Hari OM Everyone,
We had a surprise visit to our class - we had Stuthi Didi (a 10th grader) coming in to teach us this week. Children were excited to meet her. We did all our Daily prayers, Guru Stotram, Dasavatara Stotram and 5 stanzas from Madhurashtakam. After that we told them the story of Priyavrata, the second son of Manu who was interested in Sannyasa and not taking up the duties of a King influenced by his association with Sage Narada. We talked about who a Sannyasi is and we tried to think of some one we know who wears Orange clothes and then they all realized that we do know one at least - our Swamiji 🙂 Brahmaji comes and advises Priyavrata to surrender to the will of God and take up his responsibilities as King and Priyavrata accepts and rules for a long time and then after handing the kingdom to his children retires to the forest to the life he had always wanted.
Stuthi told us the story of a King and Minister - the old minister always says - "It is all God's Grace - All that happens happens for the best". But the young king is irritated. One day they go hunting in the forest and get lost and the King breaks his finger falling down and the Minister repeats what he usually does. But the King is very upset because he can't see it that way. The minister then falls down into a well but the King leaves him and continues walking away. He is caught by a group of tribals and is about to be sacrificed when they realize that he has a broken finger and is not fit for sacrifice and let him go. He immediately thinks of the Minister and then goes back to help him out of the well and says he now understands. Every time the Minister says "All that happens, happens for the best", in the story, the children said that in chorus :-)
Ask them why it was God's Grace that the Minister fell into the well? Please text us the answer (not in the group) and all children who answer correctly will receive a surprise next class. 🙂
We then did an activity. The children were split into two groups. One person was blindfolded and a person from another group had to guide them across the room navigating obstacles and pick up objects that were on the ground and put it in a bin on the other side of the room. Once everyone in this group had a turn, the other group was blindfolded and had to do the same thing but they did not have anyone to guide them. They all realized how difficult it was the second time around. They also realized that even when they had someone who can see to guide if they did not listen then it wasn't very helpful. They had to be silent to listen. They all understood that God who knows what is best for us is there to guide us in our life just as He did in the Gopal story we had talked about earlier. But we have to keep our mind quiet to be able to listen. Prayers help with that and in earning the Grace of God.
We then came to the part they had all been eagerly waiting for - their roles in the play. We have handed out the roles and will share the script soon and start practicing in class from this Friday. They will all need to memorize their lines. Please make sure the kids attend every class and on time. Additionally we have reserved April 28th from 3-4.30pm for stage practice. Please block this on your calendar.
Our class will be doing Arthi in the temple next week so it would be nice if they all wore Indian clothes if possible. We will continue our Geeta practice in the next class. The competition is on March 30th and online registration closes on March 24th. Please do register if they have memorized at least 10 verses if not all the assigned verses for our class (41-66).
Shlokathon registration is now closed but Art and Storytelling are still open.
Last date for online Registration for Geeta chanting yajna is March 24 -
Registration form for storytelling - Last date for registration and submission of audio - March 31st
Registration form for Art - Last date for registration March 31st - last date for submission - April 30
Link to Swamiji's youtube video of Geeta -
Jayashree & Suja
