Hari Om ,
We started our class with 3 Om chantings, followed by our regular shlokas.
We continued with our study of the Saints of India. This week was Saint Tukaram. Saint Tukaram was born in the year 1598. He lost his parents very young. His wife also died during a famine. Because of all these events, he became disillusioned and left his village. It was during this time that he understood the meaning of self realization. Later, he reconstructed a temple that was in ruins and began to spend his days and nights performing bhajans and kirtans. He studied the devotional works of popular Saints like Eknath, Namdev etc and eventually began to compose poems that are called Abhangs. Abhangs are fused folk tales with spiritual themes. His kirtans were about Vitthal/ Vithoba, an avatar of Lord Vishnu. Between 1632 and 1650, he composed Tukaram Gatha, a Marathi language compilation of his works. Also popular as Abhanga Gatha , it is said to include about 4500 abhangas.
Mahabharata continues- Arjuna, on reaching Amaravathi, the city of Indra, is amazed to see all the heavenly trees he has only heard about. Father and son enjoy each other's company. Arjuna sees all the apsaras such as Menaka, Rambha, Urvasi, Tillottama dancing in the court. Urvasi falls in love with the handsome Arjuna and expresses her desire to be with him. Arjuna gently tells her that he considers Urvasi to be his mother as she was the wife of his ancestor Pururavas. Urvasi, on being snubbed, curses Arjuna that he will lose his manliness and will become a eunuch, and he will also spend his days in the midst of women, dancing for their amusement. Arjuna is stunned with this turn of events and shares the calamity with his good friend Chitrasena, the gandharva. Chitrasena in turn tells Indra the news. Indra comforts Arjuna by telling him that he can reduce the curse to one year and to use it to his advantage. He cleverly tells Arjuna to suffer the curse during the thirteenth year when the Pandavas have to be in disguise. Arjuna is now happy. Indra gives him his astras. Arjuna learns singing and dancing from his friend, Chitrasena. He becomes proficient in the fine arts. One day, Sage Lomasa comes to see Indra and is awestruck seeing Arjuna, a Kshatriya, sitting with Indra. Indra tells him that he is Nara of Nara - Narayana, born on Earth to cure her of the poison that has accumulated in her. He also tells the sage that he is going to use Arjuna to kill his enemies, the Nivatakavachas and Kalakeyas. He tells Lomasa that Arjuna will kill this enemy and then proceed back to the earth. Indra meanwhile wants a favor from Sage Lomasa. He wants the sage to go to the Kamyaka forest and meet the other Pandavas. They should be comforted and given the good news that Arjuna has now become a master in all the divine astras, is a student of Chitrasena, and is a master of fine arts. Indra asks the sage to coax them to go on a teerthaystra. Lomasa agrees and leaves for Kamyaka forest.
In Kamyaka, Yudhishthira is very unhappy. He misses his brother Arjuna while Bheema and Draupadi keep taunting him for his tapas, meditation and anything and everything which doesn't resonate with a Kshatriya. All this makes Yudhishthira miss Arjuna even more as he was his ardent supporter. At that moment, Sage Brihadaswa approaches Yudhishthira. Unable to control his grief, he laments to the sage all the events of the past six years. The sage tells him the story of King Nala, who also lost his kingdom due to a game of dice, but managed to get it back after learning the manipulations of the game. This art is called Akshahridaya. He teaches Yudhishthira this art. Brihadaswas leaves them. Narada then comes there and suggests to the Pandavas to go in a teerthayatra. All of them along with Dhaumya react favorably to the suggestion. As these discussions are going on, Lomasa comes there with the message from Indra. He also tells them to go on a pilgrimage and decides to accompany them. The first stop is Naimisa, a forest by the river Gomati. Then they go to Prayaga where the different colored waters of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati meet in a place called Triveni Sangamam. They spend four months in the company of Sage Agastya and then proceed towards river Godavari and other Southern rivers. Finally they arrive at Prabhasa to a rousing welcome from Krishna and Balarama. Upon seeing the simple bark attire and matted hair of Yudhishthira, Balarama is very upset and decides to wage a war against Hastinapur along with Satyaki and Krishna. Satyaki calms him down and asks him to wait for thirteen years abiding to Yudhishthira's wishes. Yudhishthira is very happy to finally garner some support. The Pandavas then continue their journey.
