January 25, 2019 - Grade 7 (Friday)

Dear Shanthi/Anandi

Hari Om! Salutations!

Thank you for the class report.  It is well presented.  Answer to the questions:

1. When would going to heaven or hell end?  Ans:  When you attain Mukthi or Moksha or liberation.

    God Realisation.

2. Why should we be good, if we won't remember anything from previous janma? 

    Ans:  When we do good karma the result is happiness.  And when you are happy then you should

    know you must have done something good in the past.  And so too when a person is suffering it

   is his past sinful deed come to fuition.  It is God's blessings that we don't remember our past.  If

   you remember, you won't be able to enjoy the present life.

3. What is that place where we go after heaven.  Ans:  After Heaven the next step is Brahmaloka where

   the Creator lives.   From heaven you come back to Earth when you exhausted your merits (Punya).

Hope this helps

shantananda

Hari Om!

Dear Parents,

 Please find below the summary of our class on Friday, Jan 25, 2018.

Opening prayers:

 Om Sahana Vavatu                            

 Vakratunda Mahakaaya

 Saraswathi Namastubhyam

 Guru Brahma Gurur VishnuH

 Neelambuja Shyamala Komalaangam (Rama Shloka)

     

Quote for the day: 

."There is no destiny beyond and above ourselves; we are ourselves the architects of our future."

Bhagavad Gita: Chapeter 18 verses 59-60 (available in the handbook)

Discussion: Focus, equanimity and unification of the objective and subjective mind. Recap of Mind, Intellect, Vasanas; 

Ending Shloka: Om Purnamadah

Aarati and Pledge : Temple 

Next Balavihar class: 2/1/2019

Summary: Almost all of the children had brought notebooks and pen/pencil. We had a very interesting class and the children had a lot of questions. Anandhi recapped about how our repeated choices make it a habit and impact on us.

We started the day's class with an experiment. We switched the room lights off, held a flashlight and covered it with a few small sheets of paper. As we removed each layer of paper, there was more light coming out. We gave the sheets of paper , each to one student . Once all the paper was removed , the whole light shone bright. We then switched on the room lights and asked them to read what was written on the paper ! They read worry, fear, anxiety, jealousy etc. We compared it to our mind that's agitated with all these factors and how these obstruct the supreme light of God within us. We told them how even with the same amount of preparation they do well or poorly on an exam depending upon how peaceful and unagitated they feel. And that we will feel less agitated if we are equanimous towards all creatures around us.

We told them the story of the farmer in New York who heard the sound of cricket amidst the New York hustle-bustle to explain how we are tuned to what we are used to and are interested in. So it's important to focus on the good thought and actions so our mind is always tuned to that.

Catch the bad habits before they become too big that you are stuck with them! We explained this with a story of the eagle which caught s prey, (so heavy ) with its beak that it got stuck and pulled the bird down from flying due to the weight stick in the beak. 

We told them the story of how two friends working at the grocery store , on an old lady and another who were frantically searching for their daughter and mother respectively. On seeking further, they are realized indeed that it was them each other that they were searching for!

Realizing presence of God is very similar. He is right near us, in us and around us. We need to practice unification of our objective and subjective minds to experience God.

We briefly spoke about swargam and kids had interesting questions like:

1. When would going to heaven or hell end?
2. Why should we be good if we would remember anything from previous janma as in what's the reward of being good.
3. What is that place where we go after heaven.

We explained to our best knowledge and relateable to kids 🙂 Since these are abstract. But please talk about it at home. We will find answers from Swamiji also. 

1. When we have exhausted our goodvand bad karma phalanx.
2. To endure a better life  in next birth
3. It's not a place but a state where you are completely realized  in the path of Gita. It's some of these very questions that Arjuna asked Lord Krishna and chapter 18 talks about the path to follow.

Pranam , 

Shanthi snd Anandhi