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