Hari Om! Parents
We request that you remind your child to sign into class promptly, keep their video ON throughout the class, stay till class ends and to participate in aarti.
Week 3 Bala Vihar class started with children writing likhita japa, 'Om Gam Ganapathaye Namah' 11 times .
Shlokas
Om chanting, Sahana vavatu (pg 8, My Prayers Book). We then learnt the first two verses of Sri Ganesha Stavah (pg 28, My Prayers Book). Children will take turns to lead the shloka every week. Please use the audio shared on the Parent WhatsApp group and encourage your child to practice everyday.
Bhagavad Gita
We are learning Gita Chapter 2 this year from our Swamiji. Every class two children will take turns to lead the Gita chanting. Today we chanted the prelude, verse 39 and verse 40 (pg 22 Bala Vihar Handbook). Grade 5, is the Partha group, and assigned verses are 39-63 (Bala Vihar Handbook). Your child must use the YouTube Gita Playlist to practice chanting correctly.
Mahabharata
The children took turns with the recap of the story so far and remembered the prasangas very well!
We continued the story with Bheeshma raising his three nephews. Dhritarashtra was made yuvaraja, brave Pandu was made army commander and led several crusades expanding the Kuru kingdom. The wise Vidura was trained to be minister and advisor to the blind Dhritarashtra. Bheeshma picked the beautiful, pious Gandhari to be Dhritarastra's wife. After a grand wedding, Gandhari ties a cloth over her eyes and sacrifices her sight for her blind husband. The princess from Madra kingdom, Maadri, chooses Pandu as her husband in a swayamvara.
The king of Vrishnis had a son, Vasudeva and a daughter, Pritha. A cousin, king Kuntibhoja was childless and adopted Pritha, bringing her up as his own. Pritha came to be known as Kunti. Sage Durvasa visited them and Kunti performed his seva with dedication. The sage was pleased and taught her an incantation that would summon any Devata from the heavens. The curious young girl tried it on Surya deva, and the sun god appeared before her. He blessed her with a beautiful baby boy adorned with kavacha and kundala. As a young unmarried girl, Kunti could not raise a baby. She wrapped the baby in silk, placed it in a wooden box and blessed her first born with a long life. She then set the box afloat in the river, praying to the gods to keep him safe.. Several years later, as a young woman, Kunti chooses Pandu to be her husband.
One day Pandu kills two deer frollicking in the forest, the deer are actually a sage and his wife. For his bad action, Pandu is cursed to die. We discussed how the actions we do, either knowingly or unknowingly, have consequences. We spoke about being mindful and thinking before acting. Pandu decides to spend the rest of his life as a hermit and gives up all luxuries of life. Kunti and Maadri also follow their husband and they all live in the Satasringa forest, far away from Hastinapura.
Pandu realises he has no heir to carry on his name, and Kunti tells him about the special incantation. Pandu asks Kunti to summon Yama Dharmaraja, and soon they are blessed with a baby boy. The heavens proclaim that the boy,Yudhistira, is Dharma personified and will uphold righteousness. A year later Pandu asks Kunti to summon Vayu deva, and the wind god blesses them with a strong baby boy. The heavens proclaim that Bhimasena would be undefeatable by anyone on Earth. A year later, with the blessings of Indra deva, another baby boy is born. They name him Arjuna and the heavens proclaim he will be famous for eons to come. Vasudeva's son Krishna, avatara of Bhagwan Vishnu, is Narayana and along with Arjuna as Nara, together they will defeat all evil on Earth. Kunti teaches Maadri the incantation and with the blessings of Ashwini Kumara, she has twin boys. The heavens proclaim they will be the most handsome and wisest of all men and are named Nakula and Sahadeva.
The sons of Pandu or Pandavas, grow up among the great sages of Satasringa forest. Suka, a great acharya, becomes their guru. He teaches the princes the use of several weapons. Yudhistira mastered the javelin, Bhimasena the mace, Arjuna bow and arrows, Nakula and Sahadeva swordsmanship and horsemanship. Suka acharya is so pleased with Arjuna that he gives him his own bow.
Meanwhile in Hastinapura, the same day as Bhimasena's birth, queen Gandhari gives birth to a baby boy in the middle of the night. They name him Duryodhana, but bad omens are seen throughout the kingdom. The worried king Dhritarashtra talks to Vidura, who warns the king that this baby would bring the destruction of the Kuru clan. Vidura advises the king to kill the baby and save many innocent lives. Dritarashtra refuses to do it, since the baby is his first born son. Later Gandhari became mother to hundred sons and one daughter, Dussala. We paused the story here for this week.
India, the Sacred Land
Auvaiyar, is a great saint from Tamil Nadu. Even as a young girl she had mastered composing beautiful Tamil verses. She refused to be married, instead she took to becoming a simple ascetic She was so renowned far and wide, that powerful kings came to her for advice. Her advice to us is to: do good deeds and reap benefits, balance your life with positivity, think before you do and that happy actions give happy results. The key message/ values of Saint Auvaiyar are to: Be positive, Be steadfast, Do good, Keep harmony.
The children were asked to keep a journal about how they used the saint's values in their everyday life. It will be our weekly discussion topic going forward.
Class ended with aarti, shanthi mantras and pledge recitation.
- Rashmi Kuroodi and Shanthi Chidambaram
Materials needed for every class: notebook & pen for likhita japa, My Prayers book for shlokas, Bala Vihar Handbook for Gita Chanting, aarti, pledge