November

November 2

Namaste Families,

In class today we reviewed what we have gone over the whole year so far. Such as what Rishi’s we talked about. Today we talked about what India has given us, such as Physicians (medicines, surgeons, botanists, and environmentalists), Mathmaticians (Zero, Decimals, and Infinity), Engineering (Vishwakarma), and Arts(music and writing). Homework: read chapters 4,5&6 in the textbook

October

October 26

Here are the Dharma 8 Class notes for October 26th, which focused on the rulers of the Lunar dynasty.

1.Story of Yayati: Yayāti was obsessed with pleasures. When he got old, he made his obedient son Puru swap youth with him. Even after living a second youth, Yayāti still wasn't satisfied. He realized desires are never satisfied, like fire that burns stronger when you add fuel. He spent the rest of his life meditating on God. This teaches that chasing pleasures never satisfies you, only focusing on Dharma and God brings real happiness.

2: Story of Puru: King Dushyanta married Shakuntalā but forgot her because of a curse. Their son Bharata was super brave and played with lions. The family reunited and Bharata became king, uniting all of India, that's why India is called "Bhārata." Later, Bharata meditated in the forest but got attached to a deer he rescued. He died thinking about the deer, so he was reborn as a deer, with his memories of his past life intact, then as a human who finally achieved enlightenment by understanding the true Self.

October 12

1. Story of Parikshit: 

Parikshit is the grandson of Arjun and the son of Abhimanyu. Parikshit pranked Shamika by wrapping his neck with a dead snake as revenge for unintentionally disrespecting him. Then, Shamika cursed Parikshit to die of a snakebite, and he eventually does. When Parikshit's son Janmejaya finds out, he performs a huge Sarpa Yagna/Snake Sacrifice Ritual which ended with a bunch of snakes dead bc of it. But Vyas' son Vashampayana tells Janmejaya that his father had it coming because of the curse, he finally stopped the ritual. 

Lesson: Control ur anger. 

2. Story of Ganga: 

Sagar had a bunch of kids that basically tried to beat up an Avatar of Vishnu while he was meditating bc they thought he stol the horse that would decide if Sagar would be emperor of the world or not, so Vishnu cursed them to ash and the only way they'd b ok again was if they were bathed by the waters of Ganga. So Sagar and his successors kept meditating until she came down and brought them to Swargan (heaven). 

Lesson: Sometimes it takes multiple generations of effort to get to a goal, but don't give up. 

3: Surya Varsh: The meaning of it is the "Solar Dynasty" and the kings of that era are who we're focusing on in this unit. 

Homework: Read the stories of Emperor Yayāti & Puru and Bharat the King who gave his name to India (Textbook Chapter 3.1-2) 

October 5

Today we had a meditation class led by Niravji. He covered the importance of meditation - how it helps us physically, mentally and spiritually. This was an interactive session allowing all students to participate actively. It ended with a small meditation session.

Accounting for the meditation class, previous week homework has been moved to next week. Since books are now available that should help. 

September

September 14

Materials Covered:  In this week's class we covered slides 1 to 3 which were about different religions. We talked about when each religion was founded, along with who founded that particular religion. The oldest religion is Sanatana Dharma, which was founded by Bhagavan, Rishis, and Rishikas before 2000 BCE. The newest religion is Sikhism, founded by Guru Nanak around 1469-1539 CE. We also did an activity where students named as many Rishis as they could think of. 

For Homework: Pick one of the Rishis or Rishikas from this list and talk about them in next week's class. Click here