Dec 10, 2021 - Grade 4 (Friday)

Greetings and namaste. Apologies, I am writing to you after two weeks. This summary will cover the classes on Dec 3th and 10th.

After our daily prarthana and daily slokas, we did a quick round of pop quiz of Krishna Ashtakam. It is encouraging that a number of kids are fast pickimg up the slokas. A few still need to catch both Bhagvad Gita and Krishna Ashtakam and the good news is with the holiday season, all it takes is 10 min of practice. Links are below

1. Krishnashtakam  https://youtu.be/-OqY_ZbIT-k   
   
2. Shree Govinda Damodara stotram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--3BXJuMVQ0
3. Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 - Sankhya yoga verses 39-72   https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwv-WSJSokEORu2iEsVanXQhQHOoiiQIy

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It was time for a popcorn reading of Bala Bhagavatham. The chapter for the popcorn reading was continuation of Lord Krishna's childhood antics. After getting a sigh of relief from the tragic happenings with the baby boy, Nanda and Yashoda decide to perform the naming ceremony of the boy. As per custom and Indian tradition, the newborn are to be named after consullting the local priest or kula guru and panchang. Maharshi Garg was Yadava's guru. Per the request of Nanda. Garg maharishi fixed a time and date for the naming ceremony. Nanda's family became busy with preparations for naming ceremonies, although villagers wanted it to be huge, sensing some danger, Nanda decided that the ceremony will be a low key one and would be performed in goshala - cow shed, instead of the tradition of performing in the house. On the designated auspicious day and muhurta, Nand Baba, invites sage Garg to his home to perform the ceremony. Sage Garg first performs the ceremony to another baby boy that was born to Vasudeva from his first wife Rohini who also happened to live in Gokul. Garg rishi names Rohini's son as Balarama - the powerful one and blesses him to be a powerful warrior when he grows up. After naming Balarama, Garg Muni takes Yashoda's baby into his lap and looks at the dark-skinned beautiful kid - instantly names him "Krishna - the one with dark skin" Krishna in Sanskrit literally means black. Everyone will be surprised to know that even Krishna was bullied and taunted by his fellow kids on his name and skin color and was called Kanha/ Kanhaiya the black one. All it tells that human psychology and kids' instincts have been the same since time immemorial. There are beautiful episodes throughout all Indian languages on this - one is the famous from Sant Surdas's Sur Sagar. Krishna used to constantly complain to Yashoda on the predicament he was in - kids around him used to taunt him - why is Krishna's mother Yashoda is fair and why Krishna is black/ dark skinned.  Krishna was growing up and soon became a darling of the village, while they were all tired of his antics - stealing the freshly made butter, yogurt and all the mess he and his entourage used to leave behind, but none could come close to taking him to task and admonish him. As soon as they wanted to teach him a lesson or admonish him, they would take one look at his face and would feel guilty looking at his innocent face and let Krishna go unpunished 😀 One day Balarama caught Krishna eating dirt from the ground and drags him to Yashoda and complains to her about Krishna. Krishna plays his usual trick and poses an innocent face and denies the whole thing. Yashoda was already fed up with his antics and was worried about him becoming sick and demanded that Krishna open his mouth and prove his innocence. Krishna eventually opens his mouth and to the astonishment of Yashoda sees all the 14 worlds, the entire universe!!! One day mother Yashoda was tired of Krishna's antics - Krishna broke a pot of butter and made a mess of the kitchen. All this because, he was angry because she left in the middle of feeding to attend to boiling milk. Yashoda wanted to teach Krishna a lesson - she stealthily tried to come from his rear and catch him, Krishna was aware of this and started running away, seeing maa Yashoda chasing him with a wand, he ran faster. this continued for a while and Krishna let himself caught after seeing his mother tired and frustrated. Having cuaght him, she got a rope and tried to tie around his waist and secure him to mortar, only to realize that the rope was a little short. So maa Yashoda, gets a longer piece of rope, and yet again it falls short. This drama goes on for several more times, every time she tries to tie Krishna, rope falls a few inches shorter. Once again, seeing mother getting frustrated, Krishna finally stops his antics and lets her tie him to the mortar and goes back into her kitchen to take care of the mess. In the meantime, Krishna doesn't sit quiet. He starts to struggle to get free of the rope and mortar. The mortar flips and starts rolling. Krishna feels amused and starts crawling and gets stuck as the mortar gets stuck between two large trees. Krishna struggles to dislodge himslef of the mortar and in the process starts shaking the mortar. With all this struggle, the trees came loose and fall to the ground with a thud. Out of the fallen trees, came two Gandharva's - Nala Kubera and Mangareva. The two were sons of Kubera who got cursed for their arrogance when they belittled sage Narada who cursed them to be trees until a great person and deliver them from the curse. The two Gandharva's bow to lord Krishna, who blesses them and regain their original form.  Hearing the huge thud sound, Yashoda rushes outside to see if Krishna is safe and to her horror and amusement sees baby Krishna playful and playing in between the two huge fallen trees! With this, the time was up and was time for Bhavad Gita Chanting, aarati and pledge. We covered slokas 47-48 Until we meet next time Shivram & Meena

