Hari OM! Dear Parents
This week’s class went as follows:
Opening Prayers - Three OMs followed by Sahana vavatu, Saraswati Namastubhyam, Gurur Brahma, and Buddhir Balam.
Likhita Japa - on Lord Rama.
Saint: As part of the curriculum we will also talk about saints from Bharat
1. Veda Vyasa (Krishna Dwaipāyana): He was the son of Parashara and Satyavati. The interesting thing is he lived when the Mahabharata events happened and was one of the characters in the story. The word Vyasa means compiler - he compiled the vast vedas in 4 volumes so he is called Veda Vyasa. Lord Brahma asked Vyasa to write the Mahabharata which contained the knowledge of the vedas in the form of a story.
2. Swami Sivananda- he was a descendant of the great Saivite saint-Appayya Diksitar. His parents were Vengu iyer and Parvati Ammal. He lived in the village Pattamadai in Tamil Nadu. His childhood name was Kuppuswami. He excelled in school, sports and at the same time attentive to his parents during puja and study of the Gita. He studied in medical school and excelled in it. He then went to Malaysia for further studies in medicine. A chance meeting with a wandering sanyasi lead to him getting interested in the study of yoga and vedanta. He returned to Bharat and continued his spiritual path finally becoming Swami Sivananda. He established an ashrama in Rishikesh and the Divine Life Society in many parts of the world. He believed in the equality of all men. His teachings can be summarized as serve, give, meditate and realize. Be Good and Do Good. We spoke about some of his 20 point sadhanas. His famous quote- " selfless service is the highest religion" He believed in universal love- love all, serve all!
Mahābhārata: The Mahabharata is a great epic teaching us how to live a dharmic life. It was written by sage Veda Vyasa. It is around 3000 years old.
Consisting of 100,000 verses, the Mahabharata is divided into 18 Parvās. We will be learning the first 3 this year.
Adiparva - describing the birth and childhood of the Pandavas and Kauravas starting from King Yayati.
Sabha Parva - deals with the game of dice and the events leading to the Pandava exile
Vana Parva - the experiences of the Pandavas in the forest.
The main story speaks of the struggle between the Pandavas and Kauravas. The main idea is where there is dharma there is victory - Yatha Dharma Thatho Jayah. We started with the story of Ganesha being the scribe for sage Vyasa. Ganesha was the chosen one because of his intelligence.
Then we moved to King Yayati, an ancestor of the Kurus and the Kacha–Devayānī–Yayāti story.
Kacha, son of Bṛhaspati, is sent by the Devas to learn Mṛta-sañjīvanī, the knowledge of reviving the dead, from Śukrācārya, guru of the Asuras.
Śukrācārya's daughter Devayānī likes Kacha for his simplicity. The Asuras repeatedly kill Kacha, but Śukrācārya revives him. Finally they burn
Kacha and mix his ashes into Śukrācārya's drink.
Kacha is therefore inside his guru's body.
Śukrācārya teaches Kacha the secret
knowledge. Kacha emerges from his body and then uses the knowledge to revive Śukrācārya. When Kacha is ready to leave, Devayānī asks him to marry her. Kacha refuses, reasoning that
because he emerged from her father's body, he should regard her as a sister.
Angry and disappointed, Devayānī curses Kacha that his knowledge will not benefit him personally. Kacha responds that he can still teach it to others and curses her that she will not marry a Brahmin.
Later Devayānī quarrels with Śarmiṣṭhā,
daughter of the Asura king Vṛṣaparvan.
Śarmiṣṭhā pushes Devayānī into a well.
King Yayāti happens to pass by and rescues Devayānī.
Eventually Devayānī marries Yayāti—a Kṣatriya, not a Brahmin, thus connecting back to Kacha's curse.
Devayānī and Yayāti have Yadu and Turvasu. But Yayāti likes Śarmiṣṭhā, too, who bears him Druhyu, Anu and Puru.
When Devayānī discovers Yayāti's relationship with Śarmiṣṭhā, she complains to her father. Śukrācārya curses Yayāti with premature old age.
Yayāti protests that his desires remain
unsatisfied. Śukrācārya allows him to exchange his old age for the youth of one of his sons. Eventually Puru, Śarmiṣṭhā's son, accepts his father's old age.
Yayāti regains his youth and enjoys worldly pleasures for a long time. But eventually he reaches realization and
Yayāti finally returns Puru's youth and accepts old age. Because of Puru's extraordinary sacrifice, Yayāti gives him the inheritance. Why this matters to the Mahābhārata
The lineage then develops broadly as:
Yayati- Yadu- leading to lord Krishna.
Yayāti → Puru → leading to Bharata →
Kuru → Shantanu → Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas
So Kacha's encounter with Devayānī indirectly sets in motion the circumstances leading to
Yayāti, Puru and eventually the Kuru dynasty. The discussion of values from these stories.
Lord Ganesha- Use your intelligence wisely for a higher purpose.
Kacha: he had a single pointed goal - to help the Devas.
Kacha–Devayānī: attachment leads to disappointment and eventually anger.
Yayāti: desires should lead to contentment
Puru: Selfless sacrifice
Swami Sivananda: Like Ganesha, he thought big. Selfless service to the community, and the world at large.
Then we revisited last week’s story of King Shantanu, his marriage to Ganga and the subsequent drowning of their 7 children (Vasus cursed by Sage Vasiśta), the birth and childhood of their 8th child Devavrata, and his appointment as heir to the throne.
Meanwhile King Shantanu falls in love with Satyavati, a fisherman king’s daughter. Her father is against the alliance as he realizes that any child born of this union will not attain the throne. Devavrata then promises the fisherman king that he will abdicate his position and also not marry, to ensure that the child born to Satyavati will be given that privilege. This terrible vow earns him the name Bheeshma. The sons, Chitrangadha and Vichitraveerya are mentored by Bheeshma. Unfortunately Chitrangadha is killed by a Gandharva of the same name, and Vichitraveerya leads a lazy life of leisure. Bheeshma brings back the princesses of Kashi - Amba, Ambika and Ambalika to be brides for Vichitraveerya. (Amba who wanted to marry King Salva is rejected by him because she was kidnapped by Bheeshma. When she asks Bheeshma to marry her, he refuses because of his vow of celibacy. So she prays to Shiva and is granted the boon to be reborn as the one who will kill Bheeshma). Meanwhile, Vichitraveerya dies as a result of his excesses. To continue the lineage, Satyavati calls on her son, Veda Vyasa to bless her 2 daughters in law. Ambika, afraid to look at his fierce form, closes her eyes when he blesses her. This leads to the birth of a blind child who is named Dhritarashtra. When Ambalika goes in for her blessing, she becomes pale. This leads to a pale child who is named Pandu. Worried that they would be asked to see the Sage again, they send a maid instead. She receives his blessing and gives birth to a wise child named Vidura.
Meditation: we did 5 minutes of meditating on ‘Ishta Devata’, followed by 3 OMs.
Next week (September 26) is our House Inaugural. Being part of Arjuna’s Arrows, hi please wear GREEN attire.
See you all on Friday, September 26th at 6:55pm.
Pranams 🙏
Nirmala and Nivedita
