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

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