Hari Om! Parents,
Week 24 Class
Children wrote this Likhita Japa at the start of class - "Sri Krishna Sharanam Mama". Encourage your child to do likhita japa daily.
Shlokas
We started with Om chanting and then chanted Sahana vavatu, Vakratunda mahakaya, Saraswati namastubhyam, Guru brahma, Sarva mangala mangalye (ref. My Prayers book pg 39).
Vasudeva sutam Devam (ref. Bala Vihar Handbook pg 15, verse 5).
Mahabharata
Shalya Parva -
Day 18 summary: Duryodhana appoints Shalya as the 4th commander-in-chief of the Kaurava armed forces on the advice of Ashwathama.Lord Krishna tells Yudhishthira is the best to take on Shalya because of his balanced demeanor. Yudhisthira advances towards Shalya and pierces his chest with his javelin. After Shalya's demise, Sahadeva confronts his uncle Shakuni. Bhima kills everyone protecting Shakuni and Sahadeva kills him. The Kauravas except Duryodhana, the entirety of their eleven Akshauhini strong army are no more. Duryodhana, disappointed, rides away and reaches the Dwaipayana Lake. He decides to enter the lake to take some rest. When Sanjaya sees him, Duryodhana tells him to convey to his father that he entered the depths of the lake. A few hunters overhear that conversation and tell the Pandavas about it. Bhima, along with his brothers and Krishna, reaches the lake and challenges Duryodhana. With his pride hurt, Duryodhana agrees to fight Bheema. After a long and tiring fight, Bheema sees a leaping Duryodhana and seizes the opportunity to strike him on his thighs. With his thighs shattered, Duryodhan falls on his back. The survivors from the Kaurava army are Ashwathama, Kripa, and Kritavarma. On the Pandavas' side, all five brothers, Krishna, 2000 chariots, 700 elephants, 5000 horses and 10,000 foot soldiers remain. At the end of this 18th day, the war is finally over, with Pandavas victorious. Jai Shri Krishna!
Sauptika Parva - The victorious Pandavas enter the Kaurava camp accompanied by the blowing of conches. Lord Krishna instructs Arjuna to step down from the chariot first. Then Lord steps down and Lord Hanuman leaves the top of the chariot. Immediately the chariot and horses catch fire and burn to ashes. Everyone is shocked and Arjuna is distraught since they were a gift from his father Indradeva. Lord Krishna explains that the chariot had been struck by several powerful arrows, and still stayed intact because of divine grace. Now that the Lord had stepped down nothing could protect it from destruction. As per the custom, the Pandavas and Lord Krishna stay the night in the Kaurava camp. Meanwhile, Ashwathama, Kripacharya, and Kritavarma go to Duryodhana. He is on his last day of life, suffering in pain and weak. Ashwathama is moved by this, he vows to take revenge on the Pandavas for both Duryodhana and his father's death. That night Ashwathama could not sleep. He watches as an owl stealthily comes to a brood of crows, attacks quickly, and leaves in the dark night. Ashwathama hatches a plan, awakens the others, and sets off to the Pandava camp. Leaving the others to guard the entrance, Ashwathama quickly killed Drishtadyumna and the five sons of Draupadi in their sleep. They set fire to the camp and quickly escaped. They tell Duryodhana the news and he dies satisfied that the Pandavas were destroyed and Ashwathama goes into hiding. Enraged by Ashwathama's actions, Pandavas set off in search of Ashwathama accompanied by Lord Krishna. They find Ashwathama hiding in Vyasa's ashrama. Ashwathama picks up a blade of grass, chants a mantra, and transforms it into the Brahmashirsastra. He deploys the astra asking it to make the world 'Pandava-less'. Arjuna immediately deploys another Brahmashirsastra to counter it. The sages step in quickly to stop the weapons from colliding. If the Astra collided then there would be a great famine across the land. Arjuna withdraws it, but Ashwathama refuses and says that the astra will destroy Abhimanyu's unborn child. Lord Krishna cursed him to live a life of disease and solitude. Ashwathama is made to give up his special jewel that protects him and he wanders away towards the Himalayas. We paused the story here and spoke about what is a Dharmayuddha and the meaning of Kurukshetra, the field of action. How could the children relate it to their lives in the present day? The children then compared the present-day war in Israel-Gaza to the Kurukshetra war.
India Sacred Land
Topic: Festivals - Shodasha Upachara Puja
The class went through the 16 steps of the puja ritual. We discussed how the puja is just like how we treat guests who visit our home, Bhagwan is also treated the same way.
Geeta Chanting
Grade 6 is group Partha, and is assigned verses 1-28 to memorize. You can submit your child's chanting video and get House points for every 4 verses memorized. Details are shared on the Parents WA group.
We concluded the session with Aarti and Pledge recitation in the Prayer Hall.
- Rashmi Kuroodi and Sangeetha Srikanth
Supplies needed for every class:- Bala Vihar Handbook, My Prayers book, the Junior Class Workbook Part 1 & 2, a notebook and pencils for likhita japa; everything in their Bala Vihar bag
*Reference books - Mahabharata by Rajagopalachari / Mahabharata by Kamala Subramaniam
