Lakshmi and Nirmala's class
May 4th, 2014


Hari Om,

Today we did our breathing exercises followed by the regular prayers. Then we chanted Sadakshara stotram. We then learnesd 2 Krishna bhajans which we will be singing for the annual day.
We have completed the book 'My 24 preceptors'. The children are writing an essay about their favorite teacher from the book.
For our annual day we are doing a play entitled 'The Giving Tree'. We handed out the rolles to the childremn and started reharsing the play. The children are doing well reading thier parts. It was a lot of fun. We want to make sure the children practise thier lines at home. We will be sending their parts by email.
Next week we will be having our annual Cord Walkathon. Please make sure the children attend the walkathon as it will be a regular Bal Vihar class. It begins at 2 PM at Merecr Community Park.
Our next Bal Vihar class is on May 18th. We will be taking class pictures and also recording our play. Please make sure the children attend the class on May 18th.
We are collecting $15 for our class picture. Please send it with your children on May 18th.

Thank you!

Pranams!

Lakshmi and Nirmala's class

April 27th, 2014

Hari Om,

Today we started our class with the beginning prayers. We learned 3 bhajans as part of the annual day functions. We also chanted Siva shadakshara stotram.

Later we continued with our last 3 teachers from the book My 24 preceptors. Today's teachers were snake, spider and larva. We learned great values from 3 these teachers. Please refer to your book for knowing more about them.

We are collecting money for the class photo. This is the last year at the crossroads school for Bal Vihar. Next year we will be moving to our new ashram. So to retain our nice memories of the school we are doing the class group photo. Please send $15 with your child for the same.

We will be practicing for the annual day from the next class. Please make sure the children attend each class as we will be rehearsing in the class for the June 22nd annual day program.

Our next class is on May 4th.

Pranams!

Lakshmi and Nirmala's class

April 6th, 2014



Hari OM,

Today we started with our breathing exercises. We tried to watch our breath and tried to bring back our mind to the breath when it wandered away.
We then chanted our beginning prayers followed by Siva sadakshara stotram. We learned the meaning too.
We also chanted trayambakam...
We then went to our book the 24 preceptors. We recapped our 2 teachers from the last class which was pingala dancer and the honey gatherer.
Our teachers for today were the osprey, the the girl with one bangle and baby. Osprey teaches us not to hold on to things and give up the things we love the most.We also learned to be childlike and speak the truth always. The lady with the one bangle teaches us to spend time with ourselves everyday. This helps us to fix our goal in life. We narrated stories of the clever weaver and talked about values like humility and devotion from the lives of Eknath maharaj.
We also played a memory game helping us to focus our mind.
It was a enjoyable class. Our next class is on April 27th.

Pranams!

Lakshmi and Nirmala's class

March 16th, 2014

Hari Om!

Today we started our class with controlled breathing and then our beginning prayers.
We then chanted the whole Chapter 14 of the Bhagavad Gita as a class. Later some children came up front and chanted the same. Please register your children for the competition and our best wishes to them for the same.
After that we did the seva project for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. The children wrote a nice note and packed the lunch bags.We made around 225 bags.  Each child packed 4 lunch bags which consisted of mac and cheese, fruit cups, juice and a granola bar. The children wrote very encouraging notes.
Today we had 2 new friends in our class, which was very exciting. The children welcomed our new friends with a hearty welcome and Hari Om. The new children enjoyed the class.
Our next BV class is on April 6th. The bhagavad Gita prelims competition is on March 30th.

Pranams and Hari Om!

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B – 03/09/2014 - Sangeeta & Suma 's Class

Hari Om Readers! We started our class with breathing exercises and morning prayers. We completed learning Lingastakam.In the story time, continuing our 24 Guru's story we learnt about 4 more Guru's - Moon, Honey Gatherer, Pingala dancer and Osprey. Moon teaches to accept the change and not to be too happy or too sad. We listened to a funny story "This too shall Pass".We discussed about the value of time - "Now is the Time" and concluded that "now" is the only time to accomplish anything and we can't postpone our tasks. Honey Gatherer teaches us not to hoard and use things wisely. Pingala dancer teaches us not to have desire of wealth,material things and focus on God. Lastly we learnt about Osprey our 15th guru. Osprey teaches us "Hold on to be unhappy , give up and be happy". We heard several stories - Greedy Barber, Miser story, Tale of King Alexander, Story of Mirror and Rabbi, The Greatest treasure - Story of Chandu & Vivek. We practiced Geeta chanting 20 verses. We ended our session with Arti and pledge. On March 16th session, we are planning to do the seva project . See you all!

