Sanskar Gurukul Weekly Update Class Name: Bhrigu Week# 03: October 18th , 2015 General Assembly Hari Om Everyone: Here is the GA update for today's session We started the GA with three Omkars followed by the Shanti Mantra. Aprana Aunty talked about Navratri, which is going on right now. It goes on for 9 nights. During the first three nights, we pray to Durga Devi to give us strength and courage. The second 3 nights, we pray to Lakshmi Devi to give us wealth, and during the last 3 nights we pray to Saraswati Devi to give us knowledge and wisdom. During this time, we try to get rid of things that we don't need, like our ego and other negative thoughts and fill our minds with knowledge. We then chanted the Kirtan - He Sharde Ma in praise of Saraswati Devi. Class We started the class with three Omkars followed by the Shanti Mantra. We briefly covered highlights of Bhagavatam I and II, the 4 yugas and some avatars of Lord Vishnu in each yuga. We talked about the present Kaliyuga. Children remembered many stories from last year including bull with 4 legs in Satyayuga. Our class is so attentive and enthusiastic. We are really proud of them. We then introduced Mahabharata which is the longest poem (100,000 verses) composed by Sage Vyasa (means one who compiles). He is also known as “veda vyas”, having compiled all knowledge into 4 vedas. While contemplating Mahabharata, Sage Vyasa was searching for a scribe who is capable of writing poem of this magnitude and couldn’t find one. He was advised by Lord Brahma to approach Lord Ganesha. Sage requested Lord Ganesha to become his scribe. Lord Ganesha put one condition that Vyasa should recite the Mahabharata non-stop. Vyasa agreed. But the wise sage put his own condition before Lord Ganesha that he should write only after understanding the lines that he dictated. Lord Ganesha agreed to this condition. The Sage narrated the epic Mahabharata and Lord Ganesha wrote it down. Sage Vyasa also composed few ‘kuta-shloka’ (difficult to understand shlokas) for Lord Ganesha (god of knowledge) to solve when he needed breather and more time to think. Before starting the story of King Shantanu, we went over some background information on lunar dynasty and Kuru lineage and couple of stories that started in Swarga (Heavens) to help us better understand characters. Soma (also known as Moon, god of Sanskar Academy 1 Sanskar Gurukul Weekly Update medicinal herbs and stars) was a son of Sage Atri, one of Lord Brahma’s ten sons. His grandson, Pururavas/Puru was the first king in the Soma-Vansha or Chandra-Vansha. King Shantanu was a Paurava, born in the lineage of King Kuru and was also a Kaurava. Yadu (Yadavas) and Bharata were other famous kings from Soma-Vansha where lineage was recognized by their names. Here is the story that began in Swarga: Once a great king named Mahabhishak came to Lord Indra’s court. Lord Indra welcomed him and conferred a supreme honor on him that very few kings of the earth enjoyed. At the same time, Goddess Ganga, heavenly river, had come to the court whose eyes fell on the king. Lord Indra noticed that and told her that although you are celestial, your eyes are pleased with the looks of a mere mortal. Therefore, you must be born on the earth as a mortal and be spouse of this king during his next birth. Goddess Ganga was despondently walking away from Lord Indra’s court when she came across eight celestial Vasus who were also cursed to be born on earth as mortals. The Vasus had spotted an excellent cow and persuaded Dyu (their leader) to steal it. Unfortunately for the Vasus, the cow was owned by the sage Vashishta who learned through his ascetic powers that the Vasus had stolen it and immediately cursed them to be born on earth as mortals. Vashishta responded to pleading by the Vasus by promising that seven of them would be free of earthly life soon after being born and that only Dyu would pay the full penalty. The Vasus then requested the river-goddess Ganga to be their mother and asked her to liberate them from mortal life as soon as they were born Goddess Ganga agreed to fulfil their request. She incarnated as beautiful maiden and saw the King of Hastinapur, Pratipa, born in the lineage of Kuru, performing his worship at the banks of the river. She wanted to be his wife but King Pratipa was already married. He refused to marry a second woman but promised Ganga that he will marry her to his son. This son was King Shantanu who was none other than Mahabhishaka born as King Pratipa’s son in his next birth. Pratipa told Shantanu about his promise to Goddess Ganga before he handed over the reins of his Kingdom and retired to the forest. One day at the bank of the river, Shantanu spotted Ganga, the beautiful maiden. He fell in love with her and asked her to be his wife. She became the wife of King Shantanu on condition that he never opposes or questions her in any way. As seven children were born, one after the other (who were the celestial Vasus), Ganga released them in her own waters, freeing them from their punishment as promised. King Shantanu, longing for the son, could not comprehend this but remembering her condition before marriage stopped himself from questioning her. When the eighth son was born (who was Dyu, the leader of the Vasus), the king finally opposed his wife and stopped her from releasing the child in her waters. Per her condition at the time of marriage, Goddess Ganga had to leave the King. She promised to raise the child suited to be the future king of Hastinapur and return him when the time was right. King Shantanu was heartbroken and missed Ganga and his son immensely. He mourned in private and was very unhappy in his personal life but was the best king ever. He fulfilled his dharma as the Sanskar Academy 2 Sanskar Gurukul Weekly Update King and ran his kingdom very well. His child was eighth Vasu, Dyu, who was cursed to endure a longer life on the earth. The curse however was softened to the extent that he would be one of the most illustrious men of his time. Homework Make sure to talk to your parents and get login for weekly updates. Make sure you check weekly updates. Complete exercise on page 8 in the green book. Announcements Welcome to all students and parents from Bhrigu class sevaks and best wishes for a wonderful year of fun and learning. Sanskar Academy 3 .