Hari Om Parents,
Shlokas:
1. "Om Saha navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
2. "Karegre vasate" (page 11 in My prayers book)
3. "Akanda-mandalakaram" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
4. "Ajnana-timirandhasya" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
5. "Gururbrahma" (page 61 in My Prayers book) - New
6. "Samudra vasane devi" (page 11 in My Prayers book)
7. "Saraswathi namasthubyam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
Activities:
- CORD introduction discussion.
- Register for CORD Walkathon which is on Oct 28th, Sunday 10:00 AM at Mercer County Park. East Picnic area. More details at http://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/cord-walkathon .
- Note that the walkathon is followed by Field Day activities. Please make sure you register for the walkathon to be able to participate. Please bring in all your friends and family members.
- $25/walker and the funds raised goes to CORD.
- Raffle prizes for the most number of pledges collected
2. We practiced the 41st & the 42nd slokas of Chapter 18 in The Geeta. They are in our handbooks in both Sanskrit & English. Please help the kids practice the slokas that were taught in class. The kids will be learning slokas 41-56 & that will be their requirement for the Geeta Chanting Competition. Please refer to the following website for the Gita. gitachanting.net for the right pronunciation.
3. We did jumping jacks while saying "Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Bharata, Shatrughna" instead of counting from 1-5, for every set of repetition.
4. We played a game where we gave the kids different scenarios & then asked them how they would react. If they were calm, collected & happy with the outcome, regardless of the circumstances & outcome, they were like Rama & if they were offended, saddened or angry by the outcome, they were like Kaikeyi.
5. We recapped our Bala Ramayana story so far, for the benefit of those who missed a class or 2 in the past weeks & just to see how much the kids remembered. They all did really well! Please ask the kids what they learnt in class.
Our journey through Bala Ramayana continued with the newly weds & King Dasaratha's family returning to Ayodhya. Everyone were thrilled to have their princes back. Sita made an instant impression there & all the girls wanted to be just like her. Rama & his brothers assisted their father with matters of the State. King Dasaratha was could not be happier! 12 years passed & King Dasaratha, after consulting with Guru Vasishta decided to coronate Rama as Yuvaraja the following day as it was the most auspicious day even though Bharata & Shatrughna were away in Kekeya. Rama takes the news of his coronation humbly. Kausalya & Sita are overjoyed. The news spreads like a wildfire & the kingdom of Ayodhya is overjoyed! Immediate preparations begin.
Kaikeyi was minding her own business, while Manthara (her hunch backed maid) was instantly conjuring up a plan to poison Kaikeyi's mind. The once loving & sweet queen that was initially overjoyed by the news of Rama's coronation, turns evil & decided to cash in her 2 boons that she had received for saving King Dasaratha's life long ago. The enraged Kaikeyi demands Dasharatha to coronate Bharatha as king of Ayodhya & to send Rama to the Dhantaka forest for 14 years of exile. She goes on to threaten the king that she would take poison & die, her death would be the king's fault if he denies her demand. The king is shocked, had to choose between his love for his son Rama & dharma! He was barely able to speak but faintly continues to say "Rama...Rama…"
Prince Rama is summoned & he arrives to see his father in this state of agony. Everything had changed in about 12 hours. Rama wanted to do anything for his father to make him feel better. Kaikeyi takes the lead & asks Rama to promise that he would do as she says. She prompts him to fulfill his father's dharma. Without any hesitation, Rama agrees to both conditions & immediately prepares to depart for the Dandaka forest.
Laksmana was silently observing what was happening. As Rama headed out after taking the blessings of Kaikeyi & Dasaratha, Lakshmana was enraged & claims that the King has lost his mind! Rama announces his decision to the people of Ayodhya & continues to meet his mom. He gave up everything that said royalty & related the recent happenings. Immediately as a mother, she wanted to go with her child, but Rama tells her that her duty is to take care of King Dasaratha, & he would not do anything to oppose Dharma! Laksmana & Sita are able to convince Rama that they would accompany him. Kaikeyi had bark garments ready for the 3 of them. Sumantara wanted to accompany the trio to the forest with the army, but Kaikeyi was immediately opposed to that thought as she did not want her son Bharata to come home to an empty kingdom. Ram did not want anything except what a hermit in the forest would have. Sage Vasishta who was a very calm natured person, was enraged. Sumitra blessed Laksmana & told him to treat Rama as his father, Sita as his mother & the forest as Ayodhya!
Sumantara had the chariot ready to depart. The people of Ayodhya followed their beloved trio as the horses galloped away, King Dasaratha, watched from his balcony as the dust slowly faded. With a heavy heart, he continued to faintly chant his son Rama's name. The people followed the chariot to the banks of the river Tamasa, where they stopped for the night. Before dawn, Rama said, they should leave before everyone else woke up. They continued to the banks of river Ganga. Guha was the chief of a tribe in that area & loved Rama, embraced him, ordered a feast & asked him to spend the 14 years with his tribe. Rama denied his offerings, asked for a simple meal & early next morning, they took leave from a tearful Sumantara, boarded a raft to sail across the Ganges to the Dandaka forest.
We concluded today's class on a sad note. The kids were very silent! We told them to ponder the story so far. Please tell the kids that they can color till lesson 10. Remember to ask them the story!
Happy Navratri! We will not have class next week, but please do join us on Saturday Oct. 13th for Garba Night. For the following week, Oct. 21st, we have a special Saraswati Pooja that will be performed by all the balavihar kids.
Please go to the below link to check out the pictures from this week's class
Regards,
Keerthi Kobla & Rukmini Sriram
