Feb 22, 2026 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone, 

All winter long, snow has been trying its best to join us on Sundays..., so this time, we didn't disappoint the blizzard 😄. We had a e-balavihar today due to another impending storm! 

We began with a simple reminder.

"Our dharma is called Sanātana Dharma," we said.
Then we asked, "What does that mean?"

Someone said, "Ancient?"
We smiled. "Not just ancient, ever new."

Even though the Bhagavad Gita was spoken thousands of years ago, it still feels relevant today because human psychology hasn't changed. Arjuna's battlefield may look different from our lives, but the confusion of the mind is exactly the same.

We stepped into the first verse where Dhritarashtra asks Sanjaya:

"What are those Pandavas and my children doing?"

We paused.

"What's wrong with that sentence?" we asked.

Someone noticed it.
"He separates the Pandavas from his own children."

Exactly. Even though he had promised to raise them after Pandu passed away, his words revealed his bias.

We introduced the word mamakāra — the mine, mine mentality.
What is mine matters. What isn't… doesn't.

And we quietly asked ourselves:
"Don't we sometimes do the same?  We need to introspect."

Then Arjuna asks Krishna to place the chariot between the armies.

He looks around and sees teachers, friends, and his grandfather Bhishma.

Suddenly, everything changes.

"My hands are trembling… my mind is confused."

We paused.

"What does that sound like?"

Someone said,
"A panic attack."

Exactly. Arjuna wasn't thinking calmly; he was overwhelmed.

Then his justifications began:
families will collapse, society will fall apart, and everything will be ruined.

When confusion peaks, the mind becomes very convincing!

To understand what was happening inside Arjuna—and inside us—we walked through the possible reasons

• Delusion – forgetting our true nature
• Dependence – believing happiness comes from outside
• Helplessness – losing inner strength
• Fear – worrying about losing what we depend on
• Adharma – wrong actions to protect that dependence
• Guilt and sorrow - that I made a mistake

We applied this to Duryodhana and Dhritarashtra. Believing his happiness depended on his son led the king to support many wrong actions, including the humiliation of Draupadi.

All of it started with one mistake: placing happiness outside ourselves.

Bringing It Back to Us

We made it practical.

"Would you be happy if you won a tennis match?" we asked.

"Yes."

"And if you lose?"

"Sad."

Ok, fair.

But then we asked the real question:
"Should your entire happiness depend on that one match?"

Everyone agreed: of course not.

Events may influence us, but they shouldn't define us.

Then we learnt a fun tidbit.

"Who speaks in the first chapter?"

"Dhritarashtra."
"Sanjaya."
"Arjuna."

Then we asked,
"Who doesn't speak in the first chapter?"

"Guess what?!  This is Bhagavad Gita, but Bhagavaan Krishna doesn't speak AT ALL in this chapter!"

The Bhagavad in Bhagavad Gita stays silent through the entire first chapter. Krishna waits patiently while Arjuna pours out his confusion.

Only in the second chapter, when Arjuna finally admits,
"I am confused. Please teach me,"

…does Krishna begin.

And that's when the real Gita starts.

Before ending, we watched two videos.  One was a scene from the movie, Inside Out.  Riley's mental state was very relatable to Arjuna's (and our) plight in testing times. The other was a creative AI-style recap of Chapter 1. We briefly discussed modern ways people present devotional music today.

Here are the links to the videos to revisit them - 

Inside Out scene - 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZWvyZb8zLc 

and

Chapter 1, Gita clubbing - 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZzGMCw1tR8

See you all soon.

Until then, here's a quote to ponder 😀 - 

Regards, 

Rashmi and Jacqueline.