Hari Om All,
Thank you for attending the fourth week of Bala Vihar.
We began our class by chanting Bhagavadgeeta chapter 2. We have learnt until verse 6. Please take some time to practice what we learned so far in the upcoming break. The script for chapter 2 is in the book. Those of you who do not have the Bala Vihar handbook, please pick it up from the ashram during the weekend (Please check the website for timings).
After we concluded our weekly practice, we continued our discussion of Chapter 13. We delved into the concept of Kṣetra and Kṣetrajña brought up last week. We had defined them as 'Subject' and 'Object' (or World of Objects) in the previous week and expanded upon this definition. We established that this world of objects did not merely encompass the items we see around us (i.e. the water bottles, the computers in front of us and so on) but also relatively intangible objects like our sense of self or ego (our 'I-ness' or ahamkara; what distinguishes ourselves from other people), our intellect (buddhi), and our unconscious impulses (Avyakta), etc.
Here's a line of thought we discussed - When I come in a car to the ashram, I do not say the car came to the ashram, but will say 'I came to the ashram'. I clearly know that I am different from the car; a car is an object other than me; I used it to travel to the ashram, etc. When it comes to subtler things, the thought process is not as clear! Technically speaking, not a single cell in my body is the same exact on that I was born with! So, who IS this 'I' I am talking about?! This body of cells is NOT what I am referring to! Then, is it my mind? Is it my intellect? My mind and intellect have changed as per my experience and exposure along with age... So, that can't be the 'I' either!! Then who is this that gives me a sense of 'individuality' ever since the day I was born?!!
The Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud mentions the psyche into three – an id, ego and superego with the id corresponding to the impulses, the superego corresponding to rationality and the ego being the mediating force between the two. There are some similarities to his conclusions to what our discussions from chapter 13 are saying.
We are going to continue this discussion further in our upcoming classes. We concluded for the week by examining the fact that the spirit or the self can affect and interact with the world through sense organs. We established that there were 10 sense organs We discussed the first five which correspond to touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing and we left it as homework to conceive what the other five might be and we look forward to answers in the next class.
Happy navaraatri to you all. May devi bless us all today and always to be on the right path.
We will be taking a break for the next two weeks to celebrate Navaraatri and will reconvene on November 1st.
Until next time, happy contemplation!
Regards,
Raghav and Rashmi.
