Almost there...

The year (Balavihar calendar) is almost at an end. Some of us are confident and know what we have been taught, the rest of us still need some work.

The kids seem quite comfortable with the shlokas and bhajans and we were able to run through them fairly quickly till we reached Guru Sthothram, some of the kids haven't memorized it yet, parents please help them with the same.

The shlokas we have learnt so far are the Dhyaana Shloka - Om Sahanavavatu (pg 9) and the daily prayers (Karaagre Vasate, Vakratunda, Saraswati Namastubhyam, Bramhaarpanam, Shubham Karoti, Kara Charana - pages 14-17 of the My Prayer Book) while the bhajans are Rama Naama Thaarakam (pg 211), Atma Nivasi Ram  (pg 209-210) and  Radhe Radhe (pg-169). 

In Ramayana, we covered the chapters involving the vanaras approaching Lanka under the guidance of Rama and Lakshmana. Repeated attempts by messengers from Rama, advice from Ravana's grandfather and wise ministers, nothing works on Ravana. He is determined to keep Sita for himself. He attempts to fool her by making a replica of Rama's head and presenting it before her to convince her that Rama is dead and so she should marry Ravana. But the approaching armies forces him to reveal that this is just a trick. Finally when the battle begins, it is fierce. Ravana's son Indrajeet becomes invisible and fires arrows with snake poison, making Rama and Lakshmana unconscious and sending the vanaras into a panic. But Vishnu's vaahan Garuda saves the princes by withdrawing the poisoned arrows.

We discussed the lessons that we have learned from Ramayana so far.

We practiced our consonants in Sanskrit.

We ended the class with the concluding prayers Om Poornamadah (pg-20) and Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaha (pg-19) and also practiced the Chinmaya Mission Pledge.

See you at the Chinmaya Guru Jayanthi and Mother's Day picnic on Sunday.