Nov 19, 2021 - Grade 4 (Friday)

Hari Om, greetings and Namaste.

This is the summary of the session on Nov. 19.

This year's curriculum consists of two cantos of Srimad Bhagavatam

1. Canto 10 deals with the birth and childhood happenings of Lord Krishna - Sree Krishna Leelas
2. 11th Canto also known as Avadhoota Gita is a dialog between Sage Dattatreya and a king Yadu as retold by lord Krishna to his favourite disciple Uddhava, just before lord Krishna's end of his avatar.
3. Krishnashtakam  https://youtu.be/-OqY_ZbIT-k   
   
4. Shree Govinda Damodara stotram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--3BXJuMVQ0
5. Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 - Sankhya yoga verses 39-72   https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwv-WSJSokEORu2iEsVanXQhQHOoiiQIy

The routine of the Balavihar session is

• Likitha Japa
• Invocation of Santi mantra
• Daily Prayers
• Krishnashtakam
  

After the initial greetings, likitha japa, we performed our daily prayers and then completed Krishnashtakam. Most of the kids are getting better every day with the slokas and a few need additional practice. Please help your kids in in the pronunciation and memorizing the slokas. We plan to have pop quizzes on the slokas, and other material covered in the class. After that, we reviewed the what we covered in the last class - the celebrations in the whole town of Gokul on the news of a little one birth in Nanda and Yashoda's house.

While Gokul was overflowing with joy and celebrations, back in Mathura. Kamsa was terrified at the news of his angel of death out there somewhere surviving. The palace was filled with gloom and Kamsa was pacing down the corridors of the palace nervous and was waiting for all his misters to show up whom he convened earlier for their counsel. Once all the misters were convened and seated - Kamsa sought everyone's ideas on how to deal with the problem of the baby growing somewhere unknown. 

Each minister gave a more cruel and sinister ways to get rid of the baby. than the other. Not one proposed the real solution for Kamasa to stop his adharmic ways of living. Such is the impact of company one has. One has to be careful in asking counsel, and seek it only from learned and righteous people, who can tell the truth the way it is and lead us to right path, even though it may seem difficult to tread on. 

