Class Review- 4 Grade Section B – 12/08/2013 - Sangeeta & Suma 's Class

HariOm EveryOne! We started our class with breathing exercises and chanting Om 3 times. We did our morning prayers and Gurustotram. In the Krishna Lila story time, we listened to the tale of Krishna and Balarama's jouney to Mathura with Akrura. Krishna's miracles in Mathura -- how he turned Trivakra- the hunchback into a beautiful woman, how he blessed sudhama - the weaver, how he punished the wicked followers of Kamsa, how he and Balarama broke the bow and terrorized Kamsa. Next day Both the brothers go to Kings court and kill the mighty elephant who was sent to stomp them. They kill the world renowned wrestlers in Kamsa's court and finally with one blow Krishna kills Kamsa. Krishna ,Balarama part with Nand baba and their friends of Vrindavan .They release Ugrasena, Devaki and King Vasudeva from prison. Devaki and Vasudeva were finally reunited with their beloved sons. We continued story time with the stories of Krishna and Bala Rama’s gurukula days.. Tale of Sudhama , Krishna's friend..How Krishna gifted Sudhama with unasked riches. We recited Sri Govinda Damodara stotram and chanted first 8 verses of Geeta. Next session is our last session for this calendar year. We are planning for some fun activities in the class!! Please come prepared for jeopardy on Krishna Lilas we learnt so far. See you all on Dec 15.

Nirmala and Lakshmi's class                                                                           Dec. 8th 2013



Hari Om,

We started with our breathing exercises and our beginning prayers. We also 2 more new verses of Govinda Damodara Stotram. So we now we have completed 4 verses of the same. Finally we learned 2 new verses from Chapter 14 of the Bhagavad Gita. We have completed up to verse 10. Every Bal Vihar class we do chant and practice all the previous verses. We would like the children to practice at home.

Then we went on to the stories of Lord Krishna. We did a recap of the stories from the previous class. Then we learned about how the lord married Rukmini. Also how the lord killed Jarasandha, Mura and Narakasura and rid the earth of many asuras. We then went to tell the famous story of Sudama and Krishna. We talked of material wealth and spiritual wealth based on this story. The children really loved that story. Finally we told the story of the lord returning to his heavenly abode after completing his work on the earth. We reminded the children of King Parikshit, and the beginning of the Dashavatars and how the king became one with the lord.
The children have been really enjoying all the stories of Lord Krishna and we have also enjoyed telling the stories.We would highly encourage the children to read the Bala Bhagavatam book. The children also promised they would.
Next week will be the last class for this year. We are going to do some fun stuff and are looking forward to it.
See you next week.

Pranams

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 11/29/2013 - Sangeeta & Suma 's Class

HariOm! We started our session with breathing exercise,morning prayers and chanting Om 3 times. We recited Sree Ganapathi Stotram, Guru stotram and learnt one more verse of Sree Govinda Damodara Storam . To make it more interesting, we formed boys and girls teams and did independent chanting. In Geeta chanting, we learnt 7th verse and practiced all the 7 verses and went over any pronunciation issues. In this week's kid's story time, Ayush shared a story. We went over several questions kids had and explained the reason behind Krishna wearing a peacock feather on his head. In the Krishna Lila story time, we heard the story of Akrura - the great krishna bhakta, whom Kamsa sends to Vrindava on the task of bringing Krishna, BalaRama to Mathura..How sad Yashoda was as Krishna was departing.. Krishna, Balarama's trip to Mathura.. Hope you all have a great time in our thanks giving break! See you all in our next session on Dec 8 2013.

24th Nov. 2013

Lakshmi and Nirmala's class

Hari Om,

We started our class with breathing exercises and our daily prayers.
We learned to chant and meaning of three verses of Govinda Damodara stotram (children were given copies of the stotram). After that we learned one verse from chapter 14 of the Bhagavad Gita. We have done up to verse 10 of this chapter. We have asked the children to memorize until verse 8 in the next 2 weeks.
We then went on to our Krishna stories from the Bhagavatam. Srinidhi helped us with the recap of the stories from the previous class. Today we did the story of Krishna and Balarama participating in the dhanur yagna and also their participation in the wrestling arena and their encounters with Kamsa's brave wrestlers. We then went on to tell the story of the end of Kamsa and Krishna meeting with his real parents.
Later we also did the story of Krishna and Balarama going to Sandeepany for their vedic studies. We then discussed the value 'Brahmin and Vedas' in our roadmap to Krishna.
Lastly some of the children did the dandiya dance in the class. The children had a lot of fun.
Happy Thanksgiving to all. See you in 2 weeks.

