Hari Om,
We started our class with Likitha Japa while waiting for all to come inside the class and get settled in. We started our class with 3 Om's followed by our morning prayers.
Mahabharata continues- Vana Parva
Mahabharata continues- Arjuna, on reaching Amaravathi, the city of Indra, is amazed to see all the heavenly trees he has only heard about. Father and son enjoy each other's company. Arjuna sees all the apsaras such as Menaka, Rambha, Urvasi, Tillottama dancing in the court. Urvasi falls in love with the handsome Arjuna and expresses her desire to be with him. Arjuna gently tells her that he considers Urvasi to be his mother as she was the wife of his ancestor Pururavas. Urvasi, on being snubbed, curses Arjuna that he will lose his manliness and will become a eunuch, and he will also spend his days in the midst of women, dancing for their amusement. Arjuna is stunned with this turn of events and shares the calamity with his good friend Chitrasena, the gandharva. Chitrasena in turn tells Indra the news. Indra comforts Arjuna by telling him that he can reduce the curse to one year and to use it to his advantage. He cleverly tells Arjuna to suffer the curse during the thirteenth year when the Pandavas must be in disguise. Arjuna is now happy. Indra gives him his astras. Arjuna learns singing and dancing from his friend, Chitrasena. He becomes proficient in the fine arts. One day, Sage Lomasa comes to see Indra and is awestruck seeing Arjuna, a Kshatriya, sitting with Indra. Indra tells him that he is Nara of Nara - Narayana, born on Earth to cure her of the poison that has accumulated in her. He also tells the sage that he is going to use Arjuna to kill his enemies, the Nivatakavachas and Kalakeyas. He tells Lomasa that Arjuna will kill this enemy and then proceed back to the earth. Indra meanwhile wants a favor from Sage Lomasa. He wants the sage to go to the Kamyaka forest and meet the other Pandavas. They should be comforted and given the good news that Arjuna has now become a master in all the divine astras, is a student of Chitrasena, and is a Master of Fine Arts. Indra asks the sage to coax them to go on a teerthaystra. Lomasa agrees and leaves for Kamyaka forest.
In Kamyaka, Yudhishthira is very unhappy. He misses his brother Arjuna while Bheema and Draupadi keep taunting him for his tapas, meditation and anything and everything which doesn't resonate with a Kshatriya. All this makes Yudhishthira miss Arjuna even more as he was his ardent supporter. At that moment, Sage Brihadaswa approaches Yudhishthira. Unable to control his grief, he laments to the sage all the events of the past six years. The sage tells him the story of King Nala, who also lost his kingdom due to a game of dice but managed to get it back after learning the manipulations of the game. This art is called Akshahridaya. He teaches Yudhishthira this art. Brihadaswas leaves them. Narada then comes there and suggests to the Pandavas to go in a teerthayatra. All of them along with Dhaumya react favorably to the suggestion. As these discussions are going on, Lomasa comes there with the message from Indra. He also tells them to go on a pilgrimage and decides to accompany them. The first stop is Naimisa, a forest by the river Gomati. Then they go to Prayaga where the different colored waters of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati meet in a place called Triveni Sangamam. They spend four months in the company of Sage Agastya and then proceed towards river Godavari and other Southern rivers. Finally, they arrive at Prabhasa to a rousing welcome from Krishna and Balarama. Upon seeing the simple bark attire and matted hair of Yudhishthira, Balarama is very upset and decides to wage a war against Hastinapur along with Satyaki and Krishna. Satyaki calms him down and asks him to wait for thirteen years, abiding by Yudhishthira's wishes. Yudhishthira is very happy to finally garner some support. The Pandavas then continue their journey.
They proceed north and reach the banks of river Saraswati, river Ganga, mountain Mainaka, Kailash. They see Binduras, the source of the river Ganga. They see the seven streams, three which flow west, three east and the seventh which follow Bhagirata. The Pandavas then see the mountain Mandara, the dwelling place of Kubera. The place is so peaceful that even Bheema forgets his misery and is finally happy. They decide to climb the mountain and as it is very steep, Bheema carries Draupadi. They encounter cold gales, incessant winds, and torrential rains. Bheema the mighty also finds it tiring to proceed on. He calls upon his son Ghatotkacha to help them. Ghatotkacha comes with his minions who carry all the Pandavas and Draupadi. Dhaumya and Lomasa walk by themselves. They walk fast and finally reach the top of Kailash Mountain. They are welcomed by all the Rishis living there. The Pandavas decide to spend a few days in this ashram named Bhadrikashram.
We continued our class play discussion.
Our Geeta chanting continued with us learning verses 22 through 23. The audio clip has been posted in our Whatsapp group.
Regards,
Raji & Indira
