Hari Om!
Dear parents,
We had a short class today and at 8 PM we joined the common session for Saraswati Puja at the Temple. Below is a quick summary of today's class.
10/15/21 Class Update
We started the class with the opening prayers and a short discussion of the significance of Saraswati Puja and Vijayadashami. Told them it would be a great idea to start any kind of learning today, like a new hobby.
Shloka
We revised the first stanza of the Ganasha stavaha (Pg No. 28 in the 'My Prayers Book'). 4 of the student volunteers took turns to repeat after phrase by phrase and line by line.
Mahabharata
We did a recap of the story so far and continued with the below chapters of Mahabharata
1. Pandavas coming to Hastinapura
After the death of Pandu, the Pandavas come to Hastinapura. Bheeshma, Dritharashtra, Pandu's mother Ambalika and all others were deeply saddened to know about the passing away of Pandu . Vidura conducted the funeral for Pandu and Vyasa presided over the ceremony. Vyasa told his mother Satyavati that days of sin were to follow soon and advised her to retire to the forest. Satyavati , Ambika and Ambalika all three women set to the forest.
2. Duryodan's jealousy and plot to kill Bheeshma
The children of Pandu and Kauravas started growing up together and Bheeshma was delighted to be among his grandchildren. However soon, jealousy bred in Duryodana. By nature, he had inherited the trait of selfishness from his father and could not bear sharing with Pandavas everything that they were enjoying for themselves. To add to this, Bheema was so strong and could defeat the Pandavas in every match of boxing, wrestling and anything that involved strength. And BHeema always teased the boys and was a bit of a bully.
Duryodana with the help of his uncle Shakuni, hatched a plot to kill Bheema. One day when the boys had all gone on a picnic, Duryodana offered BHeema a lot of food that was poisoned with Kalakuta. When Bheema had become unconscious they tied him up with the creepers and flung him into the river Ganga with poisonous snakes. But to everyone's amazement he escaped alive and much stronger with the strength of 8000 elephants. The poison of the snakes acted as an antidote and their master Vasuki gave him an elixir that gave immense strength. The Naga King reached him back on the banks of the river safe and strong. The Pandavas and Mother KUnti were relieved but learned that they should be wary of evil Duryodana.
3. Kripacharya & Dronacharya
The Pandavas, Kauravas and other Prices from nearby Kingdoms got trained in archery and other war skills by Kripacharya aat Hastinapura Kripa and Kripi were brother and sister who were raised by Bheeshma.
4. Introduction of Dronacharya
Bheeshma then wanted the Prices to get more advanced training and he was on look out for the right teacher. One day when the boys had been playing with a ball , it fell into a nearby well. When they were helpless a stranger who was watching shot an arrow that pierced the ball. He shot more arrows, each one piercing the previous one forming a rope until it came to the top of the well . Then he pulled out the rope of arrows to get the ball. He told the boys that Bheeshma would identify him if they related the story to him. He was a great archerer, a student of the great Bhargava and the son of Sage Bharadwaja and the husband of Kripi.
We paused the story here. Until next week, please ask children to practise the song and Gita. We request all parents to get the 'My Prayers' book and Handbook from Chinmaya Vrindavan if they have not got it.
Regards,
Shanthi