Personal Prayer

Guidelines to Gurus:

• Gurus to explain the shloka with the complete meaning.
• Gurus write on a board the key phrases from the meaning of the Shloka – Example – Auspicious, all kinds of wealth, spouse of Shiva, sister of Lord Vishnu, giver of success, etc.
• Then ask one girl to role play goddess Parvati (Guru may choose to dress up one child as Parvati) or alternatively keep a picture of Goddess Parvati.
• Other Children individually or in groups of 2 or 3 depending on the strength of the class are asked to write their own prayer incorporating some or all the key phrases given on the board. Example of such a prayer could be – “O Mother, You are the spouse of Lord Shiva, sister of Vishnu, Please grant me all success”. Another Example could be – “O Auspicious one, I surrender to you. Please give me all kinds of wealth.”
• The children are then asked to learn their respective prayers and enact this prayer one by one or group by group by chanting it with devotion while offering a flower to Goddess Parvati.

Debriefing:

This is a wonderful activity that enables the children to understand and remember the meaning of the Shloka. This is meant to be a fun and light exercise to build up devotion for the goddess and also understand the values the Goddess/shloka represents. Care should be taken to not overwhelm the child with complicated words.

After this exercise all the children may be asked to chant this prayer along with the meaning in class.