Dear Parents,
Harih Om!
The following material was taught to your child during Balavihar on Sunday, April 18, 2021.
1.Tapovan Shatakam: We taught the children the first five verses of this beautiful song in praise of Swami Tapovan Maharaj: Guru of Swami Chinmayananda.
2. We continued with our discussion on the third pillar of Hinduism namely Satyam. We reviewed this concept again and explained that each of us has an ideal whom we try and model our life around. Satyam implies to live up to one's intellectual convictions and act in harmony with them. When we observe the life of successful people, one of the important traits that seems to be common amongst them is integrity. Integrity is truthfulness at all levels of activity: that is at physical, mental and intellectual levels. A person of Integrity is accepted, believed, trusted, and befriended by all. Integrity is a personal asset for any person in any field. Our values determine our thoughts which in turn determine our actions. An integrated person will try to live up to his ideals no matter what challenges he faces. This eventually leads to unfoldment of his personality. Only such people are evolvers. Most others are mere adapters who compromise at every turn. They will be slaves to their habits. Only a person of integrity will have power over his habits and happenings. Hence integrity is a quality we should embrace if we want to be successful.
To reinforce this concept, we asked the children several questions/situations they would encounter in everyday life. The responses were discussed and debated. Some of the questions that were posed were as follows:
A. You go to a friend's place and accidentally break something, and no one sees you breaking it. What would you do?
B. Teacher gives you exam/test results back and you realize that she did not score properly and gave you more points than you deserve. What would you do?
C. A friend of yours is stealing small items from various places what would you do? Why?
D. You are invited to a party to a friend's home, and you are aware that he/she and his/her friends drink alcohol and do drugs You want to be considered cool and want to go to this party but you know your parents do not approve of this group of friends. What would you do?
There was a healthy discussion and debate. Some students considered compromising a little and not telling the whole truth. Dangers inherent in speaking half-truths were reinforced to them with examples.
To reiterate the concept of Satyam, we told the children several simple stories:
The empty pot – Once upon a time there was a King in India, who did not have an heir for his throne. He called all the subjects, gave out seeds to them and told them whoever could grow the healthiest plant with the most succulent leaves from the seeds would be crowned as his heir. The subjects were given six months to grow this plant. After six months all the subjects assembled in the grand hall of the Palace and most of them brought pots with beautiful plants. Only one young man came with an empty pot. The people with beautiful healthy plants jeered and made fun of the young man with the empty pot asking him with derision why he even chose to come to the Palace without a plant. The king looked at all the beautiful plants and also at the empty pot. He asked the young man why his pot was empty. The boy said that he had watered, fertilized it and had taken great care but unfortunately the seed had not sprouted and that he had no plant to display. The King was so pleased with the young man that he crowned him as the future King. The King had given all of them roasted seeds that could not sprout; The young man alone did his work with sincerity and chose not to cheat. We need Satyam for victory. Truth alone prevails.
When we say something, do something and think something we have a split personality. Person with split personality cannot succeed in life. Everyone will realize that person is not genuine and will avoid them. We will develop inner agitations and tensions. Instead, when we adhere to Satyam, we will develop an integrated personality, wherein our thoughts, words and actions will be aligned. Mahatma Gandhi was once taking a spelling test. An inspector from education board came to school that day. Gandhiji's teacher wanted to show how good the students were doing. He noticed that Gandhiji made a mistake on his test. He wanted Gandhiji to copy from his neighbor and fix his mistake. Gandhiji refused to do that. That was his honesty and truthfulness, because of which he became Mahatma the great soul. When we are speaking the truth, we get to move closer to the Lord, Who alone can lead us to victory in our life.
The Talking Cup
Once a couple was admiring a beautiful cup in a shop in Europe and suddenly the cup started talking to them. The couple asked the cup how it was so much more beautiful compared to the other cups. The cup said that it owed it all to his maker because it was but a lump of clay at the beginning of creation. The cup said that his maker initially placed it on a wheel and turned it around and around until it was dizzy and slapped it a couple of times. The cup had asked his maker to stop but he did not listen. After that he put it in a hot fire, it was so hot that the poor teacup as screaming in pain. After several hours, the maker pulled it out of the hot oven and allowed it to cool and started painting a beautiful design on it with lovely colors. The cup started looking pretty and thanked the maker. But the maker was not done with the cup and placed it again into the hot oven at several hundreds of degrees Celsius. The cup continued to shout in pain but to no avail! The maker finally took it out and allowed it to cool and with a fine brush painted on the cup for many hours with a beautiful and intricate gold design. The cup looked prettier than any of the other cups in the store. The creator again put the cup in the oven which was much hotter than before. This time the cup did not shout or complain as it knew what the maker wanted to accomplish. After many hours he took the cup out and it looked extremely gorgeous. The cup thanked the maker profusely. The cup told the couple who were admiring it that if it were up to the cup, it would be but a ball of clay! In order to excel in life, you must go through austerity or tapas. God puts us through ups and downs in life only to mold our personality and make us a better person, provided we surrender to our Maker.
The treasure chest
A beggar lived under a