has many duties, so he cannot chant the Lord's name all day, but he offers his duties as worship to the Lord. Work is worship!
4. Chanting God's name again and again - Pray everyday, and be thankful to what God has given.
5. Trusting God as a trusted, beloved friend - A friend who is always there for you without expecting a return favor.
6. Seeing the Lord in all creatures - be kind and nice with everyone.
7. Loving God - Devotion. Soordas was a great devotee of Lord Krishna. He was blind so one day he fell in a pit. Krishna himself came to rescue him. Soordas realizes that it is Krishna and tries to catch him, but Krishna escapes. Soordas laughs and says, Krishna, you may run away from me externally, but I have already caught you and tied you up with love in my heart. You will not be able to run away from my heart.
We then asked the kids to trace the palm of their hand on a paper and write "I promise" and write down any five promises that want to make to themselves. We suggested they put it up on a wall near their desk, so they remember whenever they see the paper. The kids came up with some really good promises.
Next was the most awaited part of the class, the Kahoot. The quiz was on all chapters we covered until the previous class. The kids participated enthusiastically. They did very well and had fun.
We then proceeded to Gita chanting. We learned shlokas 9 and 10 today. The link to the video is below. We will also send the links to today's chanting and earlier videos to your whatsapp as well. Please encourage the kids to practice the shlokas a few times before the next class.
Also, in case your kids do not have a physical copy of the balavihar handbook, the link to the online handbook is below.
The handbook has all the Gita shlokas the kids will be learning in the class.
We look forward to seeing the kids next Sunday.
Pranaam,
Vasudha & Neelima
