Parikshit Maharaj

Hare Krsna!!!

Dear Parents,
Last week, we started the class with prayers and we revised the previous sloka.
[Note: Please visit the older posts for the prayers and the sloka]

Story: We heard the story of Parikshit Maharaj.

Maharaj Parikshit was the son of Abhimanyu, who was the son of Arjuna. Arjuna was one of the five Pandavas and was the best friend of Krishna. During the battle of Kurukshetra, Parikshit was still in the womb of his mother, Uttara. At the end of the war, Asvatthama, the son of Dronacarya, tried to kill the child in the womb by throwing a weapon called brahmastra. The Supreme Lord Krishna saved Parikshit by entering into the womb of his mother.

After the Pandavas left this material world, Maharaj Parikshit became the ruler of the entire planet. He was a just king. There were no social problems, no crime, no poverty and no disease in his kingdom.

Once when Maharaj Parikshit went into the forest for hunting, he became very tired and thirsty. He entered the hermitage of sage Shamika Rishi who was meditating at that time. The king again and again requested for water but the rishi deep in meditation did not hear him. This enraged the king and he completely lost his intelligence. In his anger, the king picked up a dead snake and placed it on the shoulder of the sage.
The rishi’s son Shringi came to know about this incident and angrily cursed the king. He cursed that on the seventh day from that day, a snake-bird would bite Parikshit Maharaj. When Shamika Rishi came to know about the curse, he chastised his son. When king Parikshit received the news of his death, he accepted this curse as good news. 
Maharaj Parikshit was a great devotee of the Supreme Lord Krishna. He had full faith in the protection of the Lord. He did not try to make any arrangements to protect himself. Instead he immediately gave up his royal duties and went to the banks of the Ganges.
He knew that one who engages in hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Lord gets liberated from the cycle of birth and death. He desired to associate with great saintly devotees who could speak to him about Krishna. By the arrangement of the Lord, many great saintly devotees also came to the banks of the river Ganges. The great sage Sukhdev Goswami, the son of Vyasadev appeared on the scene. Maharaj Parikshit accepted him as his spiritual master and requested him to narrate the transcendental, glorious pastimes of the Lord.
Being very pleased by the submissive and devotional attitude of the king, Sukhdev Goswami then narrated the nectarean pastimes of the Lord and His various expansions. These are recalled in the book Srimad Bhagavatam. 
Maharaj Parikshit was completely absorbed in hearing about the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. Anyone who regularly hears Hari Katha becomes eligible to get liberated from the cycle of birth and death. After hearing the katha for seven days and nights without sleeping, eating or drinking, Parikshit Maharaj fixed his mind on the Lord and meditated on Him. The snake-bird Takshaka bit the king. The body of the kind immediately burst into flames and burned to ashes due to the fire of the snake-bird’s poison.
Parikshit Maharaj went back home, back to Godhead by perfecting his life by hearing the transcendental glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Thus all of us can perfect our life by regularly hearing and reading about the beautiful and transcendental pastimes of Lord Krishna and His different avatars.

Looking forward to seeing all of you in the next class.
Haribol!!!
Gopala Class Teachers
Radhika Mataji
Amutha

 

Vidura - a Mahajan

Hare Krsna!!

Dear Parents,
Thank you for training the kids at home to recite slokas and lead the class in prayers. It gives us so much joy to see so many kids confidently willing to come in front of the class to recite. We would like to see all the kids to do the same. If anyone has any questions or needs more help, please don't hesitate to talk to us.

Last week,
Sloka: Radhika Mataji taught the Bhagavad-Gita Sloka (chapter 10: Verse 9)
mac-cittā mad-gata-prāṇā
bodhayantaḥ parasparam
kathayantaś ca māṁ nityaṁ
tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca

Translation: The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me.

Audio Link: BG 10:9

 

Story: We heard about Vidura - a gread devotee of the Lord.

Vidura was the younger brother of King Dhritarastra and Pandu and a chief advisor of King Dhritarastra. Dhritarastra was partial to his sons Kauravas and did not treat Pandavas, the sons of Pandu equally. Kauravas out of envy tried to kill Pandavas. Vidura hated injustice, but he couldn't persuade the king to control his sons.

Vidura's sense of fairness was because he had been Yamaraj in his last life. It was Lord Krsna's plan for Yamaraj to be born as Vidura.

