We started today with a quiet pause — our pebble-drop meditation — and then we tried likhita japa with a twist. Every time our mind wandered, we had to change the color of the pen. And honestly, we were impressed. We saw that the students were more focused today than usual; their minds stayed steadier, and the room felt calmer right from the start!
Quirky Question (QQ) of the Day: "I can fly, but I have no wings. I have no voice, but I can cause an uproar."
And as usual, we went in all directions at once — wind, flags, dreams, imagination, whispers — you name it, we said it. And honestly, that creativity was the best part. We finally circled back to the real reason the riddle showed up: Arjuna's flag on the Kurukshetra battlefield. Just seeing it from afar could charge up his army and terrify the other side — a perfect example of something that flies without wings and causes an uproar without sound.
From there, we slid right back into Mahabharata mode. Last time we had paused at Arjuna shivering on the battlefield, but before jumping into the Gita, we decided to fill in some gaps.
The big question: Who's the most important character in the Mahabharata?
We tossed around Arjuna, Krishna, Yudhishthira, Duryodhana… until we landed on someone we tend to forget:
Shakuni. His influence on Duryodhana was massive — almost like an accelerant poured on Duryodhana's existing jealousy and anger. And yes, we all agreed: Dhritarashtra and Gandhari turned a metaphorical blind eye and let things slide way too often. When parents don't correct, someone else fills the gap — and in this case, it was Shakuni.
Then we dove into the big one we hadn't touched much: Karna.
From baby in a floating cradle to Radheya, from rejected student to relentless seeker of mastery — his entire arc is stitched with tendency, choice, and consequences. We talked about how caste wasn't originally birth-based but tendency-based, which explains why Karna — born a Kshatriya, raised a Suta — still carried that innate warrior fire.
We traced his journey from Drona rejecting to accept him as a student, to Parashurama accepting him only because Karna hid the truth. We understood that hiding the truth for selfish reasons is as good as telling lies.
Then that fateful moment: Parashurama sleeping on Karna's lap, the bee — actually Indra — biting him, Karna silently enduring the pain, and the curse that followed the moment Parashurama realized he'd been deceived. From there came curse after curse — the brahmin who's cow was killed, Mother Earth, all lining up like dominoes that would eventually fall in the final battle.
We compared his endless complaints about being dealt a "bad hand" to Krishna's calm reply: life was unfair to both of them, but what mattered was what each chose to do with it. A sharp reminder for all of us about accountability.
We visited Ekalavya too — his devotion, his practice, his idol of Drona, and the painful Guru Dakshina that kept Arjuna the top archer. And then Karna's rivalry with Arjuna, Duryodhana exhalting him by making him King of Anga, and Kunti fainting the moment she recognized her long-lost son — one moment of honesty that never happened and could've changed everything before it began!
We wrapped up with Karna's famed generosity: the day Indra came disguised as a Brahmin to ask for his kavacha-kundala. Even after Surya warned him, Karna stuck to his principle — giving was greater than surviving. He cut off his own armor and earrings and handed them over. Indra had no choice but to bless him afterward with his Shakti astra which he could use it only once.
By the end, we weren't just telling stories — we were tracing choices, consequences, loyalties, and the thin lines between heroism and downfall; partial truth and lying. And as always, we left the class with the same energy that fills the room every week.
We were so engrossed in discussing the story, likhita japa, and meditation, we couldn't believe it slipped our mind to do Geeta chanting! Promise, we will do it next week :)
Until next time, here's a thought -
