Jun 5, 2022 - Grade 4 (Sunday AM)

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 then practiced  the Govinda Damodara sthotram.

We had completed our syllabus for Krishna everywhere in the last class. We also covered 23 out of 24 teachers in our classes so far. We completed the lesson for the 24th teacher in class today.

As always, we started with a riddle.

I am skillful worker.
What I make has been useful with armies in the past 

Rama and Lakshmana used what I made, to destroy demons in the forest.

Arjuna could not have won the contest and married Draupadí without the help of my product.

Who am I ? 

This was a difficult one, but the kids made quite a lot of guesses, some were very close to the right answer. 

Once there was an arrow-maker, who kept himself very busy in his work. One time a big party of the king and his retinue were passing by but he did not even notice them.

Saint Dattëtreya said, "I saw this and learned to have concentration of mind."  

Today's teacher was the "Arrowmaker".

We started by discussing about what is Concentration. How often the kids heard this word and where, and why is this important. 

What is concentration of mind?
Concentration of mind is to make the mind think on one form, an object, a thought, or a concept steadily for a long time.
Everyone has this ability. 

One with high degree of concentration alone can turn out better and accomplish more work

Short story about Sir Isaac Newton - Once, someone invited Sir Isaac Newton for dinner. He went to his host's residence and was shown to the living room by the butler. The host gentleman had forgotten all about Sir Isaac Newton waiting. He ate his dinner and retired to bed.
 Newton sat musing on some important point of science. He did not move from his seat. He had forgotten all about dinner! That was how much he was engrossed in his thought and that was the level of his concentration.
Apples have fallen down from trees for years; it takes a thinking person like Mr. Newton to come up with gravitational law! His ability to concentrate, and focus lead to great inventions. Newton's single-pointed attention earned him fame.

We talked about some examples in nature, that demonstrate the power of concentration.

Sunlight does not burn a piece of paper placed out in open. However, if a magnifying glass is held few inches away from the paper and let the concentrated sun's rays fall on the paper, the paper begins to burn.
When a dam is built on a river, it can generate electricity.
A boiling kettle loses steam as steam dissipates into the air; but when the steam is collected in the steam engine, it can move a whole train.
Every creature in the world has to concentrate to succeed in what it does. Think about animals hunting for food.  They are still, head down, and ears flat, in complete concentration, before they leap on their prey. Concentration is a must for a successful and satisfying life

Short story about Swami Vivekananda - 

Once when Swami Vivekananda was in Chicago, he saw some young children trying to shoot eggshells floating in the river.
The children could not hit the bobbing egg-shells and missed the mark many times. Seeing Swami Vivekananda watching them attentively, they mockingly asked him if he could do a better job. Saying that he would try, Swami Vivekananda took the toy gun. He fired twelve times, hitting an egg-shell each time! Amazed, the children asked him how he could be so good at it.
 "Well, well, I will tell you the secret. Whatever you do, concentrate. Think of nothing else. If you are shooting, keep your mind only on the target. Your aim will not fail. Concentration can work wonders. Even when you are studying, think of only the lessons. What you read will then almost be printed in your memory."

This was the secret of Swami Vivekananda's success. This is the secret of success of many great scientists and people of achievement.

Short story from the Mahabharata -

Dronacharya taught archery to the Pandava and Kaurava princes. One day he wanted to test their skills. There was a bird on the branch of a tree, and the test was to shoot the arrow at the bird's eye. One by one all the princes came, and Dronacharya asked them what they could see when they were aiming their arrow. All of them said they saw the bird, tree, branches, sky, etc. Finally it was Arjuna's turn. Dronacharya asked him what he could see. Arjuna replies that he could only see the eye of the bird.  

This story illustrates the concentration of Arjuna, which made him one of the greatest archers. 

A single pointed attention is needed  to attain perfection in any endeavor.

We then played a small game of concentration. We showed the kids a slide with 24 pictures of different objects, like pencil, pen , clock, umbrella, shoes, etc. We put a timer for a minute and asked them to look at the slide and try to remember as many as they could. After a minute we closed the slide, and asked them. They did pretty good!  A lot of them could remember almost half of the pictures shown.

The second part of the class was like a recap of the Krishna stories we learnt in class, focussing on what is the takeaway for us. What are the values we learnt?

The theme for this part was "Roadmap to Krishna".

Just like we need a map to reach a far off destination, we need a roadmap to reach Krishna. In other words, to have the Lord with us all the time . 

There are nine values we discussed, which help us become the darling of Krishna and help us reach him. 

We discussed each value with reference to a story we learnt. We showed a picture from the story and asked the kids what it was about. This was also a good chance to recap the stories heard throughout the year. 

To reinforce, we did a jumble of the words representing the nine values and asked the kids to unjumble them. 

It was an interesting and interactive session.

The nine values discussed are :

 1. Forgive -  Although Putana tried to poison and kill little Krishna, he forgave and liberated her. We must also learn to forgive someone who harms us. Be kind and forgive unconditionally. We then become happy.

2. Share - Krishna always shared butter and milk with his friends and animals around. Sharing is caring. Remember to always share.

3. Cows -  Krishna loves Cows. Cows are gentle. Be kind and gentle to all animals.

4. Humble -  Brahmaji temporarily forgot the glory of Bhagavan. He thought about his own power and became egoistic. Bhagavan taught him a lesson. We should always be humble. What is being "humble"? Being down to earth and not to think too much of oneself.

5. Service -  The Brahmin women served Krishna with great devotion. Even trees serve without expecting anything in return. See God in all and Serve all.

6. Control -  Sudarshana, a celestial magician lost control over his senses and made fun of Rishi Angira. He flew over him a hundred times. He was cursed by the sage to become a python. We need to have control over our senses. Even if our senses tell us to do wrong things, we will not. That is control.

7. Puja -  More we pray to Bhagawan, more we become like him. Akrura was so devoted to the Lord, that he got his divine vision. The Gopis devotion was so great that the Lord was always in their hearts. We should remember to pray everyday.

8. Vedas -  Vedas and Brahmins or knowledgeable people are two of the limbs of Lord Krishna. Read good books. Always respect your Guru or teacher. By reading good inspirational books, and serving our teachers, we become the darling of Krishna.

9. Forbearance -  Forbearance is the limb of the Lord we need to remember all our life. Many times people may trouble you, but you swallow your pride and keep quiet and move on. Do not pick unnecessary quarrels or fights. Remember Bhagavan and be calm. He will take care of you.

The kids then spent some time doing a word search puzzle. It was based on the names of people and places we learnt about in Krishna everywhere.

We concluded the class with the Chinmaya Mission Pledge.

We really enjoyed the company of all the kids and it was a pleasure teaching them. Their enthusiasm and eagerness to learn was commendable. 

The Annual Day will be on Sunday, June 12th in person @ the ashram. The schedule was sent on the whatsapp group. We look forward to meeting you all there!

We wish you all a happy and safe summer!

Pranaam,

Neelima & Keerthi