Junior Week 1

Time Activity
4.00 to 4.15 Arati
4.15 to 4.30 Kirtan
4.30 to 4.45 Japa
4.45 to 5.00 Sloka
5.00 to 5.30 Pastimes of Lord Krishna
Skit
5.30 to 6.00
The bundle of sticks
6.00 to 6.30 Vaisnava Song Tulasi Arati
6.30 to 6.45 Devotional Value Honesty

Arati :
Teach them the Tulasi Arathi song with translation, word meanings and explanations.
Make them repeat each line a few times so that they learn it by heart. Provide them with
the song on a paper with the translation and meanings. Ask them to file it and bring it
with them every week.

Kirtan:
Distribute the sheets with the pranama mantras, Panca tattva mantra and the Hare
Krishna Maha mantra and their translations. Explain the meaning of the mantras
to them. Ask them questions to see if they have understood and learnt the meaning right.
Ask them to repeat each line of the kirtan after you and request them to sing along in a
prayerful and devotional mood. Start with a simple kirtan to the accompaniment of
karatals. You should include mridanga too if possible

Japa
Read out first, the following passage:

The Nectar of the Holy Name

Chanting of the holy names of the Lord is the common platform for the universal
religion of mankind in the Kali-yuga:

In this present age quarrels take place even over trifles, and therefore the shastras have
recommended for this age a common platform for realization, namely chanting the holy
names of the Lord. People can hold meetings to glorify the Lord in their respective
languages and with melodious songs, and if such performances are executed in an
offenseless manner, it is certain that the participants will gradually attain spiritual
perfection without having to undergo more rigorous methods.

At such meetings everyone, the learned and the foolish, the rich and the poor, the Hindus
and the Muslims, the Englishmen and the Indians, and the chandalas and the brahmanas,
can all hear the transcendental sounds and thus cleanse the dust of material association
from the mirror of the heart. To confirm the Lord's mission, all the people of the world
will accept the holy name of the Lord as the common platform for the universal religion
of mankind.

Srimad Bhagvatam canto1, Intro.

Explain the meaning of the Maha mantra. Tell them how they should chant loudly and
listen to the words and should also plead with Krishna to make them better devotees. Tell
them to chant in a prayerful mood. Hand over the beads to them. Make them repeat the
Guru pranam mantra and Sri Panca tattva mantra. Then begin to chant loudly and quickly
the Hare Krishna Maha mantra together on the beads.
If they feel restless to keep sitting down chant, you may permit them to also walk and
chant. At the end of the session, enquire how their chanting had been and how many
rounds of japa they would like to chant everyday.

Sloka:

Chapter 2 TEXT 13

dehino 'smin yatha dehe

kaumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati

SYNONYMS

dehinah--of the embodied; asmin--in this; yatha--as; dehe--in the body; kaumaram--
boyhood; yauvanam--youth; jara--old age; tatha--similarly; deha-antara--transference of
the body; praptih--achievement; dhirah--the sober; tatra--thereupon; na--never;
muhyati--deluded.

TRANSLATION

As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to
old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A self-realized soul is
not bewildered by such a change.

Explaination: Every living entity is an individual soul, each is changing his body
every moment. You can see that you who were a baby now has grown into a boy or a
girl, next you will grow into a man or a woman. Yet the same spirit soul is there and
does not undergo any changes. So when we reach old age the soul changes into
another body at death. Since the soul is sure to have another body after it leaves the
present body there is no cause for lamentation. So such a person who understands
this that the soul is eternal and the body is temporary is called dhira or a sober
person.
Pastimes of Lord krsna:
1. The Appearance of Lord Krsna
Once upon a time the earth goddess, Bhumi, became a cow and went to ask
Lord Brahma for help. Crying, she said, “The whole world is upset because now
there are many kings on earth who are really demons.” So Lord Brahma, who is
the father of the universe, Bhumi, and all the demigods went to the ocean of milk
to see Lord Visnu on His planet of Svetadvipa. They all offered their respectful
obeisances to Lord Visnu and chanted the Purusha-sukta prayers.

Lord Visnu said, “Soon, I will come down to earth as the son of Vasudeva, along
with My brother and sister, Balarama and Yogamaya. All of you demigods should
take birth on earth in the Yadu family. Then, I will come Myself as the Supreme
Lord Krsna to save all the devotees and to kill all the demons.”

Some time later, Vasudeva, the son of the Yadu King Surasena, married Devaki,
the beautiful daughter of Ugrasena. After the wedding, Devaki’s brother Kamsa
drove them home on a wonderful golden chariot. There were hundreds of other
nice chariots, 200 of her young girlfriends, 15,000 horses and 400 elephants
nicely decorated with gold and garlands, along with wonderful music from conch
shells, bugles and drums.