After having listened to all the ministers, Kamsa like the idea of killing all newborn in the last few days and sent a word out for Putuna to get her help in accomplishing the evil deed.  Putana was a very treacherous demon and had the capability to transform herself into any outfit or person. Hearing upon Kamsa's request - she set out to accomplishing the master's task. She transformed herself into a beautiful, attractive lady and reached Gokul. She was puzzled to see the whole town decorated and people teeming with joy and happiness. As she walked past the streets, she overheard the villagers talking about the beautiful baby boy to Nanda and Yashoda and how wonderful his smile was and how twinkling his eyes were. She followed them and saw a number of villagers walking briskly towards Nanda's house. She joined the folks and entered Nanda's house. The whole house was full of people and Nanda and Yashoda were busy greeting visitors. Everybody would come cuddle the baby boy and move on. When Putuna entered the house, everybody was wonder stuck and the elegance, beauty and charm of her. None of the villagers saw such a beautiful lady in those parts in a long time. Punta greeted everybody and slowly made her way to the cradle where Krishna was. Putana, in the pretense of cuddling the baby, took him into his arms and while everybody was busy, took the baby to the back yard. Her plan was to make the baby suckle here breasts which were laced with poison. As per her plan, she cajoled Krishna into sucking here breasts, but Lord Krishna who is antaryami - knower of all things, knew the evil intentions of Putana and he sucked the breasts so hard that he took her life breath away. As soon as the life was gone, Putana regained her hideous form and fell to the ground with a great thud. All the folks in Nanda's household were bewildered and ran towards the great sound, maa Yashoda was concerned about the baby and ran towards the cradel and became hysterical after not finding him there and also ran outside to look for her darling baby. People saw hideous monster lying on the bround life less and on the top was little Krishna all smiles as if nothing happened. Upon seeing the baby, Yashoda took him into the arms, cuddled and smooched him and performed ritual of warding of evils. All the villegers were shocked at the turn of events and thanked divine grace for saving the village and the baby.

Days were rolling by, Kamsa heard the news of Putana's death and continued with his quest to kill the Lord! He summoned another demon Trinavarta - the hurricane demon, who could raise dust storms, hurricanes and create havoc and destroy communities at the drop of a hat. Kamsa ordered Trinavarta to kill his mortal enemy. The demon, as with many of us underestimated the strength of the opposition and joked as to what his services are required to killl an infant. Kamsa recounted how the baby killed Putana and advised him not to take the task lightly. Trinavarta was not convinced but undertook the task in order to please Kamsa. Trinavarta's plan was simple - create a hurricane, lift the baby boy so high up in the sky and then suddenly throw him to the ground, smashing the baby to death, but the lord had other plans 😀😀

One day maa Yashoda took Krishna into her lap and was sitting in the verandah. suddenly she realized as the baby growing heavier and heavier. She could not hold him anymore, so she put him down and ran into the yard, to tie things up as see saw great big black clouds forming and winds howling. The lord knew, these were no ordinary winds or clouds - it was the demon. The winds gained more speed and clouds became thicker and dark. All the villager, the cattle scared at the oncoming howling winds, dust started running helter-skelter. Maa Yashoda, rushed back to the house to get herself and Krishna to safety - only to find him missing. She ran back into the yard searching for him, Nanda also joined her. With all the howling, things flying and dust in the air, it was difficult to see, yet they continued. Suddenly thier gaze fell upon the tip of the hurricane - what they saw frigtened them. Krishna was on the tip of the hurricane and was becoming heavier and heavier every second, Trianvarta was finding it difficult to hold him anymore and was unable to smash him to the ground as planned. Instead, Krishna held the throat of the demon with both his hands and squeezed the so hard that the demon could not breathe anymore and choked to death and fell to the ground far far away from the village in the woods. With the demon's death all winds stopped, and clouds cleared. Villagers rushed towards where Trianvarta fell to see if baby Krishna was all right. To their amusement, the lord was on top of the huge demon's body playing as if nothing happened. Seeing him all safe Nanda and Yashoda were happy and took the baby back home! With this it was time for Bhagavad-Gita (Verses 45 & 46), aarati and pledge. 

Until we meet next

Shivram & Meena

(sevaks)

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Nov 12, 2021 - Grade 4 (Friday)

Hari Om, greetings and Namaste.

This is the summary of the two session on Nov. 12.

