Dec 21, 2025 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone, 

Here's a recap of our previous class. 

We started the class with 'Shell dropping meditation', chanting the 15th chapter of the Gita, and focusing through Likhita japa.

Quirky Question (QQ) of the Day: I disappear the moment you say my name.  Who am I?

Answer: Silence. 

How is this relevant to us?  This same definition can be given to 'Ego'.  The moment we identify it and call it out, it disappears!  

We picked up the class right where curiosity was alive with the Mahabharata story. 

Someone asked about Bhishma, and we paused.
Did Bhishma know the birth secret of Karna? —Bhishma did know who Karna really was. Not Radheya, but Kaunteya. Kunti's son.

We walked through that powerful moment: Bhishma lying on the bed of arrows, Karna approaching with respect, and Bhishma calling him Kaunteya.
"What does Kaunteya mean?" we asked.
"Kunti's son," they replied.
And suddenly, everyone felt the weight of that revelation. Karna was shocked—not because Bhishma was wrong, but because Bhishma had always known!
"That's why I never wanted blood brothers fighting under my banner," Bhishma tells him.
That line landed heavily in the room.

From there, we moved into the uncomfortable questions.
"But Drona didn't have weapons."
"Karna didn't either."
"Was that fair?"

These questions are not to be dodged.

"Yes, the Pandavas broke rules too," we said plainly.
But then we asked, "Why were consequences inevitable?"

Abhimanyu's death sealed it. Eight Maharathis attacking one unarmed teenager. Every war rule shattered.
"That wasn't just unfair," someone said quietly.
"That was criminal."
Exactly. And consequences follow actions: not as revenge, but as justice.

We grounded it in today's world.
A thief doesn't get robbed back.

A football foul doesn't get answered with another punch.

As grave as the crime, so grave is the penalty given.

Punishment isn't imitation—it's proportionate correction.

That's when we tied it back to Bhima and Duryodhana.
No hitting below the belt—that was the rule.
And yet Krishna, ever the sutradhaara, casually reminded Bhima of a forgotten vow.
"Didn't Bhima take a vow of breaking his thigh?"
We all knew what came next.

This wasn't about morality collapsing. It was about context.
We talked about bullying.
"Do we bully back?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"We become upstanders."
Firm. Clear. Situationally strong.
That's what Krishna enabled.

We traced the story through Gandhari's tapasya, the banana leaf, the diamond body, and the one vulnerable spot—until Bhima struck the thigh.
Duryodhana fell. Not dead. Broken.
And that moment unleashed Ashwatthama.

Night. Tents. Sleep.
A crow. An owl.
An idea.
And a massacre.

When Ashwatthama proudly announced he had killed the Pandavas, we felt the tragic irony.
They weren't the Pandavas.
They were the Upapandavas.
Children. Asleep.

We were enraged at what Ashwatthama had done. 

We followed the thread all the way to Uttara's womb, the Brahmastra, Krishna protecting the unborn child, and the birth of Parikshit—the very listener of this story.
"Full circle," someone said.
Yes. Exactly.

And then we asked the real question:
"All this… for what?"

The answer was, "Ego."
Duryodhana's. Dhritarashtra's. Unchecked. Unquestioned.

A small ego, unnoticed, can burn an entire world.

There again, we had gone full circle.  Our Quirky question was pointing at the nature of ego, and we had ended on the same note, ego, the cause of all peril! 

That's why we ended with introspection.
Every night.
Did I act like a human—or like an animal?
Did I choose dharma—or impulse?

We noticed how even the class itself came full circle—from Parikshit to Parikshit, from story to Self.

And that brought us to the Gita.
Not as history. But as relevance.

"Why did Krishna give the Gita?" someone asked.
Not only for the battlefield.
But for us, for the day-to-day battles of life.

Names change. Bodies change. Cells change. Personalities evolve.
So what stays?

That's the journey we're beginning.

The story ended.
Our students questions didn't. 

We will address them as we go along. 

Before class ended, we quickly shifted gears— Class teaching assignments.
Groups of our students teach younger grades one day, every year. Real responsibility and a fun experience for all involved! 
"Be diligent, act with intention," we reminded them.

January 18th. Snow makeup day will be the day. 

We are working on the logistics and will give more details on the 11th. 

Leaving with this thought and wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. 

Regards,
Rashmi and Jacqueline.