April

April 7

What we did in class:

• We started class with three Om’s

• We recited morning prayers on pages 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, and 111.

• We read the story on page 83 called “Gopal and his friends eat free rasagullas.”

• We read the story on page 85 called “Thank bhagavan for all your success.”

• We read the story on page 86 called “The twenty four teachers of dattatreya.”

• Then we started practicing our scripts for annual day.

Homework:

• Meditate for 5 minutes every day

• Make sure to practice and memorize the morning prayers because we will be reciting them on

annual day on May 19.

• Make sure to practice your lines for your stories you will be acting in.

March

March 17

What we did in class:

• We recited the prayers from the presentation slides.

• We meditated for 5 minutes.

• We recited morning prayers on page 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, and 110. We called out on some of

the students to recite them to the class.

• We read the story on page 74 called, “He who forgives is the greatest of all.”

• We read the story on page 75 called, “Think of your consequences before doing anything. Use

common sense.”

• We read the story on page 76 called, “Do not discriminate against anyone.”

• Then we discussed what we are going to be doing in annual day. Likhit went over who all the

characters will be for the different stories we will be acting out, and the students in the class who

will be acting out those characters.

Homework:

• Meditate for 5 minutes every day

• Make sure to practice and memorize the morning prayers because we will be reciting them on

annual day.

• Make sure to practice your lines for your stories you will be acting in. We will send the script and

roles in the WhatsApp.

March 10

What we did in class:

• We recited the prayers from the presentation slides.

• We meditated for 5 minutes.

• We recited morning prayers on page 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, and 110. We called out on some of

the students to recite them to the class.

• We read the story on page 69 called, “The thirty crow.” From this story, we learned that even if

you have some weaknesses, having intelligence is more important.

• Then we read about the temple in the ocean that hundreds of Hindus go and worship.

• We read the story on page 70 called, “No work is dirty.” From this story, we learned that doing

dirty work is good for the whole society, so nobody should be ashamed to to do dirty work.

• We read the story on page 71 called, “Evil people always complain about others.” From this story,

we learned that to evil people, the world is full of evil, so we should always see, hear, and do what

is good. We talked about the discussion question.

• We read the story on page 72 called, “Practice what you preach.” From this story, we learned that

you can only preach about something if you don’t follow it yourself. We talked about the

discussion questions.

• We read the story on page 73 called, “Say sorry when you do something wrong.” From this story,

we learned that no matter who we are, we should accept our mistakes and apologize for them.

We talked about the discussion questions.

Homework:

• Meditate for 5 minutes every day

• Make sure to practice and memorize the morning prayers because we will be reciting them on

annual day.

March 3

What we did in class:

• We started with morning prayers on page 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, and 110. We called out on

some of the students to recite them to the class.

• We went over the divine trinity: Tridev

• We went over the Shivaratri presentation and the trivia questions.

• We meditated for 5 minutes.

• We read story #52 called “Teach good things to others.” From this story, we learned that having

good manners is not bad, but not spreading out your good manners to anyone else is bad. We

looked at the discussion questions on the bottom.

• We read story #53 called, “Do not let others fool you.” From this story, we learned that people

might try to lie to you for their own benefit, so you should always trust yourself.

• We ready story #54 called, “Use your intelligence to defeat a stronger person.” From this story, we

learned that having intelligence is more important than having strength.

• We read story #55 called, “Do not day dream and waste your time.” From this story, we learned

that having dreams and goals, but not doing anything about them, is useless.

• We read story #56 called, “Do not put off today’s work to tomorrow.” From this story, we learned

that splitting up the work in different days is way better than doing it all in one day.

Homework:

• Meditate for 5 minutes every day

• Make sure to practice and memorize the morning prayers because we will be reciting them on

annual day.

February

February 25

What we did in class:

• We started with morning prayers on page 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, and 110.

• After that, we went over some information about the Youth & Family Meditation Camp on

Saturday, March 2.

• We meditated for 5 minutes.

• We called out on different students to lead some of the prayers.

• We read story #48 called “A greedy person loses everything.” From this story we learned that

being greedy never pays off.