Once upon a time. Manduka Muni was in deep meditation. A group of soldiers asked him if he had seen thieves. Since the Muni didn't answer them, the soldiers were very angry and went to search the thieves and found them hiding in the Manduka Muni's ashram.

The soldiers thought that the sage must be the leader of the thieves, so they bound him and took him to the chief judge. There Manduka muni was sentenced to death. When he was about to be executed,  knowing abouth the sage, the king came just in time to save Manduka Muni. The king begged forgiveness and released him.

Manduka Muni did not blame the king, knowing that suffering is the result of his past sins. As he looked back over his life and considered that he was sinless, he went ot Yamaraj to find out what had he done wrong. Yamaraj told him that the reason for his difficulty was, as a child he had stabbed an ant with a thorn and killed it.

Manduka Muni said that he cannot be blamed for the act of an innocent child and was so furious he cursed Yamaraj to live on earth for one hundred years. Yamara being a great devotee of Lord Krsna could have easily counter-cursed him but accepted the curse as the arrangement of Lord Krnsa.

So. Yamaraj was born as Vidura on earth , tried to be just with everyone, always thinking of Krsna and after 100 years went back to his planet Pitriloka to take up his position again as the Lord of Justice, Yamaraj.

 

Finally, we concluded the class with the coloring picture of Yamaraj.

 

Looking forward to seeing all of you in the next class.

Haribol!!

Gopala Class Teachers

Radhika Mataji

Amutha

 

Brahma's test and realizations

Hare Krsna!!
Dear Parents,
Last week, we started the class with prayers to Lord Krsna and His devotees.
Prayers : We learnt the invocation prayers of Srimad Bhagavatam(SB 1.2.17)
srnvataam sva-kathah krsnah
punya-sravana kiirtanah
hrdy antah stho hy abhadraani
vidhunoti suhrt sataam
Translation: Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramaatma[Supersoul] in everyone's heart and  the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire fro material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.
Audio link :  srnvatam sva kathah

Story : We heard the story of Brahma testing Lord Krsna.
Lord Brahma, the granfather of the gods, was reluctant to believe that His Supreme father, Lord Vishnu would come as a child and live in Vrndavan.  Lord Brahma thinking if Lord Krsna is his master then Lord Krsna must be more powerful than him. So, he wanted to test Lord Krsna.
Lord Brahma flew on his swan carrier to the place where Krsna and His cowherd friends were having lunch near the banks of river Yamuna. Lord Krsna was sitting in the middle of the boys sharing their lunches and eating.  The cows were grazing near by and moved further away from the boys. Lord Brahma used this oppurtunity to put the cows in magical sleep and put them in a cave. One of the cowherd boys noticed and said that the calves were not there.  All the boys were frightened about the calves being lost and how would they explain this to their parents.
To relieve His friends fear, Lord Krsna stood up with a handful of rice and yogurt, told them to continue with their lunch and went in search of the calves.  As soon as Lord Brahma decided to test Krsna, the supreme Lord Krsna was aware of this and the reason behind it. But to play along with Brahma's test and to have some fun, Lord Krsna acted as if He didn't know about it.  Krsna searched for the calves but appeared unable to find the calves, came back to the picnic area looking worried.
When Brahma saw that Krsna couldn't find the calves and looked worried, Brahma believed that Lord Krsna was not Lord Vishnu after all. To be certain, Brahma wanted to conduct one more test. So, he placed all the cowherd boys in magical sleep and put them in the same cave along with the calves.
When Krsna returned and couldn't find His friends, He looked worried and didn't want the parents of His friends to be sad. Brahma noticed that Krsna had failed to find both the calves and His friends and decided to give more time to Krsna and returned to his own planet - Brahmaloka - for one second, which is equal to one year on earth.
As Brahma left the Earth, Krsna created a duplicate set of his friends and their calves  to keep His friend's parents happy and at the same time play along with Brahma's test. They all  went home and all the parents experienced an overwhelming feeling of love in their hearts for their sons. Not only the human parents experienced this love, but the cows also felt the same for their calves.
After one year, Brahma returned riding on his swan carrier. He went to the cave and saw them still lying in their magical sleep, Brahma proudly thought that if Krsna could not find them then he couldn't be his master. He wanted to see how Krsna was doing and flew to the riverbank. There, he couldn't believe that Krsna was playing with his friends and their calves. He was completely confused and went back again and again to check on the boys and the calves in the cave.  He thought the best solution is to go to Krsna and talk to him. As Brahma landed on the bank, he watched something amazing - each boy and calf changed itno Lord Vishnu's form and merged into Krsna. Now there was not the slightest doubt in Brahma's mind that Krsna was the source of everything.
With palms together, he fell at the feet of Lord Sri Krsna and begged forgiveness. He said sorry for trying to test Krsna and prayed for His mercy. When Krsna smiled and nodded affectionately, Brahma respectfully circled Krsna three times, bowed to him once more and flew to Brahmaloka on his swan.

