Notes by Sita SB

RECAP:

Last week’s raw was to do a needs check, where we choose one space, and got rid of things we didn’t need. Reflecting on this, we realized that we feel cluttered with lots of stuff, so naturally we feel lighter with less stuff! 

  Last week’s story was Trinavartha, who tried to kill Krishna with a tornado! Trinavartha represents desire, like the whirlwind of desire within us. Krishna used Dhama, the power to stay steady, to overcome him.

ACTIVITY:

This week was another physical activity, where we did jumping jacks and squats. Whew!

STORY:

There was a story about three ways bhagvan helps us move toward him with love. 

Gargamuni, Nanda and Yashoda’s family guru (yes, they had family gurus!) was in town. However he told everyone to keep it a secret, because he worried kamsa would harm Krishna if he found out. So, when Krishna’s parents asked him to do the naming ceremony for Krishna and his older brother, they decided to do a small ceremony, without a big celebration.

Gargamuni named the older boy Balarama, which means to bring happiness to others through great strength (even as a kid, he was superstrong!) “This child has come in many forms. A fish, a boar, even a lion-man! He has been many different colors in the past, like white, yellow, and red. Now he is dark blue, so his name will be Krishna, the one with blue skin.” proclaimed gargamuni. And so, Krishna now had a name!

Krishna was now a toddler, and he was very mischievous. He would go around playing with fire, or annoying cows with sharp horns. Watching him, the villagers laughed and forgot all their worries. Krishna also LOVED butter. In fact he even went as far as stealing it. Lots of people tried to prevent Krishna from eating this butter, by hanging it on the ceiling. But Krishna, along with his friends, would find things to climb on to reach it, orif they left in in the dark, Krishna would start to glow!

Sanskrit word: We learned about the Sanskrit word Bhajana which means to go to Bhagvan with love.

LEARNING:

In the story, there are three ways Krisha helps us be closer to him (Bhajana)

First is that he comes in many forms. If we find it hard to connect with one of his forms, we can learn from the others

The second way he helps us is by teaching us not to hold on to life too hard. In the story, he played with dangerous things, but seeing this the villagers couldn’t help but smile at his play

The third help was that by stealing the butter that was so hard to make, he shows us that no matter how we may work, the results of our action is in Bhagvan’s hands

RAW:

Write your favorite form of Bhagvan, and carry it around with you all week 

DYNAMIC:

We thought about someone we didn’t really like, and a bad quality they have. We were assigned a RAL, to think of one good quality for everyone we don’t really like.