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 started the class with learning the Govinda Damodara Stotram. We did verse 6. The pdf of the shlokas has been shared with you. Please print out & share with the kids so they can practice at home.
Today's lesson : Mathura
After a brief recap of last week's story, we continued with today's lesson. Akrura takes Krishna and Balarama with him in the chariot. They start their journey to Mathura. It becomes noon, and as it's very hot, they take a break on the banks of River Mandakini. Krishna and Balarama refresh themselves in the cool waters. Akrura goes into the river to offer his noon prayers. He takes a dip in the river, and lo! he sees Lord Vishnu with all his splendor lying down on the thousand headed Seshanaga, surrounded and worshipped by rishis, and sages, including the Sanat Kumaras, Prahlada and Narada.
We did a little bit of a memory test here, talking about Sanat Kumaras and Prahlada, both stories learnt by children in third grade.
Continuing the story, Akrura returns to the chariot reveling in the divine vision he had in the river. They start their journey again and reach Mathura by sunset. Akrura invites the brothers to his house, but Krishna gently refuses, saying that they will come after their mission is accomplished.
Mathura was a beautiful city with wide, clean roads. There were beautiful gardens, parks and marketplaces. There were simple rest houses for travelers and majestic mansions. Krishna and Balarama were utterly delighted by what they saw.
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 started the class with learning the Govinda Damodara Stotram. We did verse 6. The pdf of the shlokas has been shared with you. Please print out & share with the kids so they can practice at home.
Today's lesson : Mathura
After a brief recap of last week's story, we continued with today's lesson. Akrura takes Krishna and Balarama with him in the chariot. They start their journey to Mathura. It becomes noon, and as it's very hot, they take a break on the banks of River Mandakini. Krishna and Balarama refresh themselves in the cool waters. Akrura goes into the river to offer his noon prayers. He takes a dip in the river, and lo! he sees Lord Vishnu with all his splendor lying down on the thousand headed Seshanaga, surrounded and worshipped by rishis, and sages, including the Sanat Kumaras, Prahlada and Narada.
We did a little bit of a memory test here, talking about Sanat Kumaras and Prahlada, both stories learnt by children in third grade.
Continuing the story, Akrura returns to the chariot reveling in the divine vision he had in the river. They start their journey again and reach Mathura by sunset. Akrura invites the brothers to his house, but Krishna gently refuses, saying that they will come after their mission is accomplished.
Mathura was a beautiful city with wide, clean roads. There were beautiful gardens, parks and marketplaces. There were simple rest houses for travelers and majestic mansions. Krishna and Balarama were utterly delighted by what they saw.
We asked the kids if they could think of a similar situation, where someone goes to a new, beautiful place in the stories they learnt. The kids did recollect the situation from Ramayana, when Hanuman goes to Lanka.
As they continued to roam the streets, word quickly spread that Krishna and Balarama had arrived. Women and children rushed to the windows to get a glimpse of them.He showered flowers on them and worshipped them with incense, milk, curd, flowers and fruit. Krishna and Balarama entered the home of a garland maker named Sudama. Sudama worshipped them with betel leaves, garlands and many different kinds of flowers. Krishna blessed him in abundance. As they proceeded further, they met a hunchback woman, Trivakra. She was the royal maid at Kamsa's palace, and made sandalwood paste and other perfumes for Kamsa. When she saw Krishna, with great devotion she offered all the sandalwood paste and watched them as they put it on their face and arms. Krishna thanked her. With a smile he put his feet on hers and placed two fingers under her chin. Her body straightened up magically then and there. She was transformed into a beautiful woman.
I am not really ugly, but people get petrified by me
The earth is my home, but nobody wants to be near me
Some boys and girls like to keep me as a pet, but mommies still hate me
The kids had different guesses, but one of them got it. Yes, its the snake.
Neelima & Keerthi
Today's lesson : 24 Teachers
As always we started the lesson with a riddle : Who am I?
The earth is my home, but nobody wants to be near me
Some boys and girls like to keep me as a pet, but mommies still hate me
The kids had different guesses, but one of them got it. Yes, its the snake.
Saint Dattatreya tells king Yadu that he learnt from the snake to live alone and speak less.
Snake is quiet and lives alone.
•Snake teaches us to say only what is necessary.
•Silence is golden.
•Keep your affairs to yourself.
•The man who is always telling what he is going to do, never does anything.
•This is called procrastination.
•DO NOT TALK ; ACT !
•Silence is golden.
•Keep your affairs to yourself.
•The man who is always telling what he is going to do, never does anything.
•This is called procrastination.
•DO NOT TALK ; ACT !
Short story : Once there lived an old couple. The old woman was bored, so asked her husband to bring her a cat. The old man goes to the cat mountain and finds thousands of different kinds of cats. Not knowing which one to pick, he brings all of them home. His wife is surprised that he brought so many cats. They are unable to pick the cat they like, so the old man asks the cats to vote among themselves as to who is the most beautiful.Unable to bear the noise that the cats were making, they go inside the house and shut the door. After some time, they notice that it's completely quiet outside. The cats had all killed each other. Only one little cat was sitting there quietly. The old man asks the tiny cat how he managed to survive. The cat tells him "I am just a simple cat. When they all said they were beautiful, I just did not say a word. I was quiet, so no one bothered me." This story illustrates the importance of staying away from arguments and being silent.
We then did a decoding activity. It's a statement by Gurudev, Swami Chinmayanada "Let us not forget that the greatest forces in nature are all ever silent. Electricity has no noise and heat is dumb". The kids used the letter and number codes to get to this quote by Gurudev.
We concluded the class with the Chinmaya mission pledge.
We look forward to seeing everyone in person at the Ashram next Sunday! We will be performing the Guru Paduka puja, followed by 3rd and 4th grade presentations and a small activity. Please have the kids wear Blue for house points.
Pranaam,
Neelima & Keerthi