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 we looked at Sage Mahavira. Mahavira, also known as Vardhamana, was the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism. He was the spiritual successor of the 23rd Tirthankara Parshvanatha. Mahavira was born in the early part of the 6th century BCE into a royal family in Bihar, India. His mother's name was Trishala and his father's name was Siddhartha. They were ardent devotees of Parshvanatha. Mahavira abandoned all worldly possessions at the age of about 30 and left home in pursuit of spiritual awakening, becoming an ascetic. Mahavira practiced intense meditation and severe austerities for 12 and a half years, after which he attained Kevala Gyan (omniscience). He preached for 30 years and attained Moksha (salvation) in the 6th century BCE, although the year varies by sect.
Sage Mahavira is mostly famous for founding the religion of Jainism. He discouraged any sort of violent actions, and when he went into meditation he stripped himself and tore out all of his hair, considering himself above all pain. Jainism as a religion promotes positivity, tolerance, forgiveness, compassion, and to help the poor. It discourages violence and tries to teach you to discipline yourself. Jainism believes that to achieve liberation, you have to release all karma from your soul.
Mahabharata continues- Draupadi is loved by the queen and is treated very well as she had supposedly been a companion to the queen of the Pandavas. Ten months of the Ajnaatavaasa has passed. The queen has a brother named Keechaka who is the commander of the king's army. He had gone on a tour of conquests when the five Pandavas had arrived in Virata. On his return, he comes to his sister's palace and after spending some time with her, departs. On the way, he passes a garden sand sees Sairandhri (Draupadi). He immediately falls in love with her. He approaches her and asks who she is. He confesses his love for her and promises to make her the queen of Virata. Draupadi is shocked and warns him to behave. She tells him that she is married to five gandharvas who will kill him if they hear about his misbehavior. Keechaka tries many ways to convince her but is unsuccessful. Draupadi keeps warning him. Keechaka in despair again reaches out to his sister. She is also taken aback and warns him not to have any feelings for Sairandhri as she is married to five gandharvas. She offers him to choose some one else. Keechaka is very sure he can get Sairandhri to love him in return. He hatches a new plan.
After a few days, Queen Sudeshna asks Sairandhri to get some rare wines from her brother Keechaka. Draupadi is shocked with this suggestion and tries to make the queen see reason. But Sudeshna flatly refuses and on the contrary, scolds her for not doing her job properly. Left with no choice, Draupadi agrees to go. Keechaka welcomes her into his home and asks her to stay back. He tries to come near her and take her hand. Draupadi pushes him and starts running in the direction of the court of Virata. Keechaka runs behind her. He grabs her hair and throws her on the floor. He kicks her. Draupadi, with her hair disheveled, enters the court of Virata. She sees Yudhishthira there, and Bheema also happens to be there. He is furious but is stopped by Yudhishthira with a look. Draupadi is enraged that Yudhishthira is not coming to her rescue. She looks at the king and asks him how he can allow this to happen in his kingdom. The king sits on the fence and tries to placate Draupadi instead. Yudhishthira is infuriated with the king and advises Draupadi to go back to her room. He tells her that her husbands cannot come to her rescue as they might have a valid reason for not coming. The Pandavas are quiet as they are worried that their disguise will be recognized. Draupadi, though annoyed, picks her garments and leaves the court with a look of fire at both Yudhishthira and the court in general.
Draupadi returns to her apartment and starts weeping. The queen comes there to console her. Draupadi blames her misery and warns her that her husbands will kill Keechaka. That night, Draupadi silently goes to meet Bheema. He is shocked to see her there. Draupadi tries to manipulate him into doing what she wants. She wants justice and the way she thinks she can get it is by killing Keechaka. She talks of all the hardships she has faced. Bheema is moved but comforts her and promises to kill Keechaka in a fortnight and not immediately as he is worried that he will be recognized. But Draupadi refuses to be convinced. Bheema finally relents. He asks Draupadi to ask Keechaka to come and meet her in the dance hall in the night. He promises to kill him there. Draupadi is extremely happy and goes back to her apartment. In the morning, she meets Keechaka and talking sweetly, she asks him to meet her in the dance hall at night. Keechaka, being crazily in love with her, cannot be happier with the turn of events and promises to meet her there.
That night, Bheema covers himself in a soft piece of silk goes to the dance hall. There is a couch, in which he lies down covering himself. Draupadi stands behind a pillar. Keechaka, all dressed up, also comes there. Vaguely seeing someone on the couch, he approaches it with the anticipation that it is Draupadi. Unfortunately for him, it is Bheema, who grips his hand. Keechaka recognizes that the hand does not belong to a woman. Bheema introduces himself as Sairandhri's husband. Both start fighting and finally, Bheema manages to kill Keechaka. Bheema heads back to the kitchen. Draupadi is overjoyed and calls the guards of the dance hall to look at the fate of Keechaka. She tells them that he has been killed by her gandharva husband. The news breaks out and all the one hundred and five half brothers of Keechaka, along with King Virata and Queen Sudeshna, come to see the ghastly body. The brothers, called Upakeechakas, decide to also burn Sairandhri along with Keechaka. Draupadi again calls out to a Bheema, who kills all of them. Now, everybody is scared of Sairandhri. The king tells his queen to ask Sairandhri to leave the city as she is very dangerous. The queen approaches Sairandhri and asks her to leave. Sairandhri asks for thirteen days more and says that the curse of her husbands will be lifted in thirteen days. She promises to leave the kingdom then.
