Dear Parents,
It is with great pleasure, we welcome your child and you to the 8th grade Sunday AM Balavihar class. We are looking forward to a happy and an exciting year with our students and their parents as well!
We request you to make sure that your child is dropped off on time for their Balavihar class. Please understand that if your child is late it is a distraction for the children and also to the teachers.
Grade 8th curriculum consists of:
Symbolism in Hinduism
"Yato Dharmah Tato Jayah"
Required reading: Mahabharatha by C. Rajagopalachari (available at the Chinmaya Vrindavan book store)
Teacher's handbook is "Yato Dharmah tato Jayah"
We begin class with the following prayers:
Chanting Om three times
Sahanaa vavatu…
Karaagre Vasate Lakshmi…
Vakratundaya Mahakaaya Sooryakoti Samaprabha….
Shuklaam Baradaram Vishnum…
Saraswati Namstubhyam….
Brahmarpanam Brahma Havih…
Shubham Karoti Kalyanam…
Karacharana Kritam
Guru stotram
On Sunday, September 9th:
We had an interactive ice braker game to get to know about each other, before proceeding with the lesson of the day.
Explained the symbolism of Lord Ganesha including the story of his birth, why He is known as Modakahasta, Lambodara etc.
Large ears represent continuous and intelligent listening
After listening (sravanam) students need to reflect (mananam) on what they heard: this is represented by His big head
Trunk can lift a blade of grass as well as move logs of wood: so the trunk represents perfect discrimination
Broken tusk represents that the person has thought through the good and bad and made the appropriate decision
Large belly represents the place where He has stored all his wisdom
Significance of 4 hands: the axe is to cut off all our attachments and hence ends our sorrows
With the rope, He pulls his devotees closer to Him, the modaka is the reward, and with the fourth hand He blesses us all
His one leg folded and the other dangling represents that He has integrated both subtle and gross bodies into one (i.e. an intellect into which the mind has folded)
The mouse at His feet represents an obedient mind.
On September 16th the following topics were covered:
Explained the meaning of the title of the book we are teaching: Yato Dharmah tato Jayah
Described Dharma: Dharma is described as righteousness, duty, religion. Origin of word dharma is
"Dhr" meaning "to uphold". Dharma means code of conduct doing the right thing in thought and deed. Also known as Sanaatana Dharma (eternal, all pervading) and Vaidika Dharma (Dharma based on Vedas).
"Dhr" meaning "to uphold". Dharma means code of conduct doing the right thing in thought and deed. Also known as Sanaatana Dharma (eternal, all pervading) and Vaidika Dharma (Dharma based on Vedas).
Explained that the Dharma of the sun, moon, water, air, water are always eternal (i.e. Sun rises in the morning, provides us heat and light etc.) Plants and animals also follow dharma.
What is man's Dharma? There are two categories of Dharma he needs to follow:a.Individual Dharma: At a physical level, dharma is to nourish and support the health of our body. At a mental level, we all want to be peaceful and healthy. To think in a loving way is dharma and to think negatively is Adharma
b.Collective Dharma: That which integrates and brings prosperity to all is collective Dharma.
What is the greatest Dharma: Non- violence or non-injury is the greatest dharma. Violence begins at the mental level as anger which stems from dislike. Violence only at the physical level but also in thought and speech must be avoided at all costs.
Explained what Karma is. Played a game where strings of different types and varying lengths were attached to gifts as well as useless items tied to the other end. Then end attached to these "gifts" were kept in a cardboard box and students were asked to come and pull at a string. After discussion, we concluded that there are three aspects to karma:
- Karma always comes with a result: Karmaphala
- Doer alone gets the result
- Result will definitely come. Results may be immediate or take several lifetimes to fructify.
We look forward to seeing all our students in our next class on Sunday, September 23 @9:15 AM.
Pranaams,
Mekhala Girish (mekhala7@hotmail.com)
Vyjayanti Durbhakula (vyjayantid@yahoo.com)
