October 20th 2013

October 20th 2013 

Hari OM!

 Beginning Prayers 

• Om Saha Navavathu 
• Vakratunda Mahakaya
•  Sri Rama Rama Rameti 

 Stotram: 
  GuruStotram (My Prayers, Page 61) - We learnt sloka 3 and 4 after reviewing the first 1 and 2.

 Bhajans: 
  Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram. Kids sang their favorite songs too.

 Story: 
    On the way to Mithila Rama ,Lakshmana and Vishwamitra come across a rundown ashrama.  On asking whose ashrama it is, Vishwamitra explains that it is Sage Gautama's ashrama and nobody lives there right now.  Once Indra came down and convinced Ahalya (Sage Gautama's wife) to misbehave.  So Sage Gautama cursed Indra and Ahalya turned into into a stone.  He said that when Sri Rama touches her, she'll become her usual self again.  So, Rama goes into the ashrama and touches the stone andd turns Ahalya back into a beautiful lady.

Meditation/Japa: 
   None

 Activity:
  The kids colored a picture of the Rama and Ahalya.

Games:
   Quiz

Conclusion:
  We conluded the day with
 Om Purnamadah

 Reminders: 
     Please try to send the following items in your childs bag:

•  Crayons 
• Pencil 
• Notebook 
• Glue 
• Snack/Drink 
• A folder to keep their pictures/artwork.
• 1st grade Balavihar books - Bala Ramayan, coloring book and a copy of 'My Prayers' 

Next class is on Oct 27, 2013.

October 6th 2013

October 6th 2013 

Hari OM!

 Beginning Prayers 

• Om Saha Navavathu 
• Vakratunda Mahakaya
•  Sri Rama Rama Rameti 

 Stotram: 
   GuruStotram (My Prayers, Page 61) - We learnt sloka 2 after reviewing the first 1.
 Story: 
  King Janaka was childless. He was a farmer and while he was tilling the land he found a baby in the earth. He named her Sita. Sita was a reincarnation of Goddess Lakshmi. Rama was very eager to see the Rudra bow. It was so big and so heavy that about 5000 soldiers had to pull in a 8-wheel carriage into the palace. Rama's eyes shone when he saw the bow. Many princes tried to lift it but alas no one could. King Janaka was a little disappointed that there was no strong prince who could lift the bow that his daughter could. Just then Rama came up, lifted the bow with one hand, strung it and broke the bow. There was a divine sound and everyone in the kingdom could hear the roar of the bow. King Janaka was very thrilled and he promised Sita in marriage to Rama. Activity: We found Mithila and Dandaka forest on the map of India and stuck Rama Padam on the map and colored them. We organized our folder.

 Meditation/Japa: 
   None

 Games:
   Quiz
 Conclusion:
  We conluded the day with
 Om Purnamadah

 Reminders: 
     Please try to send the following items in your childs bag:

•  Crayons 
• Pencil 
• Notebook 
• Glue 
• Snack/Drink 
• A folder to keep their pictures/artwork.
• 1st grade Balavihar books - Bala Ramayan, coloring book and a copy of 'My Prayers' 

Next class is on Oct 20, 2013.

September 29th 2013

September 29, 2013

Hari OM! 

Beginning Prayers 

• Om Saha Navavathu 
• Vakratunda Mahakaya 
• Sri Rama Rama Rameti.  

Stotram:

 GuruStotram (My Prayers, Page 61) - We reviewed sloka 1 and learnt sloka 2.

Story: 
  We started the story session by conducting a quiz based on the last week's lesson. Rama and Lakshmana along with Viswamitra went on their first adventure. They went through the Dandaka forest which was dark and ugly because of the Demon Taataka and her son Mareecha. Rama killed Taataka and then the forest became beautiful again. On reaching the ashrama, Sage Vishwamitra started his mouna vrata for the 6 day yagna. Rama and Lakshmana watched over the ritual and there were no problems for 5 days. They were very alert on the 6th day when Mareecha and Subahu tried to disrupt the yagna.  Rama used the Manavastra which tied Mareecha and threw him into the ocean thousands of yards away. He used another arrow to kill Subahu. Vishwamitra completed his yagna succesfully and told Rama and Lakshmana to accompany him to Mithila to see the Rudra bow. Rama and Lakshmana were excited to have this opportunity.

 Activity:
    The kids found Ayodhya on the Map of India and stuck the foot of Rama on the Map. They will follow the trail of Rama in the coming weeks as we continue with the story.

 Meditation/Japa: 

   The kids wrote Rama 11 times (Likhita Japa) on Rama Padam.

 Games:
  Quiz
  Yoga

 Conclusion: 

We celebrated the Birthday of Aaryan with Donuts and sang the Happy Birthday song the Balvihar way.
 We conluded the day with
 Om Purnamadah

 Comments: 

The kids participated very enthusiastically in the quiz. Surprisingly they remembered all the new names they learnt in the last class and every quiz question was answered by them. They loved doing Yoga and we ended it with some Pranayam. 

Reminders:

Please try to send the following items in your childs bag:

•  Crayons 
• Pencil 
• Notebook 
• Glue 
• Snack/Drink 
• A folder to keep their pictures/artwork.
• 1st grade Balavihar books - Bala Ramayan, coloring book and a copy of 'My Prayers' 

 Next class is on October 6th, 2013.

September 22nd, 2013

Hari OM!

 Beginning Prayers

•    Om Saha Navavathu 
•    Vakratunda Mahakaya 

 Stotram:

•     GuruStotram (My Prayers, Page 9) - We reviewed sloka 1. 

