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:
• Praarthanaa (Chinmaya Book of Vedic Chants, page 3)
• Medha Sukhtam (Chinmaya Book of Vedic Chants, page 35)
• Gayatri Mantra (Chinmaya Book of Vedic Chants, page 5)
Bhajans:
Storytime with Swamiji: We started Lord Visnu's avatara, Lord Ram, today.
Art Projects: We began building our pooja thalis for our papier mache project. Also, we made lotus flowers out of watercolor paper for the center of the thali.
Shaanti Circle Discussion: The week started well! After our morning prayers we successfully completed 3 minutes of absolute silence with an accurate pebble count. Tomorrow morning we will try ourselves at 4 minutes. Our goal is to top last week's 5 minutes. We think we can do it!!
Today seemed to fly by very quickly, but we still managed to find a good chunk of time this afternoon for our Shaanti Circle discussion. After lunch we got together to watch a few videos. Two of them were on the Sun Temple in Konark, Orissa. Video 1 click here to view. Video 2 click here to view. Then we watched two animations: One was on Yudisthira's Dog (click here to view) and the other was Typolution (click here to view), an animation done completely in type on pollution. After our videos, we spent a few minutes reviewing some of the details that are specific to the magnificent Sun Temple.
After our videos we went around the circle and posed our famous "Jelly Bean Questions" to our new camper friends, so we could learn a little about them. And then, everyone wanted to play "Telephone" ... so we did, only after we reviewed why it is so important to have a Guru in our lives and how he is our Telephone to God!
End of Class Prayers: Poornamadah, Chinmaya Pledge
Photo Gallery: July 27 (click here to view)
Comments: Quick reminder to parents: Please remember to send in a smock, apron or old shirt for your child this week. We will begin our "messy" art tomorrow.
Today was quite a productive day for us. Even though it was humid (and believe us, it was HUMID), we pumped up the air conditioners, stayed indoors and worked. The children spent a good deal of the afternoon building their armatures (skeleton) for their papier mache projects. We also sculpted a lotus flower out of paper to place in the center of the finished pooja thalis. Most of the kids opted for creating a decorative rim for their plates, so they sculpted it out of aluminum foil and adhered it to the plates with masking tape. Some of us will continue this process tomorrow afternoon, and some will move on to the messy, pasty, part :-)
A lot of the boys were eager to bring out the takhlis and book charkhas this afternoon ... so we did. Some of our new campers gathered in the fun and gave it a "spin." Looks like we've got some new recruits.
Parents, we have simply got to tell you that your kids are doing really well with their Vedic Chanting! Tomorrow, Nirmala Auntie will begin teaching us Mantra Pushpam, which we are quite excited about! However, we will also continue to chant Medha Sukhtam and Praarthanaa daily, so we don't become stagnant and stiff ;-)
