Hari OM Parents,
We began with the Opening Prayers. We started learning to chant Bhagavad Gita chapter 2 verses, Swamiji's video – Verse 5 & 6 was shown and we continued learning
नमस्ते अस्तु भगवन विश्र्वेश्र्वराय महादेवाय त्र्यम्बकाय त्रिपुरान्तकाय
त्रिकालाग्निकालाय कालाग्निरुद्राय नीलकण्ठाय मृत्युंजयाय सर्वेश्र्वराय सदाशिवाय
श्रीमन् महादेवाय नमः
Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra
ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् |
उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान्मृत्योर्मुक्षीय माऽमृतात् ||
Recap - Lesson 7 Vision of Our Scriptures
Having established that our scriptures, namely, Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads and so on are the valuable sources for Hindu culture, we moved on to understand the vision of our scriptures.
As always a story helps to comprehend better:
Once upon a time there was a colony of caterpillars. One of the caterpillars, noticing that many caterpillars were trying to climb to the top of a post, asked why? The other caterpillars said that there was something wonderful at the top. In the process of climbing many got pushed and pulled and some died too. However this caterpillar who got tired of climbing decided to live a quiet life away from the post. In time she became a beautiful butterfly and flew to the top of the post. She noticed her husband still struggling to climb and told him to give up climbing and stay still and quiet. In due course of time he became a butterfly too and flew to the top of the post.
We are also like the caterpillars in a way. We run after money, name and fame thinking they are very important in life, only to find out that they are not the source of real happiness. The scriptures say we all are butterflies and not the limited individuals struggling to get to the top. How do we recognize that? When our minds become absolutely quiet our journey ends and we recognize God who is present everywhere. Is this an easy task? NO. The reason is impurities of the mind, restlessness of the mind and lack of knowledge as to who the Lord is. So, the Go To source book here is the Vedas.
Vedas have three kandas or sections. They are:
Karma kanda that addresses the impurities of the mind.
Upasana Kanda that addresses the restlessness of the mind
Jnana Kanda that reveals the highest knowledge as to who the Lord is.
If we analyze our actions, we find that we readily do things we like to do and we hesitate or avoid things we don't like to do. Why? We are prompted by our inherent tendencies called Vasanas, that manifest as likes, raga, and dislikes, dvesa. All our perceptions, actions and responses are influenced by our likes and dislikes which are essentially the impurities of the mind. It is like the fight between two wolves inside your mind, one representing anger, greed, pride, guilt etc., and the other love, hope, kindness, truth, etc., And whichever one is fed will get stronger. So to eliminate the impurities of the mind, in other words, to purify our minds we resort to Karma kanda.
Impurities in the mind lead to restlessness of the mind. Upasana kanda cures the mind of restlessness. How? It prescribes meditation practices to focus our minds to a higher ideal thus making the mind single pointed and purified. We imbibe the qualities of the Almighty if we do upasana of our deity just like a log of wood near a fire source gets warm and catches fire.
Once the mind is purified and made single pointed it is ready to receive the knowledge mentioned in the Upanishads, the last portion of the Vedas, Jnana kanda. In Kena Upanishad, God is pointed out as Pure Consciousness because of which we are able to see, hear, speak and able to think. Examples of telescope and electricity are used to explain this aspect.
We reminded students the following Words of Wisdom on Character by Swami Chinmayananda.
"Character is formed from the repeated choice of thoughts and action. Make the right choice and we shall have a firm and noble character. Actions are the louder expressions of thoughts. The quality of thoughts is ordered by the nature of our inner belief and faith. Our scriptures mold our inner belief and faith."
Actions are divided into four categories – Nishiddha karmas - actions that are condemned by scriptures such as telling lies or having alcohol; Kamya karmas - actions prompted by personal desires keeping Dharma in mind; Nitya karmas - duties fulfilled by everyone according the stage of their life. These are meant to bring discipline into our lives. As a student our nitya karma is to study. If there is an exam we should overcome the urge of watching TV or going to a movie to study. These disciplines help to bring mind under control. Naimittika karmas/special duties performed during special situations. These are duties towards ourselves, community, nation and the world, such as attending wedding, visiting a sick person, taking care of environment etc.
