And we hit the daylight saving mark...

The previous session was the day our clocks sprung forward :)

Any hint of spring is a welcome one...

As far as the class was concerned, we practiced reciting the daily prayers - Dhyaana Shloka - Om Sahanavavatu (pg 9), the daily prayers (Karaagre Vasate, Vakratunda, Saraswati Namastubhyam, Bramhaarpanam, Shubham Karoti, Kara Charana - pages 14-17 of the My Prayer Book) and the Guru Sthothram. We also practiced the bhajan - Bala Gopala (My Prayers Book - pg 167).

 In Ramayana, after briefly revising the previous classes' session for the benefit of the absentees, we traced the footsteps of Rama and Lakshmana to the banks of the river Pampa where they met Shabari, who was holding on to life for a glimpse of Lord Rama. She had such devotion towards him that she collected the ber fruit to offer him, but bit and tasted each fruit before offering it, to ensure that he got only the sweetest and the best of fruits. This upset Lakshmana, but Rama only saw her good intentions and explained to Lakshmana that so great was her love for him that she wanted only the best for him.

The moral we learnt hear was that God accepts whatever we offer him with the best of intentions. This led to a general discussion of how God does not expect money, sacrifices or any grand gestures and will accept anything that we are able to offer with a true heart.

Then we read about how Rama & Lakshmana met Hanuman, the minister of Sugreeva, the Vanara king in exile. We read the story of Bali and Sugreeva and the misunderstanding that crept between the brothers leading to Bali ousting Sugreeva from the kingdom of Kishkinda, sending Sugreeva into hiding. He took refuge in the mountains as Bali was cursed by a saint and hence could not enter the mountains. Rama promised to help Sugreeva get back his kingdom and in return, Sugreeva assured that he would extend help in their search for Sita, whom the Vanaras had seen being kidnapped by Ravana, and had found a pile of jewellery that she threw to leave a trail.

Here, we contrasted the way the two sets of brothers - Rama & Bharata on the one hand and Bali and Sugreeva on the other - reacted to certain situations, one of trust and love and the other of mistrust and misunderstandings.


The kids who weren't present during the previous class got a chance to practice writing their names in Sanskrit. The kids also practiced writing the first few lines of Sanskrit consonant writing. Whatever lines were remaining, the kids were asked to finish writing at home.


See you at the next class.

Our first test of the year and a birthday to celebrate...

The previous class turned out to be a very productive one!

We practiced reciting the daily prayers - 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).


We had a test of reciting the first five verses  of the Guru Sthothram and both Sathvik and Raaghav did an awesome job of it. They got rewarded for the same and were pretty excited about it :)

We have completed the Guru Sthothram. In the coming weeks I'll be sending in notifications for preparing a few verses at a time for testing and soon the kids will be comfortable reciting the whole Guru Sthothram.We also finished learning the bhajan - Bala Gopala (My Prayers Book - pg 167) and practiced the bhajan Atma Nivasi Ram (pg 209-210).

In Ramayana, after a short review of how Ravana tricked Sita into crossing the Lakshman Rekha and dragged her off in his chariot. Her shouts for help drew the attention of Jatayu who came to her defense, but after struggling valiantly, his wings were cut off by Ravana who proceeded to carry Sita away to Lanka. All along the way Sita drops her flower garlands and jewellery, in the hope that the trail will lead Rama to her. In Lanka, Ravana tries his best to convince Sita to marry him and entices her with all his wealth, but when she scorns him, he locks her up in Ashokavana with ghastly rakshasis as guards and gives her a year's time to agree to his wishes or suffer the consequences. When Rama and Lakshmana returned to the ashrama and realized that Sita was missing, they got worried and upset and started looking for her. We learn of how Rama is initially angry with Lakshmana for not listening to him and also so upset that he decides to destroy the earth as he feels life without Sita is not worth living. Lakshmana manages to calm Rama down and make him see reason, that innocents should not have to suffer for the evils done by rakshasas, but instead they should look for Sita and punish the evil doer. As they start their search, they find the fallen flowers from Sita's garland and reach Jatayu, who is just holding on to his last breath to convey the message to Rama that Sita has been abducted by Ravana and taken to Lanka. After conveying the message, Jatayu passes away. 

We continued with the next line of consonant writing in Sanskrit. Since we had just half the class in attendance I'll be repeating the same next class.

They also practiced writing their names in Sanskrit. It involved using colored markers and they loved that they could now write their names in a whole new language!

It was Sathvik's birthday and we wished him while he distributed muffins.

We concluded the class as usual with Om Poorna Madah and Sarve Bhavanthu. 

See you at the next class. Please be sure to bring your folders along with the map of India.