Hari Om Parents,
The sequence and summary of today's class is as follows
-Opening prayers and Om chanting
-Simple eye exercises
-Gurusthotram
-Quick recap of last week's class.
-Today's lesson
We started today's lesson with learning about three types of devotion, tamasic, rajasic and satvic. Devotion while harboring negative emotions like jealousy and hatred is Tamasic. Devotion with desires is Rajasic. The superior of all is Satvic devotion, which is out of pure love for God. We explained with short stories and examples.
Today's main story was about Sati. Sati, the daughter of Daksha is married to Lord Shiva. Daksha, owing to his power and wealth was very arrogant. Once a sacrifice was performed by the rishis where all Gods and kings were invited. As Daksha enters the place, everyone gets up as a mark of respect, except for Brahma and Shiva. Daksha bows to Brahma as he is his father, but gets angry at Shiva for not standing up. He insults Shiva in front of everyone and curses him that henceforth Shiva shall not be given the share of any sacrifice. Although Shiva remains calm, his follower Nandiswara gives a counter curse that Daksha shall remain ignorant, and will soon get a goat's head.
After some time, Daksha plans to perform a grand yagna to which he invites everyone except Sati and Shiva. Sati, hearing about this, wants to attend the yagna. Shiva tries to stop her as they were not given an invitation. Sati insists on going as she feels she does not need an invitation to go to her parents' house. Shiva agrees reluctantly. When she reaches Daksha's house no one really gives her a warm welcome, She sees that there is no offering being made to Shiva. She is unable to bear the humiliation being done to her husband. She does not want to remain as Daksha's daughter anymore, and in yogic fire burns herself to ashes. Hearing this, Shiva is enraged. He creates Virabhadra and sends him to destroy Daksha's yagna. Virabhadra accordingly destroys everything and beheads Daksha. Everyone is scared and all the Gods approach Shiva along with Brahma, and ask for pardon. Shiva, who has calmed down by now forgives them and brings Daksha back to life with a goat's head. Sati is reborn as Himavan's daughter, Parvathi and marries Shiva after years of penance.
We talked about how the arrogance of Daksha brought about his destruction.
- Online Game of word search : Due to a technical problem, some kids were not able to play this game online. If they are interested, they can play the game on this link.
-Gita Chanting : Today we learnt Shlokas 11 and 12. The link to the video is (1) Verses 11-12 Ch.2 - YouTube.
Please encourage the kids to practice a few times before next class.
-Aarthi, Pledge and closing prayers.
We look forward to seeing the kids next Sunday.
Pranaam,
Vasudha & Neelima