This years curriculum consists of two cantos of Srimad Bhagavatam

1. Canto 10 deals with the birth and childhood happenings of Lord Krishna - Sree Krishna Leelas
2. 11th  Canto also known as Avadhoota Gita is a dialog between Sage Dattatreya and a king Yadu as retold by lord Krishna to his favourite disciple Uddhava, just before lord Krishna's end of his avatar.
3. Krishnashtakam  https://youtu.be/-OqY_ZbIT-k   
   
4. Shree Govinda Damodara stotram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--3BXJuMVQ0
5. Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 - Sankhya yoga verses 39-72   https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwv-WSJSokEORu2iEsVanXQhQHOoiiQIy

The routine of the Balavihar session is

• Likitha Japa
• Invocation of Santi mantra
• Daily Prayers
• Krishnashtakam
  

After the initial greetings, likitha japa, we performed our daily prayers and then completed Krishnashtakam. Most of the kids are proficient , but few need more practice, please help your kids in in the pronunciation and memorizing the slokas. We will have pop quizzes all the material we teach in the class including slokas.  After that, we reviewed the birth of of 8th child of Devaki, Vasudeva in the prison and how miraculously the baby was transported across a flooded Yamuna to Gokul to the hours of Nanda and Yashoda and then we had a pop quizz, which all the kids enjoyed.

Maa Yashoda, slowly opened her eyes from the deep sleep she was under, after the birth of the child the previous night. She was delighted to see the little baby besides her with such a sparkle and twinkle in the eyes. She knew no bounds for joy seeing the beautiful smiling face of the lord in the baby. Such is the joy of all mothers after the ordeal of giving birth!. The news of birth of the first baby in Nanda's household spread like wild fire in Goklul. All people of of Gokul - tall and short, dark and fair, handsome and ugly, old and young were filled with joy at this news for Nanda was their Chief and a successor was born to the chief. They all were eager and wanted to rush to see the baby as fast as they could.., but before that..

They wanted to adorn themselves with the best, they had to adorn and decorate Gokul with the best to mark the celebration. All the elders in the village took upon themselves to to clean up the main thoroughfares of Gokul - sprinkled water, put beautiful welcoming arches, decked their bulls, cows and carts. The ladies of the houses cleaned their houses gave head batch to their kids tookk out the best of the clothing and jeweler they had for their families to wear. The whole town was in one big celebratory mood and why not - it was their chief's first son - their heir and successor. The birth of a prince is celebration for the entire kingdom!!

Meanwhile in Nanda's house, Nanda was over come with joy at the birth of the beautiful baby, he ordered his house to be freshly painted, the yards cleaned and decorated. Additionally he ordered grains form his grain silos and other gifts to be distributed to the entire village. He was aware that the entire village will show up at his door front any time to have a peek at the baby. Such was the love of the villagers for Nanda. Nanda was a great chief of the yadava/ cow heard community in Gokul. Every body respected him for his wisdom, fairness. He was a just, compassionate and lead the yadavas with humility and attitude of service. He knew that the whole village be at his door step any time to have a peek at his baby. He had no time, he had to be ready he had no time to loose.

By late morning, the whole house was decorated and Nanda was as ready as he could be to welcome the villagers. All the villagers also got ready in their best dresses and packed fresh milk and butter for the baby in beautiful earthen pots and started heading towards Nanda's house... 

As it was past 8:15 PM, it was time for Bhagvadgita, we covered slokas 43 & 44 and practiced along with Swamiji's video. We concluded with aarati and pleadge..

Until we meet next

Shivram & Meena

(sevaks)

Oct 22, 2021 - Grade 4 (Friday)

Hari Om, greetings and Namaste.

This is the summary of the two session on Oct 22nd.