Finally, we concluded the class with the coloring picture of Lord Krsna with Brahma.

Looking forward to seeing all of you in the next class.
Haribol!!!
Gopala Class Teachers
Radhika Mataji
Amutha

Mother Yashoda sees the Universe

Hare Krsna!!!

Dear Parents,

Prayers: Kids offered their  respects to Lord Krsna and His devotees with "he krsna " and "vancha kalpa" prayers.
[Note: Please find the verses and audio in older posts for prayers and slokas]

Sloka: The sloka (9:26) "patram pushpam" was revised and new sloka(Ch:10: verse 8) has been taught.
ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo
mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
iti matvā bhajante māṁ
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.
Audio Link: BG - Sloka 10:8

Story : Radhika Mataji narrated the story of how Mother Yashoda saw the universe in Krsna's mouth.

Once, Krishna and Balarama, along with their friends Sudhama and Subala, were playing in front of the house on a sunny morning. The boys sat on the ground, and each had dug up some of the moist earth with their hands and playing with the mud. They built cute small houses with mud. Krishna looked at all the other houses and said that His house looked better than theirs.

But Balaram, Subala and Sudama said that Krsna's house looked terrible and not even a worm would live in His house. When Balarama,Subala and Sudama all burst out laughing, Krishna angrily stood up and kicked their houses down. Balaram said that it was not fair and kicked down Krsna's house. But Krishna didn't mind, for it was all part of the fun and He replied that He is going to build another one, and it'll be even better than the first. So, Balaram said that theirs would be much better than Krsna's. But Krsna protested that only His house would be the best.

They immediately began re-constructing their tiny mud houses, totally absorbed in their play. Occasionally, they would glance at each other's creations,and then resume their building. During one such glance, Balarama noticed that Krishna was eating some of the mud. Balaram asked Him to stop eating mud. Krsna replied not to worry but Balaram said that it would make Him sick.

 Just then mother Yashoda entered the courtyard and Balarama pointed to Krsna and told Mother Yashoda that Krsna was eating mud. Mother Yashoda was surprised and asked Him why He was eating mud. Krsna told Mother Yashoda that Balaram and His friends were lying because He kicked down their houses.

Finally, Mother Yashoda ordered Him to open His mouth. Krsna smiling opened His mouth just like an ordinary boy. Mother Yashoda looked inside Krishna's mouth, she did not see His tongue or His teeth or  His throat. What she saw was the most amazing sight she had ever seen in her life. All she could see is the planets, mountains, oceans, rivers, sun, moon, stars, bird, animals, and all the living beings. She even saw herself with Krishna.

She thought if what she was seeing was real or dream and wondered may be she was seeing this because of the Supreme Lord. She prayed to the Lord. Then she fell unconscious. By looking at His mother, Krishna made her forget what she saw.

After sometime mother Yashoda woke and she didn't remember anything that had happen before. 

 

Finally, the class was concluded with the coloring picture of Mother Yashoda and Krsna.

 

Looking forward to seeing all of you in the next class.

Haribol!!!
Gopala Class Teachers

Radhika Mataji

Amutha 

Krsna and the fruit vendor

Hare Krsna!!!

Dear Parents,
Last week,
Prayers: We are still revising the same Srimad Bhagavatam invocation prayers.
[Note: Please refer to older posts for their audio links.]

Sloka: We learned a new Bhagavad-Gita sloka from chapter 9 : verse 26

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ

Translation:

If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it.

Audio Link : BG-Sloka 9:26

 

Story: We heard the story of a fruit vendor in relation to the above sloka.

