Harih Om Parents,
Following was taught to your child in the Balavihar class on Dec 7:
- After initial prayers we continued with Bhagavad Gita Dhyana sloka teaching - so far we have learned upto 7 verses.
- Swamiji has completed 10 verses of Bhagavad Gita (chapter 1) chanting – please have your children practice at home.
- Today in class, we focused on discussing the various Kaurava characters in the Mahabharata Story. While analyzing their actions – we see all of them had shades of good and bad; some with more good than bad and vice versa. Mahabharata story paints a canvas of all possible human actions, emotions, thoughts & attitudes. The Mahabharatha is a reflection of our own situations & mental conditions which is shown through these various characters – so that we can learn and grow. We had good discussion with the kids.
- Bheesma : is one of the central characters in Mahabharata story. His actual name was Devavrata – but due to the terrible oath he took he was blessed with the name of Bheesma. He had in depth knowledge of Shastras and Dharma. His life is an epitome of righteousness; he is revered as one of the greatest devotees of the Lord. As a Kshetriya prowess as a warrior was unparalled – he defeated his own Guru Parushurama at a young age! In the Kurushetra battle field, no one could defeat him. Inspite of fighting on behalf of the Kauravas, he himself told Yudhisthira the secret by which he can be defeated. After the war laying on the arrow bed, with blessing of Lord Krishna, he taught Yudhisthira - Raja dharma, Varna dharma, rules of right conduct and much more, which form the Santi and Anushasana parvas (very voluminous portion)of the Mahabharata. Some consider these teachings as the heart of Mahabharata story. He gave us the famous Vishnusahasranama storam.
Yudhisthira was finally able to come out of his sorrow and guilt after Bheesma's teaching. Despite all these great virtues, Bhisma's life was not without faults. It is believed that each of the arrows on the "bed of arrows" he lay on represented the various wrongs he had done during his life. Due to his loyalty to the Hastinapur throne he had to take the side of adharma during the Kurushetra war. In addition, he was silent witness when Pandavas and Drupadi were humiliated during the dice game. - Dhritharastra: his name itself implies 'one who holds on to the nation'. Based on the rules of those times he was not eligible to be the king as he was blind. So he had to hand over his kingdom to his brother Pandu. For this reason he always held a grudge against his brother Pandu and the Pandavas. But after death of Pandu, he became the king. However he never wanted to give the throne back to Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandu son and most capable amongst the cousins. Dhristharastra always wanted his own son, Duryodhana to be the king. He was very deceitful and caused a lot of problems for the Pandavas. Dhirtarashtra was a character with a wavering and unsteady mind. When he listened to Vidura, he would agree that it would be good to hand over part of the kingdom to the Pandavas but when he listened to Duryodhana or his ministers he would sway to the wrong side! He outwardly pretended that he was fond of and loved the Pandavas – his nephews. But inwardly he was a restless person seething with jealousy and anger. He knew about the plans of Duryodhana to kill the Pandavas by making them go to Ekachakra and live in the Wax Palace. He half heartedly gave the Pandavasa barren portion of the kingdom as their share; he watched silently when Pandavas & Draupadi were humiliated & even towards the of the war he tried to kill Bheema. His atrocities were numerous. Duryodhana 'seems only to be the outer manifestation' of his greed, jealous and blind attachment. Although, he would get advice from elders to follow the righteous path – his blind love for his son and extreme attachment to the throne made him unable to lead a righteous life. He was the only one who could have stopped the war yet he failed to do so. He pretended that he was weak and could not be fully effective because he was blind. His virtues perhaps were – he always used to like to listen to "Dharma" and "Neeti" from Vidura. In fact, it is said that he even had listened to Vedanta teachings from Lord Brahmaji's son, called, Sanatsujatiyam. This probabley must have given him enough punya to have the vision of the Cosmic form of the Lord!