Suddenly, a great voice was heard from the sky: “Kamsa, you are such a fool.
The eighth son of this sister will kill you. “Kamsa became afraid. Immediately he
caught Devaki’s hair and raised his sword to kill her. Vasudeva, her new
husband, stopped him and said, “My dear brother-in-law, please do not kill your
own sister. She will never give you trouble. Right now you are safe. Whenever
she has any children, I promise to give them all to you. “Kamsa knew that
Vasudeva would keep his promise, so he did not kill her.

After Devaki had her first baby, the great devotee Narada Muni came to Kamsa
and said, “Kamsa, be careful of the friends and demigods born in the families of
Nanda Maharaja, the cowherd men, and Vasudeva. They are all getting ready
for Krsna to come. He is sure to kill all the demoniac kings of the world.” Kamsa
and his friends were all demons, so they were always afraid of the demigods.
And Kamsa was especially very, very afraid that he would be killed by Krsna who
was taking birth in the Yadu family. So he locked up Vasudeva and Devaki and
his own father Ugrasena inside a prison. Then Kamsa made himself the king.
He began to disturb all the Yadu family and even killed the six baby boys born to
Devaki and Vasudeva, one after another.

Krsna’s sister Yogamaya took Devaki’s seventh baby, Balarama, away and put
Him safely in Vrndavan with Rohini in the house of Nanda and Yasoda. Then
Krsna was ready to come as the eight son of Devaki – the baby Kamsa feared
the most. As the days went by, an ocean of hate grew in Kamsa’s heart. He
waited for the child to be born, hoping to kill Him as he had killed Devaki’s other
six sons. He was always thinking of Krsna twenty-four hours a day. While
sleeping, eating, working; while talking, sitting, or walking; all Kamsa could see
around him was Krsna.

Devaki became very happy waiting for Krsna’s birth. All the demigods and
Narada visited her to tell her, “Do not be afraid, Devaki. Your son, Krsna, can
never be killed by the demon Kamsa. Krsna is coming just to kill all the demons
everywhere in the world so His devotees can live peacefully.”

At the time of Krsna’s birth, there were nice sings everywhere. The planets and
stars moved to good positions in the skies. The rivers were full of clear flowering
waters and the lakes were full of lotus flowers. The forests were full of beautiful
singing birds and dancing peacocks. The soft winds smelled of sweet flowers.
The brahmana priests found their homes very nice for offering prasadam to the
Lord and for sacrifices. The Gandharvas and Kinnaras began to sing; the
Siddhas and Caranas offered prayers; the Apsaras began to dance; and the
great sages and demigods showered flowers from the skies.

Then in the darkness of night, during a heavy rain storm, Lord Visnu appeared as
the Supreme Personality of Godhead before Devaki, who also looked like a
demigoddess. Vasudeva saw his wonderful baby son with four hands holding a
conchshell, club, disc and lotus flower, and flashing His bright effulgence within
the room. He had the special mark of Srivatsa on His chest and the jeweled
necklace with the kaustubha stone around His neck. He was dressed in yellow
silk, valuable golden bracelets, bangles, earrings and other ornaments all over
His body. He had a full head of thick hair and wore a helmet with the vaidurya
stone. Vasudeva wanted to celebrate the birth of his wonderful baby by giving
away thousands of decorated cows to be brahmanas, but as he was locked in
prison he simply prayed. He bowed down with folded hands to offer prayers.
“My Lord, you are the Supreme Personality of Godhead and You have so kindly
appeared in my home to kill the demonic kings of the world like Kamsa. Knowing
that You are to kill him and his followers, Kamsa has already killed Your six baby
brother before You. As soon as he hears that You have come, he will try to kill
You, too.”

The, the Lord turned Himself into an ordinary small baby. Vasudeva quietly took
his little son out of the prison. Somehow, everyone in Kamsa’s palace, especially
the doorkeepers, slept very nicely and all the doors opened. The night was very
dark and it was thundering and raining. While Vasudeva carried little Krsna in
the heavy rain, Lord Ananta Sesa spread His serpent hood over the head of
Vasudeva like an umbrella. They came to the Yamuna River. It was roaring with
big waves and foam. But they were able to cross. On the other side, he went to
the home of Nanda Maharaja in Vrndavana, where everyone was also sleeping.
He walked inside quietly and put Krsna down next to Mother Yasoda. The he
picked up Yasoda’s baby girls and went back with her to the prison of Kamsa,
where he put her down next to Devaki. He locked everything very well, so
Kamsa could not see that so many things had happened during the night. After
Vasudeva locked the doors and gathers, the gatekeepers woke up and heard the
new baby crying. They went to tell Kamsa. Kamsa was so very afraid that his
hair stood up on end. He jumped out of bed and cried, “Now the cruel death of
my life is born!” Then he hurried to the prison and to the bed of Devaki and the
baby.

