High Level Agenda:
· Chanting OM and opening prayer
· Guru Stotram (Verse 1, 2 , 3, 4, 5 and 6)
· Special guest Akalkaji and her story today on using knowledge
· Geeta Chanting – Refresh verse 39, 40, 41 and 42 and Attendance
· Recap of last class - Quiz
· Topics for today – Stories that show
o Standing by his word to the Lord done by Kardama
o Devotion of Devahuti
o What does tapas mean, and taking a vow
o How to gain a pure heart and 7 principles to follow to attain a pure heart
· Recap quiz
· Art activity for 'I promise', and gratitude flower
· Geeta Chanting – Verses 43, 44
· Wrap-up
Request to Parents:
· Please support your child to reflect on the 'I promise' activity that they did to see how they did with keeping up to their 'I promise' vows that they took.
· Post the art and craft activity completed by your child on gratitude and I promise
· Please help your child practice Geeta chanting – links are shared below.
Details:
· We started by chanting OM three times, and our opening prayers
· We had a special guest today – Brahmacharini Akalkaji's story on how we need to use the knowledge and awareness we learn
STORY:
· Once upon a time, there was a wood cutter who lived in a hut near a forest. He cut wood in the forest, and sold the wood, to make a living of it. Every evening, he would like to have his chai, watch the evening sunset and then go to sleep in the evening
· One day when he went to cut wood, he found a beautiful unique stone. He really liked it a lot. He brought it home, and kept it at the door to keep it open, and enjoyed.
· One day the wood cutter's friend who studied with him in school came to visit him. The wood cutter's friend was a successful business man who had built on his high school, went to college and was doing well. He came to visit his friend, the wood cutter. The wood cutter was happy and requested him to come for evening chai at his home.
· When the business man came to the wood cutter's home, he saw this beautiful stone that was used to keep the door open, and called out on how beautiful it was, and requested to run some tests on it
· The business man believed that this stone would be actually very precious and may help him to own multiple huts and not just the one hut he lived in.
· He took the stone and as promised the stone was precious. The business man helped his friend, the wood cutter, buy multiple such huts. The wood cutter did not have to cut wood any more every day in order to make a good living. He was able to use the investments on the multiple huts, to have a comfortable living.
· The moral of the story: When you have knowledge and awareness, you need to apply it, in order to build and be more successful. The knowledge given by Pujya Gurudev is more precious than that stone – This needs to be not just internalized, but also applied and used in order to lead a happier fulfilling life.
· We continued with Guru Stotram, verse 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Then learnt verse 6. Children took turns to say verses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
· We refreshed on the Geeta Chanting Verses 39 to 42 from Chapter 2. Link to the Verses to practice are here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3pRQIaPdPE&list=PLwv-WSJSokEORu2iEsVanXQhQHOoiiQIy&index=19
· In today's lesson, we covered stories on:
· Kardama and Devahuti
· Sage Kapila (son of Kardama and Devahuti)
· How to get a pure heart in order to reach salvation – For this we discussed 7 principles
STORY : Kardama and Devahuti
· Today's story was about Kardama and Devahuti and their son, Sage Kapila. Kardama was a great Sage doing penance on the banks of River Saraswathi. One day Lord Vishnu appears before him and blesses him that he will get married soon, but he also shares that he himself would be born as a son to him. When he is born, the Lord requests him to go to the mountains to mediate on his name. Soon, as per the Lord's blessing, Manu and Satarupa (the first two humans created by Lord Brahma) offer their beautiful daughter, Devahuti in marriage to Kardama.
· We discussed on the story of how Manu and Satarupa had 2 sons and 3 daughters. One of their beautiful daughters was Devahuti. Kardama accepts marriage to Devahuti on one condition that after a son is born, he will take sanyasa and leave the ashram.
· Kardama and Devahuti are married and eventually nine daughters are born to them. Then a son is born, who is named Kapila. As per his vow, Kardama leaves the ashram to become a monk.