Pranams

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 11/17/2013 - Sangeeta & Suma 's Class

We started our session with breathing exercise and chanting Om 3 times. We recited Sree Ganapathi Stotram and learnt one more verse of Sree Govinda Damodara Storam . In the Krishna Lila story time,we talked about Raslila. How all the inmates of Vrindavan were enchanted with Krishna's basuri/flute.. How all the gopis left their chores to see Krishna playing his flute, how they all danced together and in the process became possessive of Krishna and to teach them lesson how he disappeared and reappeared after they realized their mistake. We also discussed what the 7 holes of the flute represent.. We heard the story of salvation of Sudarshana - The python who caught Nand baba's foot in the temple. We learnt why it is important to control the senses. The reason why Sudharshana was cursed by rishi to become Python.. This week's home work is to keep a note of what senses you controlled and how you controlled We continued with story time and heard the story of Samkachuda-- an attendant of Kubera who abducted Gopis and was killed by Krishna We recited the first 5 verses of Geeta and also learnt the 6th verse. Please encourage kids to practice Gita chanting at home. We ended our session with Arti and pledge. See you all in our next Balavihar session on Nov 23rd 2013 . -Grade 4B teachers

Hari Om,,

We started with Likhita japa and then went on to do our daily prayers.
We also completed Achutaashtakam today.
We then went on to complete 2 more verses of Chapter 14 from the Bhagavad Gita.
We did a recap of last week's class. A student did the same.
We then went on to tell the story how Akrura, the lord's devotee brings Krishna and others to Marthua from Vrindavan. On the way to Mathura when Akrura stops for doing his Sandhyavandanam, the lord gives him his divine vision. We said of how such things happen only when you love the lord dearly.
We then went on to tell the story of Krishna and Balarama  walking in the streets of Mathura, they are met by different people, like the washerman, weaver, a garland maker and a girl taking sandalpaste to Kamsa.
Krishna rewards some of them because of their generosity and punishes some because of their arrogance.
We talked a little more about Trivakra, the hunchback girl. How her hunchback disappears when she offers her sandal paste to Krishna.
We finally talked about Puja, being another way to reach Krishna after discussing the other aspects to reach Krishna which we have discussed in previous classes.
Looking froward to seeing you children next week.

Pranams

Sunday, November 10th 2013
4th grade class review ( Lakshmi and Nirmala)

Hari Om,

We started with likhita japa and after doing the starting prayers we continued with Acchyutashtakam.
We have completed until verse 7.
We then went on to learn 2 more verses from chapter 14 of the Bhagavad Gita. We have learnt to chant until verse 7. Please ask the children to practice at home.
We then reviewed our previous lesson from the last class. We talked about the devotion of the gopis towards Lord Krishna and how we can seek the lord like the gopis in our own little ways.
This week we talked about the value humility for our road map to Krishna.
Our homework check is to control our sense of hearing.
We did 2 stories:
Salvation of Sudarshana and destruction of Shankhachuda.
We have started the story about the end of Kamsa which we will complete in the next 2 weeks.
Looking forward to seeing you children next week.

October 20th, class review (Nirmala and Lakshmi)

Hari Om,
    After likitha japa and starting prayers, we continued to learn more of the Achutham Kesavam  bhajan. Many of the asuras we came across in the Krishna stories like Dhenukasura and Pothana feature in this bhajan. We thoroughly enjoyed singing this song. One of the verses we completed is devoted to Lord Rama. So please help children learn this bhajan.

We learnt more verses in geeta chapter 14. The children should be practicing these verses everyday at home. Please use the free online tool when you practice.

We reviewed the lessons learnt from previous week about Karma and Karma Phlan. We continued the story with Krishna. Indra get very angry when the villager stop thhe yagjna aang. He send torrentlial rain and kill. Welearnt Indra behaved this way due to his arrogance. When he repents for his mistakes the Lord forgive him. We learnt of the rasa lila dance and how Krishna plays a trick on the gopis

Please enjoy the break and we will see you in November

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 10/20/2013 - Sangeeta & Suma 's Class

HariOm EveryOne!

We started our class with breathing exercises and chanting Om 3 times. We did our morning prayers, Gurustotram and Sree Ganapati Stotram. we practiced Geeta chanting first 3 verses of chapter 14 and learnt the 4^th verse. It was amazing to see how kids were all excited to start chanting. Several kids volunteered to recite in solo. We are going to take turn for solo recital in our next class. 

