Sanskar Gurukul Weekly Update

Class Name: Bhargava Week# 15: January 19th , 2014

General Assembly We started the GA with three Omkars followed by the Shanti Mantra

We chanted some verses of the Shishya Anushasanam that the children learned last year.

After a quick recap of the story from last week, Aparna Auntie continued with the story of Adi Shankaracharya. His mother used to go to the river every day to take a bath. One day she was very sick and could not go. So through prayers, he made the river flow closer to their house so she could just take a short walk to take a bath.

One day he told his mother that he wanted to take up sanyas - renounce the world, get rid of all attachments, and devote himself full time to the pursuit of God. He had to get her permission, but she refused. After a few days, while he was taking a bath in the river, a crocodile got hold of his foot and did not let go. Adi Shankara asked her for permission to take up sanyas since he was going to die anyway. His mom agreed, and immediately after that the crocodile let go of the boy's foot. Adi Shankara then promised his mother that anytime she needed him, all she had to do was to think of him and he would be there to help her.

So he roamed across India in search of a guru to help him achieve salvation. In a cave near the banks of the River Narmada, he saw a rishi and he asked him if he would be his guru in his quest. The rishi asked him "Who are you?" In response Adi Shankara composed the "Nirvana Shatakam". It starts off with "Neither I am the mind, nor Intelligence or Ego...and ends with "I am Shiva, the Ever Pure Blissful Consciousness"...... To be continued next GA.

Then we went through a guided meditation session. Today the purpose was for everybody to be able to sit still without moving for 3 mins.

Class After attendance we did a quick review of the Mahabharath story - where we left off, with the Pandava's and Kaurava's being uneasy together at Hastinapura. Grandsire Bheeshma arranges for the boys to be tutored in the Kshatriya arts by Guru Kripacharya.

Kripa and Kripi, twins, children of Sage Gautama were found in the forst by King Shantanu and were brought up by him. While Kripacharya was very well-versed in the arms, Bheeshma wondered if the princes could benefit from a more knowledgeable Guru and was constantly in the lookout for one. One day when the princes were playing with a ball, it fell into a well - and they were in a dilemma as to how to take it out. A stranger who had been watching, ridiculed them for being so helpless, and by shooting arrow after arrow into the well - created a rope of arrows and pulled the ball out. When asked as to his identity, he asked the princes to recount the incident to their grandsire. Bheeshma, on hearing the story, immediately recognized the stranger to be non other than the great Dronacharya and immediately asked him to be the princes' Guru. Drona agreed.

Drona was named such because he was born in a "drona" a cup made of leaves stitched together. He was the son of the great Rishi Bharadwaja. As a child he was very interested in weapons and the science of warfare. He and Drupada the prince of Panchala were great friends and together went to Gurukul as well as to sage Agnivesha who taught them all he could about the science of warfare. When parting ways, Drupada asked Drona to come to Panchala whenever he was in need and promised to share his kingdom

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with him.

Drona married Kripi and led a life of austerity. He had a son - Ashwattama, who he loved above all else. In his desire to be the greatest teacher for arms and weaponry, he approached Sage Bhargava (Parashurama) and learnt all he knew. Upon his return, he was sad to see the poverty in which his wife and son lived, Ashwattama not even knowing what milk was. He decided to take Drupada up on his offer, and proceeded to Panchala. Drupada, now the king of Panchala had become proud and arrogant and forgotten all about his promise. He insulted Drona in open court, and Drona turned away with revenge in his heart. He decided to go to Hastinapura and use the Kuru princes to achieve the revenge he was seeking. Thus did the meeting between the two came about.

Drona, on being introduced to the Pandava and Kaurava princes, asked that they promise to give him whatever he asked as Gurudakshina. The princes hesitated, to promise the unknown, but Arjuna stepped forward and promised to do so. Drona embraced him and started lessons. Arjuna proved to be the best pupil that Drona had, and a couple of episodes proved this a) Arjuna was eating dinner one day when a breeze blew the lamp out. Arjuna continued eating and wondered if he could do so even in the dark, due to habit - why couldnt he develop skills for shooting in the dark by making that a habit? He started practicing at night - and when Drona found his diligence, he was impressed and taught him special skills to do so. b) Once when the princes were lining up for shooting at a wooden bird, the target being its eye, Drona asked each one in turn what they saw, one replied the sky, the trees and the bird, another the leaves on the tree and the bird, and so on. When it came to Arjuna's turn., Arjuna replied -" the eye of the bird" - that is the only thing he saw - Drona was impressed at the intense focus Arjuna had towards his target and that endeared Arjuna even more to him, and he promised that Arjuna would be the greatest archer of all time.

One day a Nishada prince Ekalavya approached Drona and wanted to learn archery from him. Drona refused, knowing that the Kuru leaders would not allow it. Ekalavya departed, but such was his eagerness to learn, and such was his Gurubhakti towards Drona, even though the latter had not accepted him as a student,that he built a statue of Drona and practiced unceasingly in front of it. Over time, he gained mastery over the science of archery.

One day when the princes were hunting in the forest, with their dogs, they suddenly heard one of their dogs barking, as if it had found a wild animal. On following the sound, they came upon the dog - made suddenly silent due to 7 arrows shot into his mouth. The princes were amazed and in searching, found Ekalavya who had achieved this feat. Arjuna was unhappy to find such a skilled archer who could be his rival and challenged Drona's promise that was made. In order to keep his word to Arjuna, Drona approached Ekalavya and demanded his Gurudakshina - Ekalavya's right thumb. Without a moment of hesitation, Ekalavya bowed before Drona and happily cut off his thumb and offerd it. Such was his gurubhakti. Thus Drona guaranteed that Arjuna would remain the greatest archer.

Homework No homework this week.

Announcements We will have khazana next week.

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