Hari OM Dear Families,
Here is this week's update.Week 18:
6th March 2022 / 9:15AM
Opening Prayers and Stotras:
Class began with opening prayers. 3 OM's and followed by Sahanavavathu,
Om shrI Ganeśaya Namaha, shrI Saraswatyai Namaha, shrI Sat Gurubhyo Namaha.
We practiced Mahalakshmi Ashtakam all verses along with the phalasruthi.
We completed the assigned verses of Gita chapter 2 (for this year) and we will practice and record in the next class. (Students are assigned verses)
Mahabharata - Arjuna goes back to the battle field, where Samasaptakas are again ready to fight with Arjuna, but Bhima takes them on. Karna's son Vrisasena comes to fight with Arjuna and is subsequently killed by Arjuna. Karna is shattered and is even more angry and wants to kill Arjuna. Though Lord Surya's blessings are with Karna, he has more curses than blessings, mother earth's curse, Brahmin's curse, guru's curse and some limitations in relation to certain promises made. Arjuna on the other hand, has the blessings of Indira, Devas and Gandharvas and the Supreme Lord as his Mentor. Karna aims the Nagastra for Arjuna's head. Salya advises to aim at his chest, but Karna would not listen to Salya. Aswasena, the offspring of the pregnant snake which was burned by Arjuna in the process of transitioning Khandavprastha to Indraprastha, gets into the astra and is ready to kill/take revenge on Arjuna. The Lord makes the chariot to get into the ground a good few inches, the astra along with Aswasena, hits Arjuna's crown and he is unharmed. The snake pleads with Karna to release the nagastra one more time but Karna refuses as it is not in the warrior's code of conduct to reuse the same astra or to take another's secret help. As fate would also play a part against Karna, his chariot gets stuck into the mud and he has no help to release the wheels. Salya leaves the place as he can't help in this situation and he is just acting as a charioteer. Karna gets down and tries to pull the wheels out of the muddy ground. Arjuna keeps talking about all Karna's bad acts. Krishna asked Arjuna to shoot the arrow and Arjuna aimed the Anjalika astra on Karna and killed him. After Karna's death, Kunti declares that he is her oldest son and asks Yudhisthira to do the last rites. He gets shocked and mad with mother for not telling him earlier. He says he always felt when looking at Karna's feet that reminded him of his mother's feet. He curses the womanhood that they cannot keep up any secret, anytime. Thus the Karna parva ends. Salya, the king of Madra and maternal uncle of Nakula and Sahadeva is now the new commander in chief. He faces a one on one with Yudhishtra and after a fierce battle, Yudhistra kills Salya. At the other side, Sahadeva and Shakuni fight and Shakuni is killed by Sahadeva. Sanjaya comes to the war front to check on the details and wants to report to Dhritarashtra. He observes the armies are reduced much in numbers. He meets Duryodhana who is leaving the field of war, burning with rage. Duryodhana gets into a lake and is hiding and creates an illusory feel of a frozen surface of the lake. Ashvatthama, Kripa and Kritavarma come to meet him there and he sends them away, wanting to rest and recoup. Bhima's food suppliers notice this act of Duryodhana and report to Pandavas about Duryodhana's hideout. Pandavas go to the lake shore and ask Duryodhana to come out of the lake. Duryodhana tells Yudhishtra to take all the kingdom as his gift and Yudhishtra taunts Duryodhana. He tells Duryodhana to fight any one of the Pandavas and promises him that if they lose to Duryodhana, the war declares Duryodhana's victory. Krishna says that this is a bad idea, as anyone other than Bhima would lose to Duryodhana. Duryodhana picks Bhima as he thinks only Bhima is equal to him in valor and strength. They both fight like terror never seen before. Duryodhana breaks Bhima's armor and throws him down to the ground. Krishna keeps reminding about Bhima's vow and subsequently Arjuna pats his thighs. Bhima, having fallen into the ground, almost loses consciousness but gathers strength and picks his mace and jumps on a flying Duryodhana and knocks a blow on his thigh that makes Duryodhana fall with a great pain and broken thigh. Balarama, who chose to stay away from this war gets to the spot and is mad for Bhima's act of hitting Duryodhana on his thigh, which does not come into the grammar of war with maces. At the same time, he is very sad about Duryodhana's misbehavior and act of underhandedness. Duryodhana dies. Krishna asked Arjuna to get off the chariot and He also followed Arjuna and the chariot broke to pieces. Krishna then leaves for Hastinapura to apologize to Dhritarashtra and Gandhari who had suffered heavy loss in this gruesome war. At the same time, The Lord rushes back to Kurukshetra, intuiting the evil plans of Ashvattama.
We concluded the class with closing prayers and the pledge.
Our next class is on March 13th 2022.
Please feel free to reach out in case you have any questions. Hari OM
Abhirami Shrinivas and Vidhya Aiyer
Grade 6 Sunday AM