November 3rd Jersey City Balavihar Class Journal

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)