Swami Shantanadaji of Chinmaya Misison Tristate Centre visited the
Chinmaya Jersey City Balavihar on Dec 9th, 2012. It was a great day with many
people turning up to welcome Swamji and get his blessings. Mesmerized
by Gurudev Swamji Chinmayanada, Swami Shantananda in sixties, then Br.
Raghavan, went to serve for the Master for almost two years as his
traveling secretary. After completing his Vedanta course in Mumbai,
Swamiji then traveled to Taiwan where he successfully managed his own
business while teaching Vedanta part-time. He has been instrumental in
building the Chinmaya Mission in Hong Kong, Taiwan and other parts of
the world. Since 1992, when he was given Sannyas by Pujya Gurudev,
Swamiji has dedicated his life to the full time teaching of Vedanta in
the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York area. As a speaker, Swamiji's
talks are filled with wonderful insights into life and people respond
instantly to his wisdom and affectionate nature. In 2001, Swamiji
undertook and completed 50 Geeta Gnana Yagnas all around the world as
his personal tribute to Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda. The Chinmaya Jersey
City Balavihar families were very blessed to welcome Swami
Shantanandaji.
Details of his visit are as follows:
Poornakumbha:
The CJC BV Families welcome Swamji with a Poornakumbha ceremony.
Prayers:
Children sang Bhajans for Swamiji before class in the cafeteria.
Class:
Adult satsang with Swamiji in classroom-
Swamiji spoke about spirituality in daily life.
Swamiji Visit:
Then Swamji visited all classrooms and interacted
with the children. The children had a great time taking Swamji through
what they are learning and their arts and craft activities.
Pooja:
The CJC BV families reconvened in the cafeteria and conducted the Chinmaya Mission Pledge followed by the Aarti.
Blessings:
Families offered Gurudakshina (offering) to Swamiji
and got blessings and prasadam. The prasadam was a Chinmaya Mission
Calendar that Swamiji brought from the Ashram especially for the
families.
Brahmaarpanam:
Families that cooked for Swamji chanted Brahma-arpanam (prayer before food) and offered him Naivedya (Food).
Informal meet and Greet:
Swamji met and chatted with all families and children.
Balavihar Class Details
PreK
Class Journal - Teachers: Ramya and Sandhya
The class started with the prayers and shlokas.
Prayers/Shlokas
Bhajans
Yoga
The kids had a great time doing yoga.
- Tree pose
- windmill
- quiet mouse
- lion pose, butterfly, bird, candle,
Three Gods
The kids learned phrases about each
god, in order to practice at home say the first phrase and wait for them to say
the bolded phrase, preferably with appropriate action:
Ex: Brahman has -- 4 heads ............ means that parent says "Brahma
has" and the child should respond with "4 heads"
The phrases we learned are:
Brahma has -- 4 heads
Brahma wrote -- 4 vedas
Brahma created -- the whole world
Vishnu rides -- Garuda
Vishnu has - chakra
Vishnu protects - the whole world
Shiva likes to - dance
Shiva has - a pet snake
Shiva likes to - destroy evil
Meditation
We practiced breathing deeply in and
out with the proper posture and hand pose (three fingers straight and the thumb
+forefinger in a circle)
Sanskrit
Kids learned to write the letter
"ah" -- looks like "a 3 and a T with a line in between"
K
Class Journal - Teachers: Harshala aunty
Most exciting thing was Swamiji
visited our class and blessed all students.
Before that we sang Daily Prayers
2nd verse of
Guustrotram
Yoga
We discussed 2nd line of
Chinmaya Pledge “we serve as an army courageous and disciplined.
We discussed what is army, courage,
how do we serve, what is the discipline of body and mind.
Made a head band of Chinmaya army
and marched.
1st/2nd grade
Class Journal - Teachers: Deepa
Class
- 1st/2nd grade
Kids - Varun, Ayush, Veer, Jeet, Amirtha and Raghav
The kids chanted their daily prayers and also learned Guru Stotram (first 4
verses - Page 83). Please make the kids practice those at home. They also read
BalaRamayan story and learned about how Lord Rama killed Subahu and Maricha. We
also learned the 7 immortals including Vamana and what he did to Mahabali. Ask
your children if they remember these stories. They played games with Sanskrit
colors.
When Swamiji came to the classroom, they chanted some of their Shlokas including
GuruStotram. They also asked a few questions to Swamiji about Swami
Chinmayananda. The kids promised to Swamiji that they'll say at least one of
the daily prayers everyday at home. Parents, please help the kids keep up their
promise.
Next Balavihar Class: Sunday December 16th, 2012 10am.
