Dear Parents and Students,
Hari OM!
Below are the details of what we covered in class today.
· We started by chanting OM three times, and our opening prayers
· We continued with attendance and then learnt the first verse of Guru Stotram
This year we will be learning Guru Stotram and Dashavatara stotram as part of our syllabus.
· We continued with a quick recap of last week's class reviewing facts such as:
o What curriculum book we will be learning this year
o What Avatara means
o What are the different avatars of Lord Vishnu
o And what does Bhagavatam teach us
· In today's lesson, the focus was about the background of Bhagavatam and the story of Sage Naradaji
o We talked about just like how we go to schools, hundreds of years ago, kids went to Gurukulas – Usually, these were in forests where students stayed with their teachers to learn.
o In a forest called Naimisharanya, there was a Gurukula where Rishi Shaunaka lived with his disciples
o Every morning, the disciples and Rishi Shaunaka along with other sages performed yagna.
o We talked about what a yagna meant, a fire ritual that is performed as an offering of prayers.
o One fine day, Rishi Sutaji came to visit the Gurukula. In order for the children to learn more from Sutaji, Rishi Shaunaka asked Sutaji, "Please teach us how can a person be good and happy forever
o Sutaji smiled and shared on how the Bhagavatam has the answer to it, and it has 18,000 verses. Also, that it was written by Rishi Veda Vyasa.
o The poem describes the stories of God, why and how God descended on earth as avatars to help his devotees and remove evil.
o We discussed on how Bhagavatam was written –Rishi Veda Vyasa had his ashram on the banks of River Saraswati. One fine day as he was looking at the ripples of water in the river, he was feeling sad, and could not fully comprehend the source of his sadness. At that time Sage Naradaji came into the ashram, and wanted to check on Vyasaji.
o We discussed how when we see a friend sad, we would want to check on them and make sure they are ok.
o Similarly, Naradaji's remedy for Vyasaji's feeling of unrest is to sing the glories of the Lord.
o Just like Vyasaji, we too must sing the glories of the Lord when we get sad, and in order to get out of it.
o We learnt about who Naradaji was – while growing up he used to see the saints and rishis come to the ashram and sing the praise of the Lord. Naradaji started singing songs the glories of Lord Narayana from the age of 5.
o When his mom died in the ashram due to a snake bite, he left the ashram and found a nice place to meditate. At that point, Bhagwan blessed him to be reborn as the son of Brahmaji. Few years later, Naradaji passed away and was reborn as son of Brahma. The devas blessed him with an instrument the Veena that he carries along with him everywhere
o It is believed that Naradaji is among us singing the Lord's praises, and he says that when he sings the glories of the Lord, his form comes to his mind, and that makes him happy!
· We asked the kids to devote a notebook for Bala Vihar, to note down names of important places and people so they can remember them easily.
· We played a quiz to recap what we learnt today in class
· Activity for the day:
o We did a Ganesha art activity. We walked through steps to draw Lord Ganesha, and then how we say Om Gam Ganapathaye Namaha! And pray to Lord Ganesha to remove all our obstacles!
o We asked the kids to color the pictures after the class and ask their parents to post it to the whatsapp group for parents.
· Geeta chanting:
o We listened to Swamiji's message for kids about Geeta chanting
§ We are blessed to have this opportunity to review second half of Geeta Chapter 2
§ Lord Krishna focuses on Karma Yoga, Skill in action, Dexterity in action. Lord Krishna shares techniques by which one can lead a dharmic life, and concludes with how a man of realization (Jeevan Muktha) lives
o We reviewed the alphabets with sounds using the Geeta chanting primer - Kids repeated after the teacher and we took turns. Please review with kids and support their practice https://youtu.be/HkuUCKp3BW0
· After that we wrapped up with Aarathi, and the Chinmaya pledge.
Have a wonderful week.
With sincere and warm regards,
Vasudha and Aruna
(Chinmaya Vrindavan Bala Vihar Grade 3 Teachers)