Today's class was a very productive one. We started off by sharing exciting things we had done through the week and we got some very hilarious responses from the kids (ex - one student said "resting" :D). We then said our beginning prayers and followed into a recap of last class. The students were asked questions about the material from last week and seemed to have a good understanding of the basics of karma and karma phala. That was a good segway into our topic for this class - "What we should NOT Do - the sins of the body, speech, and mind".
There are 3 sins of the body, 4 sins of speech, and 3 sins of the mind. They are:
Body - what NOT to do : to kill someone, to steal, to have an illicit relation.
Speech - what NOT to do : say bad words, say harsh words, to lie, to complain or spread rumors.
Mind - what NOT to do : to think of taking away someone's wealth, to have ill-feelings towards others, to not have faith in the Law of Action.
We went into thorough detail for each of the bullet points. We specified that stealing does not only mean stealing in a criminal way, but also includes the act of "borrowing" and not returning. We often forget to return items or consciously do not return them - these actions are considered a sin of the body as well! We defined illicit relations as actions that will hurt a friend or loved one. For example, being fake friends with somebody and playing with their heart.
In regards to the sins of speech, we specified that lying is bad, but the intention behind the action is the most important aspect. We talked about white lies in the situation where you need to bring a friend to a surprise party. The intention there is to ensure that they are surprised and enjoy the surprise party, so it is not considered a sin. However, we told them that the "right" intention is one that follows Dharma and not our own interpretation of what is right.
When we discussed the sins of the mind, there was the obstacle of defining what someone's "wealth" is. We chalked it up to being someone's value. This is different from stealing because it involves hurting someone verbally and making someone feel less than they are worth. This point and having ill feelings towards anyone is a result of jealousy, competition, greed, and selfishness. It was important for the students to understand this as bullying/verbally insulting someone stems from many causes. If they are aware of them, they will not engage in those activities. Lastly, the most important sin of the mind is to not have faith in the Law of Karma. Without faith in it, one will act as if there are no consequences!
Upon building this foundation, we discussed specific examples in our lives and how it related to the Law of Karma. We then talked about the past vs. the present vs. the future in terms of the effect of Karma on us. This was further enforced with 3 stories.
The key takeaway from this class is - Give up the above ten sins, as the result of such actions are a miserable life. Remember, the Law of Karma never fails !!!
We concluded with gita dhyAnam, bhagavadgita chanting primers, and aarti.
Looking forward to another information-filled class next week! It is awesome hearing the students' input and we hope they continue to participate more and more as classes go on.
Best,
Nikhita and Partha.
