Dear Parents,
Hari Om,
Welcome to our grade virtual Balavihar class of 2021-2022 accompanied with Pujya Gurudev's grace and our Swamiji's blessings!
We are so excited to have your child in the Chinmaya Vrindavan Balavihar ! We hope you are all looking forward to another year of learning and fun. While Virtual balavihar class will be a new experience for some students, for others it will be a continuation of the past year. We want this year to be a very enjoyable experience for everyone involved; new and returning students, and parents and teachers, alike.
The curriculum for this grade comprises 2 books, the great epic, Ramayana and Key to Success. The goals of this class are to acquaint the children with the values of the Hindu religion by grade curriculum accompanied by Chinmaya slokas, bhajans, and Geeta chanting. We will explore how the Ramayana molded, not only the characters, but the civilization of the world for the first part of the BV year.
The Ramayana is one of the greatest epics of Hindus written by the sage Valmiki. The underlying messages conveyed are the values and ideals, particularly in relation to duty, morality and social responsibility. This epic is a great pillar of Dharma, which supports our experience of our own humanity. It is "victory of dharma (good) over adharma (evil)". It teaches us how to live a dharmic life, which finally leads to liberation.
The second book "Key to success" is an odyssey of mind that uses the analogy of Chariot. Sri Rama used it to enlighten Vibhishana about inner preparation for the battle.
This year we will learn to chant the second part of the chapter 2 - verses 39 7 up of Bhagavad Geeta for the Geeta chanting competition in April. Students will give a "mini" stage performance In February, either virtually or in person on stage if the Ashram opens as the things return to normal. And still yet, in May, the class will perform an Annadanam at the soup kitchen, as a service assignment. A very full year, indeed!
Adding additional dimensions to virtual learning, we include many virtual games, discussions, videos, enactments and other creative activities to reinforce each week's theme. We hope to enhance our classroom learning even further with a field trip when things return to normal. We encourage each student to participate fully and actively in all activities.
Again, for the children to get the full benefits of this program, we encourage them to participate actively, and to strive to attend all the sessions for the year. Every year students with perfect attendance will receive a Special Recognition Award at the annual graduation ceremony.
As an added bonus, we have a blog for the seventh grade Balavihar team that will be written by our students, if they are interested and reviewed by teachers or just written by teachers itself. We encourage you to check it out frequently for class information and updates.
The class blog can be found at https://cmnjparentportal.blogspot.com/
Please note that we would like each child to bring a Balavihar folder, a "My Prayers" book, pencil/pen, and a "Fat Little Book" (or a composition book) for Likhita Japa, in his/her Balavihar bag.
Kindly note our Class rules for a smooth run:
Class starts @ 12:45 PM. Please make sure children are on time.
Students should log in with their names and have their videos on and be present in the frame until the very end of the class.
They should not be eating during the class time. We request our students to treat the virtual classroom as they would do the ashram classroom.
Looking forward to a great Balavihar year with our students!
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Balavihar Class 9/19/2021
Today we kicked off our virtual 2021 - 2022 Balavihar year! It was great to see our students fully charged.
The class opened up with breathing exercises, the chanting of OM 3 times, and daily prayers including: Sahanaavavatu, Vakarathunda, Karaagre vasate Lakshmi, Saraswati namastubhyam, Gurubrahma, Brahmaarpanam, Shubhamkaroti, Kara-charana. ( My prayers, green book pages 11, 12)
Then the students were briefed about the curriculum for this grade which comprises 2 books, the great epic, Ramayana and Key to Success.
Together we will explore how the Ramayana molded, not only the characters, but the civilization of the world for the first part of the BV year. The second book "Key to success" is an odyssey of mind that uses the analogy of Chariot. Sri Rama used it to enlighten Vibhishana about inner preparation for the battle.
We had a short icebreaker where the kids all introduced themselves with the game, two truths and a lie. The students enjoyed getting to know each other. We will continue this game in the next class as well, as some students did not get a chance to play it.
Then we moved on to explore the authenticity of the Ramayana. The class watched this very interesting 7 minute video clip of Ramayana being Itihasa (history) rather than Mythology.
The video explained that several of the key events of the Ramayana are properly dated in relation to each other using the cosmic alignments given within it. It also spoke about how several other cultures used variations of Rama's name and described heroes similar to him.
After a little introduction we advised the students to buy the Ramayana by Rajagopalachari from Amazon. It's a great book and we encouraged them to read a few chapters before coming to the class. We also told our students that they can also borrow from the senior students as well!
Bhagavad Geeta time - As we will be learning the part 2 remaining verses of chapter 2 of Bhagavad Gita this year, we watched Swamiji 's video on learning and the significance of Geeta. Then our Geeta coordinator Anjana came in to inspire them to be open, and learn to chant and understand the message of Geeta. She engaged the kids in asking profound questions like who we are and spoke on how Geeta helps us to break down the identity crisis, boundaries and our limitedness in a subtle way. At times, when they have to face challenges further in college life, or at the workplace, how they can reap the benefits on how to think, behave, and support who they are! Finally she encouraged them to participate in the Geeta chanting competition in April to raise their house points, win a medal and further a trophy! We thank for her diligence and motivating our class kids to learn and participate in Geeta chanting to explore themselves.
Soon it was time to wind up to go to the common session! There Swamiji's welcomed balavihar and emphasized the importance of listening to God's stories in making the mind clean and getting closer to Godliness. Then he blessed all of us for a good balavihar year!
Our next class is on Sunday, September 26, 2021. Stay tuned until next.
Pranaams,
Vyjayanti