Jan 23, 2022 - 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)

Govinda Damodara Sthotram :

We started the Govinda Damodara sthotram in class today. The first shloka is

Karaa-ravindena padaa-ravindam

Mukhhaa-ravinde vinivesha yantam

Vatasya patrasya pute shayaanam

Baalam mukundam manasaa smaraami

Govinda and Damodara are the other names of Lord Krishna. This sthotram is in praise of Govinda, the protector of cows, and Damodara, one who was tied up with a rope around his stomach(by Maa Yashoda).

Meaning: I meditate on the little baby Krishna, sleeping on the leaf of a banyan tree, with his lotus like feet, lotus like hands and lotus like face. He is holding his toe with his hand and putting it in his mouth.

Today's lesson : Krishna Everywhere

Kaliya Mardanam : 

We talked about the various demons or rakshasas Krishna destroyed, and protected his people. Then we started today's story about Kaliya Mardanam.

Lake Madu, a contaminated lake near river Yamuna, was inhabited by Kaliya, a hundred hooded poisonous snake and his family. They lived there for many yugas. The lake had become so poisonous that even birds flying over it died because of the fumes. One day, the gopas and cows unknowingly strayed to Lake Madu. They were all very thirsty, so had water from the lake. Soon, they fell down dead. Krishna immediately climbed a Kadamba tree, and although the remaining gopas pleaded not to, Krishna plunged into the poisonous lake. Kaliya was shocked and angered that someone could dare enter his area and disturb him. He tried to attack Krishna and bite him with his fangs. But Little Krishna was too quick for him. Kaliya then tried to wrap himself around the boy to crush him, but that too didn't work. 

The gopas were crying looking at all this. They were very worried about Krishna. Some of them ran to the village to inform Nanda and the other elders. The elders came and saw the horrifying site near the lake and started weeping. Maa Yashoda was inconsolable. After fighting Kaliya for almost an hour, Krishna grew so much in size and was out of Kaliya's grip. He suddenly leaped into the sky and landed on the serpent's hoods. Kaliya was hissing loudly and fire was coming out of his mouth and nostrils. He twisted and twirled to free himself from Krishna. Krishna was dancing joyously on Kaliya's hoods. The devas sang in joy, looking at the beautiful sight and showered flowers from the heavens. Kaliya was not able to bear this anymore. His wives, realizing that Kaliya was going to die soon, prayed to Lord Krishna and begged for forgiveness. Krishna pardoned them and then Kaliya went to live on Ramanaka dvipa with his family. From that day, the waters of lake Madu became pure and sweet. 

When Krishna came out, he was adorned with rare gems and jewels and sandal paste. These were gifted to him by Kaliya's wives. The people of Vrindavan embraced Krishna and shed tears of joy.

The people of Vrindavan were exhausted due to the day's events, and so they decided to spend the night on the banks of the lake. While they were sleeping, a fire broke out in the forest. Everyone panicked looking at the raging flames. Krishna protected them once again, by swallowing all the flames with his yogic powers.

Point to think : River Yamuna is also called Kalindi. Kalindi represents the consciousness in us, where Kaliya, the ego also lives. 

The consciousness when infested with "I" and "My", become the poisonous waters of egoism. When "me" and "mine" are removed from our lives (our hearts become pure), the waters become nectar and nourishing.The removal of ego is not an easy task. When the Lord enters our heart, the Kaalindi, and dances on the ever-spreading hoods of "I and mine" to rid them of the poisons of selfishness, only then, we come to know God, Krishna, our darling.

Short story : There was one artist who drew marvelous paintings of Sri Krishna. Everyone was drawn to the paintings. Once a friend asked the artist about why he never signs his name on his paintings. He simply said "I want people to cherish the Lord in the paintings, and may my name be forgotten."

Today's Lesson : 24 Teachers 

We learnt about five teachers today. As usual, we started with riddles and got the children to guess the answers.

I can lose my life for the love of bright light - Moth

People may say I have gone crazy because I constantly stay"beezzy" running back and forth from my work to my home. Yes, I am a workaholic, but I enjoy what I do  - Bee

I am strong and big and have become huge by eating veggies. I have a special place in the Hindu scriptures and am famous for being so smart - Elephant

I love to eat, drink and be merry. I come in many different sizes and shapes. Some people use me to decorate inside of buildings and homes because of my beauty - Fish

I love to hear and run madly to catch that tune - Deer

What we learnt from each teacher :

Moth - Gets attracted to bright light and perishes in the flame. Moth teaches us to guard our sense of sight.

Bee - Bee gets attracted to the smell of a lotus and sits inside the flower, forgetting that the flower will close at dusk. When the sun goes down, the flower closes and the bee gets trapped inside and dies. Bee teaches us to guard our sense of smell.

A bee picks up honey from many different flowers, whether big or small. Similarly we should also pick up good knowledge from great people, books and our scriptures. We talked about what we learnt in the Ramayana and Bhagavatam.

Elephant - Elephant has a weakness of touch. They like to be close to other elephants. The elephant hunters used this weakness to attract elephants to a ditch and trap them. Elephant teaches us to guard our sense of touch.

Fish - Fish cannot control its sense of taste, so gets easily caught through the bait. Fish teaches us to guard our sense of taste.

Deer - Deer hunters use sweet music to attract deer and trap them. We should also not get carried away by sweet words and praises. Just like when driving, the focus needs to be on the road and not get carried away by music playing in the car. Deer teaches us to guard our sense of hearing.

Story of catching a monkey : Some hunters in Africa used a technique to attract monkeys and trap them. They would make a hole in a coconut and put a sweet smelling orange inside it. The monkey would smell the orange and put his hand in the coconut to get it. The monkey's hand gets stuck in the coconut. Unless it lets go of the orange, it cannot get its hand out, but the monkey does not want to let go of the orange, and in the process, gets caught.

Story of King and the Wizard - A King, who was happy, handsome and rich was visited by a wizard. He offers to grant any wish that the King had. The KIng didn't have anything to ask then, but sought the wizard after some years. The King now looked tired, obese and sad. He tells the wizard that he is neither handsome nor happy anymore and asks him to do some magic. The wizard tells him that there is a magic mirror in the mountains, and he must find it to regain his original form. The condition is that he has to go on foot early in the morning to find it. The King did this for many months, and found himself handsome and happy again. The daily exercise and the fresh mountain air were the actual magic there. This is another story to tell that one can achieve anything by letting go of laziness and working hard. Over indulgence in the senses can destroy a person.

How much? : A Swamiji once tells a devotee:

One bowl of food a day is necessary

Two bowls are good

Three bowls are a luxury

Four bowls will make one ill, and

Five bowls will kill

We need to think and decide where to stop.

Gita Chanting : We followed Swamiji's video to learn Shlokas 51 to 53 of Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2.

We concluded class with aarathi and pledge.

Pranaam,

Neelima & Keerthi