Hari Om Parents,
Update of class : 09/13/2024
A warm welcome to all of you for 2024-2025 Balavihar year! We are very excited to have all your kids in our class.
We started our class with 3 OMs and opening slokas, which most of the kids were also familiar with:
Sahana Vavatu
Vakratunda Mahakaya
Saraswathi Namastubhyam
Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu
One of the kids led 'Karagare vasathe' and 'Samudra vasane' sloka, while others followed.
We also learnt 2 stanzas in 'Lakshmi Ashtakam' stotram from 'My Prayers' book.
We went around to give a quick introduction of each other. We played a game where kids formed a group with others and answered a bunch of questions such as favorite hobby, what they did this summer, favorite sport, etc. to find common things between them.
This year we will be covering 'Viratta Parva' from Mahabharata and 'Temples of India'. A few kids were interested in doing a presentation for 'Temples of India'. We will share more on this topic soon.
As a recap, we will be spending a few classes to give an overview of Mahabharata story until Virata parva.
The two great epics of India that explains history of India and how to uphold Dharma are Ramayana and Mahabharata. The great Sage Vedavyas expressed interest in authoring Mahabharata to Sage Narada. Sage Narada suggested to ask Lord Ganesha. Lord Ganesha agreed to scribe only if Sage Vyasa recited continuously without a break. Vyasa put a counter condition that Ganesha should understand the meaning of the verse before scribing, giving Vyasa enough time to coin complicated verses.
Once upon a time there lived a King of Hastinapura named Shantanu. He fell in love with a woman at the banks of river Ganga. Shantanu wanted to marry her and the lady had only condition - that he should not question her. Shantanu agreed, got married to her. After their marriage, a child was born. The lady drowned her child. Though Shantanu was extremely upset, he did not question her. This went on for their first 7 children. When the 8th son was born, as the lady was growing the child in the river, heartbroken Shantanu questioned her. The lady then revealed herself as river Ganga and gave the reason for growing the children.
The 8 children that were born to them were actually vas's that were cursed by Sage Vashista when they attempted to steal his cow, Nandini. The 8th child was named 'Devavrata'. Since the 8th child could not be drowned, Goddess Ganga took him with her. When an appropriate time came, Ganga returned Devavrata back to Shantanu. Impressed by Devavrata's talent, King Shantanu declared him to be 'Yuvaraja'.
Years passed by. King Shantanu fell in love with a fisherwoman, named Satyavati and wanted to marry her. Satyavati's father had only one condition that the heir to the throne of Hastinapur should be the son of Satyavati and Shantanu. Hearing this Shantanu was heartbroken. But his sadness was noticed by Devavrata.
He took a terrible oath of celibacy and promised to be loyal to the throne. Upon hearing this, the heavens showered their blessings on him and declared him 'Bhishma' - the one who took a terrible vow.
Shantanu married Satyavati and had 2 children, Chitraangada and Vichitraveerya. Chitraangada died in a war and Satyavati made Vichitraveerya as the King.
We will continue our lessons in the next class : 09/20/2024
Please send My Prayers book, a notebook to write Likhita Japa and pens/pencils with your children. We handed out Balavihar handbook to all children. Please ask them to have it handy for every class.
Here are some important dates to remember
Garland Making (Seva project) : 15 March 2025
Annual Day : 21st March 2025
Monthly Annadanam : 4th April 2025
Request parents to join our WhatsApp group
Please feel free to contact us at anytime
Thanks and Hari Om
Anupama and Purnima
