Hari Om Parents,
Below is a recap of what we did during Sunday's class. We began another delightful Sunday morning with our eager kids' faces popping up on our screens. Once we had most of our friends join our session, we began our class with 3 OMs.
Shlokas:
1. "Om Saha Navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
2. "Vakrathunda Mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book)
3. "Saraswathi Namasthubhyam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
4. "Karagre Vasate" (page 11 in My Prayers book)
5. "Samudhra Vasane" (page 11 in My Prayers book)
6. "Shubam Karoti" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
7. "Gurur Brahma" (page 60 in My Prayers book)
8. "Brahmarpanam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
9. "Krishnaya Vasudevaya" (page 105 in My Prayers book)
10. "Sri Rama Rama" (page 129 in My Prayers book)
11. "Budhir Balam" (page 152 in My Prayers book)
12. "Kara Charana" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
We had a brief moment to greet everyone, then we moved on to Krishnaashtakam (page 109-green book/155-blue My Prayers book). We chanted the 1st shloka (Vasudeva sudam) together and introduced shloka 2 (Athasi pushapa). We discussed the meaning of the 2nd shloka of how Lord Krishna looks amazing, adorned with Athasi flowers (blue flax flowers), He who shines resplendent with the jewels like harams and anklets. The one who wears a bracelet (like Kankana) made with precious gems, I bow to you Lord Krishna, the teacher of the world. We repeated the shloka twice.
We began our second teacher with a riddle. After the first clue popped up on the screen, our smart group of kids immediately started raising their hands. We waited till all the clues came up & of course, all the kids had their hands up eagerly waiting to be called on to give the answer..."AIR"! Then 2 different images were shown on the screen. The first one was of a lovely rose garden, the kids were asked if they have smelt a rose before. Most of them nodded saying yes. Then the second image was of a dumpster, most kids had sort of a disgusted look on their faces. They were asked if they had been around one and most were plugging their noses! The kids were told that air by itself is ever pure and unattached. Air teaches us not to get attached.
Air wanders around everywhere. Just like air, we wander around and mingle with a lot of different people. Learning from air, we should take only what is necessary and should not pickup any bad habits from others and never forget our goal. Air teaches us to be pure and uncontaminated by the surroundings. We then began showing multiple images of "junk" food on the screen, like donuts, french fries, soft drinks, pastries, pizza..., most of our kids didn't seem tempted :) (pizza was the only one that got a little bit tempting) We have a class of healthy eating kids!!! Then we discussed what kind of snacks they enjoy. That led to a conversation about what would happen if we consumed snacks and junk food all day! We came to a conclusion that it would make us sick!!! Air teaches us to eat only what we need to keep the body nourished. An occasional snack/treat/goodie is always acceptable.
An image of a room filled with tons of different clothes scattered everywhere and a confused girl in the middle trying to pick out what to wear, was shown on the screen. We had a discussion about having way too many choices, unable to pick what to wear and the fact that we don't necessarily need that many sets of clothes. The girls were like...ooo ya, we have a room like that, the boys didn't really have much to say for this picture. Then an image of a room filled with toys all over the floor was shown. Both girls and boys participated, saying that they all have a ton of toys, some that they play with on a regular basis and most toys they have out grown. We then briefly discussed goals, having goals, making goals and setting up plans to reach those goals. We then had a short story about a 15 year old John Goddard, who made a lifetime goals list, that contained 127 goals and at the age of 87, was able to complete 109 of them. An image of a boy tied by string to several things like a computer, toys, books, t.v., pets, food/snacks, etc. was shown on the screen. We discussed that we don't carry everything around with us everywhere. Hence we try to detach.
