Next class : 22 Feb 09 Aarthi in the classroom.

Reminder for parents: Please pick up the children in the classroom after 11.30am.

Mahasivarathri Celebrations on Sunday, Feb. 22^nd from 6:00AM to 12 midnight at Cranbury Chinmaya Vrindavan Ashram

Today's class - 08 Feb 09

Beginning Prayers:
Om Sahana Vavathu
Early morning prayer - Karaagre Vasathe Lakshmi
Prayer for Lord Ganesha - Vakratunda Mahakaaya
Prayer for Goddess Saraswathi - Saraswathi Namastubhyam
Prayer for Goddess Lakshmi - Namasthesthu Mahaamaaye

Ending Prayers:
Asatho maa sad gamaya
Om Poornamadah Poornamidam

Bhajans:
Great God Ganapathy
My God is so great(click here for audio)

Story:
We talked about Shiva today - He took the form of a huge mountain (column of light) and how Brahma turned into a swan to find the top and Vishnu into a boar to find the bottom - but Brahma found a flower on the way and with its help lied to Vishnu that He had seen the top. And then Shiva cut off his fifth head. We also discussed how Shiva opened His third eye once when Parvati playfully closed His eyes and how that burnt everything and then Parvati prayed and the creation was restored.

Comments:

• We played some guessing games to find out which Shloka or Bhajan we were doing next - we are learning the difference between God and Goddess :-) Hanuman is the most popular answer for all questions though!


• After the prayers and Bhajans, we reviewed the story of Manikandan. We practised saying "Swamiye....Sharanam Ayyappa". All the children were eager to be the queen and the king!! But we acted out a different story today. We discussed how Brahma (Ayush) is the creator, Vishnu (Dhruv) is the Protector, and Shiva (Sarvesh) is the Destroyer. Then we added Saraswathi (Manasvita), Lakshmi (Shreeya) and Parvati (Gowri) to the Gods to please the little girls :-)


• We had some nice big pictures of Shiva and learnt about the Trishul, the snake around His head, the third eye and the place where He lives, Kailash.


• Then for the next story of how Shiva opened His third eye we had a different Shiva and Uma (Anushka). The children are all now very enthusiastic about playing different roles and we hope this way they will remember the story for a long time. Please encourage them to tell you the stories.


• We had to take a bathroom break in between.
• We will continue learning about Shiva this weekend too as it is Shivaratri this Sunday. Have a good week and we look forward to seeing you all in class.