Hari Om! Parents
Week 12 Bala Vihar class started with children writing 11 times likhita japa, 'Om Gam Ganapataye Namah'. Please remind your child to do japa everyday. We welcomed the new year by singing "Nava Varsh Geet" composed by our Pujya Guruji, Swami Tejomayananda ji (pg 24, My Prayers Book). Here is the YouTube video link to the song.
Shlokas
Om chanting, Sahana vavatu (pg 8, My Prayers Book). The children took turns to chant all the verses of Sri Ganesha Stavah (pg 28, My Prayers book).The class has now learnt all verses of the Sri Ganesha Pancharatnam (pg 30, My Prayers book). Both MP3 audios were shared with you in the Parents WhatApp Group. Children will take turns to lead the shloka every class. Please remind your child to practice these shlokas everyday.
Bhagavad Gita
We are learning part two of the Gita Chapter 2 this year from our Swamiji. Grade 5 (Partha group) assigned verses are 39-63 (Bala Vihar Handbook). The children are taking turns to lead the Gita chanting. Today we covered Verse 39 - 55 (pg 22&23, Bala Vihar Handbook).
Your child must use this YouTube Gita Playlist to practice pronunciation of the Gita correctly.
Mahabharata
After a recap of Aadi Parva, we began the Sabha Parva of the Mahabharata story. Maya, the architect for the asuras, wants to show his gratitude to Arjuna for saving his life. Lord Krishna asks Maya to build a palace for the Pandavas in Indraprastha. After getting Yudhistira's approval, on an auspicious day the construction begins. Maya goes to Lake Bindusaras in Mount Kailasa to get precious gems for the palace. He finds a mace and the special conch called Devadutta. He gives the mace to Bhimasena and the conch to Arjuna. After fourteen months Maya finishes building the palace and a magnificent hall, the Mayasabha. The hall rivaled even Indra's Sudhama hall and was a marvel no one had seen before. The gardens surrounding the palace had ever blooming flower trees and the walls of the Mayasabha were decorated with the sparkling gemstones. The Pandavas performed puja and entered the palace on an auspicious day. Food and gifts were distributed among the poor and rishis came to bless the Pandavas. Everyone except the Kauravas came to see the extraordinary new palace. Happy times began in the lives of the Pandavas. Draupadi had five sons - Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Srutakarman, Sataanika and Srutasena. Subadra had one son named Abhimanyu.
One day Sage Narada visited Indraprastha. Yudhistira welcomed the sage respectfully and asked about the other great halls that the sage had visited. Sage Narada mentioned that he had seen kings Santanu and Pandu in Yama's hall, and had seen king Harishchandra in Indra's hall. When Yudhistira askes how a king sits in Indra's hall, the sage says it is by performing the Rajasuya. Sage Narada blesses Yudhistira and asks him to perform it. Yudhistira consults Lord Krishna about the Rajasuya. Lord Krishna says it is a difficult task and is worried about a king called Jarasandha. Lord Krishna tells the Pandavas the story of Jarasandha.
The king of Magadha had two queens but no children. He went to Sage Chandakausika, who blessed a mango and gave it to the king. The king cut the mango and each of his wives ate half of it. The queens then gave birth to half a baby. The nurses wrapped them in cloth and threw them out of the palace. A rakshasi called Jara was passing by and found the two halves, put them together and they became a whole living baby boy. The rakshasi gave the baby boy to the king and he named it Jarasandha. Sage Chandakausika predicted that the boy would be a great devotee of Lord Shiva and no ordinary person could kill him. Jarasandha became the king of Magadha, he had a special mace that gave him powers. He gave his daughter in marriage to king Kamsa. When Lord Krishna killed Kamsa, Jarasandha swore enemity to the Vrishnis. He attacked Mathura 18 times and the Vrishnis were forced to leave. They went to Dwaraka and the sea protected them from Jarasandha. In a fit of rage, he threw his mace ninetynine yojanas and it landed in Dwaraka. Lord Krishna tells the Pandavas that Jarasandha was now weakened by the loss of his powerful mace.
Along with Bhimasena and Arjuna, the plan to kill Jarasandha was made. The three of them enter Magadha disguised as brahmins and enter the palace by jumping over the wall. They confronted Jarasandha and declared themselves his enemies. Lord Krishna asked Jarasandha to pick an opponent for battle. Jarasandha picks Bhimasena and a wrestling battle begins. The two of them fight continuously for fourteen days and nights. Finally, Bhimasena prayed to Vayudeva and summoning all his strength tore Jarasandha into two pieces. However, the two pieces joined back and Jarasandha became whole again. Lord Krishna took a leaf, tore it into two, flipped one over and threw them to two corners. Bhimasena observed this and repeated the same with Jarasandha's body. Finally, Bhimasena did the impossible and the evil king was dead. Several hundred imprisoned kings were released and they all pledged their loyalty to the Pandavas. Lord Krishna spoke to Jarasandha's son and said that his father used his greatness for the wrong reasons. Lord Krishna asked him to support the Pandavas and attend the Rajasuya. The rest of the kings also agreed to attend the Rajasuya.They took the good news back to Yudhistira and preparations for the Rajasuya began.
We paused here and took a break to do stretching exercises.
India, the Sacred Land
Swami Vivekananda was born 1863 in Calcutta as Narendranath Dutta. He always questioned the existence of God. His search for a man who had seen God brought him to saint Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He became a disciple and after his guru's death, Narendranath took sanyasa and became Swami Vivekananda. He traveled far and wide to spread Hinduism. He was invited to give a speech at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. His speech began with 'Dear brothers and sisters of America...' , and is famous even till today. He believed that the youth were hope, he instilled national pride and he called them to liberate India. He told his disciples his only gurudakshina was for them to "Love India". His most important message was that 'God takes care of his devotees!' The important values learnt from Swami Vivekananda are - Be courageous, Have love for India, Share, Be a perfect disciple.
We discussed how since we may not be able to experience the divine, we rely on our saints to show us the glories of Bhagwan. We also spoke about how just like the raindrop merges within an ocean, we are elevated when we surrender to Bhagwan. The children were asked to keep a journal about how they used the saint's values in their everyday life. It will be our weekly discussion topic going forward.
Class ended with aarti, shanthi mantra and reciting the pledge (pg 29-33, Bala Vihar Handbook)
- Rashmi Kuroodi and Shanthi Chidambaram
Materials needed for every class: notebook & pen for the likhita japa, My Prayers book for the shlokas, Bala Vihar Handbook for the Gita Chanting, aarti and pledge recitation.