Dec 21, 2025 - Grade 6 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om Parents,

We started our class with 3 OM and the following shlokas and prayers

• Sahana Vavatu
• Vakratunda Mahakaya
• Saraswathi Namastubhyam
• Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu
• Samastha Jana Kalyane
• Chanted complete Mahalakshmi Ashtakam (Page 40 in My Prayers book)

Gita Chanting:
This year, we will be learning Chapters 15 and 12 of the Bhagavad Gita. This week, the class chanted Chapter 15's verses 17 & 18:

https://youtu.be/f-sk28QQOvQ?si=IUmJzcOctrVVkcME

Mahabharata:

We chanted the following prayers before starting the Mahabharata:

• Narayanam namaskritya
• Vyasaya Vishnu roopaya
• Vasudeva Sutam Devam

Mahabharata "Virata Parva" Continues

1. For close to 10 months Pandavas spend their time in the Virata Kingdom without any significant issues. Around this time queen Sudeshna's brother Keechaka comes back to the Kingdom. He is a very strong and arrogant person; it is on his strength and prowess that the Virata Kingdom flourished.
2. Keechaka sees Draupadi, who is now working as Sairandri in Queen Sudeshna's quarters. He gets attracted by her beauty and charm. Initially, he requests her to become his wife, and he promises her to make her the queen of the whole Kingdom. When she refuses, he tries to force her to become his queen. Even the king and the queen could not stop Keechaka from what he was doing, as he was very powerful and strong.
3. Draupadi approaches Bheema, who lays out a plan to secretly kill Keechaka. He asks Draupadi to invite Keechaka to the music hall, Narthanashala, in the middle of the night. Draupadi very cleverly convinces Keechaka to come to the Music Hall in the middle of the night alone. In there, a ferocious fight ensues between Keechaka and Bheema. Ultimately, Bheema kills Keechaka bare-handed.
4. Everybody in the Kingdom was very surprised and scared that Keechaka was killed in the middle of the night; they thought it was an act done by Draupadi's powerful husbands. Keechaka 's hundred plus brothers get very angry with her and try to cause harm to Draupadi. Again, Bheema rescues Draupadi and kills all Keechaka's brothers without getting himself revealed.
5. The news of the death of Keechaka reaches Hastinapur, and Duryodhana gets convinced that this must be an act of the Pandavas. He states that only Bheema can kill Keechaka, so he infers that the Pandavas must be hiding in the Matsya kingdom. Now he wants the Pandavas to come out in the open so that their requirement of living one year in incognito gets spoiled. Then Pandavas would be required to go back to the forest for an additional 12 years.
6. Duryodhana plans to attack the Matsya Kingdom. Initially, his friend Susharma, along with his army, attacks the southern part of the Kingdom. The Virata king and his army get ready to defend the Kingdom, at which point Yudhisthira offers his services, along with the services of Bheema, Nakula, and Sahadeva, to join the fight. Initially, in the fight, Susharma was able to get hold of Virata king, and tied him up in his chariot. At this point, Bheema rescues Virata king. He, along with other Pandavas, defeated Susharma's army. Virata king, was very happy with the victory over Susharma, and he praised the Pandavas (who were in disguise).
7. The next day Kaurava army attacks the Matsya Kingdom from the northern end, and they start taking away the cattle. Unfortunately, the whole Virata army went to the northern end to fight the enemy the previous day. Now, Uttara Kumara, son of the Virata king, was the only warrior left in the palace. He did not have a charioteer, so Brihannala, who was Arjuna in disguise, agrees to be his charioteer. Uttarakumara proudly proclaims that he will defeat the Kauravas on the battlefield. But when he faces the Kauravas army from a distance, seeing the large army and powerful warriors on the Kauravas side, Uttarakumara gets scared and starts to run away. Brihannala chases him and asks him to fight. He refuses. Then Brihannala says that he will fight on his behalf.
8. Brihannala takes Uttara Kumara to a Sami tree, where the Pandavas hid their weapons. He asks Uttarakumara to get Gandiva from that hiding place so that he can fight the Kauravas. Uttarakumara gets suspicious as to who Brihannala was. Brihannala then reveals to Uttara Kumara that he is Arjuna and that all the Pandavas had spent their last year in the Matsya kingdom in disguise. Uttarakumara was very happy to see his hero Arjuna in front of him, happily agrees to be his charioteer, and drives Arjuna, who now has his Gandiva, towards the Kaurava army.
9. Arjuna initially prostrates with his arrows to his guru Dronacharya and grandsire Bheesma. Ferocious war breaks out between Arjuna and the Kaurava army. Arjuna defeats all the great warriors in the Kaurava army, including Dronacharya, Kripaacharya, Ashwathama, and Karna. He finally battles with Duryodhana and defeats him. Using a divine weapon, he puts all the Kaurava army to sleep. Uttara Kumara gets a piece of their headgear to give as a gift to his sister, Uttara. They redirect cattle back into the Virata kingdom.
10. King Virata was very happy hearing the news that his son defeated the Kauravas. Kankabattu, who was Yudhishthira in disguise, tells him that it all likely happened because of Brihannala. King gets upset with Kankabattu. The next day, King finds out that the Pandavas were living in his Kingdom in disguise for the last year, that Arjuna himself was Brihannala, who defeated the Kauravas. He feels very grateful towards the Pandavas for their help and decides to marry his daughter, Uttara, to Arjuna's son Abhimanyu. Many kings, including Krishna and Balarama, attend the wedding. With this wedding, Virata Parva of the Mahabharata concludes.

India, the Sacred Land: Guru!

This section was not done; instead, the https://jeopardylabs.com/play/2025-12-20-767 game was played, which reviewed & covered the topics they learned in 5th grade up to Virata Parva. 

The kids had a great time playing the game and competing with each other.

Parents, please send your children to class on time to avoid disruptions to the class. Also, have them bring the decorated name tags to the classes. Please make sure children bring in My Prayers book, handbook, notebook, pencils, etc (to take notes, do activities in the class)

Hari Om,
Sachin Gaikwad & Devender Akula