Morning Prayers Recited:
• Om Saha naavatu (My Prayers, page 6)
• Karagre Vaasate (My Prayers, page 43)
• Sarasvati Namastubhyam (My Prayers, page 44)
• Guru Brahma (My Prayers, page 9, third shloka)
Vedic Chanting: Medha Sukhtam with Panditji. (Chinmaya Book of Vedic Chants, page 35)
Bhajans:
• Ganesha Sharanam (My Prayers, page 7)
Storytime with Swamiji: We continued our storytime with the Churning of the Milky Ocean, the Dashavataras and then watched a film with Swamiji after lunch.
Shaanti Circle Discussion: We have 10 new campers this week -- and two of them are from Connecticut! After our morning prayers, we went around the room and introduced everyone ... asking our random "Jelly Bean Questions." We paused our discussion at 9:30 to do our Vedic Chanting with Panditji.
When the day ended and we gathered for our evening prayer, we reviewed our question that was posed on Friday "Why do we need a Guru in our life?" and "What is a Guru?" After different ideas were shared someone finally said "A Guru is our Telephone to God" which definitely brought us back to the "Telephone" Game we played Friday afternoon. We spoke a little about how easy it is to misunderstand what we hear or read (as in the case of our Telephone Game), and that we need someone who is is knowledgeable in the scriptures to interpret them for us -- and keep us on the right track. We also talked about the difference between a teacher (math, music, art, etc.) and a Guru ...
Art Project: Both grades made a pop-up card of Lord Krishna and Radha. The image came from postcards.
End of Class Prayers: Poornamadah, Chinmaya Pledge
Photo Gallery: June 29 (click here to view)
Comments: Well, it looks like our caterpillars are hanging from the lids of their cups -- which means that they will soon begin the metamorphosis phase. In a week or so, we'll have some Painted Lady Butterflies flying around the ashram gardens. We'll be sure to get the some photos of the release when the day comes!
Our Vedic Chanting is coming along really nicely. Panditji will continue to work with us with Medha Sukhtam throughout this week, and then he plans to teach us another chant starting the following week.
Our tulsi beads have arrived from India. We will set up a japa mala making station on Wednesday, so that the children can knot a mala with this sacred bead.