We revised what was taught in our previous session Brahmaji's maha Bhanga-- Brahmaji tries to trick Krishna and took all gopas and cows away into a cave. Krishna with his Maya created look - a -likes of Gopas and cows and took them home to Vrindavan. No one including parents of gopas realized this maya.  

Ashamed Brahmaji apologized to SriKrishna and released the gopas , cows.  We talked about the humility and humbleness of Krishna for not showing off but making Brahmaji realize his mistake. This weeks's home work is to write a sentence about how you or someone you know are humble or showed humility.

We also heard about the tale of silly turtle which lost it's life by trying to show off when his friends "the two cranes" were carrying him to a pond.

We went over the great qualities of Krishna which made darling of all and discussed how we can be nice to others and be every one's darling. This week's home work is to write a sentence about "Why you are loved by others".

The next story of this session was the death of Dhenukasura  - the asura in the form of donkey, how Balarama and Krishna killed him when he harmed them when they tried to get tala-fruits. Thus Kansa's evil plans have failed again.

In our story time we moved on to the most  interesting Krishna Lila's  of  Kaliya Mardhanam-  The poisonous serpent Kaliya lived in lake Madu and contaminated the whole lake. All the birds and other living things in that area died because of the poisonous fumes in that area. Some gopasunknowingly went to that lake and died. Krishna jumped into the lake .. all the gopas worried and called NandBaba and Yashoda. Krishna grew large and jumped on top of the egoistic Kaliya and danced merrily. Exhausted Kaliya and his wives prayed Krishna to pardon their mistakes. Forgiving Krishna asked them to leave that place and move to an island far away.

We discussed about Kaliya -- how everyone has a taint of Kaliya in them .. difference between consciousness and egoism .. how we all can fight the Kaliya in ourselves by being good  and helpful to others.  

See you all in our next Balvihar class on Nov 10th.

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 10/13/2013 - Sangeeta & Suma 's Class

HariOm Every one!
We started our session with breathing exercises and chanting Om 3 times. After our morning prayers, Guru stotram and Sree Ganapati stotram, we practiced Geeta chanting first 2 verses of chapter 14 and learnt the 3rd verse.

We already handed over hard copy of Geeta, please ask your kid to practice and bring the sheet back to class.The online audio version can be found in http://www.geetachanting.net/bvg14v01-10/

We reviewed last week's home work and learned lot of interesting facts about how kids practiced sharing last week and their experiences.

We recapped the Krishna story we learnt so far and continued with Krishna Lilas.. Killing of Tranavartha and the move of Yadavas from Gokul to Vrindavan..How Krishna killed Vatsasura ( Asura in Cow's form), Bakasura ( Asura disguised as crane).. How Krishna was considerate to animals and people in need. How Krishna helped the poor fruit vendor and blessed her with riches..

See you all in our next session on 10/20.

October 13th, class review (Nirmala and Lakshmi)

Hari Om,
       Since it was Vijaya Dasami, we started the class with Saraswathi Namasthubyam. We continued learning the achutham kesavam bhajan. A lot of tongue twisters, please help the children learn this important prayer.  Some of the new prayer books do not have this bhajan. The following link make help you

http://bhajanlyrics.com/?p=54

Aunty taught us verse 1, 2 & 3 of geeta chapter 14. Please ask the children to practice using the the geeta chanting.net website.

We are introduced wives of the rishies peforming yagna, one of the most devoted followers of Krishna. We learn of how they are willing to leave their husband and stay with Krishna. We learn of the taming of  Kalia the hundred headed snake, polluting the waters of Lake Madu.

We talked about how our actions will have consequences or results. Our actions are called karma and the results or consequences are called karmaphalan. Karma can be selfless or with out concern for results. This sort of karma is nishkama karma.  Selfish Karma is called sakama karma. By laws of nature, an orange seed will only get orange fruit not an apple. In the same way what we sow, we shall reap.

Homework for the week was to practice service and sharing like the rises wives or the trees. The children also need to reflect on their actions and words.

October 6th, class review (Nirmala and Lakshmi Aunty)

Hari Om,
    We reviewed the Sankashtnashna Ganesh sthothra that we finished previous week. The children have the printouts in their binders, so you can ask them to sing this song any time. We are now learning Achutham Kesavam. This sings the praise of the Lord Narayana in his various forms. It is in the old my Prayers book (page 79). The children would be happy to sing this song as well.

We have now started teaching the children the geeta chapter 14. Every year in Spring the balvihar children participate in free competition for reciting the verses from memory. There are various tools available to learn these verses.
  1. website   http://www.geetachanting.net/bvg14v01-10/

  2. Handbook and printouts in the binder

 3. Youtube. Bramhmananda audio.

The children learnt the first verse of the chapter 14 in class.Please help them practice at home.

