Dec 12, 2021 - Grade 4 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om Parents,

Below is a recap of what we did during today's class. As always, we began our class with 3 OMs and the following 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)

Krishnashtakam : We practiced the first seven shlokas and learnt the eighth shloka : Srivatsankam mahoraskam - vanamala virajitam

Sankhachakra-dharam devam - krisham vande jagadgurum

We explained the meaning - Having the marks of Sri Vasta (mark of devi Lakshmi), Who gristly enjoys (in himself), looking great with the garlands of flowers, O Lord Krishna, holding the conch and a discus, I bow to you, the Guru of the world.

Please have the kids practice the shlokas at home. Ty.

Today's lesson - Krishna, The Hero

We began the lesson with a brief quiz-like recap of our story so far. A few students have missed a class or two. Please share with them our email update or visit our Chinmaya Vrindavan website, go to Balavihar and in the drop down menu, click on parent portal (blog). Go to Sunday AM, 4th grade, you can scroll for earlier posts. We update that every week. 

https://cmnjparentportal21-22.blogspot.com/search/label/Gr%204%20-%20Sunday%20AM

The Fruit Seller

We began with a short story about how little Krishna was attracted to a lady trying to sell fresh and yummy fruits. The cute and adorable little Krishna waddled out and asked for fruits and was confused when the lady asked for money. He had no clue. 

The lady wanted to spend more time with this charming and mesmerizing little boy, so she told Him that she would trade some grains for fruit. Little Krishna, immediately went inside and scooped some grains into His tiny hands and ran back to the fruit lady. As he ran, grains slowly fell out of his cupped hands and when He reached the lady, only a few pieces of grain were left. The lady happily accepted the trade, just to see the smile and expression on Krishna's face! 

As the fruit seller lady was getting closer to her own home, her basket got heavier and heavier. The lady was confused, as she had sold almost everything in her basket! The kids were asked what they thought was the reason for that. Some said that it could be magic, a few said that it could be stones, 1 student said that little Krishna jumped into her basket (LOL). We then told the class that to the lady's surprise, it was filled with jewels, gold and precious stones!

• The Lord of the Universe begged a poor
fruit seller for a handful of fruits !

• He did this so that He could bless His
devotee for her simple love and generosity.

Vrindavana 

One day, the elders of Gokula gathered at Nanda's house. Upananda, the wisest and eldest of them said, "Lately Gokula has been visited by many misfortunes. By some stroke of luck, our Krishna has saved us time and again from various calamities. Only by the grace of Lord Vishnu, he has been saved each time. Gokula has now become unsafe for us and it would be foolish to stay on. Let us all migrate to Vrindavana.It is cool and undisturbed and the grass is always green. It is the best place for our cows and our people. We will enjoy the lovely surroundings and also the holy Yamuna flows nearby."

Everyone agreed and the same day, people started packing up their belongings. Women, children and old people first sat on the carts and left Gokula for good. The procession moved to beating drums and trumpeting conches. The gopis sang merrily, and the children were very excited. At last, they reached Vrindavana. Krishna and Balarama were overjoyed to see the green pastures, the sacred Govardhana mountain in the distance and River Yamuna. When the brothers were a little older, they took the calves to graze on the pastures. All day, Krishna, Balarama and their gopa friends would tend to the calves and

play in the forest. Those were some of the most memorable days of their lives! 

Vatsasura 

Once when the Gopas had taken their calves to the pasture, a wicked asura plotted to kill them. He assumed the form of a calf(vatsa) and mingled with the herd. He knew that Krishna loved cows, and he would never hurt a calf. Krishna noticed this and pointed to Balarama. And then, slowly snuck up behind the demon, caught him by his hind legs and whirled him around and let him smash with a thunderous thud against a tree. That killed the demon and returned him to his original form. All the gopas cheered and called Krishna a "HERO"!

Bakasura

The class got to watch a short video clip of how Bakasura (the monstrous crane demon, the brother of Putana) was appointed by Kamsa to go and destroy Krishna. One hot sunny day, Krishna and the gopas had gone to a tank to quench their thirst. There out of the blue they encounter a gigantic white mountain, which was Bakasura with his long beak wide open. Krishna ran towards him, and in an instant, the crane snatched and swallowed Krishna. Krishna turned into a fireball inside Bakasura, forcing him to spit Him out. When he did so, Krishna grabbed the beak , split it apart and took down the demon. All the gopas cheered for their HERO, Krishna!!

Today's Lesson, 24 Teachers 

We had a quick quiz to find out if the class remembered the teachers we have talked about so far. They did a great job listing them.

Like always, we started with a riddle : 

• Believe it or not, I used to be a mailman a long time ago. 

• My kind is found all over the globe.

• But, we tend to like Trafalgar Square in London the most.

• Who Am I?

The kids had multiple different answers as they tried to explore various angles. A few figured it out! An image of Trafalgar Square was shown on the screen and the class said, "Pigeon". A short story about a pigeon family was shared with the class. One day, when the parents went out to find food, the babies were caught in a trap by a hunter. When the parents returned and saw their babies caught, the mommy jumped into the trap and seeing his whole family caught, the daddy too jumped into the trap. The whole family was killed! 

Dattareya said, "O King, I learned from the pigeon couple that when you are overly attached to things and beings, you lose control of your life. Troubles do come in life, but face them with courage and try to find a proper solution."

Attachment to near and dear ones is the cause of suffering in life.

The class was then asked if they remember any specific incident where attachment caused suffering? More specifically the kids who were with me in first grade...hint hint! An image on the screen prompted a few to remember. King Dasaratha was extremely attached to his son Rama. When Rama left for the forest, Dasaratha was totally devastated and died.

An image of the Peanuts, Lucy, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Linus (with his blanket) was shown on the screen, with a quote, " Let's talk about your attachment issues", was shown on the screen. Most of the kids were NOT familiar with the Peanuts...lol not surprised! But when asked to analyze the image, they easily figured out that Linus was dearly attached to his blanket! We then had kids discuss what they are attached to, what they may have gotten detached from and also discussed what the pigeon parents could have done differently, had they not been so attached to their family. We have a really smart class and the discussion went well!!!

When we forget our true eternal nature, we take our body to be real and the relations born out of it. Man comes to grief when he is over attached to his family and possessions. He loses his reason and self-control. Born as a human being, one should strive to reach Brahman, for all our attachments to the world of sense objects drag us down.

Gita Chanting - We followed Swamiji's videos to learn Shlokas 49 and 50 of Chapter 2.

Krishna ashtakam practice - The Kids have been learning Krishnashtakam the past weeks and they have introduced all eight shlokas now. We practiced for some time at the end of class. The kids enthusiastically participated. Please encourage the kids to practice in their free time. 

Aarti and Pledge - We concluded the class with Aarti and pledge.

We look forward to seeing the kids in class next Sunday!

Pranaam,

Neelima & Keerthi