Sanskar Gurukul Weekly Update

Class Name: Prahlada Week# 25: April 13th, 2014

General Assembly

We started the GA with three Omkars followed by the Shanti Mantra.

Aparna Aunty taught the children how to do Ujjayi Pranayama. It is a breathing technique used for relaxing your mind. You breathe in and out through the back of the throat thereby making a hissing sound.

Apr 15th is Hanuman Jayanti. As we all know Shri Hanuman was the biggest devotee of Lord Rama. When he went to see Sita Devi in Lanka, he made himself very small. What this teaches us is that in front of our parents and elders we have to be "small", i.e. set our ego aside - no matter how successful we might be. Sita Mata saw his humility and granted him "Ashta Siddhi Nava Nidhi". The 8 Siddhis are 8 qualities / abilities - for example, the ability to increase or decrease in size, increase or decrease one's weight etc. The 9 Nidhis are 9 types of wealth - example, food, jewelry, children etc. But Hanumanji did not want any of that. All he wanted was to serve Lord Rama. This shows his greatness.

We then chanted the Hanuman Chalisa.

Class

Pandavas found Duryodhana at the Dwaipayana lake and challenged him to come out and fight. Yudhishthira even offered Duryodhana the option to choose his weapon and opponent. Duryodhana chose to fight with his mace, and Bheema was to fight him. Just as they were about the start fight, Balrama arrived to watch both his students duel.

Duryodhana and Bheema’s vigorous battle went on for almost half a day, with neither one giving any ground to the other. Lord Krishna then signaled to Arjuna to signal Bheema to hit Duryodhana on his thigh, an act that was illegal in a mace fight. Bheema raised his mace to strike a blow on Duryodhana’s chest. Duryodhana jumped in the air to dodge Bheema’s blow, and that’s when Bheema hit him on his thigh. Duryodhana fell in an instant.

Balarama was furious at Bheema for attacking Duryodhana by unfair means. He promised Duryodhana eternal abode in heaven while rushing to kill Bheema for his disgraceful act. Lord Krishna stopped him and admitted that while the war had been fought righteously for the first ten days, adharma had slowly set in. This was the transition to Kaliyuga. They all left Duryodhana to die alone. Thus ended the Kurukshetra war.

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Homework

The following homework was assigned on March 9, 2014. If you haven’t already done so, please submit your answers to the questions below during the next session. 1. Was Karna right or wrong in supporting Duryodhana’s fight against Pandavas despite knowing he was Kunti’s son? 2. What would you do if you were in Karna’s position?

Announcements

1. There will be no class on April 20th, 2014 due to the Mount Soma field trip. For those who are going on the field trip, please arrive on time. 2. Field Day will be held on April 27th, 2014 at Green Hope Elementary School.

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