We then learnt about Krishana and the many pranks he plays on the villagers. The children thoroughly enjoyed the story of Krishna stealing butter and sharing with the monkeys. We shared the story of asuras and rakshasa like Vatsaasura, Bakaasura, Aghaasura, sent by Kamsa to kill little Krishna. We learnt of Brahma ji's trick and how Krishna taught the creator a valuable lesson in humility. We ended with the Dhenukasura's vadham.

We look forward to seeing you all next week.
Pranam

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 10/06/2013 - Sangeeta & Suma 's Class

HariOm Every one!

We started our session with breathing exercises and chanting Om 3 times . It's really important to bring your kids on time by 9.55 A.M.  This will help us in starting class on time.Thank you to all kids who helped us in arranging the chairs. Your help is appreciated!

 After our morning prayers, we recapped the Krishna story we learnt so far. What happened to the 7th child of Devaki..Kamsa's evil plan to destroy his nephew failed.. Putana's futile attempt to poison baby Krishna, how forgiving Krishna was .. purified and gave moksha to Putana with his touch..

We completed learning Sree Ganapati Stotram. Recited couple of times . We already handed over hard copy of this stotram, please ask your kid to practice and bring the sheet back to class.

 We finally opened our treasure chest containing last month's kids hand written good deed phrases. It was so impressive to see how kids are appreciative of their, parents, friends and animals.

We started learning 14th chapter of Bhagavatgeeta. Completed first 2 verses. Please encourage kids to practice using online tool.

We continued our Krishna storyline and learnt about the naming ceremony of Krishna and his big brother Bala Rama.. why they were given those names by Garga Rishi..We also went over the mischiveous actions of the two brothers.. how they stole butter and annoyed Gopis..how they apologized to mom Yashoda. We had a discussion on "why would Krishna steal butter?" . We had lot of interesting answers..Pose this question to your kid to know more.. We also discussed about one more virtue of Krishna  "Sharing". . We talked about about the importance of sharing and how we can help others. This week's home work is to practice sharing and write a paragraph ( hand written or typed) to next class. So excited so go through your little ones work.

See you all in our next Balvihar session on 10/13.

September 29th, 2013, Class Review (Nirmala and Lakshmi Aunty)

Hari Om,
  What a glorious day. Beautiful fall colors bursting from trees. Warm sunshine falling on us while we walked into the school. We appreciate the classroom, and students on all days and definitely this day.

We started the class with 3 loud oms followed by om sahana vavathu. Aunty completed the Sankata Nashna Ganesh strotam today. Please ask the children to sing it for you.Singing this prayer will help destroy all obstacles.

We reviewed the stories from previous week. How Kamsa thought he was killing the eight child of Devaki, but it was actually Maha Mayi. She escapes easily and warns Kamsa that his destroyer is being raised elsewhere.
 Kamsa gets more agitated. His advisers suggest using Pootha a rakshasi to kill all the new born babies in Mathura and Gokul. But the plan fails miserably. Krishna the baby sucks  the poison out of Pootha and kills her, leaving her body with a wonderful aroma of sandalwood and jasmine. Thus we leaned that one of the ways to reach Sri Hari is through forgiveness,. One of the homework for the week is to practice sharing and forgiveness.

We also learned of the Trnavratha the wind demon who comes to Gokul to kill the baby Krishna. The pranks Krishna play on the villagers and how Kubera's sons receive moksha.

We look forward seeing you all next week.
Pranam

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 09/29/2013 - Sangeeta & Suma 's Class

HariOm EveryOne!

We started our class with breathing exercises and chanting Om 3 times. We did our morning prayers and learnt Sree Ganapati Stotram. We gave handout to kids, please ask them to practice and bring the sheets to class.Click here for the text and audio version of Ganapati Stotram.

We revised what was taught in our previous session. ( Story of Kansa -- Devaki, Vasudeva's wedding, Akasavani's alert to Kansa that his sister's eighth son will kill him .. Vasudeva's promise and Birth of Lord Krishna. )

We also learnt about the limbs of Sri Vishnu.

1. Vedas, people who know Vedas
2. Cows
3. Austerity
4. Truth
5. Physical, Mental discipline
6. Faith
7. Kindness
8. Tolerance
9. Sacrifice and worship.

We also heard some short stories -- Story of Oak tree& Grass which gave us the moral of tolerance and the story of young boy who was bullied but was tolerant and cleverly walked out of the situation.

