Mar 6, 2022 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

 

Prayer time:

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers- "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.

 

Yoga Time:

We are getting good at stretching, breathing and balancing poses.

 

 Bhagvatham Time:

 During story time, we learnt about Nine modes of Devotion.
We revisited the story of prahlaada and discussed the Nine modes of Devotion.

1) shravaNam- Listening to the  stories  about the Lord.
2) kIrtanam – Singing the glories of the Lord
3) (vishNu) naama smaraNam –Remembering the Lord always
4) paadasevanam – Serving him
5) archanam- Worshipping him
6) vandanam – Bowing to the Lord
7) daasyam – Being a servant of the Lord.
8) sakhyam – Loving the Lord as a friend
9) aatmanivedanam – Never to complain and surrender to the Lord.
Please talk to your children about the 9 modes. Ask them how they would greet each other (vandanam); Offer flowers and fruits to the Lord (archanam); telling a story to their friend the Lord (sakhyam). Writing the Lord's name in the 'Likitha Japa Book' (naama smaranam)

 

Gajendra Moksham:

Today we heard the story of Gajendra, an elephant king who lived in a forest on Mount Trikuta. The place was very beautiful. One sunny day the elephant king along with his herds went to drink water from a nearby lake. As Gajendra was drinking, he felt his feet was attacked by a powerful crocodile and the crocodile was pulling his feet very hard. How much ever Gajendra tried freeing his leg he was being pulled again and again. Even the elephant herd also tried helping their king but failed. Then finally Gajendra felt tired and exhausted and felt that his last moments were coming near and turned his thoughts to the Lord and prayed to Him for help. Maha Vishnu heard the cries of the elephant and went there immediately to save him. Maha Vishnu with his chakra cut open the mouth of the crocodile and let free Gajendra's leg. 

 

Tale: Who was the Crocodile?

 

The crocodile was a gandharva in his previous birth named, Hoohoo. One day when Rishi Devala was bathing in the river he played some tricks on the sage and the sage got angry and cursed him that he be crocodile in the next birth and that he'll be released from the curse by the touch of the Lord's Divine chakra, upon which he'll regain his gandarva-form. 

 

Tale: Who was Gajendra?

 

In his previous birth, Gajendra was Indradyumna, a Paandya king. He was a great Vishnu devotee and once he took a vow of silence and went into deep meditation. One day sage Agastya visited his ashram and found that the king didn't get up to receive him and on seeing this he became angry and cursed him that he be an elephant in his next birth. But even though he was an elephant he retained to some extent his devotion from his previous birth. And because of his devotion he got moksha when he remembered the Lord at the time of trouble. 

 

Shloka Time:

We learnt verse 9 of Guru Stotram. Please continue to practice at home.

 

Geetha Chanting vs 54-55

Please be sure to practice at home.

 

 

We concluded the class with the Pledge.

 

 

With Love, 

Indira & Raji Aunty

Jan 30, 2022 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

 

Prayer time:

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers- "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.

 

 

 Bhagvatham Time:

 We did a quick recap of Puranjana and the nine gates.

 

Sage Rshaba

He was a king who, after ruling the kingdom well for a long time, handed over his kingdom to his son bharata.  He then became a sage and meditated so intensely that he became a jIvanmukta (free from all attachments).  He attained this by doing the right things.
To know what is the right thing to do, we heard another story where there was a king who had 3 questions in mind -
1.  What is the most important work?
2.  What is the best time to start work?
3.  Who is the most important person?
In quest for his answers, he went to a sage disguised as a common man.  The king asked his 3 questions, but the sage was busily planting a bush.   So, the king bent down and helped him.  Suddenly a wounded man came to them bleeding and fainted in the king's arms.  The sage and the king nursed him and took care of him through the night.  Next morning, the wounded man fell at the king's feet begging for pardon.  He was an enemy who had come to kill the king but had got wounded by the king's soldiers at the bottom of the hill.  But unknowingly, the king had saved him and saved himself in turn!  The sage then answered his 3 questions.  He said, the answers to your questions are right there-

• the most important work is - that which is in FRONT of you
• the best time to do the work is - RIGHT NOW 
• the most important person is - the person in FRONT of you7

Shloka Time:

We learnt verse 8 of Guru Stotram. Please continue to practice at home.

 

Geetha Chanting vs 49-50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Q439FolDQ

 

Please be sure to practice at home.

