Hari OM Everyone,
We started off our class with Daily Prayers as usual. Then we moved on to Guru Stotram - to make sure everyone is chanting we made 2 kids at a time chant one verse! But Dasavatara Stotram the kids chanted together and they did it without much help from us which was really good! Some of them seem to have it memorized too!
After that we did a small activity sheet on Prahlada charitram - they got most of it right - they have it in their bags in case you want to look at it. We then practiced Geeta verses 41-48. We wrote verses 49 and 50 on the board and practiced it a few times and then recorded it. If all those who have memorized 2 or more verses can record and send it to cnjbalaviharhouses@gmail.com, we can earn more points and it will also motivate the kids to participate in the Geeta chanting yajna on March 30th! Our class is assigned until Verse 66 but even if they don't memorize all the way up there it would be good if they can participate - all participants receive beautiful medals.
We then moved on to the story of King Ambarisha! He was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu and he was given the Sudarshana chakra for his protection by the Lord Himself. Once when he was about to complete the Dvadashi vrata that he had undertaken Sage Durvasa appeared and the King waited for him to take a bath in Yamuna and come back so that he could feed him and then break the fast. But the auspicious time for breaking the fast was about to end so he sipped Tulasi water 3 times to break the fast! When the Sage came back he was enraged that Ambarisha had broken the fast thinking it was because of his pride as a monarch and created a demon from a strand of his hair to kill Ambarisha. But the demon could not stand up to the Sudarshana Chakra and the Chakra started following Sage Durvasa! When the Sage realized his life was in danger, he ran all over the world trying to hide, then finally went to Brahma loka and sought Brahmaji's protection and then Kailash seeking Shivji's protection and even Vaikunta seeking Vishnu's protection. But all of them declared their helplessness. Lord Vishnu in fact said he is a slave of His devotees who forsake everything and surrender to Him and is bound by their devotion. He suggested that the Sage go back and beg forgiveness from King Ambarisha for offending him. King Ambarisha generously forgives the sage and prays to the Lord to withdraw the Sudarshana Chakra. In fact he was not even angry at the sage in the first place since he sees nothing but Lord Vishnu in everyone.
Since we are going to portray this story in our stage program, request all parents whose kids were absent yesterday to encourage their kids to read it from the Bala Bhagavatam book. In fact it would be good for all kids to review the stories of Dhruva and Ambarisha for this purpose. Please ask them to tell you the stories in their own words.
We then learnt shlokas 63 and 64 from Swamiji's video. We had to go early to the temple to watch the 4th grade performance of Krishna Leela which the kids really enjoyed!
Next week there is no Balavihar - but on Feb 22nd we will have our Balavihar House Spirit Day - a session full of fun team building activities - please request all children to wear our House color - Green! We will assemble in our classroom at 7pm and then move around. Request parents to assemble in the temple hall at 8.20pm to watch and cheer the final group activity.
Some useful links -
Registration form for storytelling - Last date for registration March 31st - last date for submission - April 30
Registration form for Art - Last date for registration and submission of audio - March 31st
Link to Swamiji's youtube video of Geeta -
Chinmaya Kalarangam is on Feb 16th. It is a great opportunity for kids who learn classical Indian arts to perform on stage. Please register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Vt1qK7iBClLH4AbqpYO7b6qN8_N1Q1mx86eO0GPpyIg/viewform?edit_requested=true
Would appreciate if you can ack reading this email. 😊 See you all on Feb 22nd in greeen!
Jayashree & Suja
