Hari Om!
Dear parents,
Hope you all had a nice thanksgiving. Below is a quick summary of class before the break.
11/19/21 Class Update
We started the class with the opening prayers and likhita japa.
ShlokaWe revised the all three stanzas of the Ganesha stavaha (Pg No. 28 in the 'My Prayers Book'). Children volunteered and took turns to sing by themselves or repeat after the teacher if they needed help. We have also started with the Ganesha Pancharatnam.
Bhagavat Gita
Children volunteered and chanted the shlokas 39-46 as a revision of the shlokas learned so far. Two students volunteered to repeat after Swaamiji for the new lesson of 47 and 48.
Please note that we are learning part two of the Gita Chapter 2 this year, from our Swamiji. For Grade 5 (Partha group) assigned verses are 39-63 (Pg 22, Bala Vihar Handbook) .
Your child must use this YouTube Gita Playlist to practice pronunciation of the Gita correctly.
The Gita Chanting Yagna CNJ Regionals is on April 2, 2022.
Mahabharata
We did a recap of the story so far and continued with the below episodes of Mahabharata.
1. Bheemaa's marriage with Hidimbi
After the escape from the wax palace, the Pandavas reached Siddhavata. Bheema carried his mother and brothers further South. After a while Kunti got extremely tired. Bheema brought water for them and watched them while they rested under a tree. Two Rakshasa Hidimba and HIdimbi, brother and sister, were ruling that forest and the sister had come to get the humans as food for her brother. But she was caught by Bheema's attractive appearance and fell in love immediately, changed her appearance and wanted to marry him. She told about herself and told she could help them escape from her brother. Bheema, however, was confident that he could kill Hidimba and protect himself , Hidimbi who took refuge in him and also rid the forest of the Rakshasa. He did as he promised and also married Hidimbi after his mother and brothers convinced him.
2. Birth of Gatotkacha
Hidimbi took them all to a sacred lake called Salivahana and also built a beautiful cottage for them to live in. Bheema and Hidimbi started their life together on the condition that Bheema had to leave once a son was born to them. Ghatotkaacha was born and had become a favorite in the family. Soon they all left Hidimbi and Ghattotkacha, pacifying her told that whenever he thought of her she should come back to him.
3. Ekachakra and Bakasura
The Pandavaas moved to Ekachakra disguised as brahmins. They sought shelter at a brahmin's house and earned their living by begging. There lived a Rakshasa called Bakasura to whom the villagers took turns and sacrificed one member from their family and a cart full of food each week. When it was the turn of the brahmi's family, Bheema intervened and went with a cartful of food on their behalf. Bheemaa happily ate all the food and with his strength and eagerness to help the villagers, he crushed Bakasura to death in no time. He also warned the brahmin's family not to tell anyone about him but to just tell that it was an angel who came and helped and had disappeared thereafter.
4. The traveler who came to Ekachakra
The Pandavas continued to live in Ekachakra. A brahmin who had been traveling around came to Ekachakra and brought news Pandavas aas heard, the Kauravas and about the Swayamvara to be conducted by King Drupada, the King of Panchalas. He also told that the main intent of the Swayamvara was to find Arjuna who was meant to marry his daughter, Princess Draupati. With Kunti's acceptance and encouragement, the Pandavas leave for Kampilya, the capital of Panchalas .
5. Meeting Angaaravarna
On their way, the Pandava wanted to cool their feet in the river Ganga as they passed by. But there was a Gandharva called Angaaraavarna who was taking a bath with his wives and warned them from entering the river. Arjuna got furious and insisted that the lakes and mountains can never be private and belonged to all. The Gandharva threatened him that he would use violence and force them out. Soon there was a fight. Arjuna found the Gandharvaa's attempt foolish and shoots the astra called Aaneya which went spitting fire and destroyed the wheels of the Gandhaarva's chariiot of which he was very proud of . He felt ashamed because he used to be called Chitraaratha because of his beautiful chariot. He decided to call himself Daagdaratha from then on and wanted to make friends with Arjunaa. He offered them his beautiful horse which never got fatigued and instead wanted to learn the incantations of using the Astra from Arjuna. Arjuna accepted them but told him that he would take it later when he would need them. The Gandharva also advised them that they needed to have Kulaguru and suggested that 'Dhaumya' would be perfect for them. The Pandavas soon found Dhaumya and he agreed to be their Guru, pleased by their humility and behavior.
Saints
In today's class we learned about Sant Tukarama.
Saint Tukaraama lived in the 17th century in Maharashtra. Sant Tukaram Maharaj is best known for his devotional poetry called Abhanga and community-oriented worship with spiritual songs known as keerthans. His poetry is devoted to Lord Vithoba. He was very patient, forgiving and always kind to people even when they were rude to him. He found great joy in sharing even the very little amount of whatever he had with others.
The key values taught by him were:
Be forgiving
Be courteous
Be kind
Share
Hari Om,
Shanthi and Rashmi