 Story:
   We started the story session by conducting a quiz based on the first week's lesson. The kids were divided into two teams - A & B. We continued the story. King Dasharatha had 4 sons - Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrugna. We also talked about how they were learning the art of archery (there were no guns at that time) and how good they were at that art. All the kids want to be like Rama, who listens to his parents and is very obedient and dutiful.
    Then we discussed how Sage Vishwamitra came to Ayodhya to ask for Rama's help in fighting the rakshasas Subahu and Maricha. King Dasharatha did not want to send his son there, but Sage Vasistha convinced the King that there must be a reason why Sage Vishwamitra was asking for Rama's help. King Dasharatha then agreed to send Rama and Lakshmana with Vishwamitra. We also discussed the story of how Vishwamitra who was a king became a sage, a Brahmarishi.

 Activity:

•   The kids made their name tags. 
•   The kids colored a picture of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman. 

 Games:
   Quiz

 Conclusion:
   We conluded the day with
     Om Purnamadah

Comments: The kids participated very enthusiastically in the quiz.

 Reminders: 

   Please try to send the following items in your childs bag:

• Crayons 
• Pencil 
• Notebook 
• Glue 
• Snack/Drink
•  A folder to keep their pictures/artwork. 
• 1st grade Balavihar books - Bala Ramayan, coloring book and a copy of 'My Prayers' 

 Next class is on September 29th, 2013.

September 15, 2013

September 15, 2013

Hari OM!

 Beginning Prayers 

Om Saha Navavathu

 Stotram: GuruStotram (My Prayers, Page 61) - We did sloka 1

 Story: We described Ayodhya and how beautiful a city it is. It is where King Dasharatha was ruling, and there was no fight/war in the city - hence the name. We also talked about how King Dasharatha ruled such a happy peaceful kingdom but was sad himself. He was sad because he had no kids and his guru asked him to perform the yagna. On performing that yagna, he was blessed with 4 sons - Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrugna.

 Activity: The kids colored a picture of Dasharatha and the Yagna Purusha. Meditation/Japa: Games:

Conclusion: We conluded the day with Om Purnamadah Comments: We had a wonderful start to our Balavihar year. We had about 19 friends in class today,some of them are new to Balavihar. We have a very enthusiastic bunch of kids, who were willing to participate in all the activities and class discussions. We talked about how everyone spent their summer and how excited they are to be back in Balavihar.

 Reminders: Please try to send the following items in your childs bag:
Crayons
Pencil
Notebook
 Glue
Snack/Drink
A folder to keep their pictures/artwork.
1st grade Balavihar books - Bala Ramayan, coloring book and a copy of 'My Prayers'

Next class is on September 22nd, 2013

June 9, 2013

Hari OM!

Beginning Prayers

• Om Saha Navavathu
• Vakratunda Mahakaya
• Saraswathi Namastubhyam
• Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu
• Ramaya Ramabhadraya slokha.
• Budhir Balam

Stotram:

• GuruStotram (My Prayers, Page 9) - We reviewed slokas 1-9.
• Lingashtakam - We reviewed the full Lingashtakam .

Story:

We continued our story and discussed how Sri Rama requested Sita to dress herself in royal queen-like clothes before appearing before him.  Then Sita was asked to take the Fire Test.  Sita had to prove to the world that she was pure inspite of having stayed at Lanka for a year.  To do that, she asked Lakshmana to light a fire, and she stepped onto it.  Agni-deva came out of the fire holding her and announcing to the world that she was very very pure.  After that, Sri Rama happily accepted her and took her back to Ayodhya.  Then was the happy coronation of Rama, Sita in Ayodhya and they lived happily ever after.

Activity: 

The kids colored a picture .

Meditation/Japa:

 Likhita Japa

Games:

None

Conclusion:
We conluded the day with 

• Om Purnamadah

Comments:

 The kids are working on completing their portfolio.  

June 2, 2013

Hari OM!

Beginning Prayers

• Om Saha Navavathu
• Vakratunda Mahakaya
• Saraswathi Namastubhyam
• Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu
• Ramaya Ramabhadraya slokha.
• Budhir Balam

Stotram:

• GuruStotram (My Prayers, Page 9) - We reviewed slokas 1-9.
• Lingashtakam - We reviewed the full Lingashtakam .

Story:

Ravana rides to the battlefield in full glory knowing fully well that he was going to meet his death. He attacks the vanara army and slowly makes his way to Rama.  Lakshmana tries to stop him but is rendered unconscious by Ravana. Hanuman ones again brings the hill of herbs to revive Lakshmana.  Finally Rama and Ravana come face to face and a great battle follows. The raksasas accompanying Ravana are killed easily.  Now Rama and Ravana fight with each other.  Both aim their divine astras at each other, both are wounded.  Rama cuts of Ravana's heads one by one but is confused to see that another head would rise to take its place. Lord Indra sends his divine chariot and charioteer Matali to help Rama.  Rama wounds every limb of Ravana but Ravana is still fighting. Matali whispers to Rama to use the divine astra given by Agastya.  Rama kills Ravana with that astra. Everyone is overjoyed and Mother earth breathes freely.  Once again truth triumphs. Vibhisana is saddened by Ravana's death and at Rama's request performs the last rites of Ravana.  Vibhisana is crowned king of Lanka and starts the task of rebuilding Lanka. 

Activity: 

The kids colored a picture .

Meditation/Japa:

 Likhita Japa

Games:

None

Conclusion:
We conluded the day with 

• Om Purnamadah

Comments:

 The kids are working on completing their portfolio.