We continued the story and learnt how Krishna's birth was celebrated in Gokula, how Kansa's evil plan to destroy his nephew failed.. Putana's futile attempt to poison baby Krishna, how forgiving Krishna was .. purified and gave moksha to Putana with his touch.

We ended our session with closing prayers -- Aarathi & Pledge.

Please make sure to drop off your kids on time at 9.55AM and ask them to keep their bags ready the night before with folder, notebook, pencils, crayons, glue stick, My prayers book.

See you all in our next Balvihar class on Oct 6.

September 22 2013, class review

Hari Om,
      We started the class with likitha japa and morning prayers. The children then learned the first two verses of Sankashtnashna Ganesh sthothram. Please ask the children to recite for you.

We started the Krishna Lila story introduction and as a precursor went over the Dasavatarams of Vishnu. Most of the children had done their homework and were able to name the avatars and describe the events leading up to the avatar. We discussed the yugas. The following is more detail writeup from Sanskrit.org

Hinduism perceives time to flow in great cycles called yugas. There are four yugas and depending upon the yuga the duration varies. The four yugas along with their duration in earthly years are: The yuga cycle Satya Yuga       1,728,000 Treta Yuga        1,296,000 Dvapara Yuga      864,000 Kali Yuga             432,000                         __________ Total                  4,320,000  One yuga cycle. I say earthly years because Hindu scripture gives the years as divine years–time according to the calculation of the Gods. Notice that the basic number is 432,000, the age of Kaliyuga, and so dvapara is twice that number, treta is 3 times that number and satya is four times that number. One rotation of these four yugas is called a yuga cycle which is a total of 4,320,000 years. A thousand yuga cycles is called akalpa and therefore a kalpa is 4,320,000,000 years. Time moves on in these great cycles, yuga after yuga, kalpa after kalpa, eternally.

We stopped the Krishna Lila stories at the birth of Krishna. We enjoyed narrating the stories  to your children. Please take a moment to discuss the stories and their homework 'STOP THE KALI'

Sincerely 

Lakshmi

we welcome you

 Hari Om!                                                                                                         September 21, 2013

Welcome to a new year at Chinmaya Mission Balavihar.  It is a pleasure to have your children in our class.  Hope you had an enjoyable summer and are ready for your kids to jump into another fun filled year of Bhagavatam stories, bhajans, and shlokas.    

Supplies needed for Balavihar class

1.       My Prayers book

2.       Balavihar binder with few lined sheets and a few plain sheets
3.       Pencil
4.       Bāla Bhāgavatam Textbook (same as last year)
5.       A small notebook for Likhita Japa (preferably one that can fit in the binder)

Shlokas and Bhajans

This year, the class will be learning new shlokas including, Pranamya Shirasa Devam, Namaste Sharanye, Omkara Bindu Samyuktam, Maha Mrtyunjaya Mantra, Sri Govinda Damodara Stotram and Achutam Keshavam.  Copies will be provided for bhajans not printed in My Prayers.

Starting around mid-October, we will begin teaching verses from Chapter 14 of the Bhagavad Gita.  Chinmaya Mission Tri-state area’s annual Bhagavad Gita competition will be held in April/May 2014.  All are encouraged to participate.  More detailed announcements will be made later in the year.

Curriculum

The goal of the curriculum this year is to inspire children to be virtuous and happy though interactive stories from the life of Lord Krishna in the 10^th canto of Bhagavatam.  The prescribed Bāla Bhāgavatam textbook has all the stories that will be discussed.  The focus of the classes will be on subtly highlighting the morals and values from these stories in a way that fourth graders can relate to easily.  They will be encouraged to reflect upon their weekly actions, and assess if they are living by the values that bring them closer to Krishna.  

In the second half of the year, we will delve into the 11^th canto of Bhagavatam – also known as Avadhuta Gita.  We will introduce and discuss the 24 teachers from this text.  The goal here is for children to learn about the importance of teachers, and the proper attitude for learning.  We will focus on Nature as one of our greatest teachers.  During these classes, children will make a booklet to record their learning. 

Annual Day

At the end of the year, our class will be participating in the Annual Day Program on June 10.  Tentative plan is for the children to sing a bhajan or a song.  Once finalized, we will be practicing in class.  More details will be announced in April. 

Class Schedule

The typical class schedule will be as follows:

10:00 – 10:05      - Likhita Japa – Sri Krishna Sharanam Mama

10:05 – 10:10      - Chant Om 3 times, followed by Sahanavavatu… (page 6) and opening chants
10:10 – 10:40      - Bhajans and Shlokas including Gita Chapter 14 Verses
10:40 – 10:50      - Recap of previous week’s lesson
10:50 – 11:30      - Stories from Bhāgavatam
11:30 – 11:40      - Aarti (page 22) & Pledge (page 136)

We plan to handout/email class summary at regular intervals.  The children can use this as a guide to review material covered.  Our contact information is given at the top of the letter.  At any point if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Look forward to an enjoyable and productive year of spiritual learning.

