Hari Om Dear Parents,
Here is this week's update: Mar 19th 2021
As always we begin our class with Likhita Japa, Opening Prayers, Dhyana Shloka
We then did a simple demonstration of a working boomerang (hand made) to reiterate the point that what goes around comes around or as they say "As you sow, so shall you reap" - the "boomerang effect."
Keys to Success: We continued with our discussion of characteristics we learn from Dharma Chariot. We started the session with the discussion on various Dharma – Samanya, Asamanya , Vishesha Dharma and Appat Dharma. In this session our focus was to learn about the flag- representing satya (truthfulness) and shila (good character).
The flags of the Dharma Chariot represent Truthfulness and Good Character. The famous story of the boy that cried wolf that we all know is one of the best examples of the importance of being truthful! We should never compromise on our integrity and credibility.
Good character is developed by repeatedly choosing to do the right/good thing consistently. Being in the company of good people is called Satsang. The greatness of Satsang was described in a story about the divine sage Narada. He asked Lord Vishnu about the power of Satsang. Lord Vishnu told him to ask a new born baby parrot in a forest. When sage Narada did, the baby parrot fell dead. He was then asked to go ask a baby calf and the same thing happened. He then was asked to go to a baby foal in the royal stables with his question. Yet again, the same thing happened. Finally, Lord Vishnu told Sage Narada to go ask the newborn prince in the king's palace. Reluctantly the sage went, a little worried about what will happen to the prince in the king's palace. Reluctantly the sage went, a little worried about what will happen to the prince. The baby prince then told Sage Narada that he was indeed the parrot, the calf and the foal and the brief interaction with the great Narada had elevated him from a mere parrot in the forest to the son of the king! That is the power of Satsang. True to the famous saying, " Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are!", it is very important to keep the company of good people with values and virtues, be it peers or adults in our lives! Finally, if we want to build a strong wall, we have to make sure every brick is equally strong. Similarly in order to build a good character, every action and choice we make should be consistently good!
We then concluded the "Keys to success" topic with introduction of the next 4 characteristics - Bala (Strength) , Bibeka (Discrimination) , Dama (Control of senses) and Prahitha (Caring for others) which are represented by the 4 horses of the chariot. We will continue the discussion on this topic in the next class.
Earlier, we also saw a video on the Vibhishana gita chanting verses.
GiTa Chanting
We learned the final verses assigned for this year from chapter 2 sankhya yoga – Verses 34 - 38 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4zgT395g5g
We also revised verses 13-16. Mridhula led chanting and the rest of the class followed
There was a presentation by 4th grade children, for which we joined and concluded with the pledge after the show.
Reminder : Slokathon on 3/21 and Gita chanting on 4/10
Our next balavihar session on 4/9.
Thank you.
Hari OM
Shankar, Purnima and Vidhya
