Hari Om Dear Parents,
Here is the update of our Nov 17th 2023 balavihar session.
We begin our session by greeting the students followed by Likhita Japa , Opening Prayers and attendance.
We continued Geeta Dhyanam chanting today. We chanted the first 4 verses today.
Yato Dharma Tato Jayah (60 Mins)
We begin our main session with a recap of the last class on Mahabharata overview.
We then discussed the following events of Mahabharata and discussed the cause and effect of the same
Episode 1: King Santanu proposal and the conditional marriage to Ganga.
Ganga's condition for Marriage: "You must never question any of my actions. If you do so I will leave you immediately"
King Santanu of the kuru dynasty agreed to this condition and married Ganga. We then discussed the cause and effect of this event:
Episode 2: The Condition of Satyavati's Father.
Well in this event, Santanu meets Satyavati - A fisherman's daughter and proposes to her, however her father had a condition for the marriage – His grandchild would rule the kingdom instead of Devrata. King did not agree initially to this, however his son – Devratta committed to be a celibate and give up any claim to the kingdom (The great Vow). Thus King santanu and Satyavati got married.
The cause and effect that we see from this event are:
We discussed the birth of Pandu, Dhritarashtra and Pandu's marriage to kunti and madri and the crowning of King Pandu. However, Pandu retired to forest to repent for the accidental killing of a deer (who was a rishi in disguise). Dhritarashtra was crowned as king of Hastinapur and got married to Gandahri. The cause and effect we see here are:
Kunti had a child (Karna) before marriage when she tested a mantra taught to her by Sage Durvasa. However due the fear of social disgrace she kept this as a secret.
The Pandavas brothers were born to Kunti and Madri. Kunti leveraged the boon that was given to her by Sage Durvasa. He taught her a mantra to invoke gods and be blessed with a children by them. 3 of the Pandavas (Yudhistir, Arjuna and Bhima) were born to Kunti and 2 (Twins - Nakula and Sahadeva)to Madri. Years later Pandu and Madri Died and thus Kunti took the Pandavas back to Hastinapur. Gandhari gave birth to the Kauravas (99 Brothers and 1 sister). The Kauravas and Pandavas grew together but Pandavas were generally good in all skills and thus the Kauravas brothers were jealous of the Pandavas and many a times tried to destroy them. The learnings from these events are:
We delved into the intricacies of the Kuru Dynasty's family tree, guiding the youths in sketching the lineage. Navigating through this family tree proved instrumental in unraveling its complexity, ensuring a comprehensive grasp of each character's background and relationships.
Geetha Chanting: (10 mins)
Gita: Verses 6 & 7 from chapter 4 were taught and rehearsed this week, following our Swamiji Swami Shantanandaji's chanting video. https://bit.ly/Ch4verses6-7
We concluded the day with closing prayers and assembled in the main hall for aarti and Pledge.
Next Class : Dec 1st 2023.
We do not have class next week as we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your family.
Thanks and Hari Om
Purnima and Shankar