Lakshmi and Nirmala's class

March 9th, 2014


Hari OM,

We started with our breathing exercises. We added counts to our breathing today.
We then chanted our regular prayers, bhadram karne bhih. We also chanted trayambakam 3 times for one of the children whose grandfather is sick.
Today we started to learn a new prayer on Lord Shiva. It is called Siva Shadakhara Stotram. We learned 2 verses from the same. We learned it with the meaning and the 6 syllables Om Na mah Si va ya.
Then we revised our Bhagavad Gita for the competition. The children chanted by fours and then we chanted as a class. The children are chanting very well. Please make sure the children register for the competition.
We then went on to our book the 24 Preceptors. Today we learned values from the next 2 teachers. Our teachers for today were the pingala dancer and the honey gatherer. We did 5 stories teaching us great values like not hoard, sharing doing seva and the appreciation of the human birth.
It was a very good class. The children participated beautifully with a lot of their stories.
Next week is our seva project for TASK. We look forward to the children's participation.

Pranams!

March 2nd 2014

Lakshmi and Nirmala's class


Hari Om,

Today we started our breathing exercises and our beginning prayers.
We then chanted bhadram karne bhih and trayambakam yajamahe...
Later the children chanted the Bhagavad Gita, 14th chapter by threes. We learned the 20th verse today, and then chanted the whole chapter as a class. The registration for the Gita competition is open. Please register for the same online and also continue practice at home.
We then went on to our book 'The 24 preceptors'. We recapped the 2 teachers from the last class. They were pigeon and python. Today we did 6 teachers. They are the ocean, moth, deer, honey bee, elephant and fish. The ocean teaches us to be calm always whatever be the situation. We learned ways for us to be calm always. The children participated nicely.  The next 5 teachers teach us to control our 5 senses. We did a few stories teaching us great values. We talked  about the the sage Eknath from Maharashtra.
We are planning for our seva project on March 16th. Please make sure the children be present. It's going to be fun.

Pranams

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B – 02/23/2014 - Sangeeta & Suma 's Class

HARI OM READERS! We started our session with breathing exercise, chanting Om 3 times and morning prayers. After Gurustotram, as Siva ratri was approaching we learnt “Maha Mruthyunjaya Mantram”. Recited this mantra 13 times. We also learnt first 2 slokas of Lingastakam. Thank you to all parents for contributing 10$ for seva project - TASK to help disadvantaged people in our community. More updates to follow about the date on which we will make the lunch kits for needy. In the story time, continuing our 24 Guru's story we learnt about 3 more Guru's – Sun, Pigeon & Python. Sun teaches us to work our full capacity, earn the reward, save it and when the right time comes, give it back to society. We explored the meaning of Indian greeting “Namastae”. Next guru, Pigeon teaches us to not get overly attached to any worldly things and relations. We heard the story of Pigeon couple to lost control of their life as they were overly attached. 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 practiced Geeta chanting 20 verses. Please encourage kids to enroll in Geeta chanting competition. See you all in our next Balavihar session on March 2 2014 . -Grade 4B teachers

Feb. 23rd 2014
Lakshmi and Nirmala's class



Hari Om,

We started with our breathing exercises and did japa on Om Namah Shivaya.
We then did our regular prayers. We chanted the vedic prayer Bhadram Karnebhih and after that learned the new prayer Trayamabakam... to mark the festival of Sivaratri.
We talked about Lord Shiva, the things he his worshiped with and did a story On Lord Shiva.
We then went on to our Bhagavad Gita Chanting. The children chanted by three's. They are doing well. We also learned the next verse 19. We want the children to practice at home. The registration for the competition is now open online.
After that we recapped our previous 2 teachers from the book of the 24 preceptors. We learned more noble values from 2 more teachers. Today's teachers were the pigeon and the python.We did a quiz from Gurudev's quote and talked a lot about attachment and detachment. The children participated actively.
We will go on to the next 2 teachers on March 2nd.


