Hari Om! Parents,
We started the class with the beginning prayers followed by expanded
awareness meditation
Chanted and completed the lingashtakam. Also learned to chant the Gayatri mantra
Our curriculum for the week was:
An introduction to the 4 ashramas followed by the discussion on the
Brahmacharya ashram.
Discussed that this ashram is a time for gaining as much knowledge as possible
Discussed the first samskara is an individual's life which is the
upanyanam ceremony, typically at age 6. However the age may vary in
today's age.
Discussed a few aspects of this ceremony,
1. Upanayana means 'leading near'
Symbolically the child is led to a guru for knowledge. Since our first
teachers are our parents, the father gives the instruction on the
Gayatri mantra to the child.
2. Offering of samidha-- the child offers piecesbof wood to the Fire
God wishing for good health.
3. Asmarohanam-- where the child stands on a rock and wishes that he
become strong and firm like a rock to accomplish his goals.
4. Yagnopavitam-- the children is given a janeu, which consists of 3
threads symbolizing the 3 guns. (Did not discuss the other aspects of
the 3 threads) will talk about it in a later class.
Discussed the importance of chanting the Gayatri mantra.
Helps us to get rid of our negative tendencies
Helps us to discriminate between the good and the pleasant. We will
continue our discussion on this and how we can lead a disciplined life
as a student in the next class.
Talked about Rishi Vishwamitra who gave us this mantra. It was
revealed to the rishi in his meditation on The Goddess.
Discussed: this mantra is dedicated to Surya Bhagavan and indirectly
dedicated to the Lord himself who is the source of all lights.
Our next discussion was based on the following activity
All creation is an intermixing of 3 gunas- Satva, Rajas, Tamas. The
Bhagavad Geeta and our other scriptures talk of these qualities in
foods we eat, the ebb and flow of these in our minds which lead us to
being in reflective, combative or lazy modes. The students took an
interesting survey with questions having 4 options as answers, each
option indicating preponderance of a particular guna.
Parents- please use this as a conversation starter with your children
and tell us what you think about it. You may post your responses on
the parents WhatsApp group.
At 8:20 our class joined the grade 7 monthly program
Our next Balvihar class in on January 29th.
Pranams
Uma and Nirmala
