Beginning prayers
Rashmi aunty and Sitaram uncle's class:
On Sunday 9/22, in balvihar we learned 3 shlokas. The shlokas we learned were - what you say when you get up in the morning, what you say when you put your feet on the ground, and the shloka you say before eating food. We learned the first 3 verses of the bhagavadgeeta chapter 14. We added lines underneath the letters where we emphasise the sound (mahaapraaNa-s).
We then learned about the first 2 chapters of the mahabharata - story of King Shantanu and the River Ganga. In the story, King Shantanu was taking a walk when she saw a beautiful lady and fell in love with her instantly. King Shantanu went to her and asked her hand in marrige. She agreed, but only on one condition-- King Shantanu never questioned her about anything she did! He agreed and they got married. After King Shantanu and River Ganga got married they had there first child and right after they got there first child River Ganga took the child and threw him right into the river. She continued this pattern with 7 children that she gave birth to. King Shantanu never questioned her until he finally got fed up and stopped her on the 8th child. He asked her why she was doing this to all their babies. She said, now that you questioned me, I will have to leave you. But before I go I will answer your question. These kids were vasus. Long ago, a sage named Vasishta, who had a beautiful cow named Nandini. The wife of a vasu named Dyu wanted the cow. So he decided to get 7 Vasus to help steal the cow. When Vasishta heard this, he cursed all the Vasus. They fell at his feet immediately, asking for forgiveness. So Sage vasishta modified his curse such that the Vasus could be liberated as soon as they were born, but dyu on being born, had to lead an entire life on earth. He would do good deeds and make a lot of sacrifices during that time. After Ganga explained this to the King Shantanu, she left with the baby and said" I will bring him back to you when he is grown up". One day King Shantanu saw a river flowing with a dent in it, and on the other side, he saw a young 16 year old boy, stopping the river from flowing, using arrows. The King wanted to know who the boy was and upon asking, River Ganga appeared and said" this is your son, I took with me. His name is devavrata". King Shantanu was very pleased to see his son and crowned him as his heir, the next King.
After many years, King Shantanu went on a walk and saw another beautiful lady (satyavati) who was the daughter of a fisherman and wanted to marry her. King Shantanu approached the fisherman who agreed to the marriage on the condition that his daughter's child would be the crown prince. King Shantanu didn't know what to do and he left the fisherman's place.When devavrata heard about this, he went to the fisherman's home promised that he would sacrifice his chance to become King. He would never marry nor have children, so there would be no challengers to satyavati's children. It was a very bold and intense promise. Henceforth, he was called 'bhIShma', because of the vow his took! When he returned home, His father was pleased and gave him a boon that it would have the ability to choose his time of death!
We did our ending prayers after this.
written by Aditi Suresh.
- 3 times ॐ chanting, Meditation
- Daily Prayers (click here for script)
- bhagavadgItaa 14th adhyaaya 1 - 3 shlokas
- What is the significance of mahaabhaarata in our current day life
- shantanu
- bhIShma
- sarve bhavantu sukhinaH, pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam
- aarati and pledge
Rashmi aunty and Sitaram uncle's class:
On Sunday 9/22, in balvihar we learned 3 shlokas. The shlokas we learned were - what you say when you get up in the morning, what you say when you put your feet on the ground, and the shloka you say before eating food. We learned the first 3 verses of the bhagavadgeeta chapter 14. We added lines underneath the letters where we emphasise the sound (mahaapraaNa-s).
We then learned about the first 2 chapters of the mahabharata - story of King Shantanu and the River Ganga. In the story, King Shantanu was taking a walk when she saw a beautiful lady and fell in love with her instantly. King Shantanu went to her and asked her hand in marrige. She agreed, but only on one condition-- King Shantanu never questioned her about anything she did! He agreed and they got married. After King Shantanu and River Ganga got married they had there first child and right after they got there first child River Ganga took the child and threw him right into the river. She continued this pattern with 7 children that she gave birth to. King Shantanu never questioned her until he finally got fed up and stopped her on the 8th child. He asked her why she was doing this to all their babies. She said, now that you questioned me, I will have to leave you. But before I go I will answer your question. These kids were vasus. Long ago, a sage named Vasishta, who had a beautiful cow named Nandini. The wife of a vasu named Dyu wanted the cow. So he decided to get 7 Vasus to help steal the cow. When Vasishta heard this, he cursed all the Vasus. They fell at his feet immediately, asking for forgiveness. So Sage vasishta modified his curse such that the Vasus could be liberated as soon as they were born, but dyu on being born, had to lead an entire life on earth. He would do good deeds and make a lot of sacrifices during that time. After Ganga explained this to the King Shantanu, she left with the baby and said" I will bring him back to you when he is grown up". One day King Shantanu saw a river flowing with a dent in it, and on the other side, he saw a young 16 year old boy, stopping the river from flowing, using arrows. The King wanted to know who the boy was and upon asking, River Ganga appeared and said" this is your son, I took with me. His name is devavrata". King Shantanu was very pleased to see his son and crowned him as his heir, the next King.
After many years, King Shantanu went on a walk and saw another beautiful lady (satyavati) who was the daughter of a fisherman and wanted to marry her. King Shantanu approached the fisherman who agreed to the marriage on the condition that his daughter's child would be the crown prince. King Shantanu didn't know what to do and he left the fisherman's place.When devavrata heard about this, he went to the fisherman's home promised that he would sacrifice his chance to become King. He would never marry nor have children, so there would be no challengers to satyavati's children. It was a very bold and intense promise. Henceforth, he was called 'bhIShma', because of the vow his took! When he returned home, His father was pleased and gave him a boon that it would have the ability to choose his time of death!
We did our ending prayers after this.
written by Aditi Suresh.
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