Hari Om parents,
Here is a brief summary of our class-
1. We started with 3 OM's and "sahna bhavtu" followed by shlokas for Lord Ganesha, Devi Saraswati & our Guru.
2. We chanted the Dhyaan shlok and went over the meanings.
3. Hanuman Chalisa- We chanted the Hanuman Chalisa halfway through. It was good to see kids starting to chant.
4. Story time- A curse or a boon.
Once upon a time there was a beautiful Apsara called Pumjisthala who lived in heavens. She was very mischievous. Once she disturbed a sage in his meditation. The sage became angry and cursed her saying that she would be born as a female monkey in her next life. Pumjisthala was shocked. She cried and apologized profusely. The sage's heart melted. He said he could not undo the curse, but said that she would be free from the curse after giving birth to Lord Shiva.
As the stage promised, Pumjisthala was reborn as Anjana and, together with her husband Kesari lived a life of chastity and purity. She performed austerities for many years and worshipped Lord Shiva. Pleased with her devotion, Lord Shiva granted her a boon which would free her from the curse.
When Ravana's atrocities were increasing and he was playing havoc in the world, all the gods pray to lord Vishnu. The devas appealed to the Lord that the earth cannot take much more of this misery and requested the Lord to come and save everyone. Lord said, I will take birth as Rama, to free the earth from the evil grip of Ravana. Since Lord Vishnu himself was coming on the earth all the devas wanted to come and serve the Lord.
Lord Shiva also wanted to serve Rama.He thought, If he comes as a member of his family, Rama May hesitate to take services from Shiva. But if he comes in a lower form as a monkey there will be no such problem. Thinking thus, he placed his tejas, brilliance in Sri Hanuman to serve Lord Rama. Therefore, Sri Hanuman is also known as an incarnation of Lord Shiva. His father's name was Kesari, which means lion. Therefore Sri Hanuman is born of a lion like monkey who is fearless, brave and strong. Sri Hanuman purifies everybody that comes in contact with, like the wind God. Therefore, Hanumanji is ~
* Pavansutta - son of Lord Pavana(wind)
* Anjaniputra. - son of Anjana
* Kesarinadana- son of Kesari
5. Game time- We played a unjumble game on Hanuman Chalisa. It was good to see kids actively participating. Here is the link if kids want to play:
6. Game time- Hanuman Vadati with a twist. A game to get you up, stretching and moving and teaching you these movement related Sanskrit words.
7. Brainstorming: What are some qualities of a good messenger? A good messenger is one who promptly delivers the right message, to the right person, at the right time. One can be a messenger only if one has many good qualities and is trustworthy. Some of the qualities are-
* One must be capable of delivering the message to the right person
* One must be smart enough to recognize the right situation in which the message should be delivered
* One must be clever enough to understand, remember, and deliver the right message with brevity and clarity
* One must be able to deliver the message in time, cannot afford to be lazy.
Whenever anyone asked Hanuman ji who he was, he would simply say, Rama door, which means messenger of Lord Rama. This is a true reflection of his humility and a great reflection of keeping lord Rama in his ❤️all the time.
8. Gita Chanting- we chanted verses 11&12.
After the class everyone joined the assembly to watch 7th graders performance. It was awesome!
Regards,
Chitra & Rupa.
