Hari Om Parents,
The following is what we did during Sunday's class.
Shlokas:
1. "Om Saha navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
2. "Vakrathunda Mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book)
3. "Karegre vasate" (page 11 in My prayers book)
4. "Akanda-mandalakaram" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
5. "Ajnana-timirandhasya" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
6. "Gururbrahma" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
7. "Samudra vasane devi" (page 11 in My Prayers book)
8. "Saraswathi namasthubyam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
9. "Subham karothi kalyanam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
10. "Karacharana krithamva" (page 12 in My Prayers book) - New
Activities:
- We practiced our Geeta chanting & Introduced sloka 46. Please practice the 6 slokas with your kids. The kids will be learning slokas 41-56 & that will be their requirement for the Geeta Chanting Competition. Please refer to the following website gitachanting.net for the right pronunciation. Most kids have familiarized themselves with the first 3 slokas! Please record videos & send your individual child chanting the shlokas to the Geeta Chanting Team cnjbalaviharhouses@gmail.com to earn house points. I have recorded the class group chanting.
- We have introduced most of the Dainikaprarthanah (means Daily Prayers) & 3 slokas from the Gurustoram. Please have the kids make it a habit to chant the above shlokas every morning/ (lighting the lamps / evening) after their bath/shower. This will help them learn, memorize as well as develop a lifelong habit of morning prayer & daily prayer.
- We will not have our regular Balavihar classes the next 2 weeks due to our Thanksgiving break & Surabhi. Please try to take part in our Ashram's Thanksgiving Day Camp. The following Saturday, we will be having our Vrindavan Surabhi at Royal Albert Palace & that weekend we won't have regular classes as well. Please visit the Vrindavan website for purchasing tickets & more details.
- If you have some extra time at home, please have the kids complete their coloring pages in their Bala Ramayana coloring books. Some kids have missed a class or 2, & we have had a few abbreviated sessions due to other activities & were unable to fit the coloring activity in. Please stop on Lesson 17. Please reiterate that the kids are recalling the story as they are coloring.
We did a quick quiz like recap to get back onto our journey through Bala Ramayana. With Sage Agastya's location recommendation in mind, the trio arrive at Panchavati. Upon arrival, they encounter Jatayu. He introduces himself as King Dasaratha's friend, relative of Garuda & his presence was to keep a watch out for Sita. They found a nice location near the Godavari river, for their home for the rest of their exile. Laksmana was excellent with his building skills that he had learnt from Sage Vasishta. In no time, he had a cute little hut built & the trio were discussing how Bharata & Shatrughan were living simple lives & all 4 brothers were eagerly awaiting their reunion.
As the season slowly changed to winter, a lady demon Surpanakha was a shapeshifter, (daughter of Vaisrava muni) was cursed to live this life of an ugly roaming demon due to her past bad deeds, showed up asking questions what the trio was doing in her neck of the woods! She instantly fell in love with Rama & asked him to marry her. Rama mockingly says he's married to Sita & that would not be possible & leads her to believe that Lakshmana is equally good looking & is not there with a wife. So settles & then asks Lakshmana to marry her. He then goes on to say that he's Rama's slave & it wouldn't be appealing to her to be a slave of a slave & convinces her to ask Rama to leave Sita for her. On hearing that she is really tempted & tells Rama tha same & says she would eat Sita up! On hearing that, Rama dives to protect his wife & orders Lakshmana to control the situation. Lakshman immediately chops off Surpanakha's ears & nose! An earth shattering scream erupted from her mouth, she ran away & disappeared into the Dandaka forest.
Surpanakha with blood gushing from her ears & nose areas, approaches her rakshasa brothers Khara & Dusana, who were surrounded by a court full of demons. She makes a complaint against Rama & Lakshmana conveniently leaving out her fault in the incident! Khara immediately sent 14 of his most powerful demons to go slay Rama & Lakshmana. Surpanakha went along to witness the incident. On seeing them coming, Rama tells his brother to take Sita to the cave & keep guard. Rama took the 14 of them out in an instant. Surpanakha immediately reported the outcome. An army of 1,400 was then assembled & led by Khara, Dusana & Trisha. Similarly, Rama was able to wipe out that Rakshasa army, except for Akampana who was the sole survivor. The Devas showers flowers from heaven on seeing Rama's grand success!
Akampana who was visibly trembling, rushes to Lanka to convey this devastating news to their leader Ravana! Akampana also states that he should do some smart planning by kidnapping the beautiful Sita, causing anxiety for Rama would be the only way to defeat Rama as he was way too powerful! The enraged Ravana approaches Marica for council on how to avenge his sister's humiliation. Marica who was performing penance at an ashram, advises that Rama will put an end to the Rakshasa race, so told Ravana to leave it alone! He agrees & forgets about Sita.
Surpanakha arrives the next day & is shocked & enraged that her brother has not done anything! She too triggers the thought of the beautiful Sita as being a perfect matrimonial match for her beloved brother Ravana. He then promises his sister that he will take revenge. Ravana then demands Marica to change his form into a Golden Deer to attract Sita's attention. Then to distract Rama & Lakshmana so that he could kidnap Sita. Marica reluctantly accepts his king's order, knowing well that this was the beginning of the end of the rakshasa race. We paused here.
Please go to the below link to check out the pictures from this week's class
Happy Thanksgiving!
Regards,
Keerthi Kobla & Rukmini Sriram
