Hari Om Parents,
Here is a brief summary of Balavihar class activities for December 05, 2021.
1. Our class today began with opening prayers.
§ Om Sahana Vavatu
§ Vakratunda Mahakaaya
§ Saraswathi Namastubhyam
§ Guru Brahma Gurur Vishnu
Children took turns to lead the prayer and actively participated.
2. We asked the kids what they did during the Thanksgiving break. They were eager to share the family and friends' gatherings, celebrations, food they ate, and the fun activities they did together. They took turns telling us what they appreciated in their lives, what they were grateful and thankful about – their family, their pet, their siblings, to be able to go to school in person, their home, etc.
3. We then continued with our journey of Saints.
We reiterated how it was important to have values in one's lives, live by values to be happy, and loved/respected by everyone.
Two students presented about the life, compositions, and message of Avvaiyar, and Sant Tyagaraja.
The presentation covered the saint's early childhood, their spiritual journey, their compositions, and their teachings. 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 presenter quizzed the kids about the key aspects of the saints that they talked about.
The kids appreciated how Saint Avvaiyar was a great devotee of Lord Ganesha and a great contributor to literature. Key messages/ values from Auvaiyaar's life are what we have today is a result of our previous thoughts and actions. Life is a balance, as we think, as we do, will be correspondingly reflected on the other side of the balance. Do good to gain positive results. If we put effort into studying, we will get good results. We went over the English translation of her most famous poems - Aathi Chudi. These were simple, one liners, each beginning with successive Tamil vowels, but had profound meaning. One of the teachings in Auvaiyaar's Aathi Chudi was, "Anger is momentary; do not take decisions during times of anger (in haste)".
We then learnt about Sant Tyagaraja. He was one of the Trinities of Carnatic music. The kids thought that creating over 24,000 compositions in his lifetime was unbelievable. He began his musical training at a very young age, and he was totally immersed in his devotion towards Lord Rama. He regarded music as a way to experience God. The songs that he composed were widespread in popularity. We saw the picture of the string instrument -tanpura that he used for Shruti (helps musicians stay on their pitch).
As we concluded today's presentation on saints, we asked the kids to practice 'not to take any actions in haste when they were upset/angry'. They recalled times when they had acted or said something that they shouldn't have when they were angry. They understood the importance of practicing this value. We asked them to introspect and come prepared in our next class to share their experience – any action(s) that they took during times of anger, which they regret, what they could have done differently, etc.
We also asked the kids to make a list of items such as making bed, doing chores, eating healthy food, doing homework, etc. they don't like to do, but they know they should be doing. We discussed how it was important to deliberately do things that are good for us, to cultivate good habits, and to become the master of our own likes and dislikes.
4. Gita Chanting:
Today we revised the verses 39 - 42 from Chapter 2. We learnt verses 43 and 44.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ09tsR8asI
We concluded our class with aarti, and pledge led by one of the students.
Our next class is on December 12th.
Required Materials:
My Prayers book,
Balavihar Handbook-
https://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/balavihar/parents-corner/handbook
Pranaam,
Subha and Rekha