Arjuna winning Draupadi's hand

Dear parents,
Hare Krishna.

I was not there last week. I got the class information from Vraja Bakti mtj. The story in her own words:

I told then the story of Draupadi Swaymwar. We recited the names of all pandavas, their mother’s name Kunti. We also talked a bit about who Karna was and who was Duryodhana. I mentioned that Arjuna and Krishna were cousins. Also after Rukmini, Draupadi was the most beautiful and sought after woman. I talked to about Draupadi rejecting Karna and insulting him for his lower birth by saying that we was not raised to be kind even if he was a king now and therefore an unfit husband for her. I described the story of how Arjuna hit the rotating fish on the ceiling by looking at its reflection in a bowl of water. I veered into the story of how Arjuna was so focus and told them the story of how Arjuna could hit the wooden bird in the tree because he could only see the bird’s head and nothing else. Once Arjuna married Krishna I told them on about Arjuna taking Draupadi to Kunti and told Kunti to guess what he had got. Kunti unaware of the marriage told Arjuna to share whatever he had gotten with his brothers. At this both Arjuna and Draupadi were shocked and did not know what to do. Kunti was also shocked once she learned that Arjuna had gotten Draupadi and she had told him to share her. I described in short the past life of Draupadi where she had undergone penances and attained boon from lord Shiva for a perfect husband. But since a perfect husband cannot be in one man she now had 5 husbands.

BG 10.8 and class update

ahaḿ sarvasya prabhavo

mattaḥ sarvaḿ pravartate

iti matvā bhajante māḿ

budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ


TRANSLATION

I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.


This is my favourite sloka and a very important too.
The mangalacaran line which we discussed last week is

śrī-rūpaḿ sāgrajātaḿ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaḿ taḿ sa-jīvam

The story we discussed was the past time of Bhima marrying Hidumbi and killing Hidumba and also killing the demon who was disturbing the village. We also discussed the Varnavat palace escape of the Pandavas. We stopped Pandavas going to Panchal.

Thank you
Nama Priya

Mangalacaran - part 2

vande 'haḿ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaḿ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāḿś ca

śrī-rūpaḿ sāgrajātaḿ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaḿ taḿ sa-jīvam

sādvaitaḿ sāvadhūtaḿ parijana-sahitaḿ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaḿ

śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāḿś ca

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master and unto the feet of all Vaiṣṇavas. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī along with his elder brother Sanātana Gosvāmī, as well as Raghunātha Dāsa and Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa, and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī. I offer my respectful obeisances to Lord Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda along with Advaita Ācārya, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa, and other associates. I offer my respectful obeisances to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and Śrī Kṛṣṇa along with Their associates Śrī Lalitā and Viśākhā.

Bajan - Radharani ki jai

Radharani Ki Jai
Maharani Ki Jai
Bolo Barasanewali Ki Jai Jai Jai


All glories to Radharani, all glories to the Supreme queen;
Sing the glories of Radharani, who is the resident of Barsana;


Thakurani Ki Jai
Hari pyari Ki Jai
Vrishabhanu Dulari Ki Jai Jai Jai
All glories to “Thakurani, who is the beloved of Sri Hari;
All glories to the beloved daughter of King Vrishabhanu;


Gaurangi Ki Jai
Hemangi Ki Jai
Vrajraj Kumari Ki Jai Jai Jai
All glories to Radharani who has a fair complexion and a golden appearance;
All glories to the princess of Vraja;


Vrajrani Ki Jai
Vrajdevi Ki Jai
Gehevarvan vali Ki Jai Jai Jai
All glories to the queen of Vraja, the goddess of Vraja;
All glories to Her, who wanders in Gehevarvan Forest.

BG 8.5 Audio, Sloka and translation

Verse:
anta-kāle ca mām eva

smaran muktvā kalevaram

yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaḿ

yāti nāsty atra saḿśayaḥ

Translation:
And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.

Damodar Lila

Once upon a time, seeing that her maidservant was engaged in different household duties, mother Yasoda personally took charge of churning butter. And while she churned butter, she sang the childhood pastimes of Krsna and enjoyed thinking of her son.