Once a fruit vendor was selling ripe fruits. When baby Krsna heard her calls, He grabbed both handful of grains to trade for the fruits. He toddled to the fruit seller and opened His palms to her and found out only very few grains were left in His palm. The fruit seller was enjoying the whole scenario,  how Krsna was running towards her and His face when there were only few grains left in His palm. But the fruit seller wanted to make baby Krsna happy, so she got the grains from Him and gave Him as much as fruits He can hold. Krsna's face lit up when the fruit seller kept on giving Him fruit even though He gave very few grains.

When she looked at her basket, to give more fruits, she found out the whole basket was full of precious jewels. But she was not interested in the jewels but wanted to see more of Lord Krsna's smiling face.

When one offers even one leaf, flower, fruit or some water with love, Lord Krsna gladly accepts and gives more in return. A pure devotee is interested only in pleasing Lord Krsna. In turn Lord Krsna always find ways to make His devotees happy.

 

Finally, we concluded the class with the coloring picture of Lord Krsna with the fruit seller.

 

Looking forward to seeing all of you in the next class.

Haribol!!

Gopala Class Teachers

Radhika Mataji

Amutha

 

Krsna - Sudama Story

Hare Krsna!!!

Dear Parents,
Happy New Year!!! Welcome Back!! It was so good to see most of the kids back from vacation.

Prayers:  We started learning invocation prayers before reading Srimad Bhagavatam.
Om namo bhagavate Vaasudevaya

nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya
 naraṁ caiva narottamam
devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ
 tato jayam udīrayet
Translation: Before reciting this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is the very means of conquest, one should offer respectful obeisances unto the Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, unto Nara-nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi, the supermost human being, unto mother Sarasvatī, the goddess of learning, and unto Śrīla Vyāsadeva, the author. 
Audio link: narayanam namaskrtya 

Story: We heard the story of Sudama, a poor brahmana but a dear friend of Lord Krsna.
 Lord Krsna and Sudama Vipra studied in the same Gurukul when they were young boys. Once, their Guru asked them to collect firewoods from the forest. Lord Krsna and Sudama went but there was a great storm and both were lost in the woods. It was cold, fearful night and Sudama gave his shawl to cover Lord Krsna as He was shivering. They both held on to each other to pass the night. In the morning, their Guru came searching and found them and took them back to the Ashram. Lord Krsna never forgets even a small token of affection shown towards Him from His devotees.
They grew up and Lord Krsna became the King of Dwaraka and Sudama became a householder but remained a poor brahmana.
Sudama's wife was concerned for her husband and requested him to go visit Lord Krsna and get some wealth. On her repeated requests, Sudama decided to visit his dear most friend Lord Krsna but decided not to ask for any material wealth. He asked his wife for something to offer Lord Krsna. His wife collected four palmfuls of chipped rice from her neighbourhood friends and tied it in a small cloth and gave it to her husband to gift Lord Krsna. Without waiting any longer, Sudama Vipra went to Dvaraka to see the Lord.
Sudama, being poor, his clothing was torn and dirty and appeared not very clean. He was stopped by the security guard at the entrance to Lord Krsna's Palace. Lord Krsna being present in everyone's heart  knew that Sudama was at the gate and ran towards the gate. All the residents in the palace was surprised to see the Lord running and everyone ran after the Lord to see where the Lord is going. He ran to the gate and embraced Sudama even though he was not clean. Every resident in the Lord's palace was surprised to see the Lord embracing an unclean and poorly dressed brahmana. They all wanted to know who Sudama was and what was his relationship with the Lord and what pious activities Sudama performed to be dear to the Lord.
Lord Krsna brought Sudama Vipra into the palace seated him on His throne and washed Sudama's feet for Lord Krsna always received brahmana's as worshipable guest. Lord Krsna seated Sudama on His own bedstead and offered him sumptuous prasadam and Rukmini Devi, the goddess of fortune personally fanned Sudama. After that, Lord Krsna and Sudama talked for a long time about their younger gurkula days and Sudama's life after leaving gurukula.
Lord Krsna knew Sudama was hesitating to present Him with the paltry chipped rice, which was actually unfit fro His eating. Understanding the mind of Sudama Vipra, The Lord encouraged Sudama by saying that He would accept even the most insignificant things from His devotees. Lord Krsna knew Sudama has come on the request of his wife, and yet he didn't expect anything from Him. So, Lord Krsna decided to give more material wealth to Sudama Vipra. 
He then snatched the bundle of chipped rice which was hanging on the shoulder of  the poor brahmana and started eating it when Rukmini Devi held Lord Krsna's hand and wanted some for her. Sudama passed that night in Lord Krsna's palace and the next morning, he started for his home. He never thought to ask anything from the Lord. All the way home, he simply remembered the dealings of Lord Krsna and he felt very happy to have seen the Lord.
Thinking about Lord Krsna, Sudama reached his home. But there he saw that everything was wonderfully changed. He saw beautiful palace instead of his cottage and he wondered if he had come to the wrong place.
When he was considering this, his wife came out of the great palace and she appeared so beautiful dressed in new shiny garments, adorned with ornaments. Sudama was very surprised to see his wife so beautiful and happy and entered the palace with her. He understood these were the acts of his dear friend Lord Krsna for Lord Krsna knew the mind of His devotee and He completely fulfills the devotee's desires.
Sudama accepted his new wealth as the prasadam of the Lord and lived very peacefully always thinking of the greatness of the Lord.

