Teachers: Vani Aunty; Anisha Aunty
Hari OM All,
Below
is the class review until now for Hanuman section (2nd and 3rd
graders). It is important reminder for parents that children should
carry Balavihar Folders and their My Prayers books to each class. The
teachers mark up the prayers that they have to learn and practice at
home. Parental co-operation is much appreciated.
Who is Lord Hanuman?
Hanuman is son of King Kesari (king of monkeys) and Princess Anjani and incarnate of Lord Shiva.
Why was Lord Hanuman born?
The
rakshasas were wrecking havoc on earth. The Rakhsasa king Ravana had
obtained boon from Lord Shiva that he may not be killed by any other
rakhshsa, deva or any other divine being. The only exceptions to this
boon were human beings, monkeys and bears. The Devas (and King Indra who
is the king of devas) approached Lord Vishnu to seek his help. Lord
Vishnu decided to be born as Rama , son of Dasratha.
Lord
Shiva, upon hearing this decides to be born as Hanuman, to serve and
assit Lord Vishnu in his Rama Avatara (meaning to Avatara to be
explained as incarnate, another form of, taking birth as….)
What is the story behind Lord Hanuman's birth?
Indra
is threatened by a rishi performing penance. He sends a
courtesan/dancer named Punji-Kasthala from his court to distract the
rishi. PK succeeds but gets cursed by the rishi that she will be born as
a monkey. She begs for forgiveness so curse gets changed. She will be
born as monkey but can assume human form. She gets born as princess
Anjani.
Princess
Anjani gets married to King Kesari. She prays to Lord Shiva daily. One
day wind God Pawan appears to her and informs her that she will give
birth to a son and he will be a great man with many qualities. That son
is Lord Hanuman.
What are the qualities of Lord Hanuman?
Children drew pictures of what qualities they remembered of Lord Hanuman. Some observations made by the children:
He has a Gada (given by indra- watch movie to know complete story)
He lifted a mountain
His tail can become really long and was on fire. (one of his boons from the fire god is that fire will never harm him)
He can become really big and really small
Why are we studying Lord Hanuman?
He
was the ideal son, ideal friend, ideal devotee, and could accomplish
any task that was given to him, but he was never arrogant and always
remained humble. We want to know more about how and why he became that
way so that we can be more like him (not monkey faced!) but by absorbing
his qualities inside and becoming perfect!
Activities so far:
Children
need to know the names of all persons in the narration above and how
they link together. FLOWCHART/FAMILY TREE of how these persons link
together.
Hanuman Mask
Hanuman Qualities Spine
Shlokas known so far (some need practice):
Om Sahanavavatu (Prayer for Peace)
Vakratunda Mahakaya (Invocation of Lord Ganesha)
Saraswati Namastubhyam (Invocation of Goddess Sarawati)
Buddhir Balam (Enunciation of Qualities of Lord Hanuman)
