Hari OM.
We started the last class with the Likhita Japa of the mantra - Sri Ramajayam. After chanting OM, the class meditated. We chanted the opening prayers.
We then moved on to the topic of the day: Ramayanam and Lord Sri Rama. Starting from Rama's birth in Ayodhya, we reviewed events in Rama's childhood, his marriage with Sita in Mithila, unfortunate turn of events that led to Rama, Sita and Lakshmana's heart wrenching exit from the palace and stay in the forest, Sita's kidnapping, Rama's acquaintance with Sugriva and Hanuman and the victory of Rama over Ravana.
Now with our symbolism hat, we revisited the story of Rama and discussed the morals to be learned from the events in the story. Here is a summary of our discussions:
1. The kids related to Manthara's poisoning of Kaikeyi's mind, to peer pressure at school and how one has to think through the consequences of one's actions and evaluate carefully what they are tempted to do. Because at the end, each one of us are responsible for our actions, good and bad.
2. We discussed how Rama is a role model son, brother, disciple, husband, friend, etc. We should carefully analyze Rama's actions through out the story and learn from his life story. This lead to the summer assignment: Read or Re-Read the story of Ramayanam, follow the trail of Rama in the India map handed out in class today, and analyze the actions of Rama. You can hand the filled in map to Anjana Aunty or Prasad Uncle when you return to BV next year. You can email the teachers if you have any questions.
3. We then discussed how Ravana was a very talented, powerful, and a great devotee of Shiva. Later when he was blinded by his desire for Sita, he did not heed to the advice and warnings of his ministers, brothers, sons and other well wishers. We need to listen to the advice of our close friends and family members, and decide carefully, when we are on a track that is contradictory to the socially acceptable norms laid out in our society.
Jay Ram! With that we concluded our topic of the day: Symbolism of Rama Avatar.
We took group pictures of the class. It was a pleasure to spend sunday mornings with this group of intelligent and well-behaved kids. Hope you all learned to appreciate the symbolism of our mUrtIs, and developed an inquisitive attitude to question and understand our practices and rituals.
We took a mini survey from the students to know their comments, and understand what they liked about the Balavihar classes and what they would change if given a chance. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
To conclude the class, we had a quiz round to review and recap what we learned all through this year in our sunday sessions. Krishna Iyer, Kasturi Uncle's son who is a BV graduate, attending college, helped to set up the projector to view the quiz presentation. The kids took turns answering the questions, and remembered most of the facts that they had learned.
With closing prayers we departed to the auditorium. Some of the kids had written and brought thank-you cards for the teachers. Thanks for the kind gesture. It made us feel special.
Let us cherish our memories and practice what we have learned. Have a great summer.
Love & Blessings,
Anjana Aunty & Prasad Uncle
"Every beginning has an end. And all endings lead to new beginnings."
We started the last class with the Likhita Japa of the mantra - Sri Ramajayam. After chanting OM, the class meditated. We chanted the opening prayers.
We then moved on to the topic of the day: Ramayanam and Lord Sri Rama. Starting from Rama's birth in Ayodhya, we reviewed events in Rama's childhood, his marriage with Sita in Mithila, unfortunate turn of events that led to Rama, Sita and Lakshmana's heart wrenching exit from the palace and stay in the forest, Sita's kidnapping, Rama's acquaintance with Sugriva and Hanuman and the victory of Rama over Ravana.
Now with our symbolism hat, we revisited the story of Rama and discussed the morals to be learned from the events in the story. Here is a summary of our discussions:
1. The kids related to Manthara's poisoning of Kaikeyi's mind, to peer pressure at school and how one has to think through the consequences of one's actions and evaluate carefully what they are tempted to do. Because at the end, each one of us are responsible for our actions, good and bad.
2. We discussed how Rama is a role model son, brother, disciple, husband, friend, etc. We should carefully analyze Rama's actions through out the story and learn from his life story. This lead to the summer assignment: Read or Re-Read the story of Ramayanam, follow the trail of Rama in the India map handed out in class today, and analyze the actions of Rama. You can hand the filled in map to Anjana Aunty or Prasad Uncle when you return to BV next year. You can email the teachers if you have any questions.
3. We then discussed how Ravana was a very talented, powerful, and a great devotee of Shiva. Later when he was blinded by his desire for Sita, he did not heed to the advice and warnings of his ministers, brothers, sons and other well wishers. We need to listen to the advice of our close friends and family members, and decide carefully, when we are on a track that is contradictory to the socially acceptable norms laid out in our society.
Jay Ram! With that we concluded our topic of the day: Symbolism of Rama Avatar.
We took group pictures of the class. It was a pleasure to spend sunday mornings with this group of intelligent and well-behaved kids. Hope you all learned to appreciate the symbolism of our mUrtIs, and developed an inquisitive attitude to question and understand our practices and rituals.
We took a mini survey from the students to know their comments, and understand what they liked about the Balavihar classes and what they would change if given a chance. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
To conclude the class, we had a quiz round to review and recap what we learned all through this year in our sunday sessions. Krishna Iyer, Kasturi Uncle's son who is a BV graduate, attending college, helped to set up the projector to view the quiz presentation. The kids took turns answering the questions, and remembered most of the facts that they had learned.
With closing prayers we departed to the auditorium. Some of the kids had written and brought thank-you cards for the teachers. Thanks for the kind gesture. It made us feel special.
Let us cherish our memories and practice what we have learned. Have a great summer.
Love & Blessings,
Anjana Aunty & Prasad Uncle
"Every beginning has an end. And all endings lead to new beginnings."
