Hari Om! Parents,
Reminder: Grade 6 Annadanam is on April 19th, please sign up for donations with the link shared in the Parents WA group.
Week 21 Class
We began with "Rama nama" likhita japa, followed by opening prayers. The class chanted Nama Ramayana today for the festival of Srirama Navami!
Mahabharata
After a recap, chapter 12 Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata story. A month has passed since the end of the war. Yudhistira has doubts that he is not capable of taking on the duties of a king.
Lord Krishna proposes a visit to Bhishma in Kurukshetra. Bhishma is lying on his bed of arrows in great agony. Lord Krishna blesses Bhishma to rid him of all the pain.
The Appadharma Upaparva has the entire conversation where Yudhistira asks Bhishma about being a worthy king.
The Mokshadharma Upaparva is the conversation about how to be a good person and what actions lead to Moksha.
On coronation day Yudhistira sits on a carriage drawn by magnificent bulls and enters the city. Lord Krishna places Yudhistira on the throne and Yudhistira falls at Lord Krishna's feet and thanks Him for His blessing. The Pandavas are finally content.
The 13th chapter, Anushasana Parva, describes the end of Bhishma. Knowing full well that Lord Krishna is an avatar of Bhagawan Vishnu, Bhishma chants the Vishnu Sahasranama. Bhishma leaves his mortal body on Uttarayana and his funeral is performed. The ashes are immersed in the river Ganga.
Mother Ganga emerges, deeply saddened by the death of her son and questions why this happened. Lord Krishna consoles her and reminds her that Bhishma is a Vasu cursed to be on earth. The Lord asks her not to mourn Bhishma since he has returned to his true form,
Soon it is time for Lord Krishna to return to Dwaraka. The Pandavas do not want Him to leave, but He promises to come to them whenever they think of Him.
This brings us to the end of this Parva and we paused the story here.
India The Sacred Land
Topic: Temples, Speed Breakers of Life! The class saw examples of the 2 styles of temples in India, Nagara and Dravida. Example of Nagara style - the new Ayodhya temple.
Example of Dravida - They watched a video about the Pandava temple at Mahabalipuram. We also spoke about the Brihadeeswara temple, which is a World Heritage site.
Gita Chanting
The session ended with aarti and pledge recitation in the prayer hall.
- Rashmi Kuroodi and Sangeetha Srikanth
Supplies needed for every class:- Bala Vihar Handbook, My Prayers book, the Junior Class Workbook Part 1 & 2, a notebook and pencils for likhita japa; everything in their Bala Vihar bag.
*Reference books - Mahabharata by Rajagopalachari / Mahabharata by Kamala Subramaniam
