Hari OM
Prayer time:
We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers- "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.
Yoga Time:
We are getting good at stretching, breathing and balancing poses.
Bhagvatham Time:
We did a quick recap of king pRruthu
Puranjana
We heard the story of Puranjana, which was told by Narada to King Pracinabarhi. King Pracinabarhi spent a lot of time practicing yajnas and sacrifices. One day, Narada came to him and told him that by doing these yajnas, he was harming innocent creatures and adding more karmas, getting farther away from the goal. So, to help Pracinabarhi get back on the right track towards self-realization, Narada tells him the story of Puranjana. Puranjana had a friend named Avijnaata, but nobody really knew where Avijnaata lived or what he did. Puranjana, in pursuits of happiness in material things, traveled around until he found a city south of the Himalayas that would make him happy. There, he married the princess and grew extremely attached to her. He was a slave to her emotions, and Puranjana stopped living his own life. After a few years, she died, and he went mad, and died soon after. In his next life, Puranjana was born as a girl, who got married to a king. She grew extremely attached and when the king died, she was about to throw herself in his funeral pyre. But a brahmin came and stopped her. This brahmin was Avijnaata, who came to take Puranjana back on the right path. Narada explained this story to Pracinabarhi, how Puranjana represented the soul, and how Avijnaata was the Lord. The soul will always be looking for a body to fulfill its material desires, but eventually, it needs the Lord to set it free permanently.
The Nine-Gated City
King Puranjana represents us. Our body represents the nine-gated city. We are the king, the ruler of the nine gated city.
The Nine gates represent: sensory organs. As the king, what are our duties?
We must look out for our kingdom, our body; we must keep our body neat and clean.
Priyavrata
Priyavrata was the second son of Manu. At a very early age Priyavrata learned the spiritual truth from sage Narada and was ready to renounce the world and take sanyasa. His father, Manu wanted him to rule the kingdom, but Priyavrata would not listen. One day Brahmaji appeared before him and advised him to surrender to the Divine Will of the Lord. He said that a human birth must go through the birth and death cycle, pleasure and pain, happiness and misery but should always remain unattached to the karmas. And thus, Brahma Ji advised him to rule the land and become the king by keeping himself free from passions and desires. Priyavrata accepted His advise and became the king. He ruled the kingdom without getting attached and after long years of ruling he handed the kingdom over to his son and took the vow of sannyasa and attained moksha.
Brainstorming:
We should have the attitude of surrendering unto the Divine Will.
To explain more we told them a story of a king and his loyal minister
God does it For Our Own Good
We heard the story of a king who had a loyal minister who would always say, "It is the Lord's wish and everything that happens, happens for the best." We learned that we should not complain and whatever happens to us is the Divine wish. Please ask your children to retell the story that they heard in class.
Game time:
We played the word search game.
Shloka Time:
We learnt verse 7 of Guru Stotram. Please continue to practice at home.
We concluded the class with the Pledge.
With Love,
Indira & Raji Aunty