Bala Bhavan 2012

Vedic Cultural and

Spiritual Center of San Diego

http://www.shiva-vishnu.org/balabhavan.html

7930 Arjons Drive, San Diego, CA 92126

Page 1 of 7

Welcome to Bala Bhavan

It is our honor and privilege to welcome all the members of the Bala Bhavan family to the 2012 Bala Bhavan Program.

Through this program, we hope to bring the rich mosaic of Vedic Indian culture, traditions and values to the tender minds of our Bala Bhavan children through stories, shlokas, , debate, arts and crafts. We hope to keep the incomparable diversity of the Indian culture and the simplicity of the Indian lifestyle awake and alive into the next generation and beyond.

This document is intended to provide the new and returning Balabhavan students and their families information on the following:

Useful Resources Page 2

General Guidelines Page 3

Contact Information Page 4

Syllabus outline Page 5

Frequently Asked Questions Page 6

Useful Resources

All the following information can be found online at http://www.shiva- .org/balabhavan.html.

 Calendar with syllabus, schedule, volunteer and student assignments, resource links for books and websites etc.  Audio recordings of many bhajans and slokas  and sloka handouts  Newsletters  Bala Bhavan Guidelines  Contact Information  Balabhavan library - List of available books

Page 2 of 7

General Guidelines

ATTENDANCE: Any child that miss three classes (not necessarily consecutive) will be removed from Bala Bhavan and that place will be allocated to the next child in the waiting list. This rule will be strictly enforced as there is always demand for new children to be admitted at all levels, and we are under severe space/class-size restrictions. Please note the following exceptions to the above "miss three classes rule":

 Parents must notify (via e-mail) - in advance to the respective ClassCoordinators in writing, that their child will not be able to attend and specify the period (e.g. vacations).  Emergencies/sickness - in such a case, please make an effort to let the Class and Bala Bhavan coordinators know at the earliest possible opportunity (via e-mail).

Repeated missing of classes or irregular attendance (except due to emergencies or extended vacation) will result in the removal of the child from Bala Bhavan Program.

PLACEMENT OF SHOES/SLIPPERS: Children and parents must keep their shoes/slippers in an orderly fashion in the shoe rack provided outside the temple. Please do not leave them lying around in a haphazard manner. We request that parents be responsible for this and help/instruct their child(ren) accordingly. If a volunteer is there to enforce it, please respect their requests.

CONDUCT: Please read the Guidelines at http://www.shiva- vishnu.org/bbguidelines.html. Parents are requested to monitor orderly behavior of their children:  Please do not encourage running around in or outside the temple premises as this may result in an injury to your child.  No child is allowed into the Temple Office room. Any violation will result in a warning, and repeated violators will be asked to leave the Bala Bhavan program.  Kindly refrain from feeding your children in the main temple praharam/hall, so that the sanctity and cleanliness of the temple is maintained  Please encourage your children to clean up after themselves when using the temple restrooms.

Please remember that Bala Bhavan is a program entirely dependent on dedicated volunteers who are also working parents. We have to enforce the rules in order to respect their hard work, the time they volunteer and their efforts in educating our children. We sincerely request your cooperation and understanding.

Page 3 of 7

Contact Information

Bala Bhavan Program Coordinators

Latha Sundar, Venkat Maddipatla Email: [email protected]

Electronic Communications Coordinator Srinivas Email: [email protected]

Class Coordinators

Toddler: Aparna Vemuri, Vandana Santhanam

Email: [email protected]

Junior: Hema Rangaswamy, Anupama Rajagopalan Email: [email protected]

Senior: Vasantha Madhavi Sudhakar, Nalini Venugopal Email: [email protected]

Super Senior: Padmini Mylavarapu, Latha Rajkumar Email: [email protected]

Page 4 of 7

Useful Resources

For 2012 we will be covering these different subjects for the children (and parents) to ponder about. Please refer to the calendar to find out more.

Stories Toddler Junior Senior Super Senior Gods, Goddesses, and Lord Vishnu the Savior; Great Influential men The Divine Children Lord Shiva the Savior of India

Student Presentations Junior Senior Why we do what we do Great Indian Poets

Newsletter topics Senior Sacred

Slokas Toddler Junior Senior Super Senior Small slokas (2-4 lines) on Achyuthashtakam, Achyutashtakam, Bilvashtakam, Achyutashtakam, various Gods: Bilvashtakam, Ganesha Pancharatnam, Lakshminarasimha Annapoorne, Gajananam, Stotram, Mahalakshmi Lakshminarasimha pancharatnam, Gurave Sarva, Guru , Ashtakam, Manikya pancharatnam, Mahalakshmi Soundaryalahari, Karaagre Vasate, Manojavam, veenam, Nama ashtakam, Namaramaayana, Sri Dakshina- Mooshika Vahana, , Sharadha Nirvana Hatkam, Sharada murthy ashtakam, Namastetu Mahamaye, Bhujangam, Shiva Bhujangam, Shiva sadakshara Subrahmanya Ramaaya, Rama Rama , Shatpadi Stotram, stotram, Vishnu Shatpadi bhujangam, Sri Ganesha Stotram, Yakundendu stotram Vishnushatpadi Vakrathunda, stotram, Vasudeva Sutham, Tvatsannidhana Yaa Kundendu, rahito, Yatraiva Yaani Kaani Cha Papaani yatraiva mano madiyam

