Hari om everyone,
Hope you are all enjoying the festivities of Navaraatri! Here's a quick recap of our previous class.
We started the class with meditation and continued learning the chanting of BG ch. 4. We have learnt up to 25 verses now.
The Kyun Kyun (QQ - Quirky Question) of the day was - on my last birthday, I was 25 years old. But on my next birthday, I will be 27. How is that possible?!
Many creative answers were given by our students. Some had the right answer - 'It must be your birthday today. So, the statement is sufficed!' They were right! (not about the age/birthday, but the answer ;).
We are reviewing the story of Mahabharata. To make it more interesting, we assigned segments of the stories to different groups of students. Starting with the game of dice up to the 13th year of exile, they were asked to narrate the story and also give the take-away messages from their segment.
The classic hurdles students hit upon are the names of the characters :). Once we helped them out here and there, they did a wonderful job at summarizing the story.
Below are a few of the takeaway messages.
- DO NOT gamble!
- Addiction to anything is not a good idea
- Having self-control is important
- Rather than yielding to our weaknesses, ethics are more important
- Do not make fun of others
- Do not be jealous of the prosperity of others
- Make right connections and friendships! (not like Karna)
- Do not yield to peer pressures (Karna started slandering Draupadi to please his friend Duryodhana)
- Be respectful to women! (There is no need to fight for the equality of women as our culture is THE ONLY one where women are exalted and worshiped as Gods!)
- Listen beyond the superficial meaning of words (like Yudhishthira did upon receiving Vidura's coded message during Lac palace incident)
- Be alert to your surroundings
- Be happy despite riches or rags
- Never lose your skills (whether in the forest or in incognito, the paaNDavas didn't let their skills rust)
- Even a curse can prove to be a blessing (Arjuna's curse to become a Eunuch for a year)
- Diversify your skills! (though they were princes, paaNDavas were good at random skills like dance, cooking, horse-keeping, etc. This came in handy when they had to go incognito)
- Do not brag yourself up! (like Virata's son - Uttara Kumara)
- and many more...
This picture rightly summarizes the conversations of the class :)
Looking forward to seeing everyone back in class after the festival break!
Regards,
Rashmi.
http://sanskritpearls.blogspot.com/
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Rashmi.
http://sanskritpearls.blogspot.com/
On Facebook,
http://www.facebook.com/SanskritPearls
