Churning of Milk Ocean - Part 3

Hare Krsna!!!
Dear Parents,

Thank you for bringing your kids to Sunday Gopala Class. Our salutations to all the parents for their dedication.

This week,

PRAYERS : We learned a new prayer.

vaanchaa-kalpatarubhyaś ca

krpaa-sindhubhya eva ca

patitaanaam paavanebhyo

vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namah

Translation:

I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaisanava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls.

SLOKA TIME: We learnt a new sloka BG(2:10)

nehaahikrama-naaso 'sti

pratyavaayo na vidyate

sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya

traayate mahato bhayaat

Translation:

In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.

Audio Link: Please let the kids hear the sloka for few times and they can recite very easily in the class http://kids.iskcondesiretree.info/Audio/03_-_Sloka_recitation_by_5_year_old_Samhita/Bhagavad_Gita_108_Important/Ch%202%20Contents%20of%20Gita%20Summarized/BG2.40.MP3   

Bhagavad-Gita Link: If you would like to know more about this verse and its purport, please visit http://vedabase.net/bg/2/40/en

(Note: Please refer to the old posts for all the previously taught slokas and their translations.)

STORY TIME: Namapriya Mataji continued with the final part of Churning the Milk Ocean.
As soon as the ocean became free of poison, the demigods and demons resumed churning vigourously. After awhile, various items came to the ocean's surface : a surabhi cow, a white horse, Airavata(white elephant), eight male and female elephants and sparkling jewels such as Kaustubha and Padmaraga but still there was no nectar. So they continued churning which yielded Parijata flowers, Apsaras and Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Varuni. These items were fairly divided between the demigods and the demons, but Lakshmi and the jewels were given to Lord Vishnu.
Then suddenly, Dhanvantri, a partial incarnation of the Lord rose to the surface with a vase of Nectar. Everyone shouted with joy but the demons were greedy and one snatched the vase from Dhanvantri's hand and ran and all the demons followed him. They wanted the nectar for themselves and didn't want to share with the demigods. 
But the demigods were not happy and since they were not powerful enough to defeat the demons, they went to Lord Vishnu. Tthe Lord told them not to be sad because he had a plan to help them. Meanwhile, the demons were fighting amongst themselves to drink the nectar first. Their fighting came to a sudden stop when they saw a very beautiful young woman walking towards them. They asked what her name was and she replied as Mohini-murti and they all admired her beauty and wanted to have her. They asked for her help to distribute the nectar fairly between the demigods and the demons. Mohini-murti answered that she would help them only if they accept whatever she did, whether honest or dishonest.
Accepting to the proposal of Mohini-murti,  the demons sat on one side and the demigods on other side a little away from the demons. She returned to the demons and said that since they were more powerful, peaceful and patient, she would let the demigods drink the nectar first for they were so miserly. So, all the demons enamored by Mohini-murit's beauty and sweet words, completely trusted her except Rahu. He wanted his share of the nectar, so he disguised himself as a demigod and sat with the demigods.
Mohini-murti went from one demigod to the next, filling up cups with nectar. This caused the demons to question their promise but still they kept silent for that would break their relationship with Mohini-murti. As she filled Rahu's cup, the sun-god and moon-god identified him as Rahu. Before they could stop Rahu, he took a big gulp of nectar but before it could go down his throat, Lord Vishnu's whirling disc suddenly appeared and cut off his head. Since the nectar has entered his mouth, Rahu's head became immortal while his body died. Thus his head became one of the planets. Since he was an enemy of Sun and moon, he would attack them in the form of eclipses, diminshing their attractiveness and making them inauspicious.
Because Rahu was decapitated, all the demons were angry and got their weapons and came towards the demigods to fight.Incredibly, at that time, Mohini-murti was no longer a woman but the Supreme Lord Vishnu. The demons were surprised and shocked. Being tricked by Lord Vishnu, they wanted to attack Him, but knowing about his power, they did not attack Him but attacked the demigods. Lord Vishnu mounted on His carrier, Garuda and flew to His abode.
On the beach, the war raged between the demons and the demigods headed by King Bali and Lord Indra respectively. Since Indra drank the nectar, he was able to deflect King Bali's attack. Desperately, King Bali resorted to magic to win the war. Overwhelmed by all the magic and unable to check it, the demigods prayed to Lord Vishnu to help them.  Lord Vishnu immediately appeared in His eight-armed form and Bali' magic disappeared. Then Indra threw his thunderbolt at Bali who was then smashed into the ground.
Seeing Bali's fall, his friend Jambhasura struck Indra and his elephant Airavata with his club . Airavata dropped to his knees and fell unconscious. When Matali, Indra's chariot driver brought Indra's chariot, Jambhasura threw his trident at him. Extremely angry at Jambhasura, Indra flung his thunderbolt and decapitated Jambhasura.
The great sage Narada  informed Jambhasura's friends and relatives that Indra killed the demon. Immediately Namuchi, Bala and Paka went to the battlefield and attacked Indra.  Enraged, Indra hurled his thunderbolt at Bala and Paka and killed them.  When Indra tried to kill Namuchi with his thunderbolt, the weapon could not even pierce the skin of Namuchi and it returned to Indra. When Indra was wondering about why his weapon became useless, a voice from the sky said that Namuchi cannot be killed with any dry or wet dwapons. Then Indra summoned a foam weapon and killed Namuchi.
Seeing that the demons might be totally annihilated, Lord Brahma sent a message through Sage Narada that they should stop fighting since they got the nectar because of Lord Vishnu's mercy. Following Narada Muni's orders, the demigods stopped fighting. Satisfied with their victory, they returned to their heavenly planets and recovered their lost prosperity.
Narada Muni ordered the demons to carry King Bali's body to Astagiri Hill where Shukracharya revived King Bali with Sanjivani mantra.
Thus ends the Churning of Milk Ocean.

