Hari Om! Parents,
With Pujya Gurudev's Grace and our Swamiji's blessings, our Grade 5 program went very well today. Thank you to Swamiji for giving us the opportunity and for his words of encouragement for the class! We would especially like to thank all the Grade 5 parents for your support. The children worked very hard and we are both so proud of them!
Incase you missed it, here is the video link to the Grade 5 program: https://youtu.be/QPMVtm69MrI
Reminders:
*Geeta Chanting Yagna Regionals registration is now open online at chinmayavrindavan.org/geeta-chanting/
*Shlokathon registration ends on March 12th.
Week 15 Balavihar began with the class doing deep breathing with "Sri Rama Naama", Om chanting, "Sahana vavatu" and chanted all the verses of "Sri Ganesha Stavah" (pg 28, My Prayers book). The children reviewed a few simple shlokas like the daily prayers, Guru Stotram and Sri Rama shlokas from their My Prayers book today.
Mahabharata
Sabha Parva of the Mahabharata story continues with all the sages, kings and other guests arriving in Indraprasta for the Rajasuya Yagna. Yudhistira had sent Nakula to invite Bheeshma and all the Kauravas to the ceremony, including Shakuni. The guests arriving at the capital are awestruck by its grandeur. Beautiful gardens, fountains, precious gem-studded walls were everywhere they looked. The palace was so massive that it had enough room to host all the hundreds of guests. Each king brought special gifts for the Pandavas and soon the kingdom's coffers were overflowing with riches. Duryodana could barely contain his jealousy and rage. He was frustrated that the Pandavas could survive his evil deeds and were now more powerful. Sage Narada was also a guest. At the auspicious time Sage Vyaasa completed the coronation of Yudhistira. Bheeshma asks Yudhistira to choose a guest of honour to complete the ceremony. Unable to decide, Yudhistira asked his grandfather whom he should choose. Bheeshma immediately says the guest of honour must be Lord Krishna. Yudhistira and Sahadeva perform puja to Lord Krishna with utmost devotion. Sisupala, king of Chedi, does not like this and makes a commotion. He accuses Yudhistira of insulting the great warriors in the sabha and then begins insulting Lord Krishna continuously. He then challenges Lord Krishna to battle. After a fierce fight, Lord Krishna releases his chakra and beheads Sisupala. Bheeshma explains why Sisupala met his end in the hands of Lord Krishna. Sisupala's mother was Vasudeva's sister and so Lord Krishna was his cousin. When Sisupala was born he had three eyes and arms. The parents were frightened by this monstrous child. A voice from the heavens announced that the extra limbs would disappear when the baby was in the lap of its killer. The worried mother would place the baby in the lap of everyone to see who it would be. Once when Lord Krishna visited, she placed the baby in his lap and the extra organs disappeared. Lord Krishna's scared aunt made him promise not to kill her son. Lord Krishna told his aunt that he would forgive a hundred wrongs by Sisupala. Sisupala grew up to be cruel and evil. He wanted to marry Rukmini, but she chose Lord Krishna instead. He befriended Jarasandha and waged war against Lord Krishna's clansmen. Sisupala had always hated Lord Krishna and was an enemy of the Vrishnis.That day at the Rajasuya Yagna, Sisupala had crossed a line. By insulting Lord Krishna, he had to pay for his past bad actions. What began as an auspicious day for the Pandavas ended with bad omens being seen everywhere.
Saints of India
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. Remind your child to keep up with their journal writing on the values learnt from saints that they have 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 27 and 28 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.