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 05/12/2013- Class Room # A108

HARI OM EVERY ONE! 
Hope you all had a great Mother's day! 
We started our session with  breathing exercise and Yoga. We recited Sree Ganapathi Stotram and Govinda damodara stotram. We revised the first 10 Gurus from our 24 Gurus.We learnt about the next 5 Gurus. Moth, Bee, Elephant, Fish, Deer. These 5 gurus teach us to contol our five senses. Moth--> Control of Sight, Bee --> Control of Smell, Elephant --> Control of touch, Fish --> Control of taste, Deer --> Control of hearing.
Congratulations to all the kids who participated in Geeta Chanting competition.

Home work is to find out what scriptures are and the most important scriptures we have.


See you all in our next Balavihar session on May 19 2013. Weather permitting, we are planning to have a picnic outside so please ask kids to bring any board game /balls that they want to play. 

-Grade 4B teachers

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 03/10/2013- Class Room # A108

HARI OM READERS!

We started our session with  breathing exercise ,chanting Om 3 times and morning prayers.  Since Sunday was auspicious Siva Ratri we  learnt Maha Mriyinjaya Mantra and  recited it 11 times.

For Balavihar annual day celebrations, Grade 4 will preforming Drama "Kamsa Vadha". Our students will be acting in the first 2 scenes of the drama. We had lottery drawn and kids picked their roles ( narrators, actors, dancers)  for the play. We all are excited to be part of this drama. Please let us know in next class if you are not planning to attend the event and also are not going to come to Balavihar in next few weeks as it is really important to practice together. Scripts will be provided in the up coming class.

We look forward to all your support. 

We practiced Geeta chanting 20 verses. We ended our session with Arti and pledge in the auditorium.

Let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

See you all in our next Balavihar session on March 17th  2013 .
-Grade 4B teachers

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 03/02/2013- Class Room # A108

HARI OM READERS!

We started our session with  breathing exercise ,chanting Om 3 times and morning prayers.  We recited Sree Ganapathi Stotram and  Sree Govinda Damodara Storam. 

Thank you to all parents for contributing 10$ for seva project - TASK to help disadvantaged people in our community. All the kids participated in making shampoo and deodorant packs for the needy.

In the story time, continuing our 24 Guru's story we learnt about 2 more Guru's - Python & Ocean. Python teaches us to be satisfied and eat what comes to you according to our Prarabdha or destiny. We did brainstorming on how to take charge of our lives...Should we be satisfied with what we have? Is it good to be ambitious but not greedy!

We heard the stories of the unhappy rabbit who was not contented with his home , Story of John D. Rockefeller( Who is poor ?), Tale of Father and son ( Who is Wealthy? ) . We played a game  "Who is rich ? " -- Learnt the value of enough.

Ocean  teaches us Samartha Budhi - Equal mindedness -- to keep cool in all circumstances. How Ocean does not flood when rivers flow into it and does not  dry up in summer, we should not get depressed with bad news and get elated with good news.  

We practiced Geeta chanting 20 verses. We ended our session with Arti and pledge.

This week's home work is to practice to be contented like Python and eat what comes to you . Write one or two sentences on which food students ate with out complaining and which food denied.

See you all in our next Balavihar session on March 10th  2013 .
-Grade 4B teachers

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 02/10/2013- Class Room # A108

Hari Om Readers!

We started our session with  breathing exercise ,chanting Om 3 times and morning prayers.  We recited Sree Ganapathi Stotram and  Sree Govinda Damodara Storam. We practiced Rama Hare Krishna Hare bhajan.

In the story time, continuing our 24 Guru's story we learnt about 2 more Guru's - Fire & Moon. Fire teaches us to be bright, brilliant , accept good/bad things equally, stay pure and not get contaminated by the company of bad people. We heard the stories of Buddha & Elephant , Story of Tapovan Maharaj( The Faith), Greedy jackal, Discovery of fire tale and the story of Chinmayananda ("He accepts All") . We did a small experiment  "No contamination" -- The lesson learned from oil.