Looking forward to seeing all of you in the next class.

Haribol!!!!
Gopala Class Teachers

Churning of Milk Ocean - Part 2

Hare Krsna!!!

Dear Parents,
Ram Navami show: All the kids were so cute in their characters dress and made a wonderful show. Thank you parents for all your excellent effort and support for the show.

This week,
Kids were so excited about the egg hunt and had a blast hunting for the eggs.

PRAYERS : We started the class with prayers to get the blessings of Guru and Lord Krsna .

SLOKA TIME: We revised "vit-raaga-krodha" (BG 4:10) slokas as many of the kids wanted to repeat the sloka.
(Note: Please refer to the old posts for all the previously taught slokas and their translations.)

STORY TIME: Namapriya Mataji continued with the part 2 of the Churning of Milk Ocean with lot of animation and the kids loved doing the actions and were completely mesmerized with the story.

Following the Lord's instructions, the demigods and the demons went to the base of the golden Mount Mandara. They lifted the mountain and carried it toward the ocean. As it was so heavy, everyone became so tired, they lost their grip and the mountain fell down and many of the demigods an demons were crushed to death and so many were injured. They prayed to the Lord to help them.
The Lord instantly came on His carrier Gaurda and revived all of them just with His compassionate glance. They praised the Lord for His miraculous deed. Then the Lord raised the mountain with one hand and placed it on Garuda's back and carried and lowered the mountain into the Ocean of Milk.
After the mountain was in place, they asked Vasuki, the giant thousand-headed serpent, to help in churning. Vasuki agreed and coiled around the mountain ready for churning. The demons protested when the demigods went to hold the head of the serpent. Under the Lord's instructions, the demigods agreed to hold the tail end of Vasuki and the demons held the head of Vasuki.
The demons were satisfied as the demigods gave what they wanted, they both started churning but, as the mountain didn't have any base, it fell into the ocean. They again prayed to the Lord to help them. The Lord assumed the form of a giant tortoise known as Kurma and dove into the milk and lifted the mountain onto His shell and raised it above the surface. The demigods and the demons happily started to churn again with much enthusiasm. As the mountain was unbalanced on top, the Lord manifested with one-thousand arms and kept Mandara mountain firmly fixed with His hands.
As they were churning intensively, the first thing that came out of the ocean was not the nectar but the poison from Vasuki. The demons and demigods were so tired and was coughing from the poison. So, the Lord suggested to get help from Lord Shiva.
Hearing and pleased with the demigods and demons' prayers, Lord Shiva came to help and started drinking the poison. Mother Parvathi fearing for Lord Shiva grabbed his neck to stop the poison from the entering his body and it caused a bluish line to appear on Lord shiva's neck....

Namapriya Mataji will continue with the story next week.

Looking forward to seeing all of you in the next class.
Haribol!!!!
Gopala Class Teachers