Hari Om Parents,
Today we started our class with opening prayers. (Om Sahanavavatu). Proud to say that all kids are able to chant the opening prayer nicely. We will work on enunciation.
We directly jumped into activity: We played "Telephone". We whispered phrases from Hanuman Chalisa, and they had to whisper to subsequent kids and the kid at the end of the row need to say it aloud. Out of 6 rounds, kids got it right only for 2 rounds. We will keep working on it to strengthen their focus.
After this we introduced them to Bala Bhagavatam:
We asked them a question: Where can you find God: See below for responses
Then we talked about "Avatara" (Coming down).
-When a devotee prays to God with pure heart and would like to meet God in person, God comes down
-When there is decline of Good and rise of evil, God comes down
-To protect good people and to teach lesson for evil/naughty people, God comes down.
We chanted Bhagavad Gita Verses from Chapter 4 (Shloka 7 and 8)
we talked about Ved Vyasa (Author of Bala Bhagavatam)
-Cool thing about sage is he can see into future
-He gave us the 4 Vedas, to help us lead a Dharmic, Happy and spiritual life
-He gave us multiple puranas (Ganesh Purana, Devi Purana and Shiva Purana).
-He wrote Ithihasa: Mahabharata. (Kids were very excited after listening to this, everyone wanted to say stories from Mahabharatham)
Even after all this when he was not happy, Narada Muni asked him to write Bhagavatam.
Bhagavatam means Blessed ones, follower or worshipper.
To tell us about the love of devotees towards God and his love towards Devotees.
After writing Bhagavatam, Ved Vyasa became very happy and content.
We also learnt about importance of Love to make everyone happy.
Vishnu is protector or sustainer of this creation; hence he descends down to protect his bhaktas in the form of Avatars.
Then we introduced them to first story in Bhagavatam:
Parikshith meets Kali
-Ask your kids about who is Parikshith. His connection to Arjuna and Mahabharata.
-Parikshith's interaction with Kali.
-Who is Kali. Where was he sitting. What leak Parikshith to act like he did.
-Why was Parikshith cursed and who cursed?
-How many days does he have.
we have a bunch of curious kids. They have been introduced to multiple good stories at home from our scriptures. Keep up the great work parents. We will do our best to keep them engaged and excited about our topic.
We started teaching the kids " Guru stotram" from page 24 of Handbook. They should be able to at least spell out the first verse. will send out recording after few verses.
Homework:
-Small summary about Narada Muni.
-What Dis Parikshith do after he got cursed.
Reminders for next week:
We have our House Inagural.
We are in Arjunas Arrows.
Please dress kids in green color represebting our house.
We will celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi at ashram. Kids will get to make Ganesha, Prasada and do pooja, followed by Visarjan. If possible, try to talk to them about Ganesh Puja.
With Guru's blessings
Malathi and Saratha
