Famous Last Words: Is it spring break yet?

I still did not enjoy the Mahabharata. The Ramayana was a much easier read for me and I actually wanted to know what happened next. The Mahabharata, I think, just had too many characters to keep up with and a lot of stuff seemed drawn out. There were too many side stories and stuff I didn't need. I am really hoping that the Epified Mahabharata, video version, that I decided to watch next week for our reading assignments, is easier for me and more entertaining. Sita Sings the Blues was a great video that I really enjoyed, so I'm hoping it is somewhat similar to that.

This week, I did a planning post instead of a story. I'm not too sure about the topic I chose to write my story on for next week. I like the idea I created and think it could be really good but I'm afraid about how well I can execute it. I might end up changing and writing about something else. It's hard because I did not find anything overly interesting to be from the Mahabharata to write about.

It was cool to see people's storybook introductions this week. Since I'm doing a portfolio, it was interesting to see how the storybook works. Some of the ideas were so creative and I'm hoping to go back and read some of the stories. I really enjoyed one that had a western theme but including original characters from the Ramayana.

I have another quiz tomorrow in my capstone class that I'm a little worried about but hopefully it won't be too bad. This week and especially next weekend are going to be crazy because I have a worksheet, a lab report, a paper, and the assignments for this class due by next Monday (March 6th). Crossing my fingers that I don't procrastinate and do good work.

Western Theme

Review: Erasers

I really enjoy this quote. It is extremely true. Everyone makes mistakes (cue Miley Cyrus). I believe that you learn the most from making mistakes. It's always great to be successful at something the first time, but if you make a mistake and learn from it, you now know exactly what not to do next time.

Made with AutoMotivator, Picture, Quote

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part D

• Bhishma is not allowed to kill a born woman
• Arjuna brought Sikhandin (born a woman, turned into a man) and Arjuna shot Bhishma with arrows
• Arjuna and other were sad about the loss of Bhishma
• Bhishma told Duryodhana to stop the fighting
• Drona takes command after Bhishma dies and promises to take Yudhishthira his prisoner, Arjuna vows to protect him
• Jayadratha planned to kill Abhimanyu, Arjuna's son, died surrounded by enemies, Duhshasana killed him
• Arjuna wanted revenge, to kill Jayadratha
• Satyaki slew Bhirishrava
• Krishna drove Arjuna through the crowds
• Krishna cast a dark cloud over the sun to make everyone think it was night (they stop battling at night), so it made Karna back off from Arjuna so Krishna then drove him further to find Jayadratha and a little sunlight came out and Arjuna cut off his head
• They kept fighting in the night
• Arjuna called for a truce so they could all sleep, they all slept on the battlefield
• Ghatokacha, rakshasa son of Bhima, was slain by Karna
• Bhima tricked Drona that his son, Ashwatthaman had died (he was his reason for never dying)
• Dhrishtadyumna, Pandava general, cut Drona's head off when he was trying to regain his thoughts
• Next morning, Karna became leader of Duryodhana'a army
• Bhima killed Duhshasana, who shamed Draupadi during the gambling match, and drank his blood because he had vowed too
• Arjuna and Karna fought
• Arjuna ended up killing his own brother, Karna, with a crescent arrow
• Kauravas flew when Karna died, their army was small
• 18th day of battle, Duryodhana took his mace and hid in a lake (could stay underwater for however long he wanted because of a charm)
• Of all the Kaurava heroes, only Ashwathamana, son of Drona, Kripa, Kritavarman, and Duryodhana remained
• Bhima found Duryodhana, Yudhishthira told him to come out and fight
• Duryodhana wanted the war to be fought one by one and then he'd fight everyone
• Bhima threatened to come get him
• Duryodhana came out and fought when Bhima (equals with the mace)
• Duryodhana died to Bhima when he struck and broke his knee
• While Duryodhana was dying, he gave permission to Ashwatthaman to attack the Pandavas while they were sleeping with Kripa and Kritavarman
• Ashwatthaman encountered Shiva, deity, and he worshiped him by throwing his own body into the flames, Shiva was propitiated, Shiva entered Ashwatthaman's body and allowed him to continue
• He killed Dhristadyumna and Shikhandin
• Draupadi's brother and her five sons were all slain too
• Ashhwatthaman is a brahmin and Vishnu, the greatest of gods, will punish him so they do not get revenge, except they steal his jewel from his head that protected him from hunger, thirst, animals, etc. 
• The heroes got funerals, everyone else was burned on the battlefield
• Yudhishthira became king
• Krishna died
• After Krishna died, Pandavas and Draupadi decided to leave earth, leaving the kingdom to Parikshit, Arjuna's grandson
• Yudhisthira constancy was tested first by sending him to hell where he thought his wife and brothers were, he was going to stay to comfort them, so he passed and was sent to "heaven" where they were
• Yudhisthira, brothers, Draupadi, and others went to "heaven" and became celestials

Yudhishthira's Constancy Test, Wikimedia Commons.