This years curriculum consists of two cantos of Srimad Bhagavatam

1. Canto 10 deals with the birth and childhood happenings of Lord Krishna - Sree Krishna Leelas
2. 11th  Canto also known as Avadhoota Gita is a dialog between Sage Dattatreya and a king Yadu as retold by lord Krishna to his favourite disciple Uddhava, just before lord Krishna's end of his avatar.
3. Krishnashtakam  https://youtu.be/-OqY_ZbIT-k   
   
4. Shree Govinda Damodara stotram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--3BXJuMVQ0
5. Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 - Sankhya yoga verses 39-72   https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwv-WSJSokEORu2iEsVanXQhQHOoiiQIy

The routine of the Balavihar session is we start with

Balavihar session routines:

• Likitha Japa
• Invocation of Santi mantra
• Daily Prayers
• Krishnashtakam
  

After the initial greetings, likitha japa, we performed our daily prayers and then completed Krishnashtakam. Please help your kids in memorizing the slokas, we will have pop quizz going forward on their ability ot remember the slokas.  After that, we jumped right into the birth of 8th child of Devaki, Vasudeva in the prison.

Lord Krishna's birth is very dramatic and the circumstances surrounding the event are even more dramatic. Just before the lord's birth, lord Vishnu appears before Vasudeva and Devaki. The lord is resplendent in his fully glory dressed up in pitambaram - the finest silks and adorned with Shankha, Chakra, gada and padma in his four hands. The entire prision cell was filled with bright light and magically all the guards dozed off and had no clue what was happening!. Vasudeva and Devaki's joy knew no bounds at their joy of lord's darshan, felt blessed and offered their obsolescence to the lord. Lord instructs them to switch the boy that will be born to Devaki with a girl baby born to Yashoda and Nand in Vrindavan across the river Yamuna.  Lord Vishnu blesses Vasudeva, Devaki and disappears.

At the stroke of  midnight of Shravana month on the eighth day of waning moon and when the star Rohini was the brightest in the sky, Devaki delivered a beautiful baby boy. The whole prison was absolutely quiet and filled with silence - the guards were fast asleep .. Vasudeva, put the baby boy in a basket and carried on his head, as he walked towards the gates of the prison, they opened automatically and as he stepped out of the prison - the weather was horrendous - gusty winds, lightning and torrential downpour. Vasudeva taking lord Vishnu's name stepped out, and soon out of nowhere appeared the celestial Sheshnag with it's thousand hoods, providing protection to the baby and Vasudeva. Vasudeva reached the banks of Yamuna, only to see it overflowing and in spate. Once  again, as per divine intervention, Yamunaji provided a safe passage for the divine child that Vasudeva was carrying. Having crossed the river successfully, Vasudeva reaches Nanda's house only to see that everybody sound asleep. He approaches Yashoda and switches the boy with the baby girl that was born to Yashoda and quietly returns to his prison cell and puts the baby girl beside Devaki and soon the baby starts crying..

As this was the eight child of Devaki, Kamasa was extra alert and put his best guards to keep an eye on Devaki and Vasudeva. Kamsa was terrified and was having bad dreams as the time of birth was nearer and nearer. He saw ominous signs  - dogs wailing, crows crowing and bad dreams of him being in prison etc.. He could hardly sleep..  On hearing the baby's cries, the guards woke up from their sleep and ran to tell the news to Kamsa. Upon hearing the guards about the birth of the eighth child, Kamasa leaps out of his bed with his sword drawn and  rushes madly towards the prison cell that was holding his mortal enemy. He grabs the baby girl from the clutching hands of Devaki . Devaki pleads without any affect with Kamasa. Kamsa raises the baby girl in his left arm and was about to smash her on the floor, but .. the baby girl slips out of hands and vanishes. Suddenly akashvani with a thundering voice laughed boisterously  and says - you fool Kamsa, your destructor is already born and will avenge you for all the cruelty you have inflicted on the earth, henceforth you will live every second of your life with fear knowing that your destroyer is living somewhere unknown to you, growing up and waiting for opportune time to kill you!! Hearing this Kamsa screaming with anger, confusion and frightened returns to his palace and summons his ministers

As it was past 8:15 PM, it was time for Bhagvadgita, we covered slokas 41 & 42 and practiced along with Swamiji's video. We concluded with aarati and pleadge. Please note the coming Friday is a house inaugural day and will be full of fun activities for kids!!

