Hari Om!
Dear Parents,
Here is the summary of our class on Friday, Jan 8, 2021.
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: Reasons for Kauravas' failure; Yaksha Prashna
Character Analysis: Abhimanyu, Parikshit
Bhagavat Gita: Ch. 2 Verses 15,16
Quote of the day: No one should abandon duty because he/she sees defect in them. Every action, every activity is surrounded by smoke.
Pledge: led by Student
Next Balavihar class: 1/22/21
Announcement: There is no Balavihar on Jan 15th. The next e-Balavihar will be on 1/22/21.
Summary: Happy New Year! It was wonderful to see the students back after the holidays! They seemed rested and ready to get back into the routine! We truly and sincerely appreciate these resilient children who have adjusted so beautifully to the new normal, be it school or their social settings or Balavihar! We are thankful for them logging on and showing up to class every time! Sharing this space and time with them is a great pleasure for us!
We started with the opening prayers and went on to reflect on our word through My Vaca. The students shared their experiences over the holidays. Although they admitted to complaining and using harsh words a few times, many of them were able to use kind words at many occasions. The idea is to self reflect so we can be more aware of our choice of words! We briefly discussed our Gratitude journal and then went on to discuss Abhimanyu and Parikshit.
Abhimanyu was the brave son of Arjuna, who lived for a mere 16 years. He was a great and courageous warrior who sacrificed his life for the sake of Dharma. He was tricked and cruelly and brutally killed by the Kauravas abandoning all the rules of warfare! He will be always remembered for his valor as long as people read and talk about the Mahabharata. His son Parikshit was the last in the lineage to rule Hastinapura when Mahabharata ended. He was almost destroyed in his mother's womb when Ashwathama released the Brahmastra to kill him but by the grace of Lord Krishna he was protected and his life was saved!
We then went on to analyze the reasons for the Kauravas losing the war. Although they had Bhagavn's entire army and had a powerful army of their own headed by some of the greatest warriors such as Bhishma, Dronacharya, Kripacharya and many other allies, they were on the side of Adharma. Their cause was a wrong one! Many of the warriors only sided with them physically but in their minds knew that they were working for Adharma! This weakened their prowess! For any effort to be successful, both our body and mind should be aligned towards it. Wherever there is a rift between the two, that endeavor is unsuccessful. On the other hand, Bhagavan was on the Pandavas' side and their cause was the victory of Dharma! Bheeshma took a vow to be loyal to the throne of Hastinapura. In doing so, he put his individual honor above the nation's welfare! He was very steadfast in never breaking the vow that many times he had to watch the atrocities of the Kauravas silently although internally he was suffering! When keeping up our promise is going to bring about harmful effects to the community/country/world we should act righteously! Although Bhishma will always be remembered for his vow, the shame of siding with Adharma, especially because of his vow, will always be associated with him.
We discussed a few more Yaksha Prashnas:
What veils the world?
Ignorance veils the world. We always look at the world through our own lenses. Typically, we assume that what we don't know does not exist and therefore unreal! This is our ignorance that blocks our vision on the world.
Why does knowledge not shine?
Knowledge does not shine due to Tamas. Simply put, Tamas can be explained as laziness. Laziness is the main reason why knowledge cannot shine through.
Why does one abandon friends?
One abandons friends because of Greed. Many times people tend to put their own greed ahead of their friends and as a result they lose their friendship.
Why does one not go to heaven?
Attachment is the root cause for one not going to heaven! If we analyze this further, our unnecessary attachments to things and people, sometimes steer us towards making wrong choices and in turn wrong actions. Hence the results will also not be favorable!
We then learned verse, 15,16 of Chapter 2 of the Bhagavat Gita with Swamiji. We encourage the kids to practice the Geeta Dhyana Shlokas and the Bhagavat Gita verses at home. Looking forward to another busy class next time. Wishing everyone Happy Sankaranti/Pongal!
Pranaam,
Mythili and Anandhi