We talked about how Kardama did not forget his promise to the Lord to go to the mountains to meditate.
On Tapas:
· We talked about what is "Tapas". Tapas is to take a vow and live by it. It is to make a promise to oneself and stick to at all times. For the kids, it could be something as simple as promising to oneself that they will brush every night, and keep it up no matter what.
Sage Kapila:
· Continuing with the story, Sage Kapila grows up to be a great and divine teacher. He teaches many things to his mother, as to how to live happily without being tied down by desires, and how to see the Lord in everything. He says that one must have a pure heart to achieve this.
· How does one make the heart pure?
There are 7 principles given, that we discussed with examples:
1. Obeying the rules of life - to follow Dharma: Be good and kind to everyone.
2. Performing one's duties: Everyone has duties, as a brother, sister, child, friend and student, and we must perform the duties in the best possible way. As children our duties are to study well, respect parents, and pray to God every day.
3. Seeing Work as Worship: To explain this we told the kids a story about Sage Narada. One day he gets a feeling that he is the greatest devotee of Lord Vishnu. Sensing this, the Lord sends him to see a farmer and says that he is the greatest devotee. Sage Narada sees that the farmer is working in the fields all day and prays to the Lord for just a few minutes in the morning and again in the night. "How can he be the greatest devotee, when I am chanting the Lord's name all day?" He returns and asks Lord Vishnu. The Lord says he will explain it to him, but first the Lord gives Naradaji a pot full of oil. Naradaji has to carry this pot on the head to Sivaloka and back, without spilling even one drop. Naradaji accomplishes this task. When he returns, the Lord asks him how many times he thought about the Lord while doing the task. Naradaji replies that he was concentrating on the task, so he didn't think. Then the Lord explains that the farmer has many duties, so he cannot chant the Lord's name all day, but he offers his duties as worship to the Lord. Work is worship!
4. Chanting God's name again and again: Pray every day, and be thankful to what God has given.
5. Trusting God as a trusted, beloved friend: A friend who is always there for you without expecting a return favor.
6. Seeing the Lord in all creatures: Be kind and nice with everyone.
7. Loving God and Devotion: We talked about how we can love God with the example story of Soordas. Soordas was a great devotee of Lord Krishna. He was blind so one day he fell in a pit. Krishna himself came to rescue him. Soordas realizes that it is Krishna and tries to catch him, but Krishna escapes. Soordas laughs and says, Krishna, you may run away from me externally, but I have already caught you and tied you up with love in my heart. You will not be able to run away from my heart.
· Art activity on 'I Promise':
The kids were asked to trace the palm of their hand on a paper and write "I promise" and write down any five promises that want to make to themselves. We suggested they put it up on a wall near their desk, so they remember whenever they see the paper. The kids came up with some really good promises.
· Art activity on 'Gratitude'
We did a gratitude flower with OM sign – Students were requested to write on each petal on what they were grateful for, and color the flower. They came up with some insightful and mindful thoughts on what they are thankful for
· QUIZ TIME: We did a quiz session to refresh on what we learnt today.
· GEETA CHANTING TIME: Then students worked on new Geeta chanting verses 43 and 44. @ Parents, please help your child practice the following Geeta chanting verses and come to class next rime
· Verse 39-40: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3pRQIaPdPE&list=PLwv-WSJSokEORu2iEsVanXQhQHOoiiQIy&index=18
· Verse 41-42: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCA0uDFICAQ&list=PLwv-WSJSokEORu2iEsVanXQhQHOoiiQIy&index=19
· Verse 43-44: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ09tsR8asI&list=PLwv-WSJSokEORu2iEsVanXQhQHOoiiQIy&index=20
· Complete playlist of verses is here
· We wished the kids a happy Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and look forward to discussing their vows and self-reflection, post-thanksgiving week.
With sincere and warm regards,
Vasudha and Aruna
(Chinmaya Vrindavan Bala Vihar Grade 3 Teachers)