Hari Om! Parents
Week 5 Bala Vihar class started with children writing likhita japa, 'Om Gam Ganapathaye Namah' 11 times . Please remind your child to write japa daily.
Shlokas
Om chanting, Sahana vavatu (pg 8, My Prayers Book). We then learnt all the verses of Sri Ganesha Stavah (pg 28, My Prayers Book). Children will take turns to lead the shloka every week. Please encourage your child to practice the shloka everyday.
Bhagavad Gita
We are learning part two of the Gita Chapter 2 this year from our Swamiji. Grade 5 is the Partha group, and assigned verses are 39-63 (Bala Vihar Handbook). The Gita Chanting Yagna CNJ Regionals is on April 2, 2022.
The children will take turns to lead the Gita chanting. Today we reviewed verses 39-40 and learnt verses 41- 42 (pg 22 Bala Vihar Handbook).
Your child must use the YouTube Gita Playlist to practice pronunciation of the Gita correctly.
Mahabharata
The children did a Kuru Dynasty 'family tree review' of the characters in the Mahabharata story till now.
After 16 years, the baby that Kuntidevi had abandoned has grown into a young man, Radheya. His father, Atirata, wants Radheya to be a charioteer. However, Radheya is only interested in archery and tells his mother about this. The mother, Radha, then reveals the true story about him. Atirata, finds a box when he is doing his morning prayers near the river. He brings it home to his wife, Radha. Inside the box is a beautiful baby boy wearing kundala and kavacha. They thank Surya Bhagwan for this blessing and name the baby Vasushena. They bring up the adopted child with a lot of love and care. Radha tells him that since he was wrapped in costly silk and placed in an ornate box, he must be a kshatriya by birth. Radheya is shocked to hear that a princess had abandoned him as a baby, but is grateful that he had been adopted by loving parents. Taking his mother's blessings, Radheya sets out to find a guru who would teach him archery. He wanted to achieve his dream of becoming the best archer.
First he approaches Dronacharya, who refuses since Radheya is a sutaputra. Next he goes to sage Bhargava and pleads with him to be his guru. Radheya says that he is a brahmana and the sage accepts him as a student. After a lot of hard work and dedication, Radheya completes his archery lessons. Sage Bhargava teaches him the use of Brahmastra and Bhargavastra. The guru is pleased with him, he advises Radheya to use the knowledge only for a righteous cause and to never misuse it. A tired sage lays his head on Radheya's lap for a nap. An insect starts biting Radheya on his thigh, and in spite of the unbearable pain Radhya does not move. The sage wakes up when he feels the blood on his face and is shocked that a mere brahmana was able to endure such pain for such a long time. When the sage demands an explanation, Radheya confesses to being a sutaputra and begs for forgiveness. Sage Bhargava is angered at this deceitful behaviour. He curses Radheya that his memory would fail when he needs his important weapon the most. No amount of pleading by Radheya changes the sage's mind.
A dejected Radheya is returning back home when an animal crosses his path. In a flash, Radheya kills it with his arrow thinking it is a wild animal. He sees that it is actually a cow belonging to a brahmana. When he approaches the brahmana to ask forgiveness, the distraught brahmana curses Radheya. The brahmana says just as his innocent cow was killed without any warning, Radheya's chariot wheel will sink and he would be killed in battle when he least expects it. With a heavy heart Radheya returns home and does not reveal any of this to his parents. Resolved to his fate, Radheya prepares to go to Hastinapura to show his skills and earn a place in the royal palace.
Guru Dronacharya announces an exhibition tournament to show off the skills of all his students. The entire Kuru clan including the queens Gandhari and Kuntidevi come to watch the princes. In an arena filled with people, one by one the Kauravas and Pandavas take turns to demonstrate their skills. Soon a fight breaks out between Duryodana and Bhimasena, and the guru has to stop it. Next it is Arjuna's turn and he dazzles everyone with his demonstration. Suddenly the deafening noise of the twang of a bow is heard and people see Radheya enter the arena. Radheya asks permission to show his skills and soon surpasses Arjuna in his demonstration. Kuntidevi recognises the kundala and kavacha and faints with the shock of seeing her first born son. However she does not reveal the secret to anyone. Radheya challenges Arjuna to a duel, but Kripacharya first asks him his identity. When Radheya says he is a sutaputra, he is dismissed as being unfit to duel a high born prince like Arjuna. The guru does not permit the duel saying it is not among equals. Duryodana stands up for the humiliated Radheya and says a skilled warrior has to be recognised irrespective of birth. He crowns Radheya the king of Anga and demands that Radheya be treated equally among princes. In gratitude, Radheya pledges his friendship to Duryodana and promises to always be on his side. As the tournament day ends, Duryodana is happy to have won the support of such a skilled warrior. On the other hand, Yudhistira is worried that, with Radheya's support the Kauravas had become invincible.
We paused the story here for a break and did body stretching exercises.
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India, the Sacred Land
Sant Kabira lived in Uttar Pradesh in the 14th through 16th Century, he lived for over a hundred years. He was adopted by a muslim couple but chose Sant Ramananda as his guru. He was a weaver and attracted both Hindu and Muslim followers beacuse of his compassion towards all. Sant Kabira wrote couplets which became the famous 'Kabir ke dohe'. Through these he used to point out the negative elements in the society. We discussed few of his 'dohe' - 'what difference will cleaning and taking a bath will do when the mind is full of dirt', 'give up the ego, speak words that soothe others, and in turn soothe yourself', 'Actions (good or bad) never go to waste, the result will come in time'. Sant Kabira died in Magahar, and his body turned into flowers which were distributed among his Hindu and Muslim followers. Some of the key values we learnt from Sant Kabira's life are:- Make mind pure, Speak cool, Speak truth, Be Godly.
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 mantra and pledge recitation. Please remind your child to stay back for aarti and pledge, even though it is a virtual one.
- Rashmi Kuroodi and Shanthi Chidambaram
Materials needed for every class: notebook & pen for the likhita japa, My Prayers book for the shlokas, Bala Vihar Handbook for the Gita Chanting, aarti and pledge recitation.