 

 Likitha Japa:

We spent some time meditating and writing Lord's name – Om namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

 

 

With Love, 

Indira & Raji Aunty

Jan 23, 2022 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

 

Prayer time:

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers- "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.

 

Yoga Time:

We are getting good at stretching, breathing and balancing poses.

 

 Bhagvatham Time:

We did a quick recap of king pRruthu

Puranjana

We heard the story of Puranjana, which was told by Narada to King Pracinabarhi. King Pracinabarhi spent a lot of time practicing yajnas and sacrifices. One day, Narada came to him and told him that by doing these yajnas, he was harming innocent creatures and adding more karmas, getting farther away from the goal. So, to help Pracinabarhi get back on the right track towards self-realization, Narada tells him the story of Puranjana. Puranjana had a friend named Avijnaata, but nobody really knew where Avijnaata lived or what he did. Puranjana, in pursuits of happiness in material things, traveled around until he found a city south of the Himalayas that would make him happy. There, he married the princess and grew extremely attached to her. He was a slave to her emotions, and Puranjana stopped living his own life. After a few years, she died, and he went mad, and died soon after. In his next life, Puranjana was born as a girl, who got married to a king. She grew extremely attached and when the king died, she was about to throw herself in his funeral pyre. But a brahmin came and stopped her. This brahmin was Avijnaata, who came to take Puranjana back on the right path. Narada explained this story to Pracinabarhi, how Puranjana represented the soul, and how Avijnaata was the Lord. The soul will always be looking for a body to fulfill its material desires, but eventually, it needs the Lord to set it free permanently.

The Nine-Gated City
King Puranjana represents us.  Our body represents the nine-gated city. We are the king, the ruler of the nine gated city. 
The Nine gates represent: sensory organs. As the king, what are our duties?

We must look out for our kingdom, our body; we must keep our body neat and clean.

Priyavrata

Priyavrata was the second son of Manu. At a very early age Priyavrata learned the spiritual truth from sage Narada and was ready to renounce the world and take sanyasa. His father, Manu wanted him to rule the kingdom, but Priyavrata would not listen. One day Brahmaji appeared before him and advised him to surrender to the Divine Will of the Lord. He said that a human birth must go through the birth and death cycle, pleasure and pain, happiness and misery but should always remain unattached to the karmas. And thus, Brahma Ji advised him to rule the land and become the king by keeping himself free from passions and desires. Priyavrata accepted His advise and became the king. He ruled the kingdom without getting attached and after long years of ruling he handed the kingdom over to his son and took the vow of sannyasa and attained moksha. 

Brainstorming: 
We should have the attitude of surrendering unto the Divine Will. 

To explain more we told them a story of a king and his loyal minister

God does it For Our Own Good
We heard the story of a king who had a loyal minister who would always say, "It is the Lord's wish and everything that happens, happens for the best." We learned that we should not complain and whatever happens to us is the Divine wish. Please ask your children to retell the story that they heard in class. 

 

Game time:

We played the word search game.

 

Shloka Time:

We learnt verse 7 of Guru Stotram. Please continue to practice at home.

 

 

We concluded the class with the Pledge.

 

 

With Love, 

Indira & Raji Aunty

Jan 9, 2022 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

Wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

 

Prayer time:

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers- "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.

 

Yoga Time:

Raji aunty taught us some yoga poses and we will continue practicing in our next class.

 

 Bhagvatham Time:

 We did a quick recap of Dhruva story

king pRuthu:  

We then heard the story of king pRuthu, who was a descendant of Dhruva.  The people in his kingdom go so intoxicated in abundance that, everyone, including the king, got absorbed in being happy by celebrating, merry making, etc. constantly.  They were not doing any work, nor were they bother about their future.  One fine day, the earth became a barren land and was littered all over!  All the people became unhappy and miserable.  The king prayed to mother earth, who in turn advised him to cultivate the land, sow the seeds and grow food, to let themselves survive.  Once they all started working hard, tilling the land, sowing the seeds, etc., the land became luscious and rich again.  From this, they learnt that only celebrating all the time, without working for the future is not sufficient, but one has to sow seed to reap a crop tomorrow. We need to work on sowing the nice seeds today to reap a good crop tomorrow. 

