Abhinava e-Patashala

Ultimate MasterStroke from Sri Dushyanth Sridhar

Covid-19 has certainly helped to get back to our roots of what’s important.

It’s through this pandemic time , we learn to unlearn and go back to basics. That’s when I started chanting “Purusha Suktham” . If we try to unravel , it’s just 22 minutes of chanting with follow-on to learn and only 7 mins and 4 seconds to chant this daily. Having learnt this and chanting daily in the evening at home during the lock-down period, the next step was to understand the meaning of what we were chanting. That’s when I came across the explanation of Purusha Suktham in English by Sri Dushyanth Sridhar. The simple and clear thoughts were translated into 1.5 hours of deep conversation about Purusha Suktham and the story/history behind most of the words from the suktam. We could feel the length and breadth of knowledge he has and he literally had to stop himself from deviating into many of his other subjects.

Before we deep-dive into the actual content about Abhinava e-Patashala, Let’s learn about Sri Dushyanth Sridhar :

• Alumni of NSN Group of Institutions
• Alumni of BITS PIlani (with Masters Degree) and “30 under 30” award from BITSAA (BITS Alumni Association)
• 1000 Youtube Videos with 15 million views
• Has rendered 3000 discourses across 23 countries
• Manages Desika Daya Trust
• Has worked in MNC’s for 6+ years.

The one fact which fascinates me is the list of degrees behind a person’s name and behind the scenes hard work , to deliver their knowledge to common people in a simple way. Sri Dushyanth, with his exemplary communication skills mesmerises the audience in very simple words about complex subjects.

In addition to the path breaking mention in The Hindu, ““no longer the forte of the old and wise, youngsters like Dushyanth too are drawing large crowds…”” , Sri Dushyanth is drawing large crowds, including Kids from the age of 10.

Abhinava e-patashala (Abhinava e-Pātashālā)

We — as family — were excited to know that Sri Dushyanth is launching a new way of teaching everyone on the basics and this will continue into next batches also. We immediately enrolled for this course and the course is about :

‘Bhāratiya Sāra Bodhani — Level 1 — Batch 1’

This course shall comprise of the following subjects:

• Analysis of the Rāmāyana
• Analysis of the Mahābhārata
• Analysis of the Purānās
• Appreciation of Ancient Sanskrit Literature
• Appreciation of Ancient Indian Architecture

The content was delivered as Video e-lessons (in English) by Sri Dushyanth Sridhar. Followed by every e-lesson, the Sishya (We) are expected to attend the e-assessment and rate the e-lesson. At the end of course, we will be given a e-Certificate. The purpose is to understand the different critical analysis rather than aiming for a certificate.

Content : The content of each of the topics about was very rich in nature. The in-depth and intricate details about each of the incidents in Itihasa provides a different perspective of the characters. Why a person reacted or why a person did not react during a particular incident gives the knowledge to us , rather than a direct way of reading Ramayana or Mahabharata.

Apart from the famous Ramayana and Mahabharata, Puranas and architecture also covered in detail. India valley civilisation, Stone Age , middle age, Harappa etc were discussed. Different types of Puranas was explained in simple words.

Delivery : it’s very well-paced delivery in each of the videos. Ample pause, where it is required and gives time for the audience to assimilate the key explanations. Being lockdown, the videos are recorded inside a house and hence not much distraction. Each saturday and sunday , one video is released. Essentially, two videos per week.

Timing: This is where the MasterStroke! is played. Unlike any other video which is available in Youtube or any other link for indefinite time, specific mention for this course is :

• The videos will be available in the given link for 36 Hours.(Only for 36 hours)
• The videos cannot be recorded (should not be recorded)
• We have to see the video only during this hour. If you have missed it, it’s a miss
• No compensation video later nor if you request also, you will get a link again.

Due to this timings, invariably we have to dedicate time to learn. 1 hour for a Saturday and a Sunday is clearly a doable activity and my recommendation would be dedicate yourself to learn this by way of

• Keep your mobiles away. Preferably move to silent mode
• Assemble as a family and listen to this so that you can exchange your understanding
• Involve Kids — They tend to learn from this very quickly as the english is very good and in a much more understandable manner.
• There will be numerous questions from kids which you can explain to them instantly.

Some of the characters were repeated from Ramayana to Mahabaratha and that prompted the question of timelines of these ithihasa and behold — we landed on this page. This is a very detailed timeline of events with the names of the ancestors of each character.

https://www.wordzz.com/family-tree-mahabharata/ with image credit to Wordzz.com

Sri Dushyant’s earnest request is for the people to understand these basics. There is batch 2 which has already started on October 25. Look out on the website for the latest information.