Hari Om! Parents,
Today's class was a lively discussion on the topic of Karma Yoga. Students participated in analyzing their actions and the motivation behind them. The discussion took us to chores at home, responsibilities towards friends and teams, commitments towards academics, etc. The concept of Gunas and Varnas was highlighted in the context of a tool to analyze ourselves not others. The purpose of varnas as laid out in our scriptures was not to hold people back or deny opportunity. However, it was misused by those who wanted to hold on to power. Students found very interesting parallels of the caste system in today's society in the United States. They raised important issues as social responsibility and being conscious of the powerful engaging in actions contributing to inequality and lack of racial justice.
Attitude towards work and the need for yagna spirit in Karma Yoga brought us to the discussion of an academic situation wherein there are people who take advantage of the generous who share their knowledge, not reciprocating. Many students indicated that they face this quite often. Students openly shared their feelings, and came up with different approaches to cope. They discussed the positives as well as the risks in helping their classmates, having a trusted group of friends and knowing that teaching helps us more than hurts us. It was very nice to hear our students give each other such sound and mature advice.
On the topic of role models, again they impressed us with thoughtful reflection. As Janani mentioned, imitating positive qualities of those close to us as parents and peers, is a great way to grow constantly. Vinayak's reasoning behind what he admires in Conan O'Brien, and Sal Khan showed that it is not superficial flamboyance that catches his attention but social impact. At this young age if our students already know to look for substance over hype, they are so prepared for life beyond high school! Vinayak also shared a website with free meditation practices that he found useful. https://www.smilingmind.com.au/mindfulness We will be checking this out and encouraged students to as well. They have a web version too, so it is not necessary to download the mobile app.
Please find details covered in today's class here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1buNjhT_2sRyuAH6ML6X-TlSGGDmyLwl5/view?usp=sharing
Assignment for students before next class:
1. Continue the daily gratitude journal entry. Don't make it a big deal. Take just 2 minutes at some point in the day to reflect and jot something down.
2, Watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix. Kavin shared how this documentary was eye opening for him and actually motivated him to take steps to protect himself. While watching, remember the discussions we had on the mind, objective vs. subjective perceptions, right action, discipline etc. Note down some thoughts and come to the next class prepared to talk about what you learned. Looking forward to hearing from everyone.
On chanting, we learned 8 verses in Gita Dhyanam, all students chanted beautifully. Mira did an awesome job on the first two Gita Verses we learned last week. We learned Verses 3 and 4 today - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpxXftSrWRM&list=LL&index=2 We encourage all children to become comfortable reading the verses and set the goal to participate in the Geeta Chanting Competition in March/April next year.
Thank you,
Aruna and Sirisha