Nitya and naimittika karmas are together are called Niyata karmas. These duties fall upon us by birth, and our inner makeup determines and orders our environment that we are born into. According to the law of karma every action is a cause which will produce an effect in due course of time. Depending upon the motive, vasanas produced by good actions are called punya/merits and by bad actions are called papa/sins.
Our Scriptures also talk about some sancita, prarabdha and agami karmas. Over countless births individual or jiva accumulates large amount of merits and sins. This total accumulated store of punyas and papas is sancita karma. This is comparable to a large fixed deposit. It will ultimately mature. It is sancita karma in seed form that gives rise to future births.
Prarabdha karma - from the total capital of sancita karma those actions that have fructified and given us the present birth and experiences is prarabdha karma. It can be comparable to the portion of deposit in the bank that has matured. It determines the form of body and the environment that we are born into. The body dies when all the prarabdha karma is exhausted. Human body is a result of mixture of punya and papa. Pure punyas are exhausted in heaven while pure papas are exhausted in hell. This law of karma explains the diversity and variety that we see in human form and in nature.
Agami karma - the results of what we do today, come as agami in future. As you sow, so you reap. These results may come instantaneously, or after few years or in future life. The results of the action depend upon the intention behind the actions. As far as a Wise man is concerned there are no good or bad actions, for he has no sense of doership, for he has no identification with his body. He is Pure Self, free from actions.
What we meet in life is destiny, prarabdha, and how we meet what we meet is self-effort, purushartha. Human beings are given this freedom to exert their self-effort, which is not available to animals or other beings. Principle of destiny or prarabdha is only one aspect of law of karma. We have come into this world as a result of our past actions, situations in life come to us based on prarabdha; but we have the freedom to discriminate and perform right action in any situation that arises. Our own past actions have bought this life and circumstances, while self-effort in the present life will determine our future life. So we should perform good actions so we can have happier future. Our future destiny is in our hands. Two examples where discussed with the student to highlight distinction between destiny and self-effort, which have been given by Pujya Gurudev. Example 1 - there is a wall with yellow paint on it, the yellow paint is your prarabdha. When we apply blue paint on it we get green color. The blue paint is our self-effort; the result of our self-effort is conditioned by prarabdha. Hence we see green color. But if we keep on applying blue paint eventually we will get blue paint. Hence it is possible for us to overcome our destiny with concerted self-effort. Example 2 - let us imagine a river is flowing at 2 mph. If we put a log on the river the log will also float at 2 miles per an hour. Now if we attach a motor to the log and let the log run in the direction of the river the log will go at 12 miles an hour, and if we make the log go against the river the log will go at 8 miles per an hour. Here the river flow is our destiny while the mortar is our self-effort sometimes the destiny will cooperate with our self-effort or sometimes we may have to work hard to overcome/modify our destiny to achieve the desired results. In short future is not a mystery of some unknown miracle that needs to unfold. Past modified in the present is future. We have the freedom to modify our past and creative better future for ourselves. We are not helpless pawns in the hands of destiny. By living right values and noble virtues we can ensure glorious future for ourselves. Actions in our present life determine our future births, similarly our present life must have been secondary to causes in past lives. Thus law of karma helps us to understand reincarnation principle. We can only come out of this samsara by realizing our identity with the Supreme Lord.
To overcome our hunger we alone have to eat the food. To gain the knowledge we alone have to study. In the same way if we have to live happily we alone have to work on ourselves to create a better future. Activity - students were asked note down some blessings of good fortune that they have in their life and also detect misfortune in their life. They have to come up with solutions how to change their misfortune into something positive through self-effort/purushartha.
Pranam,
Rukmani Sriram
Devender Akula