Pranams!

Feb. 9th, 2014

Lakshmi and Nirmala's class

Hari Om,

We started with the breathing exercises and our daily prayers.
We completed the vedic prayer, Bhadram Karne Bhih.. with the meaning. This prayer is on Page 52 in the My Prayers book.
We then went to our Bhagavad Gita Chanting. We asked the children to chant by twos.
We then chanted as a class until verse 17. Today we learned to chant verse 18. We want the children to memorize the verses. Our Gita chanting competition is on March 30th. The registration is open now.
Later we went on to our book the 24 preceptors. We recapped last weeks's 2 teachers which were fire and water. Today we talked about our next 2 teachers which were moon and sun. We did many stories to discuss various values. We  discussed 2 quotes from Gurudev and Rabindranath Tagore. The children participated well. We discussed about seva.
We are doing a seva project to benefit TASK in Trenton NJ. WE are collecting $10 form each child for the same.
We look forward to the next class on Feb. 23rd.

Pranam

Nirmala and Lakshmi's class

Feb. 2nd 2014

Hari Om,

We started our class with the breathing exercises and the prayers.
We then chanted the Govinda Damodara stotram. Today we started to learn a new prayer Bhadram Karnebhih..... This is a vedic chant. We are also learning the meaning of the prayer. The prayer is on Page 52 of the My Prayers book.
We also learned the next verse ( Verse 17) from the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 14. Today we asked the children to chant on their own. They did a good job. Please make the children practice the same at home.
We then did a recap of last week's class. Last week we had talked about the 3 teachers from the book 'The 24 Preceptors'. Today we learned about the next 2 teachers which are water and fire. Please ask the children to read the book at home. We did a few stories too, to discuss values. Two of the stories were from the lives of Gautam Buddha and Swami Tapovan. The values discussed today were purity of body and mind, faith and not to hoard. We will continue with our next 2 teachers next week.

Pranams and Hari Om!

Class Review- 4 Grade Section B – 01/26/2014 - Sangeeta & Suma 's Class

We started our session with breathing exercise ,chanting Om 3 times and morning prayers. We practiced Geeta chanting 10 verses. We recited Sree Ganapathi Stotram and Sree Govinda Damodara Storam. Girls and boys took turns to recite Damodara Stotram. 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 teacher - Earth. Earth teaches us patience & forgiveness. We heard several interesting stories -- Giving tree, Impatient King. We discussed the importance of the teacher and important traits a student should have. We went over the importance of Goal setting. For next week's class, kids should write down their first 10 goals. One of our students shared a nice story on Goals. 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 1 2014 . -Grade 4B teachers

Nirmala and Lakshmi's class

Jan. 26, 2014


Hari Om,

We started the class with our breathing exercises and the beginning prayers.
We completed all the 8 verses of the Govinda Damodar ashtakam with the meaning. We talked about how the people of Gokul lived simple lives, constantly chanting the many names of Lord Krishna.
We then went on to do our Bhagavad Gita chanting. We have completed 16 verses of the 14th chapter. The children should practice at home. Since this chapter talks of Gunas, we talked about the 3 gunas and their phalams which lord Krishna has described. We had talked about Karma and Karmaphalam a few weeks back, so we decided to have a discussion about this and discussed the verse 16 of Chapter 14 of the Gita.
We had started our second book, the 24 preceptors. We had given the introduction to this book in the previous class. This book is part of the 11th canto of the Bhagavatam,  and is titled Avadhuta Gita.
We discussed the first 3 teachers. Our first 3 teachers from nature are earth, air and space. We did a few stories as part of this and discussed in length  how these elements teach us various values. The children should read the book at home.
We look forward to next week's class.

Pranams