Hari OM
Parents,
Our class started with chanting "Om" and was followed by our opening prayers-
· saha naavavatu
. Vakratunda Mahakaya
. Saraswathi Namasthubhyam
. Gururbrahmaa
. Budhir Balam
· Guru Stotram (all verses)
Yoga Time
We didn't practice today as we had many stories to cover.
Gitaa chanting
verses 26-28
Story time
Ø ajaamila
Ø Indra and vRutraasura
Ø chitraketu
Comments:
We also heard the story of ajaamiLa. He was an honest man, who was an ardent devotee, who prayed and did his yagnas, etc. But he fell in bad company and forgot all about his prior practices. He became the exact opposite. He was very sick and was about to die. Lord yama's men came to take his life. At that last minute, he being very fond of his youngest son, naaraayaNa, calls out for him. On hearing the name of the Lord, shrIman naaraayaNa's men come to protect him! An argument ensues between the men of yama and naaraayaNa. Having no choice, yama's men leave. ajaamiLa realizes his mistake and becomes pious again!
Then we heard the story of indra and vRutraasura, as well as chitraketu. Once when indra got proud and arrogant, he ignored his teacher bRuhaspati. So, the teacher abandoned the devas and went away. So the devas got a 'substitute' ;) teacher vishwaroopa (son of tvaShTa). He was part deva and part asura. So he was teaching the asuras on the side. On learning this, indra was angry and killed vishwaroopa. In turn, his father tvaShTa performed a yagna and created a very powerful asura called vRutra. vRutraasura's task was to fight the devas. He was destroying the devas very easily. On shiva's advise, indra made a weapon (vajra-aayudha) with the bones of a dadIchi (a great devotee of Lord viShNu). Although vRutra was a demon, when he saw the weapon made of the bones of viShNu's devotee, he was willing to be killed with it. So, he swallowed indra and the weapon, so indra had to rip him open to come out.
It does seem strange why vRutraasura was being so honorable. That brings us to the background story, that of chitraketu. He was a very good man. But one day, when he was travelling around mount kailash, he saw Lord shiva and paarvati sitting together and made a rude comment. At this, Lord shiva did not respond, but mother paarvati cursed him that he will be born as an asura, for having not had a hold on his tongue. Hence, he was born as vRutraasura. With this, we learnt that our tongue can be our very best friend as well as our worst enemy, depending on how we use it!
It does seem strange why vRutraasura was being so honorable. That brings us to the background story, that of chitraketu. He was a very good man. But one day, when he was travelling around mount kailash, he saw Lord shiva and paarvati sitting together and made a rude comment. At this, Lord shiva did not respond, but mother paarvati cursed him that he will be born as an asura, for having not had a hold on his tongue. Hence, he was born as vRutraasura. With this, we learnt that our tongue can be our very best friend as well as our worst enemy, depending on how we use it!
**Important Announcements**
Next Balavihar Weekend
Fri Feb 14 / Sun Feb 16
Fri Feb 21 (Cancelled) - (Make up : March 13th)
Sun Feb 23 (Cancelled) - (Make up : March 15th)
Regards,
Indira/Raji