Bibliography

Public Domain Edition Mahabharata, link to reading.

Wikipedia Trail: From Krishna to Archipelago

Krishna

Krishna was in the PDE Mahabharata and I knew he was some type of god but I wanted to know more about him. He is a major Hindu deity. Several other religions and traditions worship and/or acknowledge him as well. 

Krishna Janmashtami

This is a festival that happens on the 8th day of the dark fortnight somewhere in August or September. It is the annual celebration of Krishna's birth. People fast and worship at specific times to celebrate. 

Fiji

Around 25% of the people in Fiji practice Hinduism. I decided to go to this page because I knew Fiji is beautiful but I've never looked at pictures of it before. I also wasn't sure exactly where it is.

Archipelago

The previous article said Fiji is an archipelago of more than 330 islands. I wanted to know more about what this term means. It is basically just a group, cluster, or chain of islands. 

Toddler Dressed as Krishna, Wikipedia.

Week 6 story planning: Duryodhana

• Base the story from Duryodhana's point of view. 
• Maybe do small accounts, like a diary possibly
• Maybe one account about how he heard what king of baby he was: kicking and screaming
• It was advised that he should be abandoned because they knew he was going to be extremely jealous and evil later in life. Showed when he was a child too.
• Events that you could use:
• When he tried to poison Bhima and threw him in the river because he was jealous of his power
• Pandavas were expanding their kingdom and becoming successful 
• Yudhishthira named king, made him mad and jealous because he wanted to be king
• Got consent from his dad and he made the palace made of all wood and with all wood furniture, covered it in oil and was going to have his evil guard set it on fire when Pandavas and mom were asleep
• Thought his plan worked because of the homeless people
• He challenged Yudhishthira to play dice (but Duryodhana had Shakuni play for him, he had loaded dice), made Yudhishthira lose everything 
• Played again so they all would have to go into exile for 12 years
• winning the big army instead of Krishna
• Big war, whining that his army isn't good enough or boast about it
• Part D?
• Make all of the accounts personal
• Maybe he's just a big ole spoiled brat that thinks he deserves everything (bratty teenager like)
• Diary entries with dates (figure out what year this is from?) or like "12 nights after the first full moon" something like that
• Maybe have an entry or two where he is scared but doesn't know what to do now because he is in too deep
• Add in some extra entries in between the big events that are just normal days
• "played some games with so and so... got some new clothes... etc."

Duryodhana Battling Bhima

Bibliography

Public Domain Edition Mahabharata, link to reading.

