Hari Om Parents,
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)
We began class with a brief discussion about our monthly program, roles and presentation requirements. We decided to discuss 2 more teachers today.
As usual, we began with a riddle, since we had already discussed the kids' roles, it wasn't much of a mystery. Osprey is our next teacher. Once there was an osprey carrying a fish in its beak. It was attacked by a number of stronger birds. The moment the osprey dropped the fish, they stopped troubling him.
A man in the world undergoes all sorts of troubles and miseries when he runs after sensuous pleasures, and he becomes happy when he abandons the sensual pleasures. When we become fond of some objects, that very possession will cause unhappiness. Once that is abandoned, we gain happiness.
The Greatest Treasure
Once there was a rich man, he spent all his time counting his money. He had five sons that always wanted to play with him, but the dad never had the time to do so. The mom told her boys, "With money you are a dragon, without it you are a worm". They had a neighbor that was poor. He played the flute all day long and his five daughters sang and danced all day long. The rich man got annoyed with the sound of flute music and singing as it messed up his counting. He had a plan to put an end to the disturbance. He took a large bag of cash and gave it to the poor man. That ended up being a temporary fix as poor man was unhappy counting the cash the rich man gave him to keep quiet. The poor man's wife said, "He who has heaven in his heart is never poor." He took all his money and returned it to the rich man and began to play his flute again and his girls started to dance again. The poor man felt sorry for the rich man and decided to give him a gift. He gave him a flute saying, 'your treasure almost robbed me of my happiness!" The rich man started playing the flute, and his boys began to sing and dance!
Ramu In Luck
Once there was a sincere employee named Ramu. He had never taken a day off for the past four years, so he went and asked his boss if he could go and visit his mom, take a few days off and get his wages. The boss was happy to grant him leave and instead of wages, he decided to present him with a bag of gold. Thrilled by that, Ramu headed off to see his mom. On the way, it got hot and hilly. He was finding it difficult to walk with the extra load of gold in the hot sun, just then he saw a horseback rider galloping with a breeze in his face. He traded his gold for the horse, then wasn't able to ride it properly, got kicked off and hurt. A passing guy with a cow felt bad for him and traded his cow for the horse. Ramu thought he could get his own milk in this hot sun, but wasn't capable of milking the cow and sat upset. A guy passed Ramu with a cute pig. They traded but the pig was very stubborn and wouldn't budge. A lady with a goose passed by and saw Ramu upset, she traded her goose for the pig. Ramu was excited about having fresh eggs and feathers for a pillow. That didn't last long, the eggs didn't come immediately and he ran into a cobbler sharpening his knife. He sat and told him about his day. The cobbler said that Ramu was a great business man and would make a great cobbler and traded a cobblestone from the street for the goose. Ramu took the stone and walked on. He saw a pond and was thirsty. He put the stone down to take a drink when he saw his stone roll into the pond with a splash. The kids were asked if they thought Ramu would be upset. They all said, "yes"! But NOOO...Ramu was actually happy and relieved! No more burden! He was able to run to his mom's place, hugged her and got to eat all of the yummy food she had waiting for him.
You only need warmth and love to be happy, not possessions!
Attachment to objects brings misery. The moment the attachment is given up, there is peace and calm.
Gautama Buddha, Mirabai and many others voluntarily left their attachment to the world and the worldly things, and attained the Supreme, Eternal Bliss.
We ended Osprey as a teacher to learn from, with a reference to 'Frozen'...let it go...let it go...how Elsa felt when she let everything go and left Annandale.
This riddle too was a giveaway as the kids knew that we were going to be discussing the nineteenth teacher, a Child. Learning to be childlike (not childish). We discussed the difference between the two. The kids had a lot to say about being "childish"! Babies are innocent, never affected by respect or disrespect. Live in the present and be free like a child. Children say as things are; they are innocent and straight.
Clever Weavers
Most of the kids knew the story of the Emperor's New Clothes. No one including the emperor wanted to say anything about the so-called "invisible" expensive, special cloth that his new clothes were made of. It took a child witnessing the procession to say that the emperor had no clothes on! The moral, or message, of this tale is that we must not let pride or fear keep us from speaking up. Another moral is that children speak the truth when no one else will. He was not afraid of the consequences. Be like a child and speak the truth.
Pride And Devotion
Ekanatha Maharaja and his wife were great devotees. They had a son, who was sent to Banaras to study Vedas. Ekanatha Maharaja read Bhagavatham to the villagers every evening and explained the meaning in Marathi. Everyone enjoyed that. This went on for years. The son returned after several years and insisted on his father teaching only in Sanskrit, Ekanatha Maharaja said that they would not understand. But his son said he would teach in Sanskrit. Unable to understand Sanskrit, the villagers lost interest and stopped coming.
The son was full of pride that he had all the knowledge of the scriptures and the dad was full of devotion to the Lord. An old lady in the village had vowed to feed 1000 brahmins. She was poor, so she decided to invite Ekanatha Maharaja for dinner and feed him as he had supreme devotion and it would be equivalent to 1000 brahmins. The son declined the invite. So she took the food to their house and served it on a banana leaf. Whatever was left behind was considered prasad. When the old lady went to take the leaf, the son snatched it and threw it away. To everyone's astonishment, another banana leaf appeared in its place. This happened 1000 times! The proud son understood the devotion and greatness of his father. He was not disturbed by the insult and the arrogant wrong attitude of his son. Ekanatha Maharaja was above honor or dishonor, like a child.
Please have the kids memorize the Krishnashtakam and have a rough draft of their teacher slides ready for discussion next class. Please feel free to reach out to us if you or the kids have any questions regarding their roles or presentation.
We concluded class with the pledge.
Pranaam,
Neelima & Keerthi
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