Radharani's Pearl Story

Hare Krsna!!!

Dear Parents,
Many kids recited the "anta kale" sloka last week very nicely. Thanks to parents for encouraging their child to learn the sloka. Please let the kids hear the audio of the sloka and bhajan for few times and this will help them to recite in the class. We are eagerly waiting for the next class so we could hear many more kids reciting the sloka.  
 

This week,

Prayers & Bhajans: We started the class with prayers to Lord Krsna and we learned few lines of Jaya Radha Madhava bhajan.

jaya rādhā-mādhava kuñja-bihārī
gopī-jana-vallabha giri-vara-dhārī

yaśodā-nandana braja-jana-rañjana
yāmuna-tīra-vana-cārī

Audio Link:  Jaya Radha Madhava Bhajan

   

SLOKA : We started learning a new sloka BG(8:6)

yaḿ yaḿ vāpi smaran bhāvaḿ

tyajaty ante kalevaram

taḿ tam evaiti kaunteya

sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ

Audio Link: BGSloka8.6 

Bhagavad-Gita Link: If you would like to know more about this verse and its purport, please visit http://vedabase.com/en/bg/8/6

STORY :  Radhika Mataji narrated Radharani's pearl story very nicely.
Once, the gopis came to a place (Malyahari Kunda) to celebrate a festival. Krishna came to the pond and saw gopis sitting near water stringing pearls into necklaces.
Krishna asked them, " My dear gopis, please give me some pearls to decorate my favorite cows Harini and Harshini. They should also look good for the festival. But the gopis said "No, no, you can't have our pearls".
Krishna says " Please, give me some pearls, I'm not asking much".
Lalitha said "we don't have even one pearl suitable for your cows".
Krishna thought ' How can I get some pearls to decorate my thousands of cows?' So He went to Mother Yasoda and asked, 'Mother, please give me some of your pearls. I want to plant them in the garden.'
She laughed gently and said,' Krishna, my darling boy, you can't grow a garden of pearls. Everyone knows that pearls come from oysters.'
'Please, Mother, I will make a very nice garden of pearl plants. After all, I've watched the gardeners plant seeds in Father's fields and later harvest many vegetables, fruits and flowers.'
Mother Yasoda thought for a while and finally said with a smile,' All right, Krishna, my naughty boy, here are some pearls. But I can't understand why I always give You what you want.'
Krishna went with his friend Madhumangala to find a spot on the bank of the river Yamuna to plant pearls. When they picked a spot clear of trees, bushed and ready for planting, the boys pushed the beautiful pearls beneath the soil, one by one. Krishna then asked Madhumangala to get some milk from gopis to pour it for the pearl garden instead of water. Then Madhumangala went to gopis and asked them "Please give me some milk for Krishna's pearls garden' they laughed at his request. Then Krishna asked him to go to Mather Yasoda to get milk. Mather Yasoda gave some milk to him.
After a few days, some small shoots grew. Krishna called the gopis to come and see His work. When they saw the garden, the gopis laughed and told Krishna, They're not pearl creepers! They're just thorn shoots!'
After few days the delicate shoots soon turned into healthy, fragrant creepers. And amazingly, these
vines began growing the biggest, most beautiful pearls.
After seeing these pearls, the gopis wanted some of these pearls. But Krishna didn't give them even one pearl. So they want to grow a bigger pearl garden than Krishna's. So each of them went home and collected all the pearls they could find. Then all the gopis came together and planed the pearls in a field. They watered the pearl garden 3 times a day with milk, Ghee and butter. But not even one pearl tree grew, just thorn trees grew. Krishna then went with his friends and laughed at gopis. To tease them he decorated the cows, buffalo, goats, sheep and monkeys with the pearl necklace. But Krishna did not give the gopis even one pearl.
The gopis thinking that their elders would punish them for taking all the pearls from home, they asked Krishna to give some pearls for that they would pay pot of Gold. But Krishna refused to give. Gopis disappointed and left that place. After that Krishna made nice necklaces and kept them in the boxes with the gopis name on the boxes. Krishna gave the fist box to Radharani and then sent a box with pearl necklace to each of the gopis. In return, Radharani sent Krishna some scented garlands, betel nut, and some delicious food that she personally cooked.
We concluded the class with Radharani's coloring picture.
Looking forward to seeing all of you in the next class.

Haribol!!!!
Gopala Class Teachers

Amutha Mataji

Radhika Mataji