Quietly, Devaki said, “My dear brother, Kamsa, please do not kill this baby girl.
You won’t be killed by a girl, but by my eighth son.” Cruel Kamsa grabbed the
newborn child to throw her down hard on the stone. But that baby slipped right
out of his hands and went straight up into the sky! Actually she was the
wonderful goddess Durga. She wore a beautiful dress, flower garlands and
shining jewels and ornaments. In her eight hands she held a bow, spear, arrows,
bell, conchshell, disc, club and shield. From above, in the sky, the goddess
Durga shouted at Kamsa, “You rascal, you cannot kill me! The child who will kill
you is already born before me somewhere within this world. Don’t be so cruel to
your poor sister.” Then she left.

Kamsa became even more afraid. He said to Vasudeva and Devaki, “I have
been just like a demon to kill your six little babies. Please excuse me for my
terrible behavior.” He unlocked them personally and let them go out of the
prison.

But the next day, he had a change of heart. Kamsa, who was the greatest
rascal, ordered his demon friends to disturb all kinds of saintly persons and to kill
all children born in the last ten days.

In Vrndavana it was declared that a boy was born to Yasoda. Nanda Maharaja
gave away 200,000 well-decorated cows, mountains of grains, golden-bordered
cloth and ornaments to the brahmanas, musicians and singers. The brahmanas
chanted different Sanskrit hymns for the good fortune of the child. All the
cowherd men and their wives, the gopis, dressed up very nicely and brought gifts
for the new baby. When they got to Nanda Maharaja and Yasoda’s house, the
gopis gave their blessings to Krsna by mixing turmeric powder, oil, yogurt, milk
and water and sprinkling it on baby Krsna and on everyone there. The cowherd
men saw the fun and they, in turn, joyfully threw yogurt, milk, ghee and water on
the gopis! Then everyone began to throw butter on each other! Nada Maharaja
was very happy to see everyone enjoying Krsna’s birth ceremony and prayed to
the Supreme Personality of Godhead to protect his child.

Skit

The bundle of sticks

Narrator: One time there was an old Brahmana who lived in a holy place in an ashram
with his seven disciples. There they worshipped very ancient Deities of Sri Sri Radha and
Sri Krsna. Many people would come to see the Deities and make donations for Their
worship.

Brahmana: My dear disciples, I am growing weak due to old age. Last week, a pilgrim
donated a large ruby for the Deities.

Disciple 1: I think it should be sold for money.

Disciple 2: No, no! I want to put it on Radharani!

Disciple 3: You are both wrong. Let us cut it into many small rubies to make a nice
necklace.

Brahmana: (to himself) I think the Deities would never get Their ruby. I am getting old
and I am not confident to hand over the ashrama services to my disciples. I want to teach
them how to manage the ashram themselves.

Brahmana: That’s enough. Now each one of you go to the forest and bring back one
stick not more than one inch thick.

Narrator: The disciples stopped quarreling and set out to collect the sticks silently
worrying that their guru did not like their arguing very much. They quickly returned with
the stick and the Brahmana tied them in a bundle with some rope.

Brahmana: Which one of you can break this bundle of sticks?

( each one of them tried in turn, but none of them could break it into two)

Disciples: (exclaimed) It is not possible.

Guru: Watch. (he cut the rope with a knife. He took each stick and broke it in two very
easily.) Snap! Snap! Snap!

Guru: You see. I am getting very old. Soon I will die. You are like a bundle of sticks. If
you try to help each other and work together, you will be strong and serve me well. But if
you fight, you will become weak like these separate sticks. And then what will happen to
my Radha Govinda? (tears came in the guru’s eyes) Remember united we stand, divided
we fall.

Narrator: Realizing their foolishness, the seven disciples agreed to set the ruby in a gold
ring and they put it on Govinda’s finger everyday. Their guru, was very pleased and soon
after felt ready to leave this world and he peacefully returned to the spiritual world.

Vaishnava song Tulsi Arati:

 Honesty
Brain Strom:

Ask the children first what is honesty, get most of the answers from the children and then
summarize.
What is honesty?
 Honesty is a virtue or good quality by which we are truthful in thought, word and
deed.
 Our honesty is tested when we have a chance to cheat and yet we do not cheat
because God sees us.
 Dishonesty is practiced as often as we engage in stealing, cheating, damaging the
property of others or in helping others to steal and damage.
 Honesty is a virtue by which we are just, fair, upright and truthful.
 Learning honesty is a part of growing up.

Ask children if they can give examples to illustrate how we can

avoid dishonesty in everyday behavior?
There is honesty to be learned that restrains us from taking anything that belongs to
another without his knowledge and consent. There are many little things connected with
honesty:
 taking a piece of fruit from a store without paying for it,
 taking things home that are school property,
 keeping s friend’s book when it has to be returned,
 making no effort to find the owner of a lost article.
 Similarly, cheating in schoolwork.,
 taking credit for what another has done,
 cheating at a game,
 making a disturbance in class and thus not allowing others to attend,
 keeping silent at ones fault and allowing others to be blamed,
 gossip and making belittling remarks
 shirking responsibilities and not to give a fair amount of work for the salary
paid

are all examples of dishonesty.