Hari Om! Parents
Week 19 Bala Vihar class started with children writing 11 times likhita japa, 'Om Gam Ganapataye Namah'.
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) and the Sri Ganesha Pancharatnam (pg 30, My Prayers book). Both these MP3 audios were shared with you in the Parents WhatsApp Group. Please use it so your child can practice correct pronunciation of the shlokas.
Bhagavad Gita
We are learning part two of the Gita Chapter 2 this year from our Swamiji. Grade 5 is the Partha Group and the assigned verses are 39-63 (Bala Vihar Handbook). We have now covered all of Verse 39 - 63 (pg 22&23, Bala Vihar Handbook). Your child must use this YouTube Gita Playlist to practice pronunciation of the Gita correctly. The children are taking turns to review the Gita chanting in every class and we are sending recordings to the Gita coordinator for feedback.
Reminder: CNJ Gita Chanting Regionals will be held on April 2, 2022. The time slots for registered children will be emailed next week.
Mahabharata
After a quick recap, the Mahabharata story continued with Vana Parva. The Kauravas return to Hastinapura, Duryodhana decides to perform the Rajasuya and Radheya volunteers to gather the support of the neighboring kings. All preparations for the Rajasuya are made and an invitation is sent to Yudhistira to attend. However, Yudhistira rejects it saying the Pandavas could not enter Hastinapura as they were in exile. After the Rajasuya, Radheya once again proclaims he supports Duryodhana and takes an oath to kill Arjuna in the war. Duryodhana is very happy, but when the news reaches Yudhistira, he is very worried for Arjuna's life.
Meanwhile in Dwaitavana, the Pandavas are visited by sage Markhandeya and the satsang with him gives Yudhistira some peace of mind. One day, when the Pandavas are out hunting, king of Salva, Jayadrata passes by their ashram. He sees the beautiful Draupadi alone and kidnaps her. Sage Dhaumya is helpless against Jayadrata's soldiers, but informs the Pandavas of the incident when they return. Enraged to hear this, Bhimasena and Arjuna pursue Jayadrata and defeat him in battle. After freeing Draupadi, Bhimasena catches and shaves off half of Jayadrata's hair. Yudhistira says that he will pardon Jayadrata since he is the husband of their cousin sister, Dussala, and releases the king. Humiliated and seeking revenge, Jayadrata performs severe tapas to Lord Shiva. When the Lord appears he asks a boon to kill all the Pandavas in war. Lord Shiva tells him that is not possible since the Pandavas are under the protection of Lord Krishna, who is Bhagawan Vishnu Himself. Lord Shiva says that Jayadrata can kill the Pandavas only when Lord Krishna is not with them.
The Pandavas are in their twelfth year of exile, when a brahmin comes looking for help. A deer has stolen his 'arani' sticks, which he used for his daily yagna ritual. The Pandavas promise to find the deer and retrieve the arani. The deer eludes them deep in the forest, soon they are exhausted from the heat and get very thirsty. Yudhistira asks Nakula to find water for them. Nakula finds a lake, tries to gather water, when a voice warns him not to do so. It says only the person who answers questions on dharma will be allowed to drink from the lake. Ignoring the voice, Nakula drinks the water and immediately falls down dead. After a while Sahadeva is sent, but does not return. Arjuna goes missing, then Bhimasena also does not return. Yudhistira goes looking for his brothers, comes to the lake and sees all his brothers are dead. Heartbroken, Yudhistira calls out to whoever killed his brothers to show themselves. A terrible yaksha appears, tells Yudhistira that his brothers did not obey him and so met this fate. The yaksha says that if Yudhistira answers his questions, then he can drink from the lake. Yudhistira accepts and gives answers with great humility. The children took turns 'being Yudhistira' and tried to answer a few of the "yaksha prashna" (yaksha's questions). The class came up with several interesting answers!
Pleased with Yudhistira's answers, the yaksha asks him to pick one brother to be brought back to life. Yudhistira chose Nakula, saying since he himself was mother Kunti's son then it is fair that even mother Madri's son also lives. The yaksha brings back all the Pandavas to life and shows his true form, that of Yama Dharmaraja. The Pandavas receive a blessing from lord Yama that no one will recognise them during their incognito year. Yudhistira is granted a boon to always win against lust, anger, avarice, possessiveness, arrogance and envy from his father, Yama Dharmaraja.
This brings us to the end of Vana Parva and we will begin Virata Parva next time.
India, the Sacred Land
Arjun shared an informative presentation on Sant Jnaneshwar, a poet saint from Maharashtra.The children discussed values that we could learn from this saint. Going forward all the children will get a chance to share saint stories.The children will keep a journal about how they used saint's values in their everyday life, and share it in class.
Class ended early since we joined assembly to watch the Grade 2 and Amruta Vihar program.
- 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.