Hari Om Parents,
We had an interesting and interactive session today. Here is a recap of what we covered :
Opening Prayers: Om Sahana bhavatu, Guru Strotam followed by meditation and focus exercises.
Solka: Sri Rama Rama Rameti, Neelambhuja shyamala .
Ramayana: We continued Ramayana after recapping last class. Discussed how Dasaradha, Kousalya and other people in Ayodhya were grieving about the tragic happenings. Finally, Dasaradha welcomes death feeling guilty of his doings. Every one in Ayodhya is sad. Messengers were sent to bring Bharatha and Sharughna to Ayodhya without revealing the king's demise. We also went over Bharatha's reaction upon reaching Ayodhya and hearing his mother, Kaikeyi trying to convince him of her actions. Ashamed of his mother's actions he goes to see Queen Kousalya and tells her that he has no intentions to rule the kingdom and never ever even in his dreams would think of harming Rama his dearest brother. He assures them that he will go to Dandaka forest and will bring his brother Rama back to Ayodhya.
Brain storming for Annual day: We divided the class into two teams to come with ideas on what they want to present for the annual day. They unanimously wanted to perform on stage Modern Ramayana. They came up with a couple of ideas. Team 1 wanted to perform the act of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita going to Dandaka, abduction of Sita. Team 2 wanted to perform the War scene between Rama and Ravana using modern day weapons.
After some more discussions and thinking about how they can add some moral around the acts they will perform, students came up with this idea of depicting several acts from Ramayana and compare them in the modern era. This could include the relation between Father/Son, Love, and affection between siblings, the attachment between wife & husband in Ramayana times to current time, Plan is to come up with short stories in modern times about the relationships in current time and compare them to Ramayana and discuss how we can improve and learn from Ramayana.
We asked kids to come up with short acts and share google docs with us this week. We will firm up the plot in the next couple of weeks, script it and make an iMovie with all the students enacting and contributing with several skills they have. We will present the movie on stage March 24.
Even though we are planning to use the class time for making the presentation, we need to meet 2 or 3 Saturdays from 3- 5 PM. Please let us know in advance if you think your kid can't come on Saturdays or can't work on the play because of any prior commitments so that we can try and adjust the schedule accordingly.
Please encourage your student to enact in the play and send us their ideas.
Bhagwat Geeta shlokas: We chanted the shlokas with Swamiji
Conclusion: The class ended in the temple hall with Aarti and pledge.
Thank You,
Sincerely,
Suma and Ruchi