 

Next, we learnt about how the sanath kumaaras visited king pRuthu and advised him about how to cross the ocean of life.  They told him about the 6 sharks in the ocean of life called samsaara.  They are - Lust, Anger, Greed, Pride, Delusion and Jealousy.  We heard individual stories about these 6 traits and how to overcome them.  (Do talk to the children about the stories and the topic)

Lust can be overcome by giving and sharing.
Anger can be conquered by calmness.
Greed can be overcome with a relaxed attitude.
Pride can be overcome by being humble.
Delusion is won by awareness.
Jealousy is subdued by broad-mindedness.

 

Likitha Japa time:

During this time kids chanted and wrote 'Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya'

 

Shloka Time:

We learnt verse 6 of Guru Stotram. Please continue to practice at home.

 

Geetha Chanting vs 47-48

Please be sure to practice at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkO2XPTyhc0

 

We concluded the class with the Pledge.

 

IMP Reminder ** No Class on Sunday 1/16/22**

 

With Love, 

Indira & Raji Aunty

Dec 12, 2021 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

 

Prayer time:

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers- "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.

 

Yoga Time:

Raji aunty taught us some yoga poses and we will continue practicing in our next class.

 

 Bhagvatham Time:

 

Three types of devotion

1) Tamasic Devotion: People who have hatred, anger, jealousy in their hearts. People who worship God selfishly for their own well-being. Such people have tamasic devotion. Ask kids to retell the story they heard in class about 2 boys and ask them what they understood from the story.
  
2) Rajasic Devotion: When our mind is full of worldly desires and when we pray to God for material gains, we become a rajasic devotee. When we pray with a shopping list, or for better grades or for any of our wants etc., are examples of rajasic type of devotion.
 
3) Sattvic Devotion: People who love God for the sake of love, not for anything have sattvic devotion. It is the highest kind of devotion. People who love God not for any gains or pleasures are sattvic devotees.  

 

Sati:

Sati was the daughter of Daksha. Sati was a very ardent devotee of Lord Siva. She would always think of Lord Siva and do his pooja. She could not think of anything else other than Siva. Finally, Siva and Sati got married. 

One day, Sati's father, Daksha, decided to perform a huge sacrifice. All the Gods, sages, kings, and the celestial beings were invited. The time for the sacrifice came in and just as Daksha walked into the place everyone other than Lord Siva rose to show him respect. Daksha felt very much insulted and lost his temper. He cursed him with very bad words, but Siva kept very quiet and didn't utter a word. After all the commotion Siva left for his abode. After a few months Daksha again decided to perform a huge sacrifice. He invited everyone other than Siva and Sati. Sati wanted to go to her house for the sacrifice. Siva advised her not to go as they were not invited. But Sati still went to participate in the sacrifice. On reaching there she found that no yagna sacrifice had been kept for Siva. She got furious and turned to her father and told that she was ashamed to be born as his daughter and burnt herself in fire and was reduced to ashes. Siva on hearing the news of Sati trembled with fury and quickly pulled out a lock of his hair and threw it on the ground and it emerged into a gigantic terrible form, Virabhadra. Virabhadra immediately went to the sacrificial ground and destroyed everything there and chopped off Daksha's head and put it in the fire. All the devas became terrified at the terrible form and went to Lord Siva and requested him to calm down. Siva said Daksha's head could not be reversed again as it had been destroyed and thus replaced it with the head of a goat. From then on Daksha was very thankful to Lord Siva and always respected Him.

 

Shloka Time:

We learnt verse 5 of Guru Stotram. Please continue to practice at home.

 

Geetha Chanting vs 45-46

Please be sure to practice at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MEh3vCkSWw

 

 

We concluded the class with the Pledge.

 

See you all next week!

 

With Love, 

Indira & Raji Aunty

Dec 5, 2021 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

 

Prayer time:

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers- "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.

 

Yoga Time:

Raji aunty taught us some yoga poses and we will continue practicing in our next class.

 

 

Bhagvatham Time:

 

Kardama and devahuti:

Kardama was a great sage who used to do tapas for many years. He prayed to the Lord to bless him with a beautiful wife. After many years, the Lord appeared before him and blessed him. He promised him very soon Manu, the first man is going to come to him and give his daughter in marriage to him. 

Manu and Shataroopa, the first man and woman, had 2 sons and 3 daughters. It was time for one of their daughters to get married. Manu and Shataroopa started looking for a suitable groom. One day Narada Ji came there and asked them to find sage Kardama and get their daughter married to him. So Manu and Shataroopa went to the forest looking for the sage and came across a beautiful ashram on the banks of river saraswati and found a young sage who was doing tapas. Manu and Shataroopa offered their daughter, Devahuti in marriage. But the sage had one condition. He told once he bears a son he will leave the ashram and go for the ultimate realization. Everyone agreed. And Kardama and Devahuti both liked each other and thus got married. They lived many years of a hard life of penance and sacrifice. After many years of tapas, nine girls were born to them and then after many years a son was born to them. He was named Kapila. After Kapila's birth, sage Kardama left his ashram and went for doing tapas.

