Hari Om! Parents
Week 14 Bala Vihar class started with children writing 11 times likhita japa, 'Om Gam Ganapataye Namah'. Please submit your child's Likhita Japa for Bala Vihar House Points.
Shlokas
Om chanting, Sahana vavatu (pg 8, My Prayers Book). The children took turns to chant all the verses of Sri Ganesha Stavah (pg 28, My Prayers book) and the Sri Ganesha Pancharatnam (pg 30, My Prayers book). Both these MP3 audios were shared with you in the Parents WhatApp Group. Please use it so your child can practice correct pronunciation of the shlokas.
Bhagavad Gita
We are learning part two of the Gita Chapter 2 this year from our Swamiji. Grade 5 (Partha group) assigned verses are 39-63 (Bala Vihar Handbook). The children are taking turns to lead the Gita chanting. We have now covered Verse 39 - 60 (pg 22&23, Bala Vihar Handbook).
Your child must use this YouTube Gita Playlist to practice pronunciation of the Gita correctly.
Mahabharata
After a recap of the prasangas so far, we continued with the Sabha Parva of our Mahabharata story. Vidura takes the king's invitation to Indraprasta, where he is welcomed warmly by Yudhistira. After Yudhistira hears the message he feels there is more to it than meets the eye, He tells Vidura that he could see the king's jealousy and bad intentions. They both discuss how the game of dice could cause a quarrel and is like a disease that weakens a man. Finally, Yudhistira says that as a kshatriya he can not refuse an invitation to play the game. He also says that he is duty bound to obey his elders. Yudhistira feels that one cannot do anything if Fate has planned these events to take place. Accompanied by mother Kuntidevi and Draupadi, the Pandavas go to Hastinapura.
The Kauravas welcomed them to Hastinapura and had made excellent arrangements for their comfort. The Pandavas were given a tour of Jayanta sabha, where Sakuni proposed a game of dice. Yudhistira says that the game was cheating and that it robs a man of the power of reasoning. He says that the game has made a wise man into a fool. Sakuni refuses to take no for an answer and calls Yudhistira a coward for refusing to play the game. He asks Yudhistira if he loved his wealth so much that he did not want to part with it. Finally accepting his Fate, Yudhistra agrees and places a wager of jewels and precious stones. Duryodhana matches the bet with an equal one and the game begins. Sakuni rolls the dice and wins the bet. Yudhistira places gold coins, jewels, chariots, horses, elephants, his army, slaves, treasury, granary, but looses them all in that order. Vidura pleads with king Dhritarastra to stop this unfair behavior immediately. He reminds the king of the ill omens predicting the destruction of the Kuru clan by Duryodhana. The king stays silent because he is secretly pleased with the Pandavas losing all their possessions.
Even after Yudhisthira had lost all his worldly possessions, Sakuni still does not stop. He says that if Yudhistira won the next round he could get back everything that he had lost. With that hope, Yudhistira places Nakula as the next wagr, but loses him. He then wagers Sahadeva, Arjuna and Bhimasena only to lose all of them. He then places himself, but the cunning Sakuni wins the bet again. Finally, Yudhistira wagers Draupadi and loses her also. The Kauravas are jubilant and Duryodhana thanks his uncle Sakuni for all his help.
Next Duryodhana orders Dussasana to bring Draupadi to the sabha. Dussasana drags Draupadi into the sabha by her hair. Draupadi asks "Did my husband lose himself before he placed me as a wager?" and " Do you consider me a slave or am I free?" No one in the sabha offers any answers, they all sit with their heads bent down. She is mocked by the Kauravas and Radheya as becoming a slave from a queen. Saying that a slave did not deserve silk clothes, Dussasana begins disrobing Draupadi. No one answers her cries of help and everyone in the court is shocked at the shameful turn of events. Being a great devotee, Draupadi starts praying to Lord Krishna for help. A divine miracle takes place, and Draupadi is still covered in her garment no matter how much Dussasana tries to pull it away. Lord Krishna protected his true devotee in her time of need! Exhausted, Dussasana finally stops and falls down. Immediately, Bhimasena gets up and loudly announces to the sabha that he vows to avenge this humiliation to Draupadi. He says that he would kill Dussasana and drink his blood. He tells the Kauravas that the reason the Pandavas had still not killed them was because of their devotion to Yudhistira. Bhimasena says that they had a lot of respect for their older brother, and would never go against his wishes.
We paused here and took a break to listen to a bhajan "Hey Govinda, hey Gopala '' composed by Sant Suradasa.
India, the Sacred Land
Sant Suradasa was born as a blind infant in Delhi in1478. His family neglected the child and he grew up on the kindness of strangers. Once a group of singers passed by, fascinated by them he wanted to learn their music and followed them away from home. People gave him food and called him "Surdasa". He would sing bhajans and had the ability to predict future events. One day Sant Suradasa got a calling from Lord Krishna to go to Vrindavan. Once the blind saint fell in a well, but was rescued by a boy. When he got out the boy disappeared and the saint realized it was actually Lord Krishna. Tansen from Akbar's court once sang a Sant Surdasa bhajan. Moved by the song the emperor invited the saint to come to sing in his court. Sant Surdasa refused, saying he only sang in Krishna's court. Such was his dedication to Bhagwan. He lived his life singing the stories of the glory of Lord Krishna. The class listened to the story of "Gajendra Moksha". The moral of the story is - have faith in the Lord to be safe and happy. The important values learnt from Sant Suradasa are - Sing His Glory, Speak sweetly, Guard the senses, Be devoted. The children were asked to keep a journal about how they used the saint's values in their everyday life. It will be our weekly discussion topic going forward.
Class ended early, and after chanting closing prayers we all left to watch the Grade 8 class program.
- Rashmi Kuroodi and Shanthi Chidambaram
Materials needed for every class: notebook & pen for the likhita japa, My Prayers book for the shlokas, Bala Vihar Handbook for the Gita Chanting, aarti and pledge recitation.