Dear Parents,
Our Bala Vihar classes are enlivened by students' presentations on temples and personal trips to various places of interest in India. As these presentations proceed, we look forward to many more interesting facts and snippets from their research.
This week the schedule was as such.
Opening Prayers:
* Om Sahanā vavatu śloka
* Om Sree Ganeśaya Namaha, Sree Saraswatyai Namaha, Sree Sat Gurubhyo Namaha.
* Daily prayers (as given in the 'My Prayers' book)
Mahabharata:
An introduction to some basic principles such as the four goals of life (Purushārtha) and also the 3 gunās were introduced. We looked at the relevance of these topics based on some situations/incidents in Udhyoga Parvā. A few such highlighted episodes from this Parvā..
1. The higher aspect of personality Arjuna preferring Krishna, as nothing is greater than the Lord's support versus Duryodhana (lower aspect of personality) looking to only gain the Narayana sena and considering that a greater strength than the Lord himself. Shreyas vs Preyas was discussed to show the difference in choices made by Arjuna and Duryodhana.
2. Physical vs Psychological warfare - where Kauravas, by deception, had Shalya fight on their side. But the effort was thwarted, in a sense, when Yudhisthira asked their uncle to bring down Karna's morale while on the battlefield, helping the Pandavas eventually.
3. Udhyoga Parvā is coined as such due to the effort and toil put in by many to avoid war at all costs, but eventually led to the preparation for war due to the ego and arrogance of a few. Even when Sanjaya, Krishna tried brokering peace, the Kauravas did not wish to let go of even a 'needle point of land' to their cousins.
4. The devotion of Vidura's wife, feeding Krishna with the peel while throwing away the fleshy fruit, was compared to Rama being fed the 'tasted and selected berries' from Sabhari. The love of the devotee made the peel more appealing than the fruit itself.
5. Krishna's visit to Hastinapura - the misplaced belief by the Kauravas that Krishna's support of the Pandavas could get him imprisoned - Krishna dazzling the few blessed with his Vishwarupam - Krishna's appeal to Karna to side with Dharma and Karna's predicament in light of his undying friendship and loyalty to Duryodhana, portray the conflict within ourselves as we battle the everyday trials and tribulations. By removing Avidhya(Ignorance), we are in a better position to confront those challenges.
Story wise...
After uncovering the identities of the Pandavas in Virāta, and the grand celebration of Abhimanyu and Uttara's marriage, the remaining guests of Krishna, his sons Pradhyumna and Samba, Balarama, and Drupada along with the Pandavas and Abhimanyu sat in Virāta's court, discussing how to proceed now that the exile was successfully completed. Krishna, in all earnest, described every situation that plagued the Pandavas over the years and their calm and collected response to every injustice meted out. His passionate speech was met with great enthusiasm by all, including Balarama who spoke next. His speech was tinged with support for Duryodhana, making it seem as though the entire dice game was orchestrated by Yudhisthira who lost foolishly to Śakuni. Upon hearing such statements, Krishna's cousin Satyaki also stood to chide Balarama's rose tinted view of his favorite disciple, to relate to those present that Duryodhana was ruled by his arrogance and that he would not readily give half the kingdom without a fight. Drupada and Krishna agreed. Being great voices of reason, they also decided that if a peaceful agreement was not reached at the earliest, the forces would be gathered and war, an eventual reality. With this the great kings and undying supporters of the Pandavas dispersed to their respective kingdoms,
Bhagavad Gita: Chanted verses 15 and 16 with Swamiji.
Please have the children do their daily prayers regularly and also practice the ślokas and Gita chanting.
See you all on Friday January 22, 2021.
Pranāms,
Viji Lakshmi and Nivedita
Friday Grade 6 sevikas
