Hari Om! Parents,
Balavihar class began with the class doing a deep breathing exercise and Shree Ram Jayaram chanting. After opening prayers, children too turns as per their assignment and chanted Ganeshastavaha, Pancharatnam and Gita Chapter 2 - 30 shlokas.
We have assigned two shlokas each to make it easier for all for the next class.
Mahabharata
We covered the below episodes in today's class:
We started with Vanaparva today.
1. Kamyaka Forest - The Pandavas travel to teh forest and along with them the brahmins also followed. Yudhistira was worried that he did not have any means to provide food for them and told them to leave but, they insted to stay. Then, their guru Daumya suggested to him to pray to Sun God. Yudhishtira does extreme penance and Sun God blessed him with a copper bowl that would always be full. Draupati could serve food to all with it. Meanwhile, Vidura advised Dhritarashtra to call the Pandavas back But when he did not agreed, Vidura also left for the forest. He met the Pandavas but eventually Dhritarashtra called him back to the Kingdom.
2. Curse of Maitreya - The great sage Maitreya had visitetd the Kauravas and advised them not to subject Pandavas to such severe cruelty and trachery and call them back to save themselves from the wrath of Pandavas. But Duryodana smote his thigh as a gesture to show his disinterest. Maitreya hence cursed Duryodana that his thigh will be broken by Bheema and he would lose his life.
3. Krishna's visit to the Pnadavas - Krishna mentioned that he could have prevented the mishap had he not been away from Dwaraka to fight Salva. Then he pacified Draupathi that she will be avenged soon and Kauravas will be punished for their wrong doing. He even suggested to Yudhishtira that he could fight the Kauravas right away if he wished.
4. Move to Dwaitavana - The Pandavas killed many Rakshasas including Kirmeera, brother of Bhaka and then moved to a more peaceful forest called Dwaitavana. Yudhistira was enjoying the peace of the forest and was very calm and composed. Markandeya visited the Pandavas and stayed with them for a while and he observed the same composure and strength in Yudhishtira as in Lord Rama. He assured Yudhistira that he would also rule the world like Rama did.
5. Yudhistira's patience - While Arjuna, Draupathi and Arjuna were in anguish all the time and urged Yudhishtira to fight back, right away. But Yudhistira, the righteous person that he was did not at any cost want to break the promise of staying in exile for 13 years. He convinced them that all the anger that he had suppressed for the cause of Dharma would help him fight back with all the vigor if the Kauravas did not keep their word.
Saints of India
We continued with the group discussion we had started earlier that is keeping a journal of a value picked by each and writing down their experience following it.
The values could be any one of the values of any of the Saints we have seen so far. A few children volunteered and shared the value they chose and an experience.
Geeta Chanting
Shlokas 1 to 30 of Chapter 2 have already been covered through Swamiji's Gita chanting videos in class since the beginning of this year. Going forward it will be revision.
Class material needed: notebook, pencil, Balavihar Handbook (Find the online version here : https://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/images/Documents/2020_CNJ_BVHandbook_Sep_04_20.pdf),
My Prayers book. Your child can also read from C Rajagopalachari's "Mahabharata" or Kamala Subramaniam's "Mahabharata". Both these books are available on Amazon.
We joined the Main Assebly zoom at 8:20 PM to watch the monthly program performed by the 4th grade students.
Next Balavihar class will be on Apr 9, 2021. Wishing all the children and parents a wonderful spring break!
Pranam
Shanthi and Rashmi
