Here is this week's update.
M is for Mother
How many mothers do we have? Yes, only one mother. But actually we have more.
In India we consider many things as our motherearth ( mother earth), tulsi ( the plant), the cows, River Gangaji, mother sruti ( scriptures) and all the goddesses ( Lakshmi, Paravati, Saraswati)
How is each one our mother? Each one gives to us, nourishes and sustains us.
Mother earth: All food grows on the earth, and so she is feeding us every meal we end. Even animals eat the grass from the earth.
Even all the medicines grow on the earth, and so she provides us with ways of getting relief from our pains.
She is holding us up, and letting us walk on her and stand on her all day long.
Tulsi:
Every bit of the plant is useful, the leaf, the stem, the roots, the flowers. We either eat it, or use it as medicine. And even just the smell of tulsi has medicinal properties, we do not even have to eat it.
Cow:
Cows give us milk which is very nutritious
Calves share their mother's milk with us. We take milk from a cow for human consumption when a cow really only produces milk for its calves.
Cows give us the bull which ploughs our fields so that we can grow food.
Cow dung makes a good fertilizer for crops
We use cow hide to make various leather goods e.g. shoes, belts, handbags, etc
We use the bones of the cow to make needles, buttons, etc.
As you can see, every part of the cow is useful and the cow constantly supplies us with necessities. God loves the cow because it is constantly giving.
River Ganga:
The water of the river nourishes the land so that crops can grow in plenty and can feed everyone. Water is cooling so we can go swim and feel better in the heat
The water is what we use to have a bath, brush our teeth, and to clean ourselves
We also use water to clean everything else.
But all the rivers do the same thing. What is special about River Ganga?
Ganga is believed to have curing properties. The water we get in the taps or from other rivers, after some days become stale. But the water from River Ganga keeps fresh for a very long time.
Story: How Gangaji came down to earth
There was once a king called King Sagara who performed the holy Ashvamedha Yagna. A sacred horse was to be left free to roam the world. If the horse came back unopposed, the extent of the territory he covered would become that of the kings', who was performing the yagna. But something wrong happened that prevented the yagna from continuing. Before the horse could be set free, he was lost!
Anxiously, King Sagara's sixty thousand sons ventured out, in search of the lost animal. Eventually, they found the horse grazing at sage Kapil Muni's ashram. The sons assumed that Kapil Muni had purposely taken the horse. Without listening to anything he said, they went on to verbally abuse the sage. The innocent, Kapil Muni, was furious. And furthermore, Kapil Muni, by the force of his prayers, was very powerful. With one fiery glare, he burnt King Sagara's 60,000 sons to ashes.
In the meantime, King Sagara was now getting anxious about the disappearance of his sons. He requested his grandson, Amshuman, to go look for his uncles and the horse. Amshuman finally reached Kapil Muni's ashram. There, he saw the yagna horse and became very happy. However his happiness was short-lived as, thereafter, he saw the ashes that surrounded the ashram. He realized that his uncles were no more. So, he proceeded to look for water to perform their last rites, but could not find any. Since they had been killed this way, it was a certainty that the spirits of the 60,000 sons of Sagara would wander helplessly in the underworlds.
At that time, Garuda, the heavenly eagle, was flying overhead. When he saw Amshuman's plight, he advised him that his uncles' last rites would be successful if Ganga came down to purify them.
Four generations later came King Bhagiratha who left his kingdom to his ministers and went to Gokarna, a famous pilgrimage center. There he performed severe tapas in order to bring Ganga
down. He stood on one leg, with his hands facing towards heaven. During the summer, he stood in burning fires. During the winter, he stood in ice-cold water. He did all of this to simply win Ganga's attention. However, it was Brahma who came down instead. He told Bhagiratha to ask for a boon, and so Bhagiratha asked for Ganga's descent.
Brahma told Bhagiratha that he would convince Ganga to come down, but that the Earth would not be able to handle the force of Ganga's fall. "But if Ganga descends, her force will split the young earth into two. The Earth will surely perish," He advised Bhagiratha to plead with Lord Shiva to help and come up with a solution.
Bhagiratha started his tapas again. He performed more tapas in order to gain a boon from Shiva. When shiva appeared, he said, "O lord, have mercy on my ancestors! I will have to ask Ganga to descend on earth. The purity of Ganga's touch on the ashes is the only thing that will wash away the curse on my great grandfathers, King Sagara's sons. But mother Earth would not be able to handle the force of Ganga's fall," Shiva said he would break Ganga's fall. Now, it was time for Ganga to descend.
As Ganga prepared her descent, Shiva trapped her in his matted locks, allowing her to flow out in streams. In this way, Shiva broke the force of her fall.
