Hari Om Parents,
Here is a brief summary of Balavihar class activities for November 21, 2021.
1. We started our class with opening prayers.
§ Om Sahana Vavatu
- Vakratunda Mahakaaya
- Saraswathi Namastubhyam
- Guru Brahma Gurur Vishnu
Children took turns to lead the prayer, and enthusiastically participated.
2. We then practiced reciting the Ganesha Pancharatnam stotram and children took turns singing and repeating the stotram a couple of times. Kids are still trying to get the pronunciation of the words right. We will continue practicing the stotram.
3. Kids shared how they celebrate Deepavali. We talked about the significance, how it is celebrated in different states of India, five days of events, legends/stories and festivities associated with it.
4. We then continued with our journey of Saints.
We asked the children to share a goal that they had set for themselves, how they pursued it, or if they dropped it midway, and why. This was their assignment from our previous Balavihar class. It was a very interesting discussion, with kids eager to share their experiences and what they did to stay on track and not give up. They were very open to share their success, achievement, and when they could not achieve what they wanted with the class.
Two kids presented about the life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Sivanandaji.
The presentation covered key aspects of the saint's early life, education, and their spiritual journey.
At the end of each presentation, we had an open discussion where kids asked questions, what their key take-aways were from the saint's life. The kids appreciated how Swami Sivananda ji as a physician worked tirelessly as a physician and served the poor. Key messages/ values of Swami Sivananda ji's life was to serve all, work hard/ tirelessly, be compassionate, and devoted. Our Pujya Gurudeva, Swami Chinmayananda was given sanyasa by Swami Sivanandaji.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa ji's early life and message was presented. His devotion to Goddess Kali, how he guided Swami Vivekananda to spiritual sadhana. We discussed, if we want to be happy in life, how we must deliberately choose to do what is good for us and often that we don't like to do.
We discussed how it is important to live by values to be successful and to be loved/respected by everyone. We then asked the children to select a value for each of the saints that we are learning that he/she would like to work upon to make it his/her own virtue.
5. We reminded the children to come prepared for their presentation on the Saints of India for our next Balavihar class on 12/05.
6. Mahabharata:
We did a quick recap of the story covered thus far.
We watched a brief video of the encounter of Dronacharya with the Kuru princes while they were playing with a ball. The kids enjoyed the video and how Rishi Dronacharya gets the ball out from the well with the archery trick.
We concluded our class with aarti, and pledge led by one of the kids.
Our next Balavihar session will be on 05th December 2021.
Pranaams,
Subha and Rekha