Below was covered in the class this week.
Gita Chanting:
- Class chanted along with Bhagavad Gita Video of Chapter 5, Verses 28 & 29. With this all the verses in Chapter 5 were completed. Link : BG5 - V28 - V29
- We recited the whole chapter 5 verses. Link: Bhagavad Gita Chanting - Chapter 05
India the Sacred Land - Hindu New Year:
In this section, covered the following points with the help of this presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZZoV3W2pON-y1qoVME1xVdJJG-BRDfS8125TK0XMVuk/edit?usp=sharing
- Hindu months refresh
- When is New Year celebrated in India?
- Ugadi / Gudi Padwa (March–April)
- Puthandu / Vishu / Bihu / Pohela Boishakh
- Diwali as New Year (October–November)
- Bhai Dooj festival Story about Yam and Yamuna
- Govardhan story
- Shri Govardhan Giriraj Parikrama
We did a refresher on the different types of Hindu calendars and explored why people celebrate the New Year on different days. Some of the kids were surprised to learn that the day after Diwali is considered New Year in some traditions. They also learned what a financial book is and when the official financial year ends in India compared to the USA.
One of the kids shared the story of Govardhan, and the teacher added more context as needed. The children were amazed to learn about the intense ways people perform the Govardhan Parikrama. They were especially astonished to see kids their own age doing the sashtang (full-body prostration) parikrama.
India the Sacred Land - The Journey Through India:
In this section, covered the following points with the help of this presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Qf0xQk7rfEUehre-eTvJEdkRfrAj_wMLVgIpIr_uJus/edit?usp=sharing
As part of the Spiritual Exploration section we saw the following Holy places and temples:
- Char Dham refresher
- Sun Temple, Konark, Odisha
- Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh
- The Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab
- The Lotus Temple, New Delhi
- Temple of Bodh Gaya
- Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu
In this section, we explored a variety of stories and facts, including the significance of the Sun Temple's wheel and how it came to be known, the story of Guru Arjan Dev, what is Bahá'í faith, and the importance of Bodh Gaya.
We ended the class a bit early as other 2 grades had play performances .
Thanks,
Sachin & Sirisha