Moon teaches to be accept the change and not to be too happy or too sad. We listened a funny story "This too shall Pass". This week's topic of discussion was " Now is the Time" . We concluded that "now" is the only time to accomplish anything and we can't postpone our tasks. We discussed following quote of Swami Chinmayananda

"Today belongs to us .Yesterday was.Tomorrow will be. Only Today belongs to us.So let us do our best today. " 

We practiced Geeta chanting 17 verses. We ended our session with Arti and pledge in auditorium.
See you all in our next Balavihar session on Feb 24th  2013 .
-Grade 4B teachers

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 02/03/2013 - Class Room # A108

Hari Om Readers!

We started our session with  breathing exercise ,chanting Om 3 times and morning prayers. We practiced Geeta chanting 17 verses. We recited Sree Ganapathi Stotram and  Sree Govinda Damodara Storam. Learnt the meaning of Damodara Stotram from verse 4th.

In the story time, since we completed our first book on Krishna Lila's, we moved on to the second book  "My 24 teachers" which was adapted from 11th chapter of Bhagavatam.  We listened to the story of the wandering saint "Dattareya" and king "Yadu". When Yadu asked the saint the secret of his happiness, Dattatreya said that he learnt his art of living happily from his 24 teachers. In this session we learnt about his first 4 teachers - Earth, Air, Space and water.
Earth - patience,forgiveness.
Air - Freedom, Focus, purity.
Space -no boundaries ,vast , unbroken
Water -purifies, cool, refreshing
We discussed the importance of the teacher. We are going to learn about all the 24 teachers , the elements of nature in coming sessions.

We ended our session with Arti and pledge.
See you all in our next Balavihar session on Feb 10th  2013 .
-Grade 4B teachers

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 01/27/2013 - Class Room # A108

Hari Om Readers!

We started our session with  breathing exercise ,chanting Om 3 times and morning prayer. We practiced Geeta chanting 15 verses. 

In the Krishna Lila time, we listened to the stories of Krishna and Bala Rama gurukula days..  tale of Sudhama , Krishna's friend..How Krishna gifted Sudhama with unasked riches. We concluded our story time with Narakasura Vadha and demolition of other demons. 

We played  jeopardy game on Krishna. Divided kids in two groups ( Krishna, BalaRama) .Kids had lot of fun and both the groups performed really well. Finally Krishna group answered the tie breaker and won the game.

We ended our session with Arti and pledge.
See you all in our next Balavihar session on Feb 3rd 2013 .
-Grade 4B teachers

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 01/18/2013 - Class Room # A108

Hari Om Readers!

Hope you all had a very  Happy Sankranthi/ Lohri/Pongal. We started our session with  breathing exercise ,chanting Om 3 times and morning prayer. We went over the significance of Sankranthi/Lohri/Pongal.  We recited Sree Ganapathi Stotram and  Sree Govinda Damodara Storam . You can listen to the recorded version sung by our class at this link Damodara Stotram. We also learnt the meaning of first 4 verses of Damodara Stotram. We went over the binders of each and every kid. Lot of kids have filed their slokas and other material that we gave in class. But there were some kids who lost their material and were not organised. It really helps if you can remind kids to keep their Balvihar supplies filed. If any sloka handout is missing, please take print out from the links provided in the blog.


In the Krishna Lila time, we listened to the tale of Krishna and Balarama's jouney to Mathura with Akrura. Krishna's miracles in Mathura -- how he turned Trivakra- the hunchback into a beautiful woman, how he blessed sudhama - the weaver, how he punished the wicked followers of Kamsa, how he and Balarama broke the bow and terrorized Kamsa. Next day Both the brothers go to Kings court and kill the mighty elephant who was sent to stomp them. They kill the world renowned wrestlers in Kamsa's court and finally with one blow Krishna kills Kamsa. Krishna , Balarama part with Nand baba and their friends of Vrindavan .They release Ugrasena, Devaki and King Vasudeva from prison. Devaki and Vasudeva were finally reunited with their beloved sons.

We practiced Geeta chanting 12 verses. We have seen amazing progress in the way kids were reciting Geeta. Please keep reminding them to practice. As Krishna lila stories are coming to end, we are planning to have a quiz/jeopardy in our next session. We asked kids to go through the Balabhagavatam when they have free time over these two weeks..

We ended our session with Arti and pledge.
See you all in our next Balavihar session on Jan 27th 2013 .
-Grade 4B teachers

Class Review (Section 1) 1/13/13

Hari Om,
     Happy Shankranthi to all. Our class this Sunday started with Likitha japa. We then said our morning prayers and learnt the verse 3 and 4 of the Shiva Shadakshara Stotram.

We then learnt verse 15 of Gita Chapter 13. Please help the children learn and practice these using the online tools or the classes at the ashram.

