Hari Om, greetings and Namaste.
This is the summary of the two sessions on Sept 24th and Oct 2nd.
The routine of the Balavihar session is we start with Likitha Japa (paper & pencil), followed by invocation prayers, daily prayers and Krishashatakam.As per practice,
This years curriculum consists of two cantos of
- Krishnashtakam https://youtu.be/-OqY_ZbIT-k
- Shree Govinda Damodara stotram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--3BXJuMVQ0
- Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10 deals with the birth and childhood happenings of Lord Krishna - Sree Krishna Leelas
- 1and the 1th Canto also known as Avadhoota Gita is a dialog between Sage Dattatreya and a king Yadu as retold by lord Krishna to his favourite disciple Uddhava, just before lord Krishna's end of his avatar.
- Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 - Sankhya yoga verses 39-72 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwv-WSJSokEORu2iEsVanXQhQHOoiiQIy
We started off the class with daily prayers and recitation of the daily prarthana slokas - Karagre vasate Lakshmi.... While most kids are well versed in the verses, they need daily practice - These are simple slokas, one is supposed to recite them as you get up early in the morning - Karagre Vasathe Lakshmi, your are seeking the blessings of goddess Lashmi, maa Sarswati and Govinda - translated into prosperity, knowledge and Govinda the symbol of selfless action. A profound verse that essentially trains you from the very early morning that wealth, knowledge is bestowed upon by those who believe in action, work and effort - hands. It is asking everyone to get up early in the morning to get up and be ready for action without putting too much faith in what or how the results will be. This is what our coaches tell them daily when they go out to play tennis, badminton, soccer etc.. do your best. We will continue with the rest of the slokas in the next blogs. There is enthusiastic participation from a number of kids, we would like to see all kids practice at home and participate in the class. Please help your kids in reciting these on a daily basis. After the daily prayers, we launched the learning of Krishnashtakam - as ashtakam of lord Krishna verses 1-4. Once again please spend a few minutes with the kids for help with the slokas.
We started with the opening chapter of Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10/ chapter 10 Sri Krishna Leelas the origins of birth Lord Krishna. To recount briefly the back story of Krishna's birth - mother earth pleads with lord Brahma to restore balance on earth as the scale of sins was becoming too heavy and the population is victimized. Bramaji accompanied with goddess earth Vishnu Loka or Vaikuntam pray to Lord Vishnu and seek his help in mitigating mother earth's suffering. Lord Vishnu assures both of them that in due course when the time is ripe, he will re-incarnate on earth and take care of the evil doers.
The episode starts with Kamsa - son of Ugrasena happily celebrating the marriage of his beloved cousin Devaki to neighbouring state's prince Vasudeva. After the pompous marriage ceremony, Kamsa himself volunteers to be the Sarathee - the driver of the carriage that was splendorous with the most beautiful and bright gems that it was decked in, with Devaki and Vasudeva riding in the carriage on their way to Vasudava's home as per tradition. As the chariot moved through the crowded streets of Mathura and was reaching the outskirts - a booming voice out of nowhere shook the horses and Kamsa and the carriage came to a screeching halt. The akashvani, boomign voice continued - oh stupid Kamsa you donot know what you are doing, you are clebrating your own death by the hands of your sister's progeny. Having heard such an atrocious statement and shaken to the core with fear - Kamasa loses any semblance of rationality. He jumps out of the chariot with is swords drawn and heading towards Devaki. Such is the power of rage, anger that overcomes every one when confronted with the fear of death!!
As Kamsa grabs his sister Devaki by her hair and about to slay her with severing her head from her body, Vasudeva who dearly loved Devaki falls to the feet of Kamsa and pleads with him for a moment of restraint. At this moment, Kamsa regains a modicum of composure, kicks Vasudeva away, and continues to proceed to beheading Devaki. Vasudeva rushes and holds up Kamsa's hand holding the sword and states - how can he kill his own sister whom he loved so much and who is still in her full bridal attire, besides the akashvani only stated that it was the 8th progeny who will be cause of Kamsa's death and promises to bring every child born to them, to Kamsa. Having regained some senses and hearing this promise, settles down and let's go of Devaki. He asks his guards to take both Devaki and Vasudeva into prison to spend rest of their lives
As years rolled by, the couple (devaki & Vasudeva) had their first child. As per the promise given to Kamsa, Vasudeva takes the child to Kamss, who let's Vasudeva off with the child saying that he was only interested in the 8th child not the first one. Vasudeva returns to the prison, but in the meantime, sage Narada - the celestial carrier of messages comes, sage Narada's entry is always a harbinger of good, even though it seems it is destructive initially. After having received Kamsa's hospitality, Narada muni inquires why he let go the first child of Devaki. Kamasa recounts how only the 8th child is his destroyer and he did not want to unnecessarily kill all the other seven. To which muni replies what a fool kamsa was, to let go as all the remaining siblings, as they could come to the rescue of the 8th child and could collectively kill him. Kamasa gets very agitated upon hearing and soon sets out to the prison to kill the child. Such is the state of all of us who are very insecure and susceptible for manipulation by the strong. One of the kids asked a very pertinent question - why did Narada encourage Kamsa to do more evil things. As I said earlier, there is always a good that comes out of Narada's visit. Narada wanted to hasten the downfall of Kamasa and alleviate mother earth's suffering quickly.
After the conclusion of story time, it was time for Gita slokas, we covered slokas 39-42. Please use the link above and ensure kids practice regularly. After Gita chanting, we concluded the class with aarati and pledge.
Please note there is no class on 10/8. We will regroup the following Friday. Please get your kids involved in the Navratri celebrations and make sure you tell them the significance of Navratri and each of your family's traditional ways to celebrate Navratri.
Until we meet next
Shivram & Meena
Until next week