Hari Om Everyone!
Welcome to the 2018-2019 Balavihar year! If you are receiving this email, your child is enrolled in the Sunday 12:45PM session. The teachers for this year's 9th grade class in this session are Thejasvi Venkatachalam and Nitya Bhagavatula. We are both Chinmaya Yuva Kendra (CHYKs) and we have both graduated from Balavihar.
Class Curriculum:
This year we will be covering Introduction to Hindu culture. In the last 2 weeks, we have discussed:
- The meaning of culture (samskrti), and why we need it to practice good habits (prakrti) and curb bad habits (vikrti)
- Discussed examples of prakrti and vikrti in our daily lives and how we can improve our habits
- Is there reincarnation?
- What is our purpose on Earth? - reach moksha and graduate from Earth
Please feel free to discuss with your children what we have covered so far in class and what they understood from our discussions. Additionally, this year, we will be discussing the meaning of the Chinmaya Mission pledge, and we will be learning a few shlokas (Lord Shiva Dhyana Shloka, Lingashtakam, Shiva Panchakshari Stotram, Shiva Manasa Pooja) --- most of these prayers can be found in the handbook.
Finally, this year we will be teaching the students to read and recite the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18 verser 41-78 (this can also be found in the handbook). Please encourage your children to practice chanting so they can participate in the Geeta Chanting Competition in April.
Upcoming Events
- Garba/Dandiya on October 13th from 7-11pm at Chinmaya Vrindavan ashram. We want high schoolers to play a big role, along with the help of teachers, in organizing this event, and some of the students have expressed interest in helping out.
- Apple Picking @ Terhune Farms: Date TBD (Sometime in October/November). This is open to all high school students as a time to have some fun and bond with other Balavihar students
- Balavihar Houses: This week we took a House sorting quiz for the House Inauguration this Sunday, September 30th during Balavihar. Please ask your children to wear their house colors. You can learn more about the House system on page 12 of your handbook. If you have taken the quiz yet, please do so with this link: https://goo.gl/forms/MAalV0ljQJiswd2w2
If you have any questions, you can reach out to Thejasvi (thejasvi.venkatachalam@gmail.com) or Nitya (nitya.bhagavatula@gmail.com).
We look forward to this Balavihar year!
Thejasvi Venkatachalam & Nitya Bhagavatula
