February 24th Class

Beginning Prayers:

• 'om' chanting - 3 times
• meditation
• shuklaambaradharam, saraswati namastubhyam, gururbrahma

gitaa chanting:

• 13th adhyaaya 1- 14 shlokas

hanumaan shlokas/bhajans:

• buddhirbalam
• hanumaan chaalIsa 1- 26 chaupas

Brain Storming:

• 2 things that we need to be victorious (God's grace and hard work)
• Whom does God help (Those that help themselves)
• How can we reach raama (Through hanumaan)
• Qualities raama and hanumaan admire in each other - boldness, nobleness, fearlessness, humbleness, righteousness, loyalty

Story time:

• Everything is possible (Wrestler boy and his grandma)
• God helps those who help themselves (Man with his bullock cart)

Activity:

• 'Survival kit' items and their meaning
• 'By your grace' - puzzle 
• Qualities of hanumaan and raama - fill in the blanks

Ending Prayers:

• sarvebhavantu sukhinaH
• pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam
• aarati and pledge

Comments:

Rashmi Aunty and Prajna didi:

The class began with our regular prayer, meditation, gItaa chanting, and hanumaan chaalIsa.  Even before we started with the stories for the day, we had a wonderful discussion regarding how many 'hindu Gods' are there!  We discussed our opinions regarding the topic.  Then, the conclusion was - just like the Sun can be called with many names in many different languages, but it refers to the SAME SUN, so are all the Gods!! In however many names we call the Lord, he is one universal driving force behind all existence, working in different forms.  It is the same Supreme power working as Wind or Sun.  But one cannot and should not do the job of the other, else, we will have a shiny Wind and a breezy Sun :).  It is truly impressive how wonderfully these children can think, comprehend and understand such high level discussions in class!!  Do you wonder why we love this class so much now :).

We the heard stories about how 'Self help is the best help' and 'God helps those that help themselves'.  We then discussed about our nature and attributes, how we can make ourselves pleasant and nice.  We discussed the 'Survival Kit' and the items we need in it.  A Survival Kit helps us survive under any circumstance.  Similarly, this kit helps us remember the most important attributes we need in ourselves -
Rubber band - reminds us to be flexible
Band aid - reminds us to heal ourselves from hurt feelings
Pencil - reminds us to jot down all the things that we are thankful for
Eraser - reminds us to erase, forget and forgive others' mistakes as well as our own
Candy Kiss - reminds us to hug and kiss our loved ones

We then solved some puzzles on the board.  But they were no puzzles for these smarty pants :).  They were solving it even as they were being written on the board!  We then had another round of solving with the clues, the attributes of raama and hanumaan.  It was a fun, fun class.

Until we meet again, be good and keep practicing your shlokas and chanting.

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Madhuri Aunty and Shilpa Aunty:

Opening prayers
Japa mala
Bhajans
Hanuman Chalisa Chanting and Learned chupais 14-16
Brainstorming
Tales:
How does one gain glory?
Man's greatness lies in his efforts
Sugriva meets Lord Rama
You become the company you keep
We had very interesting discussion today in the class, good  participation.
Enjoyed working with children.
Bhagavad Gita Chanting
Closing prayers

February 10th Class

Beginning Prayers:

• 'om' chanting - 3 times
• meditation
• shuklaambaradharam, saraswati namastubhyam, gururbrahma

gitaa chanting:

• 13th adhyaaya 1- 13 shlokas

hanumaan shlokas/bhajans:

• buddhirbalam
• hanumaan chaalIsa 1- 24 chaupas

Brain Storming:

• What does hanumaan teach us? (To be fearless)
• How did hanumaan succeed in his mission?  
• How did hanumaan cross the ocean?  (Keeping raama's name on his lips, literally, holding raama's ring in his mouth)

Story time:

