Hari OM Everyone, We started the class with the children excitedly sharing about the storytelling contest they had participated in and wanting to know how to earn more points so they can get in the lead! :-) When we mentioned that Likhita Japa was an easy way to earn points they all discussed and came up with a plan to write and send more pages of Likhita Japa and started writing furiously! We couldn't start the prayers until much later! :-) Parents, we need your help in reminding them to write the Likhita Japa everyday at home and sending the pics after they write 10 pages to bvhouses@chinmayavrindavan.org. Also we have asked everyone to memorize the Daily prayers to recite in front of a special guest next week and they have all promised! We were so happy that so many of them enthusiastically volunteered to chant it! Because it was a short time we didn't get to sing the Madhurashtakam and they missed it! We will definitely do it next time! Please register them for Shlokathon as well - another great way to earn points! In the last class we had reviewed whatever we had done so far showing them pictures and asking them to recall the story. We talked about Manu's daughter Devahuti and how she married Sage Kardama and left her luxurious life in the Palace and served him patiently for a long time. And how because of his Tapas, they both regained their youth and went everywhere on a flying palace and afterwards had 9 daughters and 1 son who was Kapila Muni, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Sage Kardama takes Sannyasa and then Devahuti requests her son to teach her how to realize God. He tells her how to purify the mind and how we have to do our Work as Worship - to illustrate this we shared the story of the greatest devotee of Lord Vishnu - who to Narada Muni's great surprise is a farmer who takes the Lord's name only twice a day when he wakes up and when he goes to bed. So to make him understand, Lord Vishnu asks Narada Muni to take a pot brimming with oil to Kailas and bring back a pot of nectar from there and warns him that even if a bit spills then the Sudarshan chakra will cut off his head! Narada Muni is extremely careful and successfully accomplishes the task but is dismayed when Lord Vishnu asks him how many times he had taken the Lord's name! Not even once! Then he realizes the greatness of the farmer. We discussed how we all have different roles to play as a brother or sister, child or grand child, student etc and if we can do all our work dedicating it as worship then we will do our best. This week we discussed about Devahuti's brother King Uttanapada. He had two wives -Suneeti who was very good and Suruchi who was very beautiful but very shrewd. Suneeti's son was Dhruva and Suruchi's son was Uttama. The King was smitten by Suruchi and neglected Suneeti and her son Dhruva because he was afraid to displease Suruchi. One day when Dhruva attempts to sit on his father's lap, Suruchi taunts him and says you will have to pray to Lord Vishnu to be born in my womb to be able to sit on your father's lap! Dhruva is very much hurt and goes crying to Suneeti who says what your step mother said might have been hurtful but take only the good thing that she said - that is to worship Lord Vishnu! So Dhruva decides immediately to do Tapas and gain a highly exalted place and leaves the palace to go to the forest. He meets Narada Muni who tries to dissuade him in many ways but Dhruva is firm in his determination - so Narada Muni advises him to go to Madhuvana and meditate on Lord Vishnu! He describes to Dhruva the form of Lord Vishnu - we asked the kids to describe the form and they recalled His blue color, yellow clothes, Sankha, Chakra, Gadha and Lotus in His hands - they were not sure of His earrings and were surprised to know that it was the shape of a crocodile! Kashyap shared that his brother's name was Kaustubh, the beautiful gem that adorned Lord Vishnu! He also taught him the mantra 'Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya' (which is what we make them write in class in the beginning). We talked about how Dhruva focused and brought the form of Lord Vishnu in his mind and constantly chanted the mantra, initially eating only berries, then after a few weeks only leaves and then after another few weeks only water and later not even that only on air. He stood on one foot and did Tapas and the earth itself tilted a bit! At one point he even stopped breathing and the whole world started suffocating! They wanted to know how someone can survive for days without breathing. We discussed about Pranayama and how people control their breath in Yoga! Then Lord Vishnu Himself comes to Madhuvana to see Dhruva on Garuda but Dhruva won't open his eyes! Lord Vishnu after waiting for sometime, then makes His form disappear from Dhruva's mind and then Dhruva opens his eyes and is so happy to see Lord Vishnu in front of him and prostrates! He is speechless but Lord Vishnu touches his cheeks with the conch and then he praises Lord Vishnu in beautiful words! He has forgotten the reason he came to do Tapas and instead has developed so much love for God that he wants nothing but devotion to Lord Vishnu! But Bhagavan blesses him saying he will rule his kingdom for 36,000 years and then attain the exalted position of Dhruva Nakshatra! Since it was a short class and we had to attend the 7th grade program we didn't have much time to discuss the story but all of them loved it and were reminded of Prahlada story as well! We will continue talking about it next week and maybe watch a video as well! Those of you who have the BalaBhagavatam book at home please ask them to read the stories to you! Or ask them to tell you the story in their own words. We are so happy that 5 kids from our class including Apoorva, Lakshita, Srinadh, Neel and Aditya participated! We didn't have time to practice Geeta this week but will continue from Shloka 8 next week. Please practice at home with the videos - http://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/geeta-chanting/ We will see them in class next Friday Jan 29 with hopefully our special guest. Please ask them to practice their daily prayers and Madhurashtakam (will share the lyrics and audio in the whatsapp group). Thanks & Regards Jayashree & Suja
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