Krishna felt hungry and mother Yashoda had to attend to her child.When Krishna was feeding, she was smiling, enjoying the beauty of her child's face. Suddenly, the milk which was on the oven began to boil over. Just to stop the milk from spilling, mother Yasoda at once put Krsna aside and went to the oven. Left in that state by His mother, Krsna became very angry, and His lips and eyes became red in rage. He pressed His teeth and lips, and taking up a piece of stone, He immediately broke the butter pot. He took butter out of it, and with false tears in His eyes, He began to eat the butter in a secluded place.


In the meantime, mother Yasoda returned to the churning place after setting the overflowing milk pan in order. She saw the broken pot in which the churning yogurt was kept. Since she could not find her boy, she concluded that the broken pot was His work. She began to smile as she thought, "The child is very clever. After breaking the pot He has left this place, fearing punishment." After she sought all over, she found a big wooden grinding mortar which was kept upside down, and she found her son sitting on it.

He was taking butter which was hanging from the ceiling on a swing, and He was feeding it to the monkeys. She saw Krsna looking this way and that way in fear of her because He was conscious of His naughty behavior. After seeing her son so engaged, she very silently approached Him from behind. Krsna, however, quikly saw her coming at Him with a stick in her hand, and immediately He got down from the grinding mortar and began to flee in fear.

Mother Yasoda chased Him to all corners, trying to capture the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is never approached even by the meditations of great yogis. In other words, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, who is never caught by the yogis and speculators, was playing just like a little child for a great devotee like mother Yasoda.

Mother Yasoda, however, could not easily catch the fast-running child because of her thin waist and heavy body. Still she tried to follow Him as fast as possible. Her hair loosened, and the flower in her hair fell to the ground. Although she was tired, she somehow reached her naughty child and captured Him. When He was caught, Krsna was almost on the point of crying. He smeared His hands over His eyes, which were anointed with black eye cosmetics. The child saw His mother's face while she stood over Him, and His eyes became restless from fear. Mother Yasoda could understand that Krsna was unnecessarily afraid, and for His benefit she wanted to allay His fears.

In order to punish Him, she thought to bind His hands with some ropes. She did not know it, but it was actually impossible for her to bind the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Mother Yasoda was thinking that Krsna was her tiny child; she did not know that the child had no limitation. There is no inside or outside of Him, nor beginning or end. He is unlimited and all-pervading. Indeed, He is Himself the whole cosmic manifestation. Still, mother Yasoda was thinking of Krsna as her child. Although He is beyond the reach of all senses, she endeavored to bind Him up to a wooden grinding mortar. But when she tried to bind Him, she found that the rope she was using was too short--by two inches.

She gathered more ropes from the house and added to it, but at the end she found the same shortage. In this way, she connected all the ropes available at home, but when the final knot was added, she saw that it was still two inches too short. Mother Yasoda was smiling, but she was astonished. How was it happening?

In attempting to bind her son, she became tired. She was perspiring, and the garland on her head fell down. Then Lord Krsna appreciated the hard labor of His mother, and being compassionate upon her, He agreed to be bound up by the ropes. Krsna, playing as a human child in the house of mother Yasoda, was performing His own selected pastimes.

King Shantanu and Satyawati
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One day while training a new horse,Shantanu saw an enemy king coming with a large force to invade Hastinapur.Dev Vrat challenged him and captured the enemy prince and presented him before his father. King Shantanu was indeed very happy with his promising son.

The king was having a stroll on the bank of Ganga when he saw an extremely charming maiden.He was fascinated by her beauty.Her name was Satyawati,daughter of local fisherman.When the king asked him for the hand of his daughter,he(Satyawati's father) put forward a condition that the son born to Satyawati should be the successor to the Kaurava throne.

Disappointed and unhappy,the king returned to his palace.Dev Vrat came to know of his father's plight and told Satyawati's dad that he would give up his right to the throne. Dev Vrat also promised that he would not marry all his life(Thus there will not be any of his heirs for the throne).Then Dev Vrat,seating Satyawati in his chariot,brought her to the palace.

When king Shantanu saw Satyawati coming to the palace he was all praises for his son as he had gone out of way to fulfill his desire.Before long,Satyawati disclosed all what happened between Dev Vrat and her father. Hearing of the horrible pledge taken by Dev Vrat in order to please his dear father,the king felt shocked.
Unconsciously the words-Ek Bhisma Pratigya(a most horrible pledge)-escaped his lips and he was plunged in profound grief.

From that day on ,Dev Vrat came to be known as Bhishma.