Hari Om! Parents,
Balavihar class began with the class doing a deep breathing exercise and Shree Ram Jayaram chanting. After opening prayers, children too turns as per their assignment and chanted Ganeshastavaha, Pancharatnam and Gita Chapter 2 - 28 shlokas.
Mahabharata
Activity:
To recap Mahabharata story so far, the childrean were given a game through Wordwall to play. Questions were from the story and episodes covered so far. They did really well.
Story:
We covered the below in today's class:
1. Destiny of war and destruction - The Kings who visited Indhraprastha were all ready to leave for their countries. Krishna also left for Dwaraka back after his visit. Duryodana, Dusshasana, Sakuni and Radheya stayed back to see the Hall.
Yudhistira was very pleased and took good care of them. When Vyasa Maharshi bade his farewell, Yudhistira, being concerned about the bad omens after the Rajasuya Yagna asked what those meant. Vyasa applauds Yudhistira for the successful completion of the Rajasuya Yagna and fulfilling his father's wish. However, when Yudhistira insisted, Vyasa told him that the death of Shishupala and the bad omen did indicate the bad time that was going to prevail soon. He told that fate has planned the destruction of the Kshatriyas. The wrongdoing of Duryodana, the power of Bheema and Arjuna and the anger of Draupathi will all be a reason for it. Yudhistira felt very sad. Vyasa convinces that it was the play of fate and it cannot be stopped. Saying so, he blessed Yudhistira and took his leave.
2. Duryodana visiting the Hall of Maya - Duryodana visited the Hall of Maya and was totally blown away at the marvel and was filled with jealousy. The asura architect Maya had built the palace with so much complex gadgetry that if anybody looked at it with jealousy, they would be deceived. He walked carefully assuming there was water at one place. Realizing there was not, he walked further thinking it was just a floor but there was actually water. He slipped and fell, getting his clothes drenched. Draupathi and others who saw this started laughing, causing him terrible embarrassment. Similarly, he had several other accidents through the Hall of Maya. Even though Yudhistira honored him well and took good care of him well, Duryodana was totally depressed by this incident.
3. Sakuni came up with a treacherous plan - Duryodana was so sad and depressed after returning to Hastinapur. He did not speak to anyone. He told his uncle Sakuni that he could not bear the success of the Pandavas and would not be at peace until the Pandavas were perished. Sakuni told that the Pandavas could never be defeated by any fair means because they were the most powerful. But he suggested that they should come up with a deceptive plan. Knowing that Yudhishtira had a weakness for gambling and he himself was very good at rolling the dice, he told Duryodana if they could get the Pandavas to play a game with them , he could make them lose their Kingdom and hall their honor onor to the Kauravas in the game. The difficult part was convincing King Dhritarastra to agree to this plan and invite Yudhistira to Hastinapur.
We discussed the character of Duryodana. He was a powerful warrior, a good Yuvraj of Hastinapur, a charming Prince who could attract Radheya, Ashwattama and who was generous enough to make Radheya the King of Angha. However, his jealousy was one bad trait in him that was the root cause of all destruction.
Saint of India
We had a group discussion on the Life History and contributions of Mother Theresa. One of the students, Mahati, had earlier presented 'Mother Teresa' for Saint Presentations.
Hence, the participation was even better. We also revisited the activity we had started earlier that is keeping a journal of a value picked by each and writing down their experience following it.
The values could be any one of the values of any of the Saints we have seen so far.
Geeta Chanting
Shlokas 29 and 30 of Chapter 2 covered today through Swamiji's Gita chanting video.
Class material needed: notebook, pencil, Balavihar Handbook, My Prayers book. Your child can also read from C Rajagopalachari's "Mahabharata" or Kamala Subramaniam's "Mahabharata". Both these books are available on Amazon.
Pranam
Shanthi and Rashmi