We then moved into our next chapter of Krishna Everywhere, Mother Earth in Distress. Those who ask questions about Lord Krishna, those who tell stories about Lord Krishna and those who listen to stories of Lord Krishna, are all blessed and purified. Before we began the story, the kids were asked if they knew who the Trimurthi are. The kids seemed confused. Then Deven was able to answer once three images popped up on the screen. Lord Brahma-the creator, Lord Vishnu-the protector and Lord Shiva-the destroyer. An image was shown on the screen and the kids were asked to identify him. One said Asura, another said Demon and another said Rakshasa. All three were correct. We began the story by saying the earth was being terrorized by demons. Mother Earth was unable to bare the pain and burden, took the form of a cow and rushed to Lord Brahma in tears. An image of this scene was shown on the screen. Lord Brahma immediately gathered other devas and requested Lord Shiva to join them and approached Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu told them that He would be born on earth and will make Mother Earth happy again.
We then discussed all the various ways we are causing harm to Mother Earth now. We had kids take turns and share examples. They came up with water pollutions, global warming, air pollution, trash, Covid etc. We also discussed the ill effects of people lying, not recycling, people being lazy and cheating. Multiple images of earth in distress was shown on the screen. We then went on to the story of Lord Krishna's birth.
A long time ago in ancient India, there lived King Ugrasena in the city of Mathura. He had two children, prince Kansa and princess Devaki. King Ugrasena was a good king. Unfortunately, Prince Kansa was evil by nature. When Kansa grew up, he imprisoned his own father Ugrasena and made himself king!
Soon, Kansa's sister Devaki was married to King Vasudev. He loved his sister so much, so he decided to become charioteer for a day. A puppet of Kansa, Devaki and Vasudev on a chariot was shown on the screen. When he drove the chariot, Kansa heard a divine warning from the sky, "O King! Your sister's eighth son will grow up to defeat you." After Kansa heard this, he was afraid. Immediately he imprisoned his own sister Devaki and her husband king Vasudev, and kept them guarded and watched 24/7.
Each time Devaki gave birth to a child in the prison, Kansa arrived personally and took the child away. The seventh time Devaki was pregnant, that child was secretly taken away and handed over to Rohini and was named Balrama. When Devaki became pregnant for the eighth time, King Vasudev's friend's (King Nanda's) wife Yashoda was also pregnant. Lord Vishnu appeared in Devaki and Vasudev's dream and He told them that He will be born as Krishna and He gave Vasudev instructions of what to do. A puppet of this scene was shown on the screen.
The eighth child, Lord Krishna, was born to queen Devaki at midnight in the prison. As soon as the child was born. Lord Vishnu appeared in divine form and the prison was filled with a dazzling light. Both Devaki and Vasudev prayed to Lord Vishnu. At the same time as Lord Krishna was born in the prison, the divine energy of Lord Vishnu was born in Gokul, as a baby girl to queen Yashoda.
A divine message came to Vasudev soon after the birth of Lord Krishna, "Take this child across the Yamuna River to Gokul and exchange Him with Yashoda's daughter. You will return to the prison before anyone comes to know about the birth of this child."
Vasudev immediately followed the advice. As he carried the child in his arms, he found that the prison doors opened automatically and the guards were put to sleep by God. Puppets of prison doors open was shown on the screen. Before he knew it, Vasudeva along with Sesh nag behind him a companion with his new born baby, were on the streets of Mathura. We paused our story here. The kids were eager to hear more and wanted to know how Mother Earth was actually protected from the demons. We had to tell them that they would be getting those answers over the course of the year!
We then played a Word Wall game and found the names of our 24 teachers. The kids had a nice time and have requested more Word Wall activities. We followed along with Swamiji, chanting shlokas 39 and 40 in Chapter 2 of the Geetha. We concluded our class with Aarthi and Pledge.
Note:
1. Please have kids come to class with the handbook (if they don't have one, please print it out, the digital handbook is on our website), My Prayers book, a notebook and a sharpened pencil.
2. In observance of Navarthiri, there will be NO Balavihar class on Sunday, the 10th. Our next class will be on Sunday, the 17th.
Wishing you all a very Happy Navarathiri season!
Pranam,
Keerthi & Neelima