- Gandhari: she was a very faithful wife, served her husband dutifully. Yet one wonders if she could have better served him by being 'his eyes'; instead of getting blind folded. She did give good advice to her sons, told them not to be jealous of Pandavas, told them to avoid the company of Shakuni and advised them fighting against the Pandavas.. In fact she did not give the blessing of victory to Duryodhana before the war. But, she too had blind attachment and ambition that Duryodhana should be the king. When she heard Kunti had the first son, who will eventually become the king, she got very angry and jealous and tried to destroy her womb by hitting on her stomach. It was Veda Vyasa who saved the 'garbham' and 101 children were later born to Gandhari. She also watched silently the humiliation of Pandavas and Drupadi, till she started seeing bad omens portending the destruction of her own children. So she was also an opportunist. At end of the war she blamed Lord Krishna for their sorrow and cursed Him & the Yadava clan! Dhrithrastra and Gandhari characters clearly show to parents how not to raise their children; how much destruction blind faith and attachment can do. In addition, one sees through these characters how our intellect can get deluded with extreme greed and attachment. It is unfortunate that even if Lord Himself comes to teach & guide us we are not available to receive that teaching.
- Duryodhana: his ambition and greed was fanned by Dhritharastra's silent approval. Again, his intellect clouded by all his negative traits – he was not able to follow good advice. It is believed that he himself confessed that he knew what is good but did not have the will to follow it and and knew what is bad but could not stop from following it! It is quite clear to any impartial observer of Mahabharata story that his army/ warriors would be no match for Pandavas in the war. Arjuna was proven to be better than Karna several times, yet he blindly believed that Karna could kill Arjuna. One person's megalomania leads to the destruction of an entire clan! We see reflections of Duryodhana's personality even in modern world – e.g .Hilter – one person's ideology leads to so much destruction and suffering. One of Duryodhana's positive attributes was that he was a devoted friend to Karna. And for this friendship he was more than willing to do anything. Again, one can argue that the foundation of this friendship was based on selfish motives. He however did do some yagas and yagnas.
- Duhsasana: is a strange character, it is good to have brotherly love. But that love should not be blind and make us do bad things. Loyalty is meaningful only when it is for noble cause. He blindly followed whatever Duryodhana asked him to do – leading to his demise in the war.
- Sakuni: who was Gandhari's brother, had a grudge against the Kuru dynasty as his sister was asked in marriage for a blind king, Dhritharastra. He could not oppose Kurus as they were stronger, so he vowed that he will ultimately cause destruction of Kuru dynasty. He succeeded in that by poisoning Duryodhana's mind, defeating Pandavas in a deceitful dice game – eventually leading to the Kurushetra war.
- Dronacharya: was the teacher for Pandavas and Kauravas. He was the most preeminent archer of his time. Very learned in sastras and dharma; was righteous and disciplined. His yoga practice was so powerful that he was able to sit in meditation in battle field and give up his life! He was Brahmin by birth but followed his passion for learning various arts, at a gurukula, along with friend Drupada. Later when Drona went to ask help from his friend Drupada, who was a king then, Drupada insulted him. He carried a grudge against him and later with the help of Pandavas(in the form of Gurudakshina) he was able to avenge his insult – Drupada was defeated, captured in war, humiliated and later released. Thus he pursued his profession in Hastinapur mainly for his own personal ambition. He silently followed Bheesma's actions when Pandavas and Drupadi were humiliated – did not even voice opposition like Vidura or Vikarna. As a Brahmana, there was no need for him to participate in any warfare yet he took part in many wars. He degraded himself as a paid tutor and ultimately had a sad demise in Kurushetra war. His life almost gives us a vivid picture of Lord's teaching - that by following 'paradharma' one gets destroyed.
- Even though the Kaurava army had so many great warriors they ultimately faced defeat as each one had their own individual weakness, attachments and ambitions – and they were not able to raise above them.
- "Yaksha Prashnas" :
- What is the highest Dharma? Non violence is the greatest Dharma. Everybody in this world has the right to lead of peaceful and harmonious life. We should not tread on anybody's rights. In Gandhiji's words, " an eye for an eye make the whole world blind."
- Which Dharma leads to results? Vedic Dharma leads to results. If we follow Dharma prescribed in the Vedas we will lead a fulfilling and happy life. We have been given this body to serve others and to do good to others.
- Controlling what one does not grieve? Controlling our mind, one does not grieve. We should be an intelligent witness to all that is happening around us. We should let ourselves live this life joyfully and live through our "Prarabhdhas" and not question "why me?" when we are going through challenges and difficulties in our life.
- Friendship with whom does not decay? Friendship with a person of upright character and values does not decay. People who are straightforward, sincere and compassionate are the people with whom our friendship will never decay.
Thank you!
Devender Akula &
Mekhala Girish (Grade 8 Sunday A.M. Balavihar teachers)