Until we meet next

Shivram & Meena

(sevaks)

Oct 15, 2021 - Grade 4 (Friday)

Hari Om, greetings and Namaste.

This is the summary of the two session on Oct 15th.

This years curriculum consists of two cantos of Srimad Bhagavatam

1. Canto 10 deals with the birth and childhood happenings of Lord Krishna - Sree Krishna Leelas
2. 11th  Canto also known as Avadhoota Gita is a dialog between Sage Dattatreya and a king Yadu as retold by lord Krishna to his favourite disciple Uddhava, just before lord Krishna's end of his avatar.
3. Krishnashtakam  https://youtu.be/-OqY_ZbIT-k   
   
4. Shree Govinda Damodara stotram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--3BXJuMVQ0
5. Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 - Sankhya yoga verses 39-72   https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwv-WSJSokEORu2iEsVanXQhQHOoiiQIy

The routine of the Balavihar session is we start with

Balavihar session routines:

• Likitha Japa
• Invocation of Santi mantra
• Daily Prayers
• Krishnashtakam
  

We greeted the kids and jumped right into inquiring about what the kids and their families did for Navratri and significance of Navratri. Except for a couple, most knew the significance of Durga Navratri. Navaratri is the nine day celebration of slaying of Mahisasura demon by Durgaji. Mahisasura was a demon who was born with the blessings and had acquired immense power through his tapas from Devas that nobody could destroy him. It is said that the trimurti's ( Lord Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu) combined their strength took the form of Durga and slayed Mahisasura. We need to be cognizant that, here Mahisasura represents the ingrained ignorance in each one of us and it takes immense strength and krupa of the divine to get over it,  and understand the true meaning of our lives. The discussions with the kids taught us some very interesting things each of the house holds do as their tradition. It gave us immense pleasure to know that one of the 4th grader can recite Lalitha Sahasranama and inspired me personally to learn Lalitha Sahsranama which is one of the difficult ones. The discussions lead to some very interesting questions from kids Can I see god? Where do gods get their super powers from ? These are some great and profound questions and tells us that kids are paying attention, are curious, so satisfying to teachers!! We tried our best to answer the questions Can I see God - Yes you can, but just like to attain any thing in life you need to have dedication and practice - to see god you need to do "Tapas". Tapas is not just going away to some remote place and holding your breath. While it is one great way to quickly realize god, it is not the only one. We all can do tapas by being focused in every thing that we do and doing the best at each and every step. Kids were still curious and retorted that many people do daily pujas and rituals but they cannot see god!!. Do we see electricity running in the wires - does that mean electricity does not exist ?, of course not - because when we switch on - the bulb glows, the oven heats up or the TV turns on!!. So surely we may not see god - but his manifestations or affects are all around us.  God manifests in each one of us except that in most of us the divinity manifests as a night lamp but in a few, the divinity manifests as a 10,000 watt bulb - people like adi Sankara, Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, swami Chinmayananda, Gandhiji, Neslon Mandela etc. Where do gods get their super powers from ?  - As swamiji replied to me on this very question - God's derive their powers from the supreme divine, just like the constitution grants powers to presidents, governors and judges, so do gods derive their different powers from the supreme divine. Please engage your kids in these topics and explore along with them Today's class was a short class as we all had to regroup to perform Sarswati Puja at 8:00 PM. Sarswati Puja. is part of Durga Navaratri also known as Saran Navaratri and falls on the fifth day - Panchami of the Navratri's 9 days. Traditionally Durgaji is worshiped as maa Sarswati on this day and we seek blessings from her to bestow upon us knowledge, wisdom and viveka - the ability to discriminate between good and bad, dharma and adharma. Until we meet next Shivram & Meena (sevaks)

Oct 1, 2021 - Grade 4 (Friday)

Hari Om, greetings and Namaste.

