Hari Om Parents.
Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!
We started the class with the beginning prayers followed by OM meditation.
We chanted 7 verses of the Lingasahtakam and also learned 8 verses
from chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita.
We then went on to our curriculum. We talked about 8 inner values
which are mentioned in the Gautama Dharmasutra
- Daya or compassion
- Kshanti or patience
- Anasuya or being free from jealousy
- Sauca or purity in body and mind
- Anaayasa or being free from mental strain
- Mangalam or auspiciousness or spread happiness around
- Akaarpanya or to give generously our time, talent and money
- Asprha or absence of obsessive desires
We had talked about daya in the previous class so we started with a
story about patience.
Talked about Saint Eknatha who was a very pious and patient person.
Every morning he would take a dip in the local river. One morning
after his bath he was met by a young man who spat on him. The saint
just looked at him and went back to take a bath again. This event was
repeated 108 times after which the young man fell at his feet. The
man, sobbing told the saint they he was poor and some rich people in
the town had told him that if he could make him angry he could earn
some money. The man out of greed for the money had done the act and
asked for forgiveness. The saint told the poor man that it was a great
day for him as he could bathe in the sacred river 108 times and if he
had told him about the bet he could have invoked his anger and the man
could made some money. The lesson is that patience always pays off at
the end.
Discussed about the value of patience and why it is so important to
develop this virtue early in life with examples from Gandhiji and
Nelson Mandela's life. Also concluded that patience is an antidote to
hatred and anger
Showed them a video on the short story 'The Last Leaf' by O Henry
(link and story attached below) to showcase the 3 values Mangalam,
Akarpayaam, and Anayasa.
Discussed about the Capitol incident from last week as we were on the
topic of values.
The children had very good views about it and. related it to cause and
effect or karma and karma phala.
The class concluded with aarthi and pledge
No Balavihar next weekend. Next class in on Jan 22
Pranaams
Uma and Nirmala
************************* O Henry Story **********
Online audio of story : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z70HXdOrGIQ
The Last Leaf, short story by O. Henry, published in 1907 in his
collection The Trimmed Lamp and Other Stories. "The Last Leaf"
concerns Johnsy, a poor young woman who is seriously ill with
pneumonia. She believes that when the ivy vine on the wall outside her
window loses all its leaves, she will also die. Her neighbor Behrman,
an artist, tricks her by painting a leaf on the wall. Johnsy recovers,
but (in a twist typical of O. Henry) Behrman, who caught pneumonia
while painting the leaf, dies.
We used this classic story, with a twist, to examine the values we are
studying. Values that make up dharma. Values that prevent prakrithi
from becoming vikrithi.( the students know prakrithi and vikrithi from
early lessons)
Akarpanyam- generous in giving. This value is seen in Sue, Johnsy's
friend who spends so much time in raising Johnsy's spirits when she is
sick and in actually nursing her back to health. Behrman also gives so
generously even though he is not the close friend that Sue is.( Of
course, not enough is known in the story about his motivation, but
perhaps the shared love of art and his chivalry in protecting the
women who lived by themselves.)Giving is love in action and giving of
time, attention, care are all things we can all give. Let us give
freely!
Anayasa- without strain/effort. Johnsy was countering her body's
effort to heal, by the effort she put in to tell herself (and Sue)
that she was going to die. Due to Sue's love, the giving was
effortless, motivated as it was, only by love for Jonhsy and intention
for her wellness. When we love what we do, any effort we put towards
that may cause physical tiredness, but never mental fatigue. Let us
remain fresh in our minds through life's endeavors by loving fully!
Mr. Behraman also gives of himself
Mangalam- Auspiciousness- Even though the story ends in Behrman's
death, that it resulted in a miraculous cure for Johnsy and hope for
the young artists, lifts the story to the point that both life and
death can be a blessing to those around us.
