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. “Bhramarpanam bhramahavihir”
10. “Subham karothi kalyanam” (page 12
in My Prayers book)
11. “Karacharana krithamva” (page 12 in
My Prayers book)
12. “Sri Rama Rama Ramethi” (page 129 in
My Prayers book)
13. Bhajan - “Athma Nivasi Ram” (page 149
in My Prayers book)
Activities:
-
We colored lessons 31 & 32 in our coloring books. 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 32. Please reiterate that the kids are recalling the story as they are coloring.
-
We practiced our Geeta chanting. Please continue to practice the slokas with your kids. They 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. All slokas required for the competition have been introduced. Please register, practice & participate in the Geeta chanting competition. Registration closes soon. Go to http://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/geeta-chanting/ to register if you have not done so already.
Hanuman has returned to Kishkindha & has reported that he has successfully found Sita to his Lord Rama. He had confronted Ravana & requested him
to return Sita to her husband & to beg for forgiveness. When Ravana denied to do so & had Hanuman’s tail set on fire, Hanuman burnt Lanka & then returned to his vanaras with the news. On hearing the news, Rama, Lakshmana, Sugriva & his massive Vanara Army
head to the tip of India.
The vanara army is close to the shoreline & they are planning their next move. As they are doing so, they spot 5 dark clouds in the sky, swiftly
approaching their location. Their immediate thought was that rakshasas were heading over to fight them, so they got prepared. Vibhishana was not afraid of being attacked & spoke from the sky saying that he tried his best to advise his evil brother Ravana to
change is mind & return Sita, but his efforts were futile. So he said that he & 4 of his like minded rakshasas are coming to seek asylum at Rama’s feet. Sugriva was very suspicious & thought they were coming to spy on them, so he went to warn Rama. Rama in
turn decided to seek advice from his army leaders, & they also sided with Sugriva & wanted to get ready to fight or at least test their real motive. Rama then turned to Hanuman for advise. Hanuman respectfully addressed Lord Rama, saying that he knew all the
answers as he was the Lord himself. But putting his bhakthi & those thoughts aside, Hanuman gives his opinion that, Vibhishana & his men are arriving unarmed & thus we should trust them. Rama was happy & agreed. He then went on to say that it was against his
Dharma to turn away anyone that comes to Him for shelter.
Sugriva was still suspicious. He went on to doubt Vibhishana & justifies it by saying that he had sided with Ravana for so long...Rama reminds Sugriva
that not long ago, he too had sided with his own brother Bali! On hearing that he calms down & accepts his misthought. The talks of brothers reminds Rama & Lakshmana of their faithful & loving ones that they soon hope to reunite with. Soon Vibhishana arrives
& takes blessings from Rama. Lakshmana & Angadha are asked to bring seawater for abhisheka & Rama crowns Vibhishana as King of Lanka.
The army was no where close to figuring out how to cross the ocean. So some of the elders advised Rama to undertake a fast to request the sea god
for help. Three days passed & when there was still no response, Rama was furious & wanted his bow & arrows to make sure that everything in the ocean perished. As soon as the wrath of Rama was felt by the sea god, he rose up & prevented any more destruction.
The sea god had to take a stand & tell Rama that he could not go against his nature & dry up for them to cross over. But he agreed that with Rama’s name on anything that was tossed onto him, would float & he would hold each object together like glue! Nala
was appointed as the chief engineer. The vanara army immediately began building the bridge with 100% enthusiasm, that kept growing as they kept building & marching towards Lanka as they chanted “Rama, Rama, Victory to Rama”!
As Rama along with the vanara army approach Lanka, Malyavaan, Ravana’s wise grandfather tries in vain to convince his grandson to do the right thing
& save his people.Ravana was blinded by his desire for Sita & would not listen to anyone. He strategically posted his army in all different directions & Ravana stayed at his Northern gate. The vanaras who had arrived observed the positioning from the Trikuta
mountain. Rama was also observing the beauty of Lanka and became sad that he would end up destroying this beautiful kingdom! Rama also positioned his army & he positioned Lakshmana & himself at the North gate. The two armies were all set.
All of a sudden, Sugriva decided to fly out of his army & confront Ravana! They both equally matched wrestlers, but Ravana always had tricks up
his sleeve. So Sugriva decided to retreat back to his army. The vanara king was questioned by Rama for his sudden disappearance. Rama after hearing about Sugriva’s hasty actions explained that a king should never risk his life & cross enemy lines before battle
commences! Suriva apologised & begged for forgiveness. Rama then called on Angada to be his messenger & last resort prior to declaring war & death to Ravana & the rakshasa race. Ravana was enraged on seeing the messenger & would not listen to reason & called
on all his rakshasas to attack Angada. The messenger escaped & Ravana went up to his observation tower to see Rama & the strength of his mighty army.
Ravana was filled with dark determination. His thoughts focused on his evil ways of trickery. He had reached a point of no return. He had to conjure
a plan to persuade Sita to change her mind & have Rama leave heartbroken without a fight. He asked his sorcerer to make an exact replica of Rama’s head. He then stormed into his Ashokavana & victoriously screamed at Sita showing the head, that he had defeated
Rama & his army. He demanded Sita to be his queen. He placed the severed head before Sita. She believed it was her beloved husband & began lamenting uncontrollably. At that moment, the vanaras had began their invasion & his army generals needed him immediately.
As Ravana departed to answer his call, the fake head of Rama went up in smokes. That illusion was no more! Sita was bewildered. Saramaa, the good rakshasi then told her that it was Ravana’s evil maya & due to Sita’s pure soul, it sounded like the vanara army
& Rama are finally her to rescue her. Sita felt hope again as simultaneously the rakshasa race were trembling with fear. We paused our story here.
Please go to the below link to check out
the pictures from this week’s class
Regards,
Keerthi Kobla & Rukmini Sriram