This is the summary of the two sessions on Sept 24th and Oct 2nd.

The routine of the Balavihar session is we start with Likitha Japa (paper & pencil), followed by invocation prayers, daily prayers and Krishashatakam.As per practice,

This years curriculum consists of two cantos of

1. Krishnashtakam  https://youtu.be/-OqY_ZbIT-k   
   
2. Shree Govinda Damodara stotram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--3BXJuMVQ0
3. Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10 deals with the birth and childhood happenings of Lord Krishna - Sree Krishna Leelas
4. 1and the 1th Canto also known as Avadhoota Gita is a dialog between Sage Dattatreya and a king Yadu as retold by lord Krishna to his favourite disciple Uddhava, just before lord Krishna's end of his avatar.
5. Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 - Sankhya yoga verses 39-72   https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwv-WSJSokEORu2iEsVanXQhQHOoiiQIy

We started off the class with daily prayers  and recitation of the daily prarthana slokas - Karagre vasate Lakshmi.... While most kids are well versed in the verses, they need daily practice - These are simple slokas, one is supposed to recite them as you get up early in the morning - Karagre Vasathe Lakshmi, your are seeking the blessings of goddess Lashmi, maa Sarswati  and Govinda - translated into prosperity, knowledge and Govinda the symbol of selfless action. A profound verse that essentially trains you from the very early morning that wealth, knowledge is bestowed upon by those who believe in action, work and effort - hands. It is asking everyone to get up early in the morning to get up and be ready for action without putting too much faith in what or how the results will be. This is what our coaches tell them daily when they go out to play tennis, badminton, soccer etc.. do your best. We will continue with the rest of the slokas in the next blogs. There is enthusiastic participation from a number of kids, we would like to see all kids practice at home and participate in the class. Please help your kids in reciting these on a daily basis. After the daily prayers, we launched the learning of Krishnashtakam - as ashtakam of lord Krishna verses 1-4. Once again please spend a few minutes with the kids for help with the slokas.

We started with the opening chapter of Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10/ chapter 10 Sri Krishna Leelas the origins of birth Lord Krishna. To recount briefly the back story of Krishna's birth - mother earth pleads with lord Brahma to restore balance on earth as the scale of sins was becoming too heavy and the population is victimized. Bramaji accompanied with goddess earth Vishnu Loka or Vaikuntam pray to Lord Vishnu and seek his help in mitigating mother earth's suffering. Lord Vishnu assures both of them that in due course when the time is ripe, he will re-incarnate on earth and take care of the evil doers.

The episode starts with Kamsa - son of Ugrasena happily celebrating the marriage of his beloved cousin Devaki to neighbouring state's prince Vasudeva. After the pompous marriage ceremony, Kamsa himself volunteers to be the Sarathee - the driver of the carriage that was splendorous with the most beautiful and bright gems that it was decked in, with Devaki and Vasudeva riding in the carriage on their  way to Vasudava's home as per tradition. As the chariot moved through the crowded streets of Mathura and was reaching the outskirts - a booming voice out of nowhere shook the horses and Kamsa and the carriage came to a screeching halt. The akashvani, boomign voice continued - oh stupid Kamsa you donot know what you are doing, you are clebrating your own death by the hands of your sister's progeny. Having heard such an atrocious statement and shaken to the core with fear - Kamasa loses any semblance of rationality. He jumps out of the chariot with is swords drawn and heading towards Devaki. Such is the power of rage, anger that overcomes every one when confronted with the fear of death!!

