Hari Om! Parents,
Week 14 Balavihar began with the class doing deep breathing with "Rama Naama", Om chanting and "Sahana vavatu". We chanted all the verses of "Sri Ganesha Pancharatnam" (pg 30, My Prayers book). The children practiced the lines assigned to them for our class program. Please use the shloka recording posted on the parents WhatsApp group for your child to memorise.
*Gentle reminder for our play practice this Saturday, please ensure mic and camera on your child's device is working properly.*
Mahabharata
After a quick recap of the birth of king Jarasandha, Sabha Parva of our Mahabharata story continues. Lord Krishna, Bhimasena and Arjuna leave for Magadha disguised as snatakas. They enter King Jarasandha's palace by jumping over the wall. Jarasanda confronts them and they introduce themselves. Lord Krishna lets Jarasanda know that they wanted to free all the kings who were unjustly imprisoned. He challenges the king to a duel and Jarasandha picks Bhimasena to fight with. Equally matched in strength and skill, the two of them wrestle continuously for fourteen days and nights. Lord Krishna encouraged Bhimasena to split Jarasandha in half. Praying to his father, Vayu deva, Bhima lifts Jarasandha and tears him into two pieces. Much to everyone's surprise, the body becomes whole and Jarasandha begins to fight again. Next Lord Krishna takes a leaf, tears it in half, turns a piece around and throws them to different corners. Imitating Lord Krishna, Bhima tears Jarasandha and throws the pieces in different directions. The halves did not join up and Jarasandha died. They released the prisoners, who vowed their loyalty to Yudhistira. All of these kings were invited to the Rajasuya yagna. Jarasandha's son was crowned king and he too promised to support the Pandavas. Lord Krishna returned to Dwaraka to share the good news with the Vrishnis. We discussed how the death of Jarasandha also ensured Pandavas the support of several kingdoms. Lord Krishna was planning for a bigger war against the Kauravas that would come later. Indraprastha is bursting with the excitement that the king was going to perform the Rajasuya yagna. Next king Yudhistira sends Arjuna to the north, Bhimasena to the east, Nakula to the west and Sahadeva to the south. They leave with invitations to all kings for the Rajasuya yagna and anyone opposed would be defeated by a battle. Arjuna travelled all the way to the northernmost point of mount Meru. He battled and defeated a few kings on the way. He also met several kings and earned their support. Bhimasena successfully gathered support of many including Sisupala. Success followed Nakula and Sahadeva wherever they went, and they also invited several kings to the yagna. Indraprasta's coffers were filled with the generous contributions by all the supporters of the Pandavas. Grand arrangements were made for the yagna and the auspicious day soon arrived.
Saints of India
Ishan presented the interesting life story of saint Sai Baba to his classmates. The children learnt the values of tolerance towards all and humility. We would like to save and archive all the amazing saint presentations made by the children. Please share your child's presentation via this email with us. Please remind your child to keep up with their journal writing on the values learnt from saints applied in their everyday life.
Geeta Chanting
Grade 5 is the Partha group and will be learning verse 1- 30 of Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Geeta (pg 18, Balavihar Handbook). This week we completed learning verses 21 and 22 with our Swamiji. Please use the link on the Parents WhatsApp group for your child to practice Geeta chanting at home. You can email your child's Geeta chanting recordings to cnjbalaviharhouses@gmail.com to earn Houses points for Arjuna's Arrows.
Pranaam,
-Rashmi and Shanthi
Resources : If interested, your child can read Kamala Subramaniam's "Mahabharata", available on Amazon and Kindle. On the Youtube, "Epified- The Mahabharata" channel, has bite-sized videos of the stories we are covering in class. The individual episodes are available, in case your child misses class. This is the playlist. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5AjK1x6A8j5KPRft76yRbu3A5T_uxY7s
Class materials needed: Journal/ notebook, pencil, Balavihar Handbook, My Prayers book.
