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!