Hari OM Dear Families,
Here is this week's update.
Week 13:
31st January 2021 / 9:15AMClass began with opening prayers -3 OMs and followed by SahanAvavatu.
One of the students led the chanting of "Neelambuja shyamala komalaangam".
We continued to learn Naama Ramayanam- continued learning Yuddha Kaandam
Ramayana:
Indrajit went to war with great gusto and pride, confident he could beat Rama and his army. He started with psychological warfare, creating a maya Sita and making a show of her being beheaded. Rama was initially distraught, but Vibhishana quickly consoled him, saying the focus must be on stopping Indrajit from finishing his Nikumbila yagna and not in these magical distractions. Lakshmana took Rama's blessings and went to fight Indrajit. Indrajit and Lakshmana fought fiercely, and initially Lakshmana was rendered unconscious by the Shakthi astra. Jambavan instructed Hanuman to bring Sanjeevani herbs to revive him. Hanuman flew over the mountain where the herbs were, but unable to find the specified herbs, uprooted and brought the whole mountain over! Everyone praised his quick thinking and superior strength. The revived Lakshmana went back into battle and killed Indrajit. This was a huge blow to Ravana. Now left with none of his famed warriors, family or otherwise, he went to battle with Rama. At this opportune time, Indra sent his chariot along with the charioteer Matali, to help Rama. This was war beyond compare- both were phenomenal warriors, and the battle was very fierce. Rama cut off Ravana's head but another came up in its place! This happened several times and Rama was confounded. In a timely manner, Sage Agustya came and taught him the Aditya Hridaya Stotram, after chanting which Rama went to war with renewed energy. Matali now reminded Rama of the brahmastra, which upon being wielded by Rama, was successful in piercing Ravana's chest and killing him. The devas showered Rama from Heaven and praised him. The wives of Ravana wailed at his death, with Mandodari giving voice to her pent up sorrow at the thoughtless destruction of Lanka, the rakshasas and the resplendent Ravana himself. Rama instructed Vibhishana to perform Ravana's funeral rites. He also asked Lakshmana to formally crown Vibhishana the king of Lanka.
After this, Rama asked Vibhishana to get Sita to where he was. Sita was overjoyed with Vibhishana's message and wanted to go immediately, but Rama's orders were to have her bathe and change and meet him dressed royally. Sita did as Rama had asked and went to where Rama was. The place was overcrowded with vanaras eager to see them together and Sita shyly walked upto Rama. But his face was emotionless, stern even. He told her very formally that his duty to rescue her was complete. She was now free to take any husband of her choosing and leave him. Sita, who had only ever thought of Rama, was broken hearted to hear this from Rama. She asked Lakshmana to build a fire, so she could give up her life. Lakshmana looked to Rama, unsure of how to proceed. On Rama's signaling, he went ahead and built a fire. Sita entered it and immediately Agni bhagavan came out of the fire, bearing Sita, glowing evermore. He testified to her purity and asked Rama to accept her. Brahma manifested and told Rama that he was indeed Vishnu and Sita was Lakshmi, both born on Earth to ensure the end of Ravana's terror. Dasharatha then appeared and declared his pride in Rama and Sita. Blessed by all, Rama declared that he knew Sita to be pure, but had wanted to get the whole world to see her worth. Indra then appeared and praised Rama and asked to ask for a boon. Rama requested that all warriors who died for him be restored back to life. Indra granted this and all the vanaras who had died or were injured were restored back to life and good health.
Vibhishana asked Rama to stay in Lanka, but Rama's heart was already with Bharata. Vibhishana offered the Pushpaka Vimana for his travel. As everyone was eager to see Rama's coronation, all the vanaras, and Vibhishana boarded the vimana, along with Rama, Sita and Lakshmana. Rama retraced their path back to Ayodhya and showed the Sita all the sights and recounted all the stories of their exile. Stopping at Sage Bharadvaja's ashram before going to Ayodhya, Rama sent Hanuman ahead to gauge Bharata's state of mind. Bharata was emaciated, counting every moment to Rama's return. He embraced Hanuman and instantly proceeded to meet Rama and bring him back to Ayodhya to be crowned king. The coronation of Rama was a grand event, with the whole world rejoicing. Rama ruled over Ayodhya in an exemplary manner, with all the citizens feeling safe and protected.
*PS - we also had a brief discussion on the stories of Uttara Kanda, including Rama's ultimate sacrifice of Sita, the birth of Lava and Kusha in Sage Valmiki's ashram and their eventual reuniting with Rama.
This week we concluded the unit on Ramayana. We had a very interesting discussion with the children on the characters they liked the most and it was very enlightening to us to listen to the aspects of the story they had picked up on.
Hashtag Ramayana
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Gita Chanting
We started to learn the nineteenth and twentieth slokas from this year's topic- Chapter 2 Saankhya Yoga. We followed Swamiji's chanting video and we repeated it. We had volunteers leading and the rest following.
Our next class is on February 7th
Parents, please record the kids memorized video version of Gita chapter 2 (4 verses at a stretch) and send it to house email to gain points for our Bajrangi Bolt's house. Art works for art contests- you may submit now until May.. Parents are welcome to participate as well.
Please sign up for slokathon contest coming up on 3/21
And, also.., if the child completes a minimum of 10 pages of likhita japa, please take pics and send it as an attachment/link. The email to be sent is cnjbalaviharhouses@gmail.com
Please feel free to reach out in case you have any questions.
Hari OM
Abhirami Shrinivas and Vidhya Aiyer
Abhirami Shrinivas and Vidhya Aiyer
