Hari Om Parents!
Please find the summary of the last class ( 03/15) below.
Topics of the day: 'Sri Hanuman, The Wise Minister' and ' Sri Hanuman, The Advisor'
After reciting the 'opening prayers', Hanuman Dhyana Shlokas and 'Rama nama japa', we chanted the first 16 caupais of the Chalisa. Please help the kids memorize the shlokas at home as well. This will help get their attention more when we explain the meanings . We see the pride in their faces J when we praise them for chanting the caupais from memory.
We then got into the topics of the day and went over the meanings and the supporting commentary for 16 - 17 caupais.
16th Caupai: Tuma Upakara Sugrivahim Kinha…
Meaning: You helped Sugriva in regaining his lost kingdom by making him meet Lord Rama
· To understand how Hanumanji acted as a wise minister, we reviewed the tale from Ramayana where Sugriva meets Lord Rama. Vali, Sugriva's brother drove Sugriva away from the kingdom. Fearing his life, Sugriva hi himself in th Rishyamukha mountain. When Rama and Lakshmana were approaching, Sugriva mistook them for Vali's people who have come to kill him. At that time, Hanuman ji chided him gently and convinced Sugriva to find out who they are instead of assuming that they are enemies. Giving Sugriva courage, Hanmanji brought lord Ram to Sugriva and helped establish a deep friendship between them. Later, with help of lord Rama, Sugriva defeated Vali and was crowned as the king of Kishkinda.
· Hanumanji expected nothing in return and remained as servant of the lord. Such is the greatness of Hanumanji
· 'RishiMukha' means wiseman's face - Towards th rishi, a wise man. We discussed the importance of having the company of wise and how one becomes wise and performs good deeds by listening the wise.
· We read another story where two parrots who are brothers behave so differently because for the company they are in . One, raised by Bhilas was advising them of killing the king who was lost and looking for help. His brother parrot seeing the king spoke up and asked the sages to come out and serve the king. The parrot raised by saints leaned and talked like them while the other one learned the ways of Bhilas
17th Caupai: tumharo mantra bibhisana mana….
Meaning: Vibhishana heeded to your advice and the whole world knows the result – he became the king of Lanka.
· This Caupai reminded us of the story where Hanumanji finds Vibhishana's house in Lanka when he was reaching for Sita matha. Hanumaji recognizes Vibhishana's house to be of someone's who is a devotee of Lord Rama by seeing the auspicious and holy symbols. Hanumanji assumed the form of a Brahmin, approached Vibhishana and started signing glories of Rama. Visbhishana was overjoyed meeting Hanuman and expressed his concern of Lord Rama not accepting him as he is a rakshasa and brother of Ravana. Hanumanji, being the wise advisor, assured him of the love and compassion of lord Rama. H advised him to go the lord without any hesitation. When Ravana kicked Vibhishana out of Lanka, he followed Hanumaji's advise and went directly to lord Rama and surrendered himself. Lord Rama accepted him and embraced him as his own brother. He later was crowned as the king of Lanka by Lord Rama.
· We went over another tale where Narada's pride was busted when Hanumanji played his Veena with devotion towards Rama. Narada was proud that he was the best in playing veena. Inspite of his excellent performance, Lord Vishnu was not satisfied. His performance lacked modesty and devotion. When Lord Vishnu asked Hanuman ji to play the instrument, he started playing it singing rama nama. Everyone was immersed in the devine song. Even the stones started melting. Narada soon realized how his ego was hurting him. He apologized and was thankful to lord Vishnu for teaching him a valuable lesson.
· We discussed how on should surrender at the feet of the lord to be a winner.
We also played a game ( similar to musical chairs) where kids end up on either being on Rishimukha mountain or in an ocean. Kids who landed on the rishimukha mountain continues in the game. Along with having fun, we learned a valuable lesson on how one could end up in bad company and how important it is to get out of it and always look for rishmukha( wiseman's company)
We wrapped up the class with Closing prayers after learning two Bhagavad-Gita shlokas from Swamiji.
Regards,
Mythili and Madhuri