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part C

• For 12 years the Pandavas and Draupadi, and Dhaumya lived in the forest with a pot that always had food (gift from sun god)
• Krishna came and Draupadi told them about how she had been dared to claim by Duryodhana but her husbands did nothing. Krishna said she would see the wives of the men who did this lament over their fallen husbands
• Holy man advised that Arjuna go to the mountains alone and fast and pray for her would get the vision of the Great God and be all powerful
• while Arjuna was gone, he shot an arrow at a boar at the same time as a Huntsman
• Arjuna wanted to fight for it but all of his arrows did nothing to the Huntsman
• He said "lets wrestle then!" and he turned back to his worship
• Great God (Huntsman) was pleased and offered him weapons (like powers, not physical weapons)
• also gave him Gandiva the divine bow
• Arjuna's father is Indra btw
• Indra, king of gods, Varuna, god of waters, Yama, king of the dead, and Kubera, lord of treasures gave him celestial weapons
• Indra sent Arjuna to Swarga, Indra's city
• Urcashi cursed Arjuna to spend 5 years to be a dancer and musician with no women
• He also trained with the new weapons
• Arjuna fought some underworld people, Indra was proud and gave him war shell that gave forth a mighty blast like of thunder
• Arjuna returned to the others
• Bhima was getting flowers for Draupadi when he came across Hanuman
• Bhima and Hanuman were both sons of the god Vayu
• Gandharvas and asparas were staying in the forest too close (home of Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana, Hastinapura), big battle, Duryodhana and others got captured, some ran
• Some of the people that ran found the Pandavas and told them
• Arjuna and Bhima went and fought the gandharavas, they released their prisoners, Duryodhana was humbled
• Duryodhana was going to die in solitude but the daityas and danavas (which would be weakened if he died?) sent a goddess to say that she would help fight the Pandavas, so he returned to Hastinapura
• Bhima was pissed, told Duryodhana that he would end them all
• Karna vowed to kill Arjuna
• Indra disguised himself to try and take Karna's earrings and armor of invincibility, Karna caught on
• They traded and Indra gave him one invincible dart, Vasava, comes back to you too
• If you shoot it while angry or not in peril, it will come back and kill you, could only kill one powerful foe, can kill hundreds or normal enemies
• Jayadratha stole Draupadi
• Bhima found him and cut off his hair and he had to prostrate himself?!
• The brothers went to drink from a pond but a voice said answer my questions first but they ignored and all died except Yudhishthira, he answered all the riddles and the voice was Dharma, god of wisdom and justice, his sire, he gave him to wishes.
• Yudhishthira wished for his brothers to be alive again and they all have the power to remain unrecognized by anyone for a year
• They went to Virata to be concealed
• Bhima killed a crazy prince, Kichaka, that tried to rape Draupadi
• After Kichaka was killed, the Rajah of Trigartis plotted with the Karuravas to attack Virata
• Arjuna defeated/scared the Kauravas when they tried to attack the south, took their royal clothes
• Pandavas brethren revealed to the Rajah of Virata who they were
• Pandavas exile is over
• Rajah of Virata said he would help to get back the kingdom for the Kauravas
• Duryodhana and Arjuna both went to Dwaraka to get allegiance from Krishna
• He said one could have an army of 10 million mighty soldiers or have aid of Krishna but he would not fight
• Arjuna got to pick first and he picked Krishna (hopefully a good choice)
• He wanted Krishna for the fame, not for help to fight, Krishna will be his charioteer
• Krishna tried to ask for peace, Duryodhana wanted nothing to do with it
• Kunti told Karna that she was his mom and asked to not fight against his brothers but he remained loyal to Duryodhana
• At dawn the armies were ready to battle
• Karna said he would not fight unless Bhishma died, then he would fight Arjuna
• Arm of the pandavas was led by Dhrishtadyumna, son of Dupada and brother of Draupadi
• Arjuna's 2 sons fought too, Abhimanyu (mother was Krishna's sister Subhadra) and Iravat (mother was Ulupi the serpent nymph, daughter of the king of the nagas)
• Bhima's rakshasa son fought too
• Yudhishthira went before the Karuavas army and asked permission from Bhishma and Drona if he could fight them (ok?) and then he asked if anyone wanted to come back with him
• Duryodhana's half brother, Yuyutsu left with Yudhishthira
• Battle lasted all day, Kauravas had advantage by evening because of Bhishma's prowess
• Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna, "cut down the ensign of his [Bhishma] chariot"
• At the end of the day, Arjuna and Bhishma battled but Bhishma retreated, Arjuna followed him and killed "the Kaurava host"?
• 2nd day: Bhishma attacked again, Arjuna drove him back
• 3rd day: Pandavas advanced in crescent formation and drove back Kaurava army
• many people died
• 4th: Bhima was hero
• 5th: Arjuna and Bhima advanced in triumph until they were held back by Drona
• 6th: Arjuna's son rescued Drupada and Bhima from nearly being killed, they had got surrounded
• 7th: Bhishma went crazy. no one could stop him, numbers of Yudhishthira were cut down, Kauravas thought they were going to win
• 8th: Bhishma advanced but his charioteer was killed and the steeds took off, Kaurava army was confused. Pandavas made huge advances. then 6 Gandhari princes advanced to beat them back, they wanted to slay Iravat. Iravat killed 5 of them but the 6th killed him
• Arjuna was grieved, his other son Ghatotkacha with his other rakshasas went forth. Duryodhana sent elephants but they cleared them
• Bhishma knows it is not going to end well, he even had warned Duryodhana

Krishna in the Kauravas Court

Bibliography

Public Domain Edition Mahabharata, link to reading.

Learning Challenge: empathy

I watched the "Brené Brown on Empathy" video on YouTube. 

Empathy is meant to not judge and be able to understand what they are feeling. You go to their level and say "I understand, I've been here." Sympathy is when you look at someone and say "ya that's too bad." You aren't going down with them and trying to understand.

The way to make someone feel better isn't by telling them things will change or trying to tell them how to make it better, you simply tell them that you are there and support them.

Still from "Brené Brown on Empathy" video

Growth Mindset: Rethink

Made by Cheezburger

Just because someone gives you feedback, does not mean you are wrong. Different people see in different point of views and can maybe see something you can't. When you get deep into your own work, sometimes it is hard to back up and see the big picture. It is helpful for someone else to come in and show you something you might have overlooked or are missing.

Tech Tip: Reverse Image Search

Śūraṅgama Sūtra