Dear Parents,
Belated Ganesh Chaturthi wishes. Hope you all had a great time celebrating the festival.
Thanks to the parents who took time to stop by our class. It was a pleasure to meet you. I expect to meet the parents, who couldnt make it today, in due course.
We discussed what an avatāra is, various avatāras of Lord viṣṇu, why God takes different avatāras, and learned names of the 10 avatāras. As a class we brainstormed and concluded that God takes an avatāra to remove evil or save someone good or teach us a lesson.
Here is the list of the 10 avatāras (Note: no particular order)
मत्स्य, वराह, नृसिंह, बुद्ध, राम, परशुराम, वामन, कल्कि, कृष्ण, कूर्म
matsya, varāha, nṛsiṃha, buddha, rāma, paraśurāma, vāmana, kalki, kṛṣṇa, kūrma
We had printed sheets of the 10 avatāras. Kids randomly picked an avatāra picture and learned about the name and some clues on how to identify an avatāra. We wanted to color the avatāra picture but many of the kids in the class did not have color pencils/crayons. Please send a pack of crayons or color pencils with your child for the next class.
We learned the first sloka in Guru Stotram:
अखण्डमण्डलाकारं व्याप्तं येन चराचरम् ।
तत्पदं दर्शितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥ १॥
तत्पदं दर्शितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥ १॥
akhaṇḍamaṇḍalākāraṃ vyāptaṃ yena carācaram ।
tatpadaṃ darśitaṃ yena tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ ॥ 1॥
Note: you can find the complete stotram in 'My Prayers' books and also in Bala Vihar Handbook.
Chanted "oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya" in a tree a pose.
With lights turned off we chanted the same chant in a very soft / inner voice. Kids really liked this meditation.
Fun part: We got a chance to practice a little bit of orange justice.
Homework for parents:
Discuss with your child about the following that they learned in class.
Who is viṣṇu? Can they recall all the daśāvatāras? Can your child tell you something about
avatāra, daśāvatāras, gurkula,naimiṣāraṇya, yajña, śaunaka ṛṣi, sūta ṛṣi.
Next Class (9/23/2018): We will continue the introduction of bala bhagavatam and talk about Veda Vyasa, Narada and King parikshit . We will learn 2nd sloka GuruStoram and practice to chant both 1st and 2nd slokas. We will do likhita japa, meditation and a craft (time permitting). Please make sure your child has a notebook, pencils, an eraser and a small pack of crayons or color pencils. Please be on time. Don't miss class as we will continue to learn/practice 'Orange Justice' (a fortnite dance move).
Unto him our Best
Vasavi Mukkamala and Venu Avva
