Hari Om!
Dear Parents,
Here is the summary of our class on Friday, Nov 6, 2020.
Opening prayers:
Om Sahana Vavatu
Om Sri Ganeshaya NamaH
Om Sri Saraswatyai NamaH
Om Sri Sadgurubhyo NamaH
Vasudevasutam Devam (Krishna Shloka)
Quote of the day: Delusion arises from anger, The mind is bewildered. One falls down when reasoning is destroyed.
Lessons: Mahabharata
Activity: Game: Detective
Chanting: Gita Dhyana Shloka
Bhagavat Gita: Ch. 2 Verses 5-6
Ending Shloka
Next Balavihar class: 11/20/20
Announcement: The next e-Balavihar will be on 11/20/2020. Happy Deepavali!
Summary: We had quite a busy class this week. It was our first full class after a bit of a break. We started with a recap of the story of Mahabharata up to the birth of the Pandavas and Kauravas. When Pandu and Madri died in the forest, Kunti took the Pandavas to Hastinapura and that was the beginning of rivalry among the cousins. Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kauravas was always jealous of the Pandavas. He was also instigated and encouraged by his maternal uncle, the evil Shakuni. When the princes came of age, Duryodhana had a palace of lac (wax) built for the Pandavas. It was an extremely beautiful but flammable palace. His plan was to set it on fire to kill the Pandavas. Forewarned by Vidura, the Pandavas had a secret underground passage built to escape. They lived in the forest in the disguise of Brahmanas until they heard about Draupadi's Swayamvara in which Arjuna won the contest with his expert archery. Kunti' thinking that they brought alms' told them to share among themselves and hence the Pandavas married Draupadi. The Kauravas found out abou the Pandavas being alive, Now, Dhritarashtra had to give them some part of the kingdom. So he gave them a barren ad hard piece of land in which the Pandavas worked hard and made it fertile and prosperous and had a beautiful palace constructed by celestial architects, He invited the Kauravas to a feast in which Duryodhana burnt with jealousy over the prosperity of the Pandavas. He decided to take revenge on them. He schemed an evil plan with Shakuni and invited them to a game of dice. Gambling was the only vice that the righteous Yudhishtira had. Even one weakness can be exploited by the enemy and lead to our downfall! Yudhishitira lost everything in the game due to the cunningness of Shakuni. After he lost his kingdom, his brothers and even his wife were humiliated in the court by the Kauravas! They had to live in the forest for 12 years and spend an extra year incognito. If they were discovered during that period, they had to restart for another 12 years followed by the thirteenth year in disguise. During their stay in the forest, the Pandavas learned and earned many celestial weapons to prepare themselves for the imminent war. Once, while in the forest, they came upon a lake, deep in the forest. Although the brothers were warned by a voice not to drink the water of the lake without answering some questions, four of the Pandavas ignored it and immediately fell down
dead when they tried to drink the water. When Yudhishtira came looking for the rest of them. the Yaksha who was the owner of the voice revealed himself as a crane and told him that he had to answer his questions. Yudhishtira humbly accepted. In the upcoming classes we will discuss an important segment of Mahabharata known as Yaksha Prshna. We spoke about the laser focus and concentration of Arjuna which is what made him a great archer! We played a game that tests alertness and concentration of the players. One student was the detective and they had to completely reduce their volume and close their eyes and count to 30. During this time, silently, another student would become 'It'. Whatever action 'It' did all the remaining students had to follow. When the detective was ready, they had to find who 'It' was. While the detective observed each player, 'It' could change their action which was followed by the rest of the players. 'It' had to concentrate for the moment when the detective was not watching and the detective had to concentrate for the moment 'It' changed their action. The children had fun playing this game. We then reviewed and learnt the Geeta Dhyana shloka and verses 5 & 6 of Bhagavat Geeta chapter 2. We ended with closing prayers. We will discuss more in the upcoming classes.
There is no Balavihar next week due to Deepavali. Happy and Safe Deepavali to everyone!
Pranaam,
Mythili and Anandhi
