Hari Om Parents,
Today we started the class with opening prayer.
Then we went over our last week's homework. For each kid to talk 1min about Diwali. Kids excitedly talked about how they celebrated Diwali.
They talked about pooja, diyas, decorations, sweets, meeting up with friends and families. We were happy to see that they had good festivities.
Then we had a pop quiz to recap lessons and stories that we had covered so far. Kids were given multiple choice question, about 14 of them. We are proud to say that they have listened the stories well and were able to recollect names, sequences and meanings.
Chat about following items with them, you would be surprised to know how much they have absorbed:
-What is Pralaya?
-Vaikunta
-Varaha Avatara story
-Hiranyaksha story
Once we reviewed the answers, we started with today's lesson.
Today's lesson: Hiranyakashipu.
Hiranyakashipu: means the person who sleeps on gold bed. He was so greedy that he slept on golden bed.
He was very sad about his brother's death. although he talked like a wise person, "Body dies, soul always exists, so my brother is still alive, only the body he was residing in is lifeless".
He vowed to revenge his brother's death. He was so ignorant, that he vowed to kill Bhagavan Vishnu.
Can anyone even do any harm to Bhagavan?
But without this knowledge he started a severe penance. He stood in 1 leg and with great concentration and utmost focus prayed to lord "Brahma".
He did tapas for many years. The power of his tapas was too much for mother earth to bear. When Mother earth prayed to Brahma for rescue.
Also, lord Brahma was very happy with Hiranyakashipu's tapas. So, Brahma appeared in front of him and asked him what he wanted.
He almost got an immortal boon as below: (kids were very engaged, curious and surprised with the boon and we had multiple creative questions)
-He should not be killed by a human, animal, or an inanimate thing (Can a robot kill him?" ask your kids)
-He should not be killed by a weapon
-He should not be killed during day or night
-He should not be killed on earth, sky, water, inside or outside. (Can a tornado attack kill him: again, talk to your kids)
Once he was granted this boon, he became even more evil and started torturing all rishis and devotees. He made everyone pray to him and chant his name instead of Bhagavan's name.
Then all Devas and rishis prayed to Lord Vishnu to help them. Lord promised them that he would descend and kill Hiranyakashipu.
Also, when Hiranyakashipu was doing his penance, his wife (kayadhu) was pregnant. For her protection, she stayed in Narada Muni's ashram. Narada Muni constantly sang and talked about lord Vishnu's glories. This was heard by the baby (Prahlada) from his mother's womb. And since then, he became a great devotee of the Lord.
Next class we will see about Prahlada's strength of devotion and unwavering faith. And the way he tried to teach his father. And what happened to Prahlada and Hiranyakashipu.
We leant Gita: Chapter 5: Verse 2 and 3. We talked about meaning of "Karma". Ask them about the meaning and introduction to chapter 5. (Karma Sannyasa Yogaha).
Next class we would like to have parent teacher's meeting. Please plan and definitely attend the meeting. Will confirm the time through Whatsapp.
With Gurudev's blessings
Malathi and Saratha