• We read story #49 called, “Do not be jealous of others.” From this story we learned that if

someone is better than you at something, you shouldn’t be jealous of them, but you should ask

them to help you. We talked about the discussion questions on the bottom of the page.

• We read story #50 called, “Do you show off.” You shouldn’t think that you are the most perfect

and flawless person in the world because then no one will like you and there will always be

someone better. We talked about the discussion question on the bottom.

• We read story #51 called, “Do not be overly proud.” From this story we learned you should be

grateful with whatever you get, because there are people out there who don’t get anything.

Homework:

• Meditate for 5 minutes every day

• Make sure to practice and memorize the morning prayers because we will be reciting them on

annual day.

February 11

What we did in class:

• We started with morning prayers on page 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, and 110.

• We read the story on page 50 called “Unity is Strength.” From this story, we learned that if you

can work together, if can achieve a lot more.

• We read the story on page 51 called “Everyone Has Some Good and Useful Qualities.” From this

story, which was similar to the last story, we learned working together with a diverse group of

people with diverse qualities is a great way to get a difficult job done.

Homework:

• Meditate for 5 minutes every day

February 4

What we did in class:

• We started with prayers on page 105, 106, 107, 108, 109.

• We read the story on page 45 called “Respect Everyone.” In this story we learned that all living

beings should be treated in the way that they want to be treated, since Bhagvan resides in all

living things.

• We read the story on page 46 called “The Meaning of ‘Namaste.’” In this story we learned that we

should greet our elders by saying Namaste, as it is a way to show respect.

• We read the story on page 47 called “Speak The Truth Always.” In this story we reviewed the story

of the boy who cried wolf, and we learned that honesty is of utmost importance. We looked at the

class discussion on the bottom. We read the story on page 48 called “Say It Nicely.” In this story

we learned that we must speak the truth, but that we should say it in a way that doesn’t hurt

anyone’s feelings. We looked at the discussion questions on the bottom.

• We read the story on page 49 called “Help Each Other.” In this story we learned that people who

think of the needs of others first and aren’t selfish will be successful.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Parents, make sure to remind all students to bring their books. We are running

out of extras and if more students forget their books, they will be missing out on information learned

in class.

Homework:

• Meditate for 5 minutes every day

January

January 28

What we did in class:

• We started with morning prayers on pages 105, 106, 107, 108, and 109.

• We read the story on page 41 called “Be Kind to Animals.” In this story, we learned about the

important of kindness, or dayaa. This story shows that great people always shows dayaa towards

those who are hurt, sick, poor, and sad.

• We read the story on page 42 called “Do Not Get Angry Very Quickly.” From this story we learned

that we should always be patient with people and we should not lose our temper fast.

• We read the story on page 43 called “Think Before You Act.” From this story we learned that being

patient and thinking about the consequences of every action you take is important.

• We read the story of page 44 called “Think Before You Speak.” From this story we learned that

you should not speak unnecessarily. Then we looked at the discussion questions at the bottom of

the page.

Homework:

• Meditate for 5 minutes every day.

• Recite all the prayers we did in class.

January 21

What we did in class:

• Today was the parent teacher conferences, so the students told the parents what we do in class,

and the parents asked questions about the curriculum.

• For attendance, we asked the kids to tell us jokes.

• We recited prayers on pages 105, 106, 107, and 108.

• We talked about the importance of Ram Leela, and how the festival came to be.

• We read the story on page 40 called “Show extra love for the weak.” From this story we learned

that people who are the weakest always need the most assistance. Then we looked at the

discussion question on the bottom of the page.

Homework:

• Meditate for 5 minutes every day.

• Recite all the prayers we did in class every day.

December

December 10

What we learned in class:

• On page 105, we recited Gayatri Mantra and Saha Naavavatu.

• On page 106, we recited Morning Prayer and the Prayer Worshipping Mother Earth

• On page 107, we recited the Night Prayer and the Prayer asking Bhagavan’s Forgiveness.

• On page 108, we recited the Prayer before eating food and the Prayer for Respecting our

Teachers.

