Hari Om Parents,
Another wonderful week passed today with opening prayers. Still two more classes left for the year to end. Next week we don't have classes due to long weekend and memorial day. JUNE 15 IS OUR ANNUAL DAY. Please attend it and bring your friends along with you so that they can also see our centre and encourage them to enroll their kids in our ashram.
Today we saw the chapter of the churning of the milky ocean. Sage Durvasa cursed Indra when the latter insulted the sage due to his arrogance and the devas started to lose to the asuras. So all the devas prayed to Lord Vishnu who advised them to churn the milky ocean along with the asuras so that they can acquire the nectar through which they can attain immortality. The asuras also agreed to it. The Mandara parvath became the rod and Vasuki serpent became the churning rope. The devas and the asuras started to churn the ocean. But unable to bear the weight the mountain began to sink and Lord Vishnu took the form of a tortoise, KURMA AVATAR and started to bear the mountain on his back. The first thing that came out was the deadly HALAHALAH poison. When everyone was afraid even to go near it, Lord Shiva collected the entire poison and swallowed it. Goddess Parvathi caught hold of his neck and the poison stuck in his throat which turned into blue colour. Thus Lord Shiva was thereafter called NEELAKANTA.
The churning continued and all the riches came out like the wish yielding tree, the Kamadhenu cow which were taken away by the devas, the Kausthubha gem which adorned Lord Vishnu's chest and Goddess Mahalakshmi who became the consort of Lord MahaVishnu. At last Dhanvanthri Bhagavan came out of the ocean with the pot of nectar in his hands. The asuras snatched away the pot and began to run with it. Lord Vishnu assumed the form of a beautiful girl, Mohini and lured away the asuras and distributed the nectar among the devas. But one asura named Rahu saw that Mohini was cheating. So he came disguised as a deva and consumed the nectar. But the sun and moon spotted him and Lord Vishnu cut off his head but his head had already tasted the nectar so the head part became Rahu and the other parts became Kethu which causes solar and lunar eclipses. Thus the devas emerged victorious due to the grace of Bhagavan Vishnu.
Our next class is on June 2nd.
Maneesha Bhatt
Malathy Balasubramanian.
