Beginning Prayers:
1. starting prayers
2. Gita chanting
3. Bhajans
4. Dhyana sloka
5. Hanuman backbone project
The hanumaan backbone project was completed.
As madhuri aunty sent out the email to all for the seva project fund, parents who were unable to pay last week kindly do so in the upcoming class. Children will be putting together the gift bags.
Hari om.
- 'om' chanting - 3 times
- meditation
- shuklaambaradharam, saraswati namastubhyam, gururbrahma
gitaa chanting:
- 13th adhyaaya 1- 5 shlokas
hanumaan shlokas/bhajans:
- buddhirbalam
- hanumaan chaalIsa 1-10 chaupas
Brain Storming:
- Why should we pray
Story time:
- Who is pavanakumaara
- Serving silently like pavanakumaara
- guNa saagara meaning
- God is everywhere!
- TASK seva project
Activity:
- Cleaning the heart
- PS check please
Ending Prayers:
- sarvebhavantu sukhinaH
- pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam
- aarati and pledge - at auditorium
Comments:
Rashmi Aunty and Prajna didi:
We had TOO many stories in today's class! We started with our invocation prayers and meditation. Children remember to bring your japa-maala to EVERY balavihar class. Most of you did, but for some that missed, please be reminded to bring it.
We are learning the meanings of the words in hanumaan chaalIsa and the importance of praying. We compared current day's technology to connect with the world through wi-fi, to prayer :). Just the way the internet is the channel to connect to the world of information, prayer is the means to connect to the Lord! When we were on the topic of connection, the children came up with questions like, how can prayer connect us to God? How can we ask Him questions and how will He answer them to us?!! We learnt that prayer is just like the alphabet. Once we learn the alphabet, we can learn words and then make sentences, progressively. Similarly, prayer, japa, meditation and contemplation are the steps towards attaining the Lord (getting our questions answered :).
We learnt about hanumaan's attribute of invisible service. Just like the wind serves all the time, without bragging about his presence, hanumaan serves the Lord continuously, with humility and devotion.
We learnt why hanumaan is called 'guNa saagara'. The only way to hold the most amount of water on earth is, in an ocean (saagara). Similarly, hanumaan holds the most 'guNa's, meaning 'virtues' (goodness). That means, He is an 'ocean of virtues' and by praying to Him, we attain virtues as well.
We are learning the meanings of the words in hanumaan chaalIsa and the importance of praying. We compared current day's technology to connect with the world through wi-fi, to prayer :). Just the way the internet is the channel to connect to the world of information, prayer is the means to connect to the Lord! When we were on the topic of connection, the children came up with questions like, how can prayer connect us to God? How can we ask Him questions and how will He answer them to us?!! We learnt that prayer is just like the alphabet. Once we learn the alphabet, we can learn words and then make sentences, progressively. Similarly, prayer, japa, meditation and contemplation are the steps towards attaining the Lord (getting our questions answered :).
We learnt about hanumaan's attribute of invisible service. Just like the wind serves all the time, without bragging about his presence, hanumaan serves the Lord continuously, with humility and devotion.
We learnt why hanumaan is called 'guNa saagara'. The only way to hold the most amount of water on earth is, in an ocean (saagara). Similarly, hanumaan holds the most 'guNa's, meaning 'virtues' (goodness). That means, He is an 'ocean of virtues' and by praying to Him, we attain virtues as well.
While discussing about prayer, the children questioned - how does God, who is in our heart, answer the questions we have in our head?!! Wow! These children are awesome thinkers!! To establish this, we heard an extra story -
A teacher once had a group of students. The students thought that the teacher favored one student than the rest of them. When they questioned the teacher, he posed a test for them. He gave a banana to each of them and told them that they had to eat it where NO ONE saw them. They all went to find isolated places. Someone ate it behind the door, one ate it under the bed, another ate it behind a couch, etc. But this one student (on whom the others were complaining), brought back the banana. All students made fun of him. But when the teacher asked why, he replied that he couldn't find a single place where there was no God and the condition was, to eat the banana where 'NO ONE' saw!! This made others realize how wrong they were in teasing that student. This established to us, that God who is in the heart is in our head too!
We then spoke about the Seva project our class will be doing for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. A lot of children came prepared with the donation for the task. Our sincere thanks to all those who have already contributed. If you haven't already made the contribution, we would encourage you to do so in the next class. In connection to this we were discussing about why we should give? When we give, we make someone happy. That someone in turn, makes someone else happy... Like this, the chain of kindness and giving continues, making a world a happier place. We were referring to a particular video in this regard. Here is the link to see this wonderful circle of kindness. Enjoy!
See you all next week. Until then, stay warm!
A teacher once had a group of students. The students thought that the teacher favored one student than the rest of them. When they questioned the teacher, he posed a test for them. He gave a banana to each of them and told them that they had to eat it where NO ONE saw them. They all went to find isolated places. Someone ate it behind the door, one ate it under the bed, another ate it behind a couch, etc. But this one student (on whom the others were complaining), brought back the banana. All students made fun of him. But when the teacher asked why, he replied that he couldn't find a single place where there was no God and the condition was, to eat the banana where 'NO ONE' saw!! This made others realize how wrong they were in teasing that student. This established to us, that God who is in the heart is in our head too!
We then spoke about the Seva project our class will be doing for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. A lot of children came prepared with the donation for the task. Our sincere thanks to all those who have already contributed. If you haven't already made the contribution, we would encourage you to do so in the next class. In connection to this we were discussing about why we should give? When we give, we make someone happy. That someone in turn, makes someone else happy... Like this, the chain of kindness and giving continues, making a world a happier place. We were referring to a particular video in this regard. Here is the link to see this wonderful circle of kindness. Enjoy!
See you all next week. Until then, stay warm!
________________________________________________
Madhuri Aunty and Shilpa Aunty:
1. starting prayers
2. Gita chanting
3. Bhajans
4. Dhyana sloka
5. Hanuman backbone project
The hanumaan backbone project was completed.
As madhuri aunty sent out the email to all for the seva project fund, parents who were unable to pay last week kindly do so in the upcoming class. Children will be putting together the gift bags.
Hari om.