We concluded the class with Krsna - Sudama coloring picture.

Looking forward to seeing all of you in the next class.
Haribol!!!
Gopala Class Teachers
Radhika Mataji
Amutha

Vaikunta/Moksada Ekaadashi

Hare Krsna!!!

Dear Parents,
   Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and much needed break from the regular routine. Due to school winter break, we couldn't update the blog early.

Prayers & Bhajan: We offered our prayers to Lord Krsna and respects to all the Vaisnavas.
vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ
Translation: I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls.
Audio Link: Vaishnava_Pranam

Sloka: We revised Damodarastakam and Bhagavad-Gita sloka (9.14)
[Note: Please refer to the older posts for Damodarastakam and the Bhagavad-Gita sloka audio links]

Story of Ekaadashi:
Another name of Ekaadashi is Hari-vaasara because the main purpose of observing Ekadashi is to please Lord Hari with all of our senses.
Once there was a demon named Mura harassed the demigods in the heavenly planets. Indra and all the demigods were driven away from their heavenly kingdom. So, the demigods requested Lord Hari to help them. Lord Hari hearing their prayers personally went to kill this demon.
 He engaged in war with the demon for ten thousand years. Finally the Lord defeated the demon and left for Badrikaasrama and entered a beautiful cave named Hemavati and took rest. But the demon chased the Lord and entered the cave and tried to kill Him when the Lord was resting. At that time a radiant daughter appeared from His body and killed the demon.
When the Lord got up from His rest, He saw the dead demon and the shining goddess standing before Him with folded hands. The Lord was pleased with Goddess and said that she can ask for any benediction she wants. Since she is His spiritual energy and appeared on the day of Ekaadashi, the Lord named her as Ekaadashi.
He gave the benediction that anyone who follows the vow of Ekaadashi will be relieved from all sinful reactions and attain heavenly happiness.

Significance of Vaikunta/Moksada Ekaadashi:
There was a king named Vaikaanasa who ruled the city of Campaka  with affection for his citizens.  One day, the King had a dream that his father was suffering in the hell. On seeing this, the King couldn't sleep, eat and had no interest in ruling the kingdonm.
 He appealed to the learned brahmanas about how to help his father from hell. The brahmanas directed the king towards the asram of Parvata Muni, who is the knower of past, present and future.
After hearing their suggestion, the King along with the brahmanas and his citizens went to see Parvata Muni. After paying his restpects to the sage, the King asked Parvata Muni about how to help his father from hell. When Parvata Muni heard this, he sat down in deep meditation. After a while, he got up from his meditation and said His father did bad things in his previous life and that is why he is suffering now. So, to help him, the king had to observe this Moksada Ekaadashi and donate the credits/piety  to his father.
The King along with his wife, children and servants observed Moksada Ekaadashi and donated all its piety to his suffering father. By the influence of this piety the father attained the heavenly planet and blessed his son very much.
By following this Ekaadashi, one is relieved from all sinful reactions.

We concluded the class with an activity about what foods are appropriate on Ekadashi.

Looking forward to seeing all of you in the next class.

Haribol!!
Gopala Class Teachers
Radhika Mataji
Amutha