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)
• Gayanti Mantra (Chinmaya Book of Vedic Chants, page 5)
• Medha Sukhtam (Chinmaya Book of Vedic Chants, page 35)
• Mantra Pushpam (Chinmaya Book of Vedic Chants, page 170)
Bhajans:
Storytime: We received an extra treat with Swamiji today -- 3 episodes of Vishnu Puran!! One of them was when Lord Ram and his brothers first arrived at their Guru Vasistha's ashram for education. It was in this show that Guru Vasistha proved Lord Rama's archery "miracle" to King Dashrath by blindfolding Lord Rama and asking him to shoot his bow and arrow -- while holding a branch as a target! Another episode was where Mother Sita, as a young princess, rejects Sage Gautam as her Guru for having cursed his chaste and loyal wife. And we ended with the episode where Ravana killed King Vidyut (of the Netherlands), leaving Ravana's sister a widow. We certainly had a lot to digest today -- and eagerly look forward to more episodes tomorrow!
Art Projects: Made puppet heads out of clay.
Shaanti Circle Discussion: We started our week with 4 minutes of silence after our morning prayers. Even though there was a little restlessness, it was certainly a whole lot better than on Friday. We think it's because we shut the doors when we started our concentration segment -- all latecomers stayed outside until we were finished. We will attempt 4 minutes again tomorrow. There was a little too much body movement, so we reviewed our criteria for "successful silence" (which is sitting absolutely still, hands on our knees, and no head or body movement whatsoever.) This is certainly not easy ... not even for some adults :-)
After our Vedic Chanting segment with Swamiji, everyone stayed seated to ask more questions. One child wanted to know why Kartikeya had 6 heads. Some of our campers were not familiar with the stories of Lord Shiva, so he explained that Kartikeya was one of Lord Shiva's sons, and also shared some of the other names that Kartikeya is known by.
During our afternoon session, we gathered in the air-conditioned room, turned out the lights, and watched "The Zax" and "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss. We felt that "The Lorax" was right in line with some of our discussions last week about the Chipko Movement and the Bishnoi people of Rajasthan. This movie really reinforced the joy we felt in our tree planting activities. Hopefully, we will be getting some sprouts soon! You can click on the titles below to view the videos we watched.
The Lorax (Part 1)
The Lorax (Part 2)
The Lorax (Part 3)
The Zax
End of Class Prayers: Poornamadah, Chinmaya Pledge
Photo Gallery: August 10 Photos (click here to view)
Comments: It was a scorcher of a day!! We mananged to stay cool indoors, doing our art projects and watching Vishnu Puran episodes and some fun Dr. Seuss animations.
After our evening prayers a group of us got together to write our letter to God on the Chinmaya Kids website. We sent a letter from the campers asking the six following questions: 1)Why do you make people do good deeds and bad deeds? 2) What is the significance of 108? Why do all the Gods/Goddesses have 108 names? 3) Are you one God taking shape in many Gods forms or are you many Gods? 4) How does reincarnation work? 5) How did you make people? 6) Do you have just one name? Now, we realize that these are a lot of questions (and probably volumes are written on any one question) -- but we will be thrilled to just receive an email saying that God received our questions! We have all been checking out the Chinmaya Kids website over the past few days, and love everything that we see there. Do explore, if you haven't already.
Parents: Quick reminder about Thursday, August 13. Sri Krishna Janmasthami celebrations will be starting at 6:00 p.m. at the ashram. Please do join in the festivities! Also, we ask that all the children be picked up from camp no later than 4:30 p.m., so that all the decorations, etc. can be completed on time. Many thanks in advance!!