• hanumaan trying to eat the sun
• Be fearless - Akbar Birbal story
• Fearless Edmund Hillary
• hanumaan flying to lanka, with raama's ring in his mouth
• Searching for sItaa
• Power of raama-naama - The story of the lady who made cow-dung cakes

Activity:

• raamaayaNa review - quiz

Ending Prayers:

• sarvebhavantu sukhinaH
• pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam
• aarati and pledge - in the auditorium

Comments:

Rashmi Aunty and Prajna didi:

Today was an awesome class!  The class did all the chanting exceptionally well!  Before we even began bhagavadgItaa, we discussed about why we need to learn and chant the gItaa.  We heard some nice stories of - the grandfather and the coal basket; why their younger siblings or cousins learn the alphabet; how the gItaa helped Gandhi-ji at every juncture in his life.

The children were so full of energy and they chanted up to verse 10 very nicely indeed!  We worked on verses till 13 now.  Parents please keep encouraging them to keep up the practice and make sure you register them (link given in the 'Announcements' section) for the April 20th competition.  Each one of them deserves to be there on that day!  

We heard many many stories regarding hanumaan and his fearlessness.  We all discussed our own ideas regarding this attribute and how we could adapt it in our daily lives.  Please talk to your children and see how they are relating to the topics and what part they enjoy.  Parent involvement sure encourages them to participate more in class :).

Hope you all enjoy a nice long weekend and stay warm!

________________________________________________

Madhuri Aunty and Shilpa Aunty:

Opening prayers
Japa mala
Bhajans
Attendance
Bhagavad Gita Chanting also  learned13,14,15 Verses
Lesson and related Tale:
Hanuman chalisa Chanting and learned caupais 11-13
How is Hanuman a lifesaver of Laksmana? Why Lord Rama loved Hanumanji like a brother?
How does one become glorious? Why is Lord Rama indebted to Hanumanji?
Activity: May I?
Children had very good time in  this activity.
Closing  Prayer

February 3rd Class

Beginning Prayers:

• 'om' chanting - 3 times
• meditation
• shuklaambaradharam, saraswati namastubhyam, gururbrahma

gitaa chanting:

• 13th adhyaaya 1- 12 shlokas

hanumaan shlokas/bhajans:

• buddhirbalam
• hanumaan chaalIsa 1- 22 chaupas

Brain Storming:

• Why hanumaan a wise minister
• How is hanumaan a good adviser
• What is the glory and power of raama naama

Story time:

• sugrIva meets raama
• You become the company you keep
• hanumaan meets vibhIShaNa
• naarada's pride

Activity:

• Simon says

Ending Prayers:

• sarvebhavantu sukhinaH
• pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam
• aarati and pledge

Comments:

Rashmi Aunty and Prajna didi:

We are coming along nicely with the gItaa chanting as well as hanumaan chaalIsa.  Keep up the good works kids!  The registration for gItaa chanting competition is now open.  Click here or the link in the  Announcements section above.  We encourage each one of you to register, participate in the competition and do your best!  We shall continue to practice in class and you continue to practice the verses at home regularly.  Remember, the class with the most registrants wins an ice-cream party at the end of the year!  Let's make it the 2nd graders this year!!

We had some interesting discussions regarding hanumaan's efficiency as an adviser as well as a minister.  Do discuss with your children the conversations we had.  We refreshed our memories with the stories of hanumaan's encounter with vibhIShaNa and his timely wisdom to sugrIva.  We also heard 2 stories regarding naarada's pride about being the best devotee.  This reinforced to us the fact, we just need to focus on being 'OUR BEST' than being the 'WORLD BEST'.  When we have put in our best effort and keep trying to better ourselves, there is nothing that can beat that!  In the story of the 2 parrots, we saw how the company we keep affects us and we 'become' the company that we keep.  Hence it is very important to keep a check on our surroundings and especially our own thoughts and habits.

Until next class, keep practicing the chants and stay warm!
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Madhuri Aunty and Shilpa Aunty:

Hari Om