Hari Om!
Here is a brief summary of the class activities from Week 6, Oct 27th, 2019:
1. Beginning Prayers:
- We learnt the third verse of Ganesha Pancharatnam. The audio file was sent last week, do let us know if you need one.
2. Stories associated with Deepavali:
- It was a good experience to have this class on Deepavali day, as the children shared how they celebrated Deepavali at home with family and friends. We also went over the popular stories associated with Deepavali - the slaying of Narakasura by Krishna and Satyabhama and the story of Rama's return to Ayodhya after 14 years in exile.
3. Mahabharata:
- We recapped the story so far briefly and discussed more about the birth of the Pandavas and followed their story some more- how Pandu and Kunti deliberated about which deva to seek the blessings for a child from in order. They chose Dharma first, as Pandu wanted a righteous son who would be king, who would always do what was right and never deviate from that path. A righteous king needs the support of a mighty warrior, so they prayed to Vayu for Bhima, who was blessed with great strength. They then prayed with great effort for a son who will be a natural leader, like Indra, the king of the devas. Seeing Kunti have three sons, Madri too requested that she be taught the mantra and she prayed to the Ashwini twins for Nakula and Sahadeva. Meanwhile in Hastinapura, hearing the birth of Yudhishtra, Gandhari, who was then pregnant, grew very angry and jealous. She realized that her son, yet unborn, would be overlooked for the throne of Hastinapura as Yudhishtra was now the eldest. She violently hit her stomach, causing a large mass of muscle to be born. Stunned by this, she tured to Sage Vyasa for counsel. He cut the mass into 100 pieces and preserved them in vats of oil. These grew in time to be the Kaurava brothers, eldest of whom was Duryodhana. There were bad omens surrounding the birth of Duryodhana. He then put in the remainder to create a daughter, Dusshala.
Pandu trained all his sons to be warriors. They grew up in the forest, learning all they needed. One day, Madri and Pandu decided to spend some time together and Pandu was stricken dead by the curse of the Sage Kindama. Griefstricken, Madri entered the funeral pyre along with Pandu, entrusting her children to the wise care of Kunti. Seeing Kunti and her sons alone in the forest, the sages who lived near them, took them to Hastinapura. Bheeshma and the people of Hastinapura were overjoyed to see Pandu's family return. Dhritarashtra and his sons were not very pleased, but showed nothing outwardly. In time, Duryodhana found many ways to trouble the Pandavas, particularly, Bhima. Bhima's strength was a source of concern to the Kauravas and they thought that by weakening or killing Bhima, they can weaken the Pandavas. Once, Duryodhana and his brothers poisoned Bhima, and as he was unconscious, tied him with ropes and threw him in the river. As Bhima sank deep in the river, more poisonous snakes bit him and he was revived as their poison counteracted the first poison! He met some of his ancestors who lived in the river who took care of him and was blessed with the strength of a thousand elephants. He came back and told all this to his brothers and mother, but did not confront Duryodhana.
One day, the Pandavas and Kauravas were treated to rare skill in weaponry displayed by an unknown Brahmin. They informed Bheeshma, who immediately recognised the great Drona- who was a master at using great and powerful weapons and mantras for warfare. He requested him to stay and teach the young princes the art of warfare.
4. Bhagavad Geeta Chanting:
- We started with Geeta chanting this week, working on verses 1 and 2. Here is the youtube playlist for the children to listen to Swamiji chant and practice at home -
