Hari om everyone,
Here's the synopsis of our class this week. Started the class with a brief meditation.
The Kyun Kyun (QQ - Quirky Question) of the day was - A king had given a death sentence to one prisoner. He wanted to grant him the choice of how he would be executed. He said, 'Speak your last words. If you tell a lie, you will be hanged. If you tell the truth, you will be shot.' Essentially, whatever he said, he would be killed. But the prisoner said something that the king had to spare his life! What did he say?!
The class was very quiet and their thinking wheels were turning. One of them had the right answer - the prisoner said, 'You will hang me'.
Bingo!! The answer was on point! How?
'If the statement was a lie, they had to hang him.' But, if they hung him, his sentence wouldn't be a lie anymore (It would be the truth). So they couldn't hang him to death.
But then again, 'if he has spoken the truth, he should be shot' (not hung)! So, they couldn't shoot him either!!!
What an intelligent prisoner he was!!
In the Mahabharata war too, there were many such situations that would feel like a catch-22 situation. But the paaNDavas found a way that defied both the expected outcomes!
We started discussing the story of Mahabharata starting from the end of Virata Parva. We spoke about the events that led to Krishna and Arjuna's famous conversation on the battlefield that we revere as The Bhagavadgeeta. Discussing the content of The Geeta is our curriculum for the rest of the year. But for now, we will discuss a few important events of the war itself.
One of them was - the killing of Jayadratha. Jayadratha had blocked the Chakravyuuha after Abhimanyu entered. Due to this, Abhimanyu couldn't get help from other paaNDava warriors and was killed alone by many Kaurava warriors together.
When Arjuna came back from the other side of the battlefield and heard this, he vowed to kill Jayadratha by the end of the next day, if not, he would immolate himself in fire. Arjuna had spoken in haste! But the Kauravas were thrilled to hear about his vow because, it meant that no matter what, Arjuna would be dead by the end of the next day!
Why? Because - if Arjuna couldn't kill Jayadratha, he would immolate himself. If he killed Jayadratha, Arjuna's head would explode into a hundred pieces!! (Jayadratha's father, a sage, had given him a boon - whosoever is responsible for Jayadratha's head falling to the ground, will have his head explode into a hundred pieces!)
Doesn't this resonate with the QQ of the day?! Both outcomes would be disastrous. The Kauravas were very hopeful. But with Krishna on their side, Arjuna would remain unharmed! The Kauravas protected Jayadratha intensely. Suddenly it became dark. The security for Jayadratha was lifted in celebration, thinking he was protected from Arjuna. But suddenly, they saw the Sun on the horizon!!
Krishna had put his Sudarshana chakra to hide the Sun tentatively, it is said. Interstingly, through astronomical calculations, it has been proven that on that exact day, there was a solar eclipse 5000 years ago!! (Proof that these events really happened. They are not myths!)
The day had not ended. Now Jayadratha was in front of Arjuna. Krishna asked Arjuna to shoot an arrow at Jayadratha such that it would chop his head and carry it all the way to drop it on the lap of his father. When Arjuna did that, Jayadratha's father was startled and stood up, making his son's head fall to the ground. As per his own boon, Jayadratha's father's head exploded. Arjuna was saved once more, by Krishna!
In conclusion, we will leave you with this thought - whether good or bad,
Happy Deepaavali. We will see you after two weeks.
Regards,
Rashmi and Sirisha.
Rashmi and Sirisha.
