Sept 24, 2023 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone, 

In this week's class, after meditation, we learnt BG ch. 4 until verse 15.

Our Kyun Kyun (QQ - Quirky Question) of the day was actually a challenge!  We said, 'We challenge you, nothing starts with an 'n' and ends with a 'g'.  You cannot disprove it!'  

Someone said, 'nag or nagging starts with n and ends with a g!'   

Oh o!  Were we disproven?!  Not really...

Someone else said, 'The word 'nothing' starts with n and ends with g.  You were not asking us a question, you were making a statement!'

Yep, that's right! And no one can disprove it!!!  

Through this, we learnt a concept called, 'missing the obvious'.  In our keen involvement, we tend to miss the very crux of the problem or situation.  We do this often.  While learning BG, we think that Bhagavadgeeta is words of advice given by a Krishna to some Arjuna on some battlefield, thousands of years ago!  What's in it for me?!  

We miss the obvious that we are the intended students of these teachings!!  The arena may be different, but we have the same confusions and delusions as Arjuna on the battlefield.  We should constantly keep in mind, the relevance of the teachings of the BG.  That's when we become ardent students of BG and can shape our lives better!

We then continued with the review of the Mahaabhaarata story.  We saw that every cause has an effect in the stories.  Likewise, our actions become the cause for the effects we receive later.  

During the story, we said Duryodhana became an ill-mannered and stubborn child due to the mild parenting of Gaandhaari and DhritaraaShTra.  They did not discipline him when they should have. That led to the destruction of the whole family.

When we said this, one of the students said, 'In reality, the reason was Ambaalika who closed her eyes in front of Veda Vyaasa.  If not, DhritaraaShTra wouldn't have been blind and there would be no trouble, right?!'

Wonderful!  We were thinking of addressing this issue later in the story.  But a student had already raised the question.  We said, let's trace back the events.  

• There would be no reason for Veda Vyaasa to bless Ambaalika if the kingdom didn't need an heir.  Why did the kingdom need an heir when BheeShma was already there?  
• Because Bheeshma had taken a vow to never become king or get married/have children.  Why did he do that?
• Because Satyavati's father wanted his own grandchildren to be kings.  If not, he wouldn't give Satyavati's hand in marriage to Shaantanu (BheeShma's father).  So, to make his father happy, Devavrata had taken the vow and had become BheeShma! 

So, like they say, 'there is enough in this world for everyone's need but not enough for one man's greed'.  The true cause for the destruction of an entire clan was the greed of Satyavati's father! 

Now, the conversations became interesting :).  Here's the gist of it - 

One student said, 'If Satyavati's father was the reason for the destruction, BheeShma, who took the vow, was equally responsible for the war!  Isn't it?!'

Excellent question!  Let's analyze - 

Why did  BheeShma take the vow?  For his father's happiness. 

Why did Satyavati's father ask for his grandkids to be kings?  For his own happiness/glory.  

What BheeShma did was selfless, whereas, Satyavati's father's desire was selfish.  In the name of his unborn grandchildren, he was satiating his own greed.  So, we should always be mindful of the root cause behind our actions - are we being selfish or selfless?  Are we being dharmic or adhaarmic?  We should introspect regularly and make course corrections if we find ourselves faltering. 

At the end of class, as always, we did a quick 'Unique statement review' where ALL the students have to recollect one statement from today's class, without repeating what someone else has already said!  Students volunteered eagerly to answer so that their statement didn't get taken by someone else :).  They were all awesome!  

For now, we will leave you with this thought -

See you Sunday. 

Regards,
Rashmi and Sirisha.