Hari Om Parents,
The following is what we did during today's class.
Shlokas:
1. "Om Saha navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
2. "Vakrathunda Mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book)
3. "Karegre vasate" (page 11 in My prayers book)
4. "Akanda-mandalakaram" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
5. "Ajnana-timirandhasya" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
6. "Gururbrahma" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
7. "Thvameva Maathacha" (page 62 in My Prayers book)
8. "Samudra vasane devi" (page 11 in My Prayers book)
9. "Saraswathi namasthubyam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
10. "Subham karothi kalyanam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
11. "Karacharana krithamva" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
12. "Bhramaarpanam bhrama havih" (page12 in My Prayers book)
13. "Srirama Rama Ramethi" (page 129 in My Prayers book)
14. "Manojavam Maaruta" (page 152 in My Prayers book)
Due to some technical difficulties, our class was unfortunately cut a bit short. We rolled right into our story after a brief recap of where we were prior to Spring break. The kids were able to remember our story so far. Our setting was in Lanka on the battlefield.
Ravana decided to send his fierce warrior Dhumraaksha to defeat Hanuman on the western side. Unfortunately for the rakshasas, Hanuman was no match for them. With one swing of a humongous tree towards Dhumraaksha's head, he was slain. The extremely agitated rakshasa king then sent the huge and terrible looking Vajradamstra to the southern side to take on Angadha. Both generals and their armies fought with all their might but Angadha had the upper hand and defeated Vajradamstra. Ravana was furious and was getting increasingly afraid of the situation, but had no intention of giving up. He was very stubborn that he would never bow before Rama. Prahasta, his commander-in-chief too, had advised Ravana to return Sita to Rama. At this point, Akampana, who was unshakable, had also been defeated by Hanuman. With no other choice, Prahasta went to war against Nila and he too was no match for the vanaras! It was a gruesome scene, with death and disaster everywhere.
The enraged Ravana got himself prepared to head out for war. He looked majestic, radiant and terrifying with his 10 heads glowing, he led what was left of his rakshasa army out for war. Vibhishana, pointed out his brother to Rama as he rode in his chariot in their direction. Rama was awestruck by Ravana's presence and he viewed him with admiration, but had to quickly pocket that image as he was the cause of all of this destruction and life loss. Ravana strode in and swatted the fierce vanaras like they were mere flies. Nila was taken down in a single shot, Hanuman put up a brave fight then Lakshmana was wounded and fell unconscious. Hanuman swiftly escorted him off the battlefield.
Rama and Ravana are face to face for the first time. Rama wasted no time, he aimed his first arrow at Ravana's crown, took that out. Then his next arrow took out his chariot and his last arrow took out all of his weapons. Ravana stood there in astonishment stripped of all his powers and nearly destroyed. Rama looked at him kindly and requested his enemy to go home, take rest and return the next day! Rama had so much admiration for the fierce but evil warrior that stood before him.
Ravana had never tasted defeat before. He was totally dejected. But he knew that he had a secret weapon that he had not used so far...his brother Kumbhakarna! He decided to wake the sleeping giant who had been cursed to 6 months of sleep and 6 months of being awake during which he primarily consumed tons of food. Trying to wake up his brother during his sleep cycle was no easy feat. There were drummers, trumpet blowers and many more making as much noise as possible to wake him up. They even tried sending elephants to trample on top of him to make him budge. Then they tempted him with the aroma of his preferred foods. After a prolonged effort to awaken Kumbhakarna, he finally wakes up. He gets dressed and rolls into his brother's assembly hall and his movements can be felt throughout Lanka. Ravana explained the grave situation that they were in and had NO support from his brother! Kumbhakarna called his brother out for his despicable act of kidnapping another man's wife! He also blamed all the people around him for praising Ravana and giving him false hope. But, he agreed to fight for his brother's honor and headed out decked in gems and the finest garments.
The vanaras were terrified by the sound of Kumbhakarna approaching. He looked like a giant mountain roaring towards the battlefield. He grabbed and consumed a multitude of vanaras. He smooshed several of them merely by accident too. Angadha, Sugriva and Nila were tossed around and knocked unconscious. The rakshasas were thrilled to see the vanara king down. Eventually Sugriva gained consciousness and attacked Kumbhakarna, using his long sharp nails to injure him enough to cause discomfort. Hanuman too played his role in slowing the tyrant down. When Lakshmana came forward, he avoided him and wanted to fight Rama...feeling that his end was close, deciding that he wanted to face Rama for that. Rama then pulled out his most powerful astaras, aimed and took Kumbhakarna down part by part. Finally his huge head fell and made an immensely loud thud that reached Ravana's ears, throwing a devastating blow at Ravana. He fainted in disbelief. He lamented about not listening to reason and to his brother Vibhishana as well. Ravana's sons came to console him and they bravely set out to fight for their father's honor and to avenge the death of their uncle. Unfortunately they met the same end as their predecessors. Ravana for a brief moment questioned his decision of kidnapping Sita and he tried to make sense of who Rama, a mere human being really was. He had a momentary vision of Rama actually being Lord Vishnu Himself! But, Ravana was determined to go down fighting. We paused our story here.
As we discussed the parts of the story's happenings, we continued to write our Likitha Japa. The kids were happy to show the different ways that they wrote "Rama" today. We discussed the art work project of picking a line from our Chinmaya Mission Pledge and making a drawing of it. The kids seemed excited about it! I would love to see their creations next week. Please do reach out to us if you have any questions.
Please go to the link below to check out the pictures from this week's class
Each week's update is maintained on Google docs, if for any reason you are unable to attend class on a certain Sunday, you are requested to check for weekly updates so that your child does not miss out. Below is the link
Regards,
Keerthi Kobla and Dipti Chauhan