She took her plunge from heaven to earth in the form of water. As she was coming down, she saw Shiva waiting to break her fall and she decided to have a little fun by sweeping Lord Shiva along with her. However, Lord Shiva was ready for her; He took her and held her in his hair. Consequently, Ganga became a prisoner in His hair. She struggled to get out, but she could not escape. Shiva refused to let her go until Bhagiratha came and pleaded with him. Lord Shiva then agreed. He told Bhagiratha to lead the way while Ganga followed him. In doing this, she also came to be known as Bhagirathi.
Ganga was so happy to be free from Lord Shiva's hair and went wild in this joy. She sent 3 streams to the east and 3 streams to the west. She also followed Bhagiratha as the king raced down the mountains in his chariot. When they finally reached Kapil Muni's Ashram, Bhagiratha turned with tears in his eyes and pointed to the ashes. This sight brought out a new feeling to Ganga. She was overcome with a feeling of motherly tenderness, and like a mother she hugged the ashes.
As Ganga spread over the earth, her purifying powers were doubly blessed by the added touch of Shiva. She washed away the curse and granted the ancestors salvation. Moreover, Ganga sanctified many cities by simply flowing through them. And eventually, she flowed into the sea.
Sruti:
All the books that give us knowledge, especially about God are called Sruti. We call scriptures like the Bhagavat Geeta our mother.
That is why, one of the first lessons in Bal Vihar is to respect all our books, especially the books that our prayers are in. If you do step on it, say sorry by touching it with your fingers and touching your eyes with it.
Mother Goddess
Durga or Parvati, Lakshmi, & Saraswati are the 3 goddesses married to the 3 main forms of God, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
We celebrate the festival of Navaratri to worship them. The first three nights are dedicated to Mother Durga, a form of Goddess Parvati, the wife of Lord Shiva. Lakshmi is worshipped for the next three days in her various aspects as the goddesses of peace, good fortune, fulfillment and bliss. Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge is worshipped during the final three days of the Navratri. She is the goddess of spiritual knowledge and the knowledge that frees us from the chains of this world.
We also learned the motherly love of Yasoda on Krishna. Krishna always played pranks with his mom. She was very tired of his naughtiness.
She took a length of rope and tied him to the mortar. But the rope fell short by two inches. So she ran into the house and got another length of rope. This time it looked long enough but again it fell short by two inches. So she went and borrowed a few lengths of rope from the neighbours. But no matter how many pieces she joined together, it was strange! It always fell short by two inches! She just could not understand this. By now she was perspiring and her hair had become loose and disheveled. She looked at him with utter despair ! Krishna knew her thoughts and laughed inwardly at her obvious confusion. Then knowing that she could not take any more teasing, he allowed himself to be bound.
This is the way the Lord plays with those who love Him. It is an endless game of "catch me if you can." Nobody can, but ultimately he yields to the will of the sincere devotee and allows himself to be bound, not by ropes and chains, but by the very nature of their all-consuming love for Him!
M- Mantra a happy, or brave word or phrase you say over and over to feel good, calm down, or focus, like a little secret power-up for your mind that helps you remember you're strong, loved, or kind.Dhruva story- Dhruva wanted to sit on his father's lap, which was not liked by his step mom. She said only her son can sit on the father's lap. Dhruva the little boy was sad. He met sage Narada who gave him the mantra "Om namo Bhagavate vasudevaya namaha" and asked him to repeat many, many, many times until he sees the Lord and can sit on the Lord's lap. Dhruva diligently followed and started to meditate and repeated the mantra, he did naama japa of the mantra for many, many, many days. One day the Lord appeared in front of him and held Dhruva and kept him on His lap.The next letter P.Prayer - Is a means to thank God for everything he has given us and we come closer to God when we pray.What is prayer? Showing our love, appreciation and thankfulness for what God has given for us to live this life. and why do we pray?What happens when we pray.? When we pray to God, we get closer to him , feel his presence and we are able to emulate His qualities.And what are the ways to pray? Bhajans, Japa, going to Temple, doing yagna, chanting slokas, meditation, reading scriptures, helping others, helping the needy, donating food, clothes, books, doing pooja etc., By doing this we can get closer to God, feel his love, care and kindness. And we can emulate the qualities of God in our day to day life by being helpful, compassionate, being thankful, kind and helpful to all.
achieve some goal.
Our mums are good examples of patience. She patiently puts up with our naughtiness, correcting our behavior over and over again and teaching us the right action. When we were small, we kept saying the same thing again and again but she would listen each and every time. We would ask the same question again and again and she would answer each time, we ask' what's that' and she would say "a bird" and we would ask again…..she would read the same story every night, teach us the alphabets etc.
If you had to teach your younger brother or sister, would you be patient? How do you behave? Kids came up with funny answers. They all agreed only mothers do not complain about reading the same story again and again.