We then continued with the second book in our syllabus. My 24 Preceptors.
Dattatreya gives a list of twenty-four Gurus, regarding himself as a humble student of the whole of creation. He also teaches us the lesson that the higher is one's knowledge, the humbler is that person.

1. Earth: All creatures, in accordance with their previous store of karma (action) assume different physical forms and live on earth. People plough, dig and tread the earth. They light fires on it. Still, the earth does not swerve from its course even by a hair’s breadth. On the other hand, it feeds and houses all creatures. Seeing this, I learned that the wise one should never swerve from his vow of patience, love and righteousness under any circumstances and one should dedicate his life for the welfare of living beings. The earth along with its mountains and rivers is my first guru.

2. Air: I observed that air is pure and odorless in itself. And it blows on both sweet and foul-smelling things without any discrimination or preference. Though it momentarily seems to take on the smell of its surroundings, in a short while, it reveals its pristine quality. From this I learned that a spiritual aspirant should live in the world, unaffected by the dualities of life like joy and sorrow and by the objects of the senses. He should keep his heart’s feeling and his speech unpolluted by vain objects. As I have learned all this by observing it, air is my second guru.

Following the story time we had a short quiz on the Krishna Krishna stories. The class was divided into 2 teams with both team doing equally well.

Just a reminder we don't have class next week. 

Pranam

Class Review (section 1) 1/6/13

Hari Om,

Welcome back. Quite enthusiatic class after the winter break. Started out with likitha japa and then aunty taught us the Shiva Shadakshara Stotram. The children have the printed copies in their folders and we went over the first two verses in class. Our goal is to memorise this stotram in couple of months in time for siva rathri.

We then practiced verse 13 of the Gita chapter 13. The children are getting quite good with the first ten verses. Please remember to practice alongwith the cd or the online tool.

Next we reviewed the Krishna stories and introduced the Bhagavatham chapter 11. The children had learnt stories and concepts from Bhagavatham chapter 1-9. In the beginning of grade 4 we had covered bhagavatham chapter 10 or the Krishna Lila's.

Today We talked about how Krishna warned Uddhava not to be attached to material things or pleasures in life. Udhhava questions the Lord on how to live life. Krishna then retells the story of King Yadu and Sage Dattareya. Once King Yadu met a mystic naked sage full of peace and joy. Not involved in ritualistic or traditional activities. But overflowing with wisdom and peace. Wandering about like a child. Amazed at the mystic the king questions him and is rewarded with the sage's insights. Dattatreya says he learnt the art of living from his 24 teachers. In the coming weeks we will learn about Sage Dattatreya's techers in more detail. Please buy the My 24 preceptors childrens booklet from the bookstore and do stop by if you have any questions or concerns

thanks

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B - 01/06/2013 - Class Room # A108

Hari Om Readers!

Happy New year to all of you and hope you had good time during winter break. We started our session with  breathing exercise and chanting Om 3 times. We recited Sree Ganapathi Stotram and  Sree Govinda Damodara Storam . You can listen to the recorded version sung by our class at this link Damodara Stotram. We also learnt the meaning of first two verses of Damodara stotram.
 We learnt the importance of slokas and revised 4 sloka's that we should recite every day - (Karagre vasathe - wakeup prayer, samudravasane --prayer to recite after getting up from bed,  Brahmarpanam- prayer to recite before we eat any meal, Sarasvathi Namasthubyam -- Prayer before we start our studies ) . All the kids were provided with hard copies of these slokas. We revised the birth of Krishna and Krishna Lila's that we learnt this year so far and continued with the new stories in Krishna Lila story time. We heard the story of salvation of Sudarshana - The python who caught Nand baba's foot in the temple. We learnt why it is important to control the senses. The reason why Sudharshana was cursed by rishi to become Python.. This week's home work is to keep a note of what senses you controlled and how you controlled. A one or 2 liners are good. We like to go over these in the next class.
After we brainstormed on the topic of controlling of senses we continued with story time and heard the story of Samkachuda-- an attendant of Kubera who abducted Gopis and was killed by Krishna. Then came the story of how Narada told Kamsa the secret of Krishna and Bala Rama 's abode- "Vrindavan"..Kamsa's wicked plan to invite the two boys for yagna and to kill them by stomping with elephant and inviting for wrestling match with top wrestlers in Kamsa's court..Kamsa asks Akrura to visit Vrindavan and bring the two brothers to Mathura.. Akrura's visit to Vrindavan and preparations of Yadava's travel to Mathura.
We ended our session with Arti and pledge.
See you all in our next Balavihar session on Jan 13th  2013 .
-Grade 4B teachers