Page 5 of 7

Bhajans Toddler Junior Senior Super Senior Anjaneya Veera, Bhaja Mana Ramam, Anantha Kalyana, Atma Rama, Bhola Natha Re, Bhajo Madhura Bhajo Madhura Harinam, Chandra Shekaraya , Dhimika Dhimika Dhim, harinam, Bhajo man Ram, deva Mampahi , Ekadantam Umasutham, Ekadantham, deva , Bhavani Ma , Jaya (3) Ma Saraswathy, Humko Man ki, Jag Ekadantam Umasutham, Ganesha Sharanam , Jaya Jaya Shankara, Sukh Karini, Jaya Gajanana hey Shubhanana, Ganga Jatadhara, Madhusudhana Harey, Saraswathi, Manasa Hey Govinda Hey Gopala, Gauree Nandana Gajanana, Mahalakshmi JaganMatha, bhajare, Jag Sukh Karini, Kamala Nayana Ram, Prathama Ganapathi, Nandeeshwara Hey Jaya Saraswathy, Nanda Radhe Radhe Radhe, Ram Ram Bhajo Man, Nataraja, nandana, Radhey Govinda Bhajo, Rama Chandra Prabhu, Pashupati tanaya, Nandeeshwara, Radhika Manohara, Shambho Shankara, Raghavam RamaNa Mukunda, Rama Nama Tarakam, Sharanam Siddhi, Karunakaram, Raghunandana, Shankara Sadadshiva, Vishnu Priye Varalakshmi Rama namo, Shambho Maha Devadeva, Sharadhe Sharadhe Shankara Chandra Shiva shambho shambho, Shekara, Sharanam Shankara Saambashiva, Siddhi, Vanamali, Shri Ramachandra Kripalu, Varade veena, SriLakshmi RamaNa, Vishnu priye Varade veena

Frequently Asked Questions Here are some of the FAQs asked by many parents: Please bookmark the link(s) and refer to them frequently.

Q. What is Bala Bhavan’s URL ? A: http://www.shiva-vishnu.org/balabhavan.html

Q. Does Bala Bhavan follow any Guidelines? A: http://www.shiva-vishnu.org/bbguidelines.html. Please read the document in its entirety!

Q. Where do I find the Calendar document ? A http://www.shiva-vishnu.org/bbcalendar.html Click on “In HTML” or “In MS EXCEL” to view the complete year’s syllabus. Volunteers’ names can be found here. They are assigned at the beginning of the year in a round-robin fashion.

Q. Where do I find the Bhajan document & bhajans audio ? A: http://www.shiva-vishnu.org/bbbhajans.html Click on “Bhajan document” above

Page 6 of 7

Shiva Bhajans. Click on individual bhajans for audio recording. Additional bhajans are currently being added to the website, hence for the interim, audio CDs of some of these bhajans will be made available through the Program Coordinators.

Q. Where do I find the Slokas document and slokas audio? A: http://www.shiva-vishnu.org/bbslokas.html A large number of shlokas are compiled into a s single document; to access this document, click on the Shloka PDF format or Word document format to download all these Shlokas. For audio recordings, click on the individual slokas (below Shiva shlokas PDF and Vishnu Shlokas PDF).

Q. How do I order shloka books ? A: Some additional shlokas not currently covered in the above link are available through published books. To order Shloka books call Arsha Vidya Gurukulam at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam is 570.992.2339. Bookstore contact information is [email protected] and telephone extension is 567. More information at http://books.arshavidya.org/ Order the and Prayers book from the Vedic Heritage Program set. If you need audio tapes please buy them with the book. Details of Vedic Heritage Program, is at http://www.arshavidya.org/programs_homestudy.html (Scroll down to Vedic Heritage program).

Q: What other books do I need? The following set is recommended for interested parents: Vedic Heritage Teaching Programme (Complete Set); Ramaswamy, Sunita & Sundar Set Includes Vol. 1 thru 3 (Teacher's Manuals) + 7 Workbooks + Puja & Prayers book w/ 3 cassettes covering all 36 prayers (See individual items for descriptions and http://arshavidya.org/programs_homestudy.html#vedicher for details); Available at http://books.arshavidya.org/ under the category: Arsha Vidya Books, Audio & Video. Format: PB 1637 Pages + 3 Tapes Publication Date: 2/1/2000 If you are ordering for yourself please check if anyone is interested and share the shipping costs.

Q: What books are available in the Bala Bhavan library? The following link has the list of library books. http://www.shiva-vishnu.org/Library.html The link also enables you to see a digital image of the book cover. Each child is allowed to borrow 2 books at a time and please browse through the list of available library books and bring in the numbers of the required books. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Page 7 of 7