Hari Om All,
We started with Yaksha prashna and came to the end of the Yaksha's questions to Yudhishtira. The class will eventually do an event on this topic.
This class we started talking about 35 Gems. These Gems are the qualities that make anyone the Darling of Krishna. These Gems are described in Bhagavad Gita Chapter XII from Verses 13 to Verse 20.
We read a story of "The Talking Cup" - How a clay cup goes through various stages of moulding & painting before it becomes so beautiful that it gets appreciated by everyone. Initially, it means facing a lot of heat in the oven but eventually it adds to the cup's beauty.
Gem 1 is "Hate None". It actually means to love all. Pujya Gurudev says if you give love you get love. If you love something then you automatically get more inspired. This inspiration then makes us more efficient in anything we do. We read a story of Monkey & Rakshasas. In the story, Rama appears like himself instead of as the Monkeys & Rakshasas fighting each other. This inspires the Monkeys to fight more bravely as they see their fellow monkeys in Rama's form. The moral is that if we see love and positivity everywhere, then there is no reason for us to be afraid. An important point of this gem is that loving everyone includes loving YOURSELF.
The second Gem is to be Friendly. As Gurudev said, friends make life easier and richer. To make friends, we have to be friendly. Thus, to make life easier and better for ourselves we need to be Friendly. We read a story of the Mouse and the Lion. The lion thought that a mouse could do nothing for him, still agreed to make friends with the mouse. Later, this friend came in need to cut out the net that the Lion was trapped in.
The third Gem is to be compassionate. Gurudev said, "Kindness is an attitude of sympathy, cooked in compassion, honeyed with love, and served on a golden plate of understanding." Compassion is about feeling love and caring for all. It is about showing kindness unconditionally. We read a story about how one of the two queens who felt slighted by the King decides to end her life but as she helps some people along the way, she is made to realize her true beauty, which is her personality and thoughtfulness. In fact, she becomes superficially beautiful as a blessing of this. Whereas, the other queen attempts to become beautiful without realizing that not having the quality of compassion makes her uglier.
The class was given extra time today to plan for an event that they are organizing. They are doing a good job planning for it and taking responsibility.
Best,
Partha & Nikhita