As Kamsa grabs his sister Devaki by her hair and about to slay her with severing her head from her body, Vasudeva who dearly loved Devaki falls to the feet of Kamsa and pleads with him for a moment of restraint. At this moment, Kamsa regains a modicum of composure, kicks Vasudeva away, and continues to proceed to beheading Devaki. Vasudeva rushes and holds up Kamsa's hand holding the sword and states - how can he kill his own sister whom he loved so much and who is still in her full bridal attire, besides the akashvani only stated that it was the 8th progeny who will be cause of Kamsa's death and promises to bring every child born to them,  to Kamsa. Having regained some senses and hearing this promise, settles down and let's go of Devaki. He asks his guards  to take both Devaki and Vasudeva into prison to spend rest of their lives

As years rolled by, the couple (devaki & Vasudeva) had their first child. As per the promise given to Kamsa, Vasudeva takes the child to Kamss, who let's Vasudeva off with the child saying that he was only interested in the 8th child not the first one.  Vasudeva returns to the prison, but in the meantime, sage Narada - the celestial carrier of messages comes, sage Narada's entry is always a harbinger of good, even though it seems it is destructive initially. After having received Kamsa's hospitality, Narada muni inquires why he let go the first child of Devaki. Kamasa recounts how only the 8th child is his destroyer and he did not want to unnecessarily kill all the other seven.  To which muni replies what a fool kamsa was,  to let go as all the remaining siblings, as they  could come to the rescue of the 8th child and could collectively kill  him. Kamasa gets very agitated upon hearing and soon sets out to the prison to kill the child. Such is the state of all of us who are very insecure and susceptible for manipulation by the strong. One of the kids asked a very pertinent question - why did Narada encourage Kamsa to do more evil things. As I said earlier, there is always a good that comes out of Narada's visit. Narada wanted to hasten the downfall of Kamasa and alleviate mother earth's suffering quickly.

After the conclusion of story time, it was time for Gita slokas, we covered slokas 39-42. Please use the link above and ensure kids practice regularly. After Gita chanting, we concluded the class with aarati and pledge.

Please note there is no class on 10/8. We will  regroup the following Friday. Please get your kids involved in the Navratri celebrations and make sure you tell them the significance of Navratri and each of your family's traditional ways to celebrate Navratri.

Until we meet next

Shivram & Meena

Until next week  

Sep 17, 2021 - Grade 4 (Friday)

Hari Om! Parents

Namaskar and greetings

It was a great pleasure to welcome back all the kids including some new kids to the opening class of Balavihar Friday 4th grade session. At the outset, we would like to extend our thanks to all of you parents for making the session smooth with minimal technical issues. All the kids were very familiar with zoom and your help in getting them set up before the class started certainly helped. Thank you once again.

We started the class with chanting the daily prayers and jumped right into the introductions. We asked the kids to introduce themselves, what school they go to and if they remember what they learned from in grade 3 balavihar and what they did in summer. The kids were very responsive, although a few remembered details of what they learned in grade 3rd which was perfectly understandable. 

We discussed what we will teach during the year, the stories of little Krishna - Bala Bhagvatham - Sri Krishna Leelas. Krishna Leelas are the subject of the 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatham by sage Vyasa. The other book and stories we will cover during the year is "My 24 Teachers/ Perceptors" or Avadhoota Gita which is the 11 the canto of Srimad Bhagavatham.

Besides the above two stories, the kids will also learn Krishnashtakam, Damodara Stotram, Bhagavad Gita Chapter verses 38 through 72After the introduction the kids practised how to pronounce in sanskrit with the help of a video and it was almost time to join the parents zoom session and aarti. Starting next week we plan to start the Bala bhagavatam - Sri Krishna Leelas 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.

Please ensure that your kids have a notebook, pencil, Bala bhagavatham text book and My daily prayers with them before they join the zoom session.

Until next week  

Unto him our best

Shivram & Meena

Welcome to Gr 4 - Friday Session

Please look out for regular updates from 

the teachers 

soon after the session starts.