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.