Hari Om Dear Friends !
This is a quick review of the topics we discussed this past Sunday - 10162022.
Review Quiz
Great job on the Menti quiz. These were the questions and answers that we saw yesterday.
The word 'Parikshit' means the one who.. Examines
What was Kunti's peculiar prayer to Bhagwaan Krishna ? To give her more problems in life
After the way, to console Yudhisthira, Krishna takes him to ? Bheeshma
Parikshit saw a Bull & Cow one day. Who were they ? Dharma & Mother Earth
Kali takes refuge in 5 places. Gambling, Alcohol, Senseless Violence, Gold &... ? Bad/Corrupted Company
Divinizing Our Daily Life
'Srimad Bhagavad Gita' can be termed as a lesson in the 'Art of Living Well' and 'Srimad Bhagavatham' can be termed as a lesson in the 'Art of Dying Well'. But if we think deeply, there isn't much of a difference between them. If we don't practice 'living' well, 'dying' well will be a huge challenge. Common sense tells us to think of the Lord while living our life constantly and divinize our life, just like putting a 1 in front of 0's increases the value of that number, instead of putting the 1 at the very end. The 0 symbolizes our material possessions, positions and power and the 1 symbolizes Bhagwaan.
Extending this concept, here are some ways for us to divinize our life in the simple aspects of our life.
We saw a Vedantic song from the movie 'Muqaddar ka Sikandar' which talks about the Art of Living well and the Art of Dying well. Here is a link to the song.
We also saw a nice Sanskrit couplet about how the entire universe including plants, animals and rivers offer their resources for the benefit of others. And we would have realize our true potential when we see the Narayana in everyone and be of help to the entire universe.
Continuing the Story
We continued the story with Parikshit's question to Shri Shuka about Bhagwaan, this creation, the world, etc. Shukadev takes the conversation back to the time when Sage Narada had the same question to ask of Lord Brahma.
BrahmaJi mentions that he gets this energy, the blessing and power from Shri Narayana - The One behind everyone's power.
This conversation culminates into the 4 essential verses of Bhagavatham, termed as the 'Chatushloki Bhagavatham' - The 4-verses forming the crux of Bhagavatham. The remaining verses out of the 18,000 verses are nothing but an elaboration of these 4 verses. Here is the link to the 4 verses.
We then saw the meeting of two prime Bhaktas/Devotees - Shri Vidura and Shri Uddhava. Uddhava conveys to Vidura about the Lord's departure and the fact that Krishna imparted the ultimate knowledge of the Self to Uddhava. Vidura is asked to proceed to Haridwar, to the banks of Ganga to Sage Maitreya's hermitage to gain this Self Knowledge.
Reflection for the week
Eleanor Roosevelt famously said: 'Small Minds discuss People. Average Minds discuss Events. Great Minds discuss Ideas'. This great meeting of Bhaktas like Uddhava and VIdura makes us add another line to this great quote. "Divine Minds discuss Divinity".
Parikshit had the blessing to witness and get Bhagwaan's darshan while he was in the womb. Every pregnant mother has this opportunity, hence it is very important to spend that time listening to the glories of the Lord and be peaceful and happy.
Canto 1 is termed as the Adhikari skandha, since it introduces us to a great student like Parikshit, who listens, reflects and is focused.
Canto 2 is termed as the Sadhana skandha, as it talks about the highest truth and the discipline to realize and internalize that truth, as told by Shri Shuka.
Next Week
We will complete the 3rd Canto this upcoming Sunday with 2 dynamic avatars - Varaha and Kapila. We will also try to do some activity-based learning.
Resources to Reflect
Srimad Bhagavatham Canto-Chapter Map:
This link provides the list of all the Cantos, Chapters & Topics within Bhagavatham. This should be a handy guide to help us navigate thru this voluminous text.
Chatushloki Bhagavatham (Core 4-Verses of Bhagavatham):
here is a link to all the 4 verses from the Chatushloki Bhagavatham. I have also included there a link to the audio recording.
Hari Om !!
(ganeshk76@yahoo.com | 412-916-8780)
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