January Report
Hari Om Parents 🙏
Happy New Year!
We started our class with the beginning prayers followed by Sharada Stotram. We talked about Ma Sarasawathi as it was Vasanth Panchami on Jan 16th. A student had a question on knowledge and wisdom.
Knowledge- just information and facts
Wisdom-what we imbibe from the knowledge and apply in our lives.
We have been talking about a saint in every class combined with our Mahabharata lesson.
Facts about a saint:
A saint is one who brings transformation in our way of life.
He is not an ordinary person. He is devoted to the truth.
He sees Godliness in everyone.
He loves all and his compassion for all.
He is a chosen one who lives among us to show the way to God. Saintliness and Godliness are one and the same. They all said, paths are many, but the eternal God is ONE. A special mention to Swami Vivekananda who advocated universal brotherhood and made Bharat proud, in the western world under the guidance of his guru Swami Ramakrishna. Also, saint Tyagaraja, who gave us beautiful music through his devotion to Lord Rama. Some children said they were learning music.
The saints discussed in our classes from now are
- Gautam Buddha
- 2. Adi Shankara
- Kabir
- Mirabai
- Ramakrishna Paramahansa
- Swami Vivekananda
- Sant Jnaneshwar
- Saint Tyagaraja
We then went back to our lesson from the Mahabharata
1 Yudhishthira had performed the Rajasuya yaga and had gained control of the neighboring kingdoms. Duryodhana was jealous of the Pandavas and their popularity and success. He invited the Pandavas to a game. Sakuni their uncle, teamed with them. Using a manipulated dice, he played the game of dice and won every game. Yudhishtara loses his treasury, kingdom, and attendants. Soon he lost his brothers and then himself to Duryodhana. As a final bid Draupadi was also lost.
She was humiliated and prayed to Lord Krishna and was saved from the humiliation by the grace of the Lord.
Yudhishtara gambled again and was sent away to the forest for 12 years and one more year to be spent incognito. Drona warned Dhritarashtra of horrible events to come where the entire Kuru clan would be wiped out.
The Pandavas along with Draupadi leave for the forest. Yudhishtara prays to the Sin God and is blessed with the Akshaya Patra. They were blessed with plenty of food for survival in the forest. Sage Maitreya visits them and hears about the dice game. He goes back and warns Duryodhana and asks him to bring the Pandavas back from the forest. Duryodhana disrespects him by slapping his thighs. The sage curses him saying Bhima would kill him by smashing his thighs if he did not make peace with the Pandavas.
Lord Krishna also pays a visit to the Pandavas. He comes to know about the dice game. Draupadi tells him about her misery. The Lord repents the fact that he was away in Dwaraka. He was fighting the wicked Salva who had occupied Dwaraka. He promises to help the Pandavas in their suffering.
Discussions:
1 We talked about Dhritarashtra's attachment to his arrogant son and not using his discrimination to see right from wrong. Being a king, he did not follow dharma
2 Duryodhana's arrogance. He was defined by greed, envy, and pride.
3 Yudhishthira unwavering righteous nature and his addiction to gambling. He saw goodness in everyone including the wicked Kauravas.
4 Lord Krishna protected his true devotee Draupadi. His promise to protect dharma.
We will continue with the story in the next class.
We then practiced the first 10 verses from chapter 12 of the Bhagavad Gita. The Gita chanting competition will be in April.
Our next class is on February 6th
Pranams
Nirmala and Nivedita