 

 

What is Tapas:

Tapas means austerity. When we take a vow to do something and live by that vow, we are doing tapas

 

Kapila:

Kapila, son of Kardama and Devahuti, became famous as a divine teacher and a sage. He founded the Saamkhyan philosophy. He was so learned that one day his mother came to him and asked her son, Kapila to teach her how to gain freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Kapila told his mother to attain that one must have a pure heart. One can gain a pure heart by following the 7 rules.

1. Obeying the rules of life
2. Performing one's duties
3. Seeing work as worship
4. Chanting God's name again and again
5. Trusting God as a trusted, beloved friend
6. Seeing the blessed Lord in all creatures; being friendly to all, and being kind to the poor and the helpless
7. Loving God as one loves oneself and one's own children. Love for God is devotion. 

Devahuti followed her son's teachings faithfully. Then, Kapila left the ashram and went up into the Himalayas for meditation. 

 

 

Shloka Time:

We learnt verse 4 of Guru Stotram. Please continue to practice at home.

 

Geetha Chanting vs 43-44

Kids keep practicing at home too. Make sure they practice loudly at home as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ09tsR8asI

 

We concluded the class with the Pledge.

 

See you all next week!

 

With Love, 

Indira & Raji Aunty

Nov 21, 2021 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

 

Prayer time:

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers- "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.

 

Yoga Time:

Raji aunty taught us some stretching exercises. We will learn and continue our Yoga poses next time.

 

 

Bhagvatham Time:

 

Jaya and Vijaya:

Jaya and Vijaya were the royal gate keepers of the abode of Maha Vishnu. One day Brahmaji's four sons, the Sanatkumaras, came there to see Maha Vishnu. The Sanatkumaras, though they were very old, looked only like 5-year-old kids. They were very wise. They didn't dress very attractive. Seeing them not so attractive and well dressed, Jaya and Vijaya didn't let them go in and see Maha Vishnu. They were filled with pride and arrogance that they failed to recognize the greatness of the sages. The Sanatkumaras felt offended and spelled a curse on the two that they will descend on earth as terrible asuras. Immediately Jaya and Vijaya understood their mistake and asked for forgiveness. Because of this curse, they were born to Diti as Hirayaaksha and Hirayanyakashipu

 

Moral:

If we do wrong actions, we still must face the consequences even if we have love and devotion to the Lord. 

 

 

  

Shloka Time:

We learnt verse 3 of Guru Stotram. Please continue to practice at home.

 

Geetha Chanting vs 39- 42

 

We concluded the class with the Pledge.

 

See you all next week!

 

With Love, 

Indira & Raji Aunty

Nov 14, 2021 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

 

Prayer time:

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers-  "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.

 

Yoga Time:

Raji aunty taught us some stretching exercises. We will learn and continue our Yoga poses next time.

 

 

Bhagvatham Time:

First, we did a quick recap of the previous story and continued with 2 new stories. Kids were very eager to hear the stories.

 

Varaaha Avataar

Brahma Ji, the creator of the universe created the first man, Manu and the first woman, Shataroopa and was thinking for a nice place for them to live. At that time mother earth was buried deep in the oceans of pralaya. As he kept brooding over the place, a boar, no bigger than a size of the thumb, suddenly sprang out of his right nostril. Immediately it started growing till it became very huge and gigantic. Everyone in heaven worshipped him for they knew that it was the Lord's incarnation. The boar then dived deep into the ocean and located mother earth and as he was trying to lift it from the ocean, Hirayaakshya the asura king attacked Him. The boar pierced opened and killed the asura king, who tried to stop him from saving the mother earth. He then brought mother earth above the surface of the water holding it on His powerful tusks.

