Mar 29, 2026 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone, 

We began the class quietly.
A few moments of pebble-drop meditation…

Settling in… slowing down… letting the mind arrive.

Quirky Question (QQ) of the Day: What doesn't have a body or a nose? 

Our students almost didn't let us finish the question. 
They knew the answer! 
"Nobody knows!"  

Now the kids are catching on to us... We have to make the questions trickier :).

And then, we got to work.

We moved on to learn BG Ch. 12.  We had already learnt 10 verses.  We added 5 more and learnt till verse 15.  Then, we realized that we won't have class next week.  So, that would leave us only one more class to finish learning the chapter.  So, we decided to go ahead and learn 5 more verses to finish the chapter!  So, we learnt 10 new verses at one go! (It is a record number of new verses learnt in any class).  It was like we sent our tongues to work out in a gymnasium :).  And it was worth it! 

We also discussed so many nuances of Sanskrit, chanting, and even some grammar rules.  By the end of it, our students caught on to the patterns so well that they were predicting how the visarga pronunciations were changing based on the syllables before and after!  

We are really proud of our students!  They are doing so well! 

With this momentum, we encouraged (okay… gently insisted :) everyone to register for the Gita chanting contest coming up.

Gītā Chanting Regionals Round Registration Open NOW

bit.ly/RegisterCh12GitaRegionals
Kindly note that our Gītā Yajña Chapter for this year is 

Chapter 12 - Bhakti Yoga with the Regionals 

on April 18, 2026.

Before that, on Apr 12th, we will be chanting the whole Chapter 12 on stage (with the scripts in hand and confidence in our voices).  Please practice well at home and come dressed in nice Indian wear to go on stage.  It will be at 10:30 am, in the main hall.  We invite parents to join us there to see their children chant.  

We had a fun open discussion time as we had a little time.  We had such thoughtful questions from the students, we were amazed! 

With a little time left, we opened the floor for questions.
And what followed… amazed us.

The questions weren't casual. They were thoughtful, deep, and real:

"How do we keep our culture when we go to college?"
"What are the meanings of the prayers we say? (like the beginning prayer -sahanaavavatu)."
"Why should we chant the Gita?" "What's the benefit?"

"Why should we chant loudly? Why not in the mind?"

"Why do we say 'shantiH, shantiH, shantiH' 3 times?"
Etc....

And then..,

"What's your favorite color?"
"Favorite movie?"
"Climax of Dhurandhar… " (without spoilers, ofc!)

We smiled, then chattered and chatted :). 

We touched upon a huge range of topics. Curiosity was flowing freely — from profound to playful.

Since Akhanda Ramayana paarayaNam was happening in the temple hall, we chatted for a while before finishing the closing prayers.  

Enjoy your spring break.  See you all in two weeks. 

Until then, we will leave you with the quote we discussed in our last class.  When we come across things we shouldn't be bothered about, we will say - 

:) 

Regards,
Rashmi and Jacqueline.