Hari om everyone,
Here's a quick synopsis of our class this week. We started off with a quick meditation and Gita chanting. We have learned Ch. 3 up to verse 12 now. We are still in the first few weeks of class but our students are doing wonderful with the chanting already. It is a pleasure listening to their soft but clear voices chanting each syllable carefully!
Before starting attendance, we had a fun Chemistry lesson. We spoke about solids, liquids, and gases. How heat changes their state, etc. Before marking attendance, the students were asked to think about a liquid that becomes solid upon heating! They came up with a few answers, but they didn't fit the question. The quirky answer to this question was - dosa batter 😃. This was a fun icebreaker and the students got chatty, actually a bit too chatty, after that :).
We went back to review Mahabharata from where we had left off. We visited the Virat parva where the Pandavas were incognito. The Kauravas had invaded Virat's kingdom, hoping to expose the Pandavas from their hiding. We talked about the events that unfolded later. Since there was no other choice, eventually the war was declared.
We saw that the war had begun, Bheeshma had fallen on the 9th day. Hearing this, Dhritarashtra called Sanjaya and asked him to narrate what had happened. It was then that Sanjaya, with his divine vision, saw the happenings from day 1 and started narrating to the blind king. He started with how Arjuna was trembling with fear on the battlefield. He was ready to run away throwing his bow and arrows on the ground!
Bhagavadgeeta starts from this point. The first chapter starts with Dhritarashtra asking - what are 'MY' children and 'THOSE' Pandavas doing on the battlefield? The problem was with this very sentence. His intense attachment to his own children and bitterness towards his brother's children was very evident. The rest of the chapter is about how Arjuna lamented the situation. He didn't want to fight his near and dear ones. He justified that running away from the battlefield was the only right answer!
We learned that Krisha displayed the skills of a great listener. He let Arjuna lament without offering a solution until..., Arjuna asked for it himself! When we seek, we will get.
We discussed the 'Cause-Effect' relationships of different incidents from the Mahabharata. Karma is the universal law of cause and effect! We then discussed the 'Cause-Effect' relationships of some real-life situations - lapses in doing homework; keeping good friends; exposure to drugs; peers forcing to consume alcohol; and many more. The spontaneous answers from our students were spot on! We are super proud of them :).
We now have clearly established that WE are that Arjuna many a time. The problems may be different, but our condition becomes the same as Arjuna's. When we are ill-prepared, any situation can turn into a big problem! So, it is essential for us to prepare, just as Arjuna did.
This week's RAW (Reflection Adventure of the Week) was - name a couple of little things that you were grateful for. The students tried to cook up answers on the spot and we could see through their effort on the spot :). But then, they came up with nice answers, alright!
We also discussed the RAW from the week before (as we didn't have much time last class). The question was - what did you do that took you from dharma to adharma? And why?
Aunty shared a scenario from her high school days when the teacher had given an extra point unknowingly. Wouldn't it have been easier to keep quiet about it? (Aunty had gotten the point deducted.) A couple of students said they had faced similar situations. Some said they'd have kept the point. One of them said she was in the same situation once. When she brought it to the teacher's attention, her teacher let her keep the two extra points for her honesty! We discussed that we choose adharma as it gives momentary happiness. But we have to think long term. When we do that, we will refrain from doing adharma!
The RAW for this week is - What event made you smile this week? What was the reason for it?
We will leave you with this thought for the week -
So, choose wisely!
Wishing everyone a very joyous and bright deepaavaLi. We will see you in two weeks.
Regards,
Rashmi.
Rashmi.