They proceed north and reach the banks of river Saraswati, river Ganga, mountain Mainaka, Kailash. They see Binduras, the source for river Ganga. They see the seven streams, three which flow west, three east and the seventh which follow Bhagirata. The Pandavas then see the mountain Mandara, the dwelling place of Kubera. The place is so peaceful that even Bheema forgets his misery and is finally happy. They decide to climb the mountain and as it is very steep, Bheema carries Draupadi. They encounter cold gales, incessant winds and torrential rains. Bheema the mighty also finds it tiring to proceed on. He calls upon his son Ghatotkacha to help them. Ghatotkacha comes with his minions who carry all the Pandavas and Draupadi. Dhaumya and Lomasa walk by themselves. They walk fast and finally reach the top of Kailash mountain. They are welcomed by all the Rishis living there. The Pandavas decide to spend a few days in this ashram named Bhadrikashram.
One day, Draupadi spots a beautiful red Saugandhika flower with a lovely perfume smell. She asks Bheema to get her more of them. Bheema goes in search of them in the forest, when he is halted by a monkey with a long tail. Bheema asks the monkey to move from the path. The monkey says he is old and as his tail is in the path, asks Bheema to move it to one side and proceed. Bheema is unable to move the tail even after repeated attempts and realizes that this is no ordinary monkey. The monkey says that he is Hanuman, Bheema's brother. Hanuman says that he will sit on Arjuna's flagstaff in the war and that his roar will strike fear in the hearts of the enemies. After Hanuman hugs Bheema, his fatigue is gone and Bheema is filled with strength.
Bheema proceeds northwards, still following the trail of the perfume. He suddenly sees a river full of Saungandhika flowers. It is the garden of Kubera. The raksashas protecting the river do not let Bheema pluck the flowers as they belong to their king Kubera. The rakshakas attack Bheema who of course is stronger and manages to kill most of them. Kubera on hearing about a human in his kingdom is sure it must be Bheema. He gives his consent for Bheema to pluck the flowers. Yudhishthira and Draupadi are meanwhile worried about Bheema. They set out along with Ghatotkacha in the direction which Bheema had taken. They reach Kubera's kingdom and seeing the dead rakshakas are assured that Bheema must be there only. Kubera also comes there to receive them with honor. He requests them to spend a few days with him. Yudhishthira wants to go further north. A voice from heaven speaks asking them not to go further and to return to Badarikashram as Arjuna will be coming back to Earth very soon. They retrace their steps back and impatiently count the days waiting for Arjuna.
As the days pass by, the Pandavas eagerly wait for Arjuna. Draupadi is happy as well after a long time. One day, they suddenly see a strange unearthly light. They see a chariot and Arjuna in it. They have a very happy reunion. They are seeing Arjuna after five years. Indra arrives to meet Yudhishthira. He assures them of sure success in the war and thanks them for sparing Arjuna for a few years. He asks them to move on to Kamyaka forest and asks them to endure these hardships for only a few more years. Indra leaves them. Arjuna starts narrating his adventures on earth and in the heavens. He tells them about his fight with the Nivatakavachas using the Mohinia astra and then defeating the Kalakeyas using the Pasupata astra. The Pandavas spend a few days in Badarikashram and then leave for Kamyaka forest. They have spent ten years in exile. They reach the Ashram of Vrishaparva. They spend some time there. One day Bheema is grabbed by a python who is actually the king Nahusha due to a curse by Sage Agatha. He can be relieved from the curse only after a few answers from Yudhishthira. Yudhishthira successfully answers them. The king gets his original form and leaves for the heavens. The Pandavas spend a year at the Ashram and then reach Dwaitavana. They have only one more to be spent in the forest and one year in disguise.
We also continued with our learning of Geeta chanting verses 29 and 30. This completes the verses for this year. I have sent the link for these verses in our WhatsApp group. Please use these available resources to familiarize the kids with Geeta Chanting. Geeta Chanting Yajna is on April 10th. Please register if interested. We ended our class with closing prayers. Our next Balvihar is on April 11th due to spring break. Take care and enjoy your two Sundays off!
Regards,
Raji and Rekha
