Hari Om All,
It was a great third week of Bala Vihar. Before we go ahead with the report, below are a couple of important links. Carefully choose the right one, pls :).
Here's the link for our PARENTS ONLY WhatsApp group.
And, here's the link for our STUDENTS ONLY WhatsApp group.
We would like to keep it this way for specific conversations. Parents, please share their link with your children so they do no miss out on any notices or information.
During this session, we continued to practice chanting Bhagavadgeeta chapter 2 until verse 6.
We began our study of chapter 13 which is called the 'kṣetra-kṣetrajña vibhaaga yoga'. This chapter begins with Arjuna enquiring to know more about six concepts. He wanted to know more about -
1. prakṛiti
2. puruṣha
3. kṣetra
4. kṣetrajña
5. jñānaṁ
6. jñeyaṁ
This chapter is heavy with discussion on several interesting concepts. We will start with the two words which give the chapter its title – what are Kṣetra and Kṣetrajñaa? Swami Chinmayananda translates Kṣetra as the Field and Kṣetrajñaa as the Knower-of-the-Field. We have a consciousness which experiences the world through the body; the peculiar conditionings of each individual modifies their interactions with the world. The material world is the Field, it is prakriti or matter and the soul/consciousness (purusha) can only experience both good and bad of prakriti via the body. Prakriti not only constitutes what we observe and encounter in the world outside but it also encompasses abstract concepts including the individual ego, ahamkara, which sets us apart from the rest of creation. There were several examples given to better understand these concepts – Swami Chinmayananda likened the soul to electricity; raw electricity does nothing itself but if it used to animate a fan, it can provide cool air or if it is provided to a lightbulb, it can emit light and heat. The Holy Geeta book with Swami Chinmayananda's commentary provides great insights into the topic we are discussing. We recommend all students to get this book for reference. It is great for not just high school years at the ashram, but throughout their life!
We saw with several examples how to think of the concepts we are discussing. Just as one wouldn't claim he IS the car he drives, one SHOULDN'T claim he is his body either! We are something more than just the body that we see... Our cells die and get replenished at different intervals for different organs. Coming to think of it, we do not have a single cell that we were actually born with! So, are we really this body?! Just as we are NOT the vehicle we drove to class in, we are NOT this body that we use to function through!
We also briefly discussed how these concepts have influenced western culture as well; we touched upon the 1999 sci-fi classic, the Matrix as one which explored the interaction between the soul and the 'material world'.As these concepts are not immediately intuitive, we spent class discussing these ideas and we will move onto jñānaṁ and jñeyaṁ in depth.
They were given homework..., whenever they get some time, we would highly recommend them to watch some of these movies!! Yes, that's the homework :). These movies tickle our brains and give us material to think about. More than anything, there are many concepts we discuss that can be connected with the characters or aspects of these movies. So here's a standing list!
Matrix series; Inception; Starwars series; Interstellar; Avataar
Have fun catching up with these movies!
Until next time, happy contemplating.
Regards,
Raghav and Rashmi.