 Sage Kashyapa

Sage Kashyap was a very noble sage. He had a very beautiful wife, Diti. One day she felt bored and did not want sage Kashyap to do his prayer and meditation. She was acting selfish. The sage wanted to do his usual prayers, but she did not let him. She was so adamant that the sage had to forgo his meditation and pooja. After some time Diti realized her mistake and asked the sage for forgiveness. But he said it was too late and told that she has to get the fruit for her action. Sage Kashyap told her she did two wrong deeds- she became the victim of her own desire, and she disobeyed her husband. Sage Kashyap told his wife due to her two bad deeds; two sons will be born to her who are extremely wicked. He added that when the three worlds will no longer be able to bear the deeds of their violence, the Lord will incarnate himself to kill them. Diti became very sad on hearing it and repented very much on her act. 

Game time/Craft time:

We played the word search game online.

  

Shloka Time:

We learnt verse 2 of Guru Stotram. Please continue to practice at home.

 

We concluded the class with the Pledge.

 

See you all next week!

 

With Love, 

Indira & Raji Aunty

Oct 31, 2021 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

 

Happy Diwali!!

 

Prayer time:

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers- "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.

 

We spoke about festival of lights Diwali!

 

 

Bhagvatham Time:

First, we did the recap of the last class. We briefly discussed the curse story of King Parikist.

 

Today's Story – Pariksit meets Sukhadeva

Parikshit learnt about the curse and was very sad and returned to the palace. 

King Pariksit handed over the palace to his son and went to the forest. He got together with a lot of learned sages like Vyaasa, Vashista, and others.  He also met a very young learned sage Shukadeva, son of Vyassa. They all suggested that Pariksit listen to the glories of the Lord, that are sung in the bhagavatam, to attain eternal peace, since he was cursed to die in 7 days.  In the following classes we will be learning the stories that were narrated by Shukadeva to King Pariksit.

 

House Inauguration Activity – Today was a short class. After story time we jumped into Quiz activity time. Kids did an amazing job, and it was all about teamwork and helping each other.

 

**important announcements** - No class on 11/7

 

 

With Love, 

Indira & Raji Aunty

Oct 24, 2021 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

 

Prayer time:

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers- "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.

 

Yoga time:

We started with learning and practicing some yoga poses. Breathing exercises, neck relaxation and tree pose

  

Bhagvatham Time:

First, we did the recap of the last class. We discussed briefly where Kali resides. Kali asked King Pariksit to give him some place to live. Thus, Pariksit gave him 5 adharmic places to live: untruthfulness, arrogance/ ignorance, lust, cruelty, Rajoguna (running after wealth).

Today's Story – The Curse

King Pariksit went hunting alone in the forest. After a while he felt thirsty and went looking for water. His search ended up seeing sage Samika's ashram. But the sage was in deep meditation and he was not aware of the king's presence. The King wanted to test the sage so he took a snake and put it around the sage's neck and on seeing this act of the king the sage's son, Sringi got angry and cursed the King that he will be bitten by a poisonous snake, Thakshak and thus he will be killed in 7 days. When the Sage Samika heard this, he was upset with his son. The noble sage didn't even think bad about the king but instead defended the king saying that there is no king as good as King Pariksit. Such is the greatness of the sages of our land. 

 

What did we learn from this story?

Why Pariksit, a nice king, did a bad act of putting the snake around the sage's neck?
It was because the king was not on guard. He was not alert. His hunger, thirst and tiredness made him to do the act. The noble king lost his mind momentarily and could not make right from wrong

One wrong act cannot be set right by another wrong act. We explained it more by giving examples from our day-to-day life like it is not good to shout and people shouting back at you. It is not nice to push someone and in turn someone pushes you back. Same way it is not good to hit someone, and someone hits you back. 

Game time/Craft time:

On the Guard game. Continuing the story theme we played Vishnu says to see how alert kids were.

 

Geetha Chanting time:

 

We learnt Chp 2 vs 39 and 40

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3pRQIaPdPE&list=PLwv-WSJSokEORu2iEsVanXQhQHOoiiQIy&index=18

 

Please make sure kids are practicing at home.

 

Slokha time:

 

Guru Stotram -VS 1

We concluded the class with Pledge.

 

**important announcements** Next week (10/31) is House Inauguration day. Grade 3 is Arjuna's arrows. Please make sure kids are all dressed in color- GREEN. We will have some activities on zoom.

 

 

With Love, 

Indira & Raji Aunty

Oct 3, 2021 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

 

Prayer time:

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers- "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.

 

Discussion time:

Today in class we talked about the upcoming festival 'Navrathri'. All of us shared how we celebrate this festival at home with family. The thoughts shared - keeping steps and arranging Golu dolls, eating sundal and sweets, praying to goddess (Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati) ,  arranging music instruments in front of God, and  attending Durga Pooja at the temple.

