Hari Om!
Hope everyone had a fantastic Deepavali celebration with family and friends! Wishing the light and joy of the festivities stays with us in the days ahead.
Here is the summary of what was covered in the last class on Oct.16, 2022:
Stotram: We chanted the devi dhyAna shloka and upto verse 6 of the Mahalakshmi Ashtakam.
India, Sacred Land: India is a subcontinent and a peninsula and is the only country in the world after which an ocean is named. We learned about the states and union territories, the creation of states as recently as 2014 and union territories in 2019. India currently has 28 states and 8 union territories. We learned about the many rivers of India, and the reverence with which rivers are worshipped in India. Some of the major mountain ranges in India are the Himalayas, Aravallis, Vindhyachal, Satpura, the Western and Eastern Ghats. We had a hands-on activity in class where first the children identified their state/city in India on a map on the board, then had personal copies of India map to identify rivers and other physical features. The children participated with great enthusiasm and were quite adept at pointing the locations on the map!
We will also share a slide deck with prompts to personalise this journey through India with the class on WhatsApp- the children are free to customize the presentation format.
Mahabharata: Krishna, Balarama, Satyaki, Drupada, Dhrishtadhyumna, Śikhandi and many other allies visited the Pandavas in the city of Upaplavya in Matsya kingdom offering them their allegiance and vast armies. After the grand celebration of Abhimanyu and Uttara's marriage, the remaining guests including Krishna, sat in Virāta's court, discussing how to proceed now that the exile was successfully completed. Krishna, in all earnest, described every situation that plagued the Pandavas over the years and their calm and collected response to every injustice meted out. His passionate speech was met with great enthusiasm by all, including Balarama who spoke next. His speech was tinged with support for Duryodhana, making it seem as though the entire dice game was orchestrated by Yudhisthira who lost foolishly to Śakuni. After all their opinions were expressed, it was decided to send a messenger for a peace treaty. They chose the Priest of the Virata kingdom to complete the task. Krishna and Balarama go to Dwaraka.
Arjuna and Duryodhana enter Dwaraka with the sole purpose of gaining Krishna's favor in the war. While Duryodhana sat by Krishna's sleeping form, Arjuna stood dutifully by his feet, taking in the divine form of his mentor, friend, and cousin. When Krishna awoke, the sight of Arjuna's loving gaze brought a smile and he asked Arjuna what brought him to Dwaraka. But it was Duryodhana who interrupted the moment, objecting that he arrived first and should therefore be given priority.Krishna, upon sensing Duryodhana's intentions, informed him that even if Duryodhana had arrived first, it was Arjuna that he saw upon opening his eyes, and also that it was customary to let the younger of the two get preference. When Krishna gave them an option between the Narayana Sena of one Akshauhini warrior and the non combatant self, Arjuna fell at Krishna's feet stating that he wanted nothing but his Lord. Hearing this made Duryodhana happy, indicating his greed for material wealth and power. After Duryodhana's departure, Krishna reconfirmed his stance that he would not physically fight in the war, which has Arjuna reveal that he needed Krishna as his charioteer while entering the battlefield, to rid the sinful world of all evil and injustices.In the process of collecting allies, Duryodhana heard of Salya's (King of Madra and brother of Mādri) march towards Upaplavya to offer his help to the Pandavas. While in a rest area, Salya was provided with refreshments and comforts. Thinking they were provided by his nephews, he stated that he would reward the person that was so thoughtful in deed. Upon hearing this, Duryodhana revealed himself and asked Salya to fight on behalf of the Pandavas.
Salya then continued on his journey to Upaplavya to inform his nephews of the mistake made unknowingly. The Pandavas received his news well, but Yudhisthira asked him a favor. Although Salya could not fight on their side, he could, as Karna's charioteer,lower his morale and make him ineffective in his fight against Arjuna. Salya readily agreed to the psychological warfare, and was happy to finally be of help to his nephews. Meanwhile the priest arrived in Hastinapura. He gave a detailed account of all the injustices meted out to the Pandavas and also stated that the crown was their birthright. This angered Karna who accused the messenger and also spoke ill of the Pandavas. Unable to withstand such derogatory comments, Bheeshma reminded him of his cowardly act (when he ran from the Virāta battlefield). Dhritarashtra told the Brahmin that he would send Sanjaya with a response in a few days.
Sanjaya arrived in Upaplavya a few days later, with a message that implied unsavory behavior on the part of the Pandavas. The message seemed to undeniably imply that he was being greedy by asking for material wealth and kingdom. With a returning message that, atleast 5 villages from the kingdom should be given to the Pandavas, Sanjaya returned to Hastinapura. Bheeshma stated that Arjuna and Krishna were Nara-Narayana is the twin-brother avatar of the God Vishnu on Earth, working for the preservation of Dharma or righteousness. He was upset that Duryodhana was depending on the wrong type like Sakuni, Dusshasana and Karna (who had been cursed by his guru Parasurama for learning under false pretense and also having donated his kavacha and kundala to Indra for a single use of the Shakti astra) , all those who could never win him a war. However, Duryodhana was confident of winning. Sanjaya revealed that the Pandavas wanted to avoid war, and wished to only have 5 villages given to them, Duryodhana got angry and refused even a needle tip of land.
Bhagavad Geeta Chapter 3: We discussed about the meaning of karma yoga and learnt verses 3-4, here is the link for practice - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eylejch4kR0&list=PLwv-WSJSokEMjzRiL_CQC--igySyIgJqA&t=2s
Our next class is on October 30th, which is also the Houses Inaugural Day! Come dressed in House colors, which for us, Durga's Daredevils, is red!!
As always, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Regards
Keerthi Kobla
Abhirami Shrinivas