• We read the story on page 30. From this story we learned that you should never give up, and you

should never bully someone else for their lack of intelligence, as they might and up becoming

smarter than you are.

• We read the story on page 31. From this story we learned that you can only become intelligent

and wise only if you keep studying, and that you can’t just pray to Bhagavan for intelligence.

• We read the story on page 32. From this story we learned that we should eat well before we set

out to do out tasks, and that we should never go to school on an empty stomach.

• We read the story on page 34. From this story we learned that food is a blessing from god, so we

should never waste it.

•

Homework:

• Answer the discussion question on page 33, and fill out the lines on page 35. Some kids will be

picked out class to share their answers.

• Meditate for 5 minutes every day.

November

November 12

What we learned in class:

• We recited prayers. On page 105, we recited the Gayatri Mantra, and Saha Naavavatu. On page

106, we recited both of the morning prayers. On page 107, we learned the night prayer.

Homework:

• Read the first five stories in the dharma 3 book. We will have a quiz next week.

(Today was a short class so not much information was covered.)

October

October 29

Pre-Class Activities:

• First, we took attendance.

What we learned in class:

• First, the meditation teacher went over the class

expectations.

• Then, we went over the meaning of meditation

• We learned about forming a bridge of

relationships: when you have a good relationship

with someone like your friend, you make a bridge

with them. But when you are mean to a friend, you

burn the bridge. The teacher went over one of her

experiences when she burned a bridge with her

friend. But, she went back to her friend and made

amends with her and rebuilt that bridge with her.

• One student brought up that his friend lived in

Dallas, and that he lived here in Minneapolis, and

that their bridge had not burned yet. The teacher

went over how the distance of the bridge does not

matter.

• The teacher talked about a made-up story of two

people, Brian and Hari, who had built a built a

bridge together, but they burned the bridge in a

big argument. One day, Hari called a carpenter to

build a wall, but instead of building a wall, the

carpenter built an actual bridge. From this story,

the children learned that the bridge between your

friends can be built back, even if it has already

been burnt.

• Then we started talking about the basics of

mediation. The teacher told them to sit straight,

and chant any name of god, or say “Om.” We

mediated for five minutes.

Homework:

• Everyone should go home and meditate for five

minutes.

List of good listeners:

• Rudransh

• Milan

• Shubham

• Sunaina

• Shaurya

• Bailey

• Danvanth

• Vahin

• Vedant

• Aadi

• Ved

October 8

 Pre-class activities: 

• First, we recited morning prayers.

• Then we took attendance by asking all of the kids when their birthdays were. 

 Materials covered in class: 

• In page 10 of the Dharma 3 book, we learned about the the town of Pandharpur, which was famous for its temple of Vithoba, a form of Bhagavan Vishnu. In this story, Narahari got the message that Shiva and Vishnu are one, and it was foolish of him to assume that he could warship Shiva, but totally ignore Vishnu. We learned that Bhagavan isn’t just one, but that there are different forms of the same Bhagavan. You shouldn’t just pray to one form of Bhagavan, but you should pray to every form. 

• In page 11, we learned the story of when the King of Kalinga constructed a grand temple to Jagganatha Vishnu, but it had no Murti in it. The king said that he needed a sculptor to make a murti, but if he didn’t like the murti, the sculptor would be beheaded. Every sculptor was scared, but one day, a sculptor came to sculpt a murti for the temple, but everyone was aghast when they saw that the Murti that he had built was an ugly and unfinished one, as he had stated that if anyone opened the door while he was still building the Murti, he would leave it unfinished. The king was furious, but when he looked again, he saw that the scutor appeared in the form of Bhagavan Vishnu. The king learned that beauty and ugliness lie in the eye of the beholder, and Bhagavan is present everywhere, even in what we might consider as ugliness. 

 Homework for next week: 

• All of the students have to memorize the three shlokas we learned in class, which were “Gayatri Mantra on 105,” “Sahana Vavatu on 105,” and the “Morning Prayer” on 106. 

• In the last 5 minutes, we played “Would You Rather.”