Summary: BV SUN1245 session - 3rd Grade - 9/30/2018
Hari Om.
Dear Parents,
This week's class we had our opening prayers and took the attendance. We celebrated Somansh's birthday by singing a happy birthday song. We recapped what was dicussed in the previous class and proceeded to learn about yugas.
The kids learned about the four yugas - satya, tretā, dvāpara, and kali and their proportional lengths of time wrt to current yuga (kali). Satya, tretā, and dvāpara yugas are 4 times, 3 times and 2 times the length of kali yuga respectively.
In this context, we narrated the story of King parīkṣit who meets kali (personification of kali yuga ) when the later was chopping off the legs of a Bull (the personification of dharma) and while the cow ( a personification of mother earth) is shedding tears. The kids learned that the 4 legs of the dharma are austerity, purity, kindness and truthfulness. As a class we discussed about these words and what they meant. The kinds then shared many examples / experiences of their own in relation to these 4 principles. We all agreed that we need to adhere to these principles, the fundamental principles of sanātana dharma to live a dharmic life.
We then continued the story and learned how King parīkṣit punished kali. kali takes refuge in the king and since a king cannot kill his subject who has shown humility orders kali to stay in places of gambling, drinking, lust, cruelty, and where rajoguna prevails. Kids quite interestingly enquired about these and gave out their own examples.
We narrated the story of King parīkṣit who insults sage śamīka by putting a dead snake on the later and how sage śamīka's son sage śṛṅgi curses King parīkṣit. We collectively discussed the mistakes that were done by the characters in the story and came to a conclusion that we cannot / should not correct a mistake by committing another mistake.
We practiced slokas 1 and 2 of Guru Stotram and then learned the third sloka.
गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः ।
गुरुरेव परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥ ३॥
gururbrahmā gururviṣṇuḥ gururdevo maheśvaraḥ ।
gurureva paraṃ brahma tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ ॥ 3॥
Note: Please find the complete stotram in 'My Prayers' books and also in Bala Vihar Handbook.
Homework: A word search sheet with names of 10 avatāras is sent with your child. Please encourage / remind your child to complete the word search and bring it to next class. Completed and returned homeworks will get a credit of 5 points and the kid(s) that have most points, for completed homework, will get a special prize at the end of school year.
Gita Chanting: Kids watched Swamiji's Gita Chanting video on youtube - Chapter 18, Verses 43 and 44. At home, please watch the video on youtube and practice. The youtube playlist is at https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVaQ1AsTFVEI9cHOqjnFcAsR9gi42Yu-6
Announcements:
- If you have not yet joined the class WhatsApp group, please use below link to join 'Parents BV SUN1245 3rd Grade'.https://chat.whatsapp.com/JIeaux9xuEcKVT5dNi92Uk. We will use this group chat to communicate class reminders or relevant information.
- CORD Walkathon: 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 walkathon is followed by Field Day activities. Please make sure you register for the walkathon. Yes - 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.
Next Class (10/7/2018):
We will learn about King parīkṣit meeting with śukadeva and also learn about varāha avatara. We will learn 4th sloka of Guru Stotram, do likhita japa, meditation and practice chanting of Chapter 18, Verses 41 thru 44.
Unto him our Best
Vasavi and Venu