  

Bhagvatham Time:

First, we did the recap of the last class ('How to be Happy forever') and moved on with the story of Narada. 

Narada was the son of a servant lady who lived serving saints in the ashram. Narada lived there hearing the glories of Bhagavan from the saints. It so happened that one-day Narada mother got bitten by a snake and died and thus Narada Ji was left all alone. After this incident Narada went to the forest for mediating and Bhagavan, being happy with him, blessed him by saying he will be reborn as Brahmaji's son. Few years later he died and was reborn again as the son of Brahmaji.

Pariksit Meets Kali

 One day King Pariksit was going around, and he was shocked to see a strange sight. A mean, well-dressed man, Kali was torturing a white bull and a cow was standing close by and crying seeing this. The mean man had already pulled out three of the bull's legs and was about to cut out the fourth leg. Seeing this King Pariksit got angry and asked Kali why he was doing this to the poor animal. Then the King turned to the bull and cow and asked why he was doing this. The bull answered he didn't know why- but some say it may be due to past karmas. Parikshit thought deeply and realized that the bull was the personification of Dharma & the cow was of Mother Earth. The four legs stand for Austerity, Purity, Kindness and Truthfulness. We discussed the three legs of the bull that were missing - Austerity, Purity and Kindness. In our next class we will continue the story and discuss Truthfulness.

Geetha Chanting time:

We learnt from Sanskrit words and pronunciation. We will start learning verses from Chp 2 in our next class.

 

Game time/Craft time:

We tried the word search game online. The theme was Gods and Goddess.

 

We concluded the class with Aarti and Pledge.

 

Wishing you all a very Happy Navratri!

 

**No Class on Oct 10th**. See you all on Sunday, October 17^th.  

 

With Love, 

Indira & Raji Aunty

Sept 26, 2021 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

 

Prayer time:

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by morning prayers-  "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.

 

Yoga Time:

Raji aunty taught us some stretching exercises. We will learn and continue our Yoga poses next time.

 

 

Bhagvatham Time:

First, we did the recap of the last class (Avatara) and moved on with the story. 

Saunaka rishi lived in the ashrama with several disciples. One day Sutaji, a learned sage, visited the ashrama. Saunaka rishi asked how one can be happy forever. To which Sutaji replied that the answer was in the poem "Bhagavatam" which was composed by Sri Veda Vyasa and has 18,000 verses.

We will continue and learn about the background of Bhagavatam.

 

Likitha Japa time:

 

During Likhita Japa time we wrote OM, Rama, Krishna and the kids were very creative.

 

 

Game time/Craft time:

We learnt to draw Lord Ganesha. It was an easy step by step process using 4*4 dots. and indeed, a fun project.

We concluded the class with Aarti and Pledge.

 

See you all next week!

 

With Love, 

Indira & Raji Aunty

Sept 19, 2021 - Grade 3 (Sunday AM)

Hari OM

Welcome to an exciting zoom class at Chinmaya Vrindavan.

 

We took attendance & greeted each other with a "Hari Om"

 

Prayer time:

We started our class with our opening prayers "Sahanaavathu" followed by Vakrathunda Mahakaya, Saraswathi Namsthubhyam, Guru Brahma and Buddhir balam.

 

We took some time to introduce each other. We were so happy to see all the smiling faces.

 

Discussion/review time:

We briefly discussed Hanuman Dhyanah slokha.

 

Buddhir Balam Yasho Dhairyam Nir Bhayatvam Arogata Ajatyam Vak Patutvam Cha Hanumat Smaranat Bhavet

 

Kids were all alert in class (Ajaytam).

 

Bhagvatham Time:

Avatara

We then talked about Bala Bhagavatam and Avatars of Vishnu.

Avatara is a Sanskrit word which means 'coming down'.

God takes a form and is born amongst us is called an avatara   Meaning, He comes down to live amongst us.

 

God takes an avatara to teach us a lesson.

God takes an avatara to save someone nice.

God takes an avatara to remove evil.

 

Next week we will discuss it in detail.

 

 

Likitha Japa time:

 

During Likhita Japa time we wrote OM, Rama, Krishna and the kids were very creative.

 

 

Game time:

We played the memory game. Kids chose 'Colors' as the theme for this game. This is a fun and exciting game. Please ask your kids to share this game and perhaps you can all play it too at home.

 

 

See you all next week!

With Love, 

Indira & Raji Aunty