The spies of Duryodhana had been sent to all the countries to find out the whereabouts of the Pandavas, but with no success. They looked in Dwaraka and Panchala, among other places. The general consensus was that the Pandavas were dead. The only news the spies could get was the death of Keechaka and his brothers, the Upakeechakas, by a gandharva married to a woman in the middle of the night. Drona and Bheeshma do not feel that the Pandavas could be dead. They implore Duryodhana to return the kingdom to the Pandavas. Bheeshma thinks that the place wherein Yudhishthira lives will be very prosperous. Kripa feels that Duryodhana should get ready and collect his army to fight the Pandavas in the inevitable war. Duryodhana sees the logic in Kripa's words. Suddenly, with a jolt, he realizes that Keechaka could only be killed by Bheema. He remembers how a year back, a beautiful young lady had entered the Matsya kingdom and had said she had five gandharva husbands. He is sure Keechaka had fallen in love with this woman and had been killed by Bheema in revenge. He decides to invade the Matsya kingdom and take away the cattle. The Pandavas will come out to defend the kingdom and they can be recognized. Duryodhana decides to rope in Bheeshma, Kripa, Drona, Radheya, Aswattama, Shakuni etc. Susarma, their friend, decides to attack on the eighth day after the full moon from the southern side and the Kauravas decide to attack from the northern side on the ninth day.
As planned, Susarma enters the city from the southern side and steals the cattle. King Virata and his sons decide to defend themselves. Yudhishthira confirms his desire to fight. He also enlists his brothers, Bheema, Nakula and Sahadeva. The king is glad to have all the help possible. Yudhishthira feels that he is doing the right thing to repay the kindness of the king who has given them all a home for the last so many months. The fighting begins and Susarma and his army are routed. Virata is extremely pleased with the four Pandavas and praises them all. Yudhishthira is glad they were of help and they all decide to return back to the city after sun rise.
The next day, as planned, the Kauravas attack from the northern side and capture the cows. The cowherds rush to the palace but find no one except the younger son of Virata, known as Uttara Kumara. He is sitting in the midst of the women of the royal household. They ask him to fight as his father and brothers are not back. He gloats saying how good he is in warfare and how he is equal to Arjuna. But he says that his charioteer is dead and he cannot go fight unless they find him a good charioteer. Draupadi is with the other women and is burning with anger, hearing the bragging of the young prince. Arjuna, who is Brihannala, now sees Draupadi and asks her to go to Uttara, the princess, and tell her about the greatness of Brihannala, who was the charioteer for Arjuna during the burning of the Khandava forest. He asks her to suggest Brihannala as the charioteer for the prince. As directed, Draupadi tells Uttara. Uttara is extremely excited and tells her brother. Uttara Kumara is a little apprehensive on hearing the suggestion as Brihannala is neither a man nor a woman, and it will be below his dignity to have a woman steer his horses. Sairandhri agrees to his justification but reminds that this is an emergency. Uttara Kumara has to agree to this. He summons Brihannala and Brihannala walks in with hesitant steps, looking as if she is ready to faint with shyness. Uttara Kumara asks her to get ready for the fight, and she is given the armor for the war. Brihannala pretends like she doesn't know how to put it on. Finally, in exasperation, Uttara Kumara helps Brihannala put on the armor. This is what Arjuna wanted. Brihannala is all ready and asks the prince to leave for the war, saying that she cannot wait for the glorious spectacle. The princess Uttara runs to Brihannala and asks her to come back with beautiful silks and garments from the enemies after they have been defeated by her brother. Arjuna smiles at her and promises her. Uttara Kumara and Brihannala set out seeking the Kauravas.
We then moved on to the Festivals of India. Today we discussed Raksha Bandhan. The kids explained how uniquely they celebrate the beautiful festival that signifies the bond between brothers and sisters as well as the bond between a Guru and his disciples. Raksha Bandhan falls on the full moon day of the Hindu month Sravana. Raksha means protection and bandhan means a bond. There are many legends in our scriptures regarding Raksha Bandhan. One legend is that when Krishna was hurt and bleeding, Draupadi tore her saree and tied it to Krishna's finger. Krishna in turn protected her when Dushaasan pulled her saree to defame her. Another legend talks of devotion of King Bali, who compelled Vishnu to leave Vaikunth and reside in Sutala. Mother Lakshmi accepted King Bali as her brother and tied a rakhi to Bali. When Bali offered a gift to his sister, she asked that her husband return to Vaikunth and be with her.
Today, most commonly, the sister prepares a beautiful thali which has kumkum, rice, a lamp, rakhi, and of course, sweets. She puts kumkum and some rice on the forehead of the brother, and ties rakhi on the right hand of the brother wishing him all the best. Then the sister will do arthi of the brother and feed him the sweets. The brother in turn gives a gift to the sister.
See you all next week!
Regards,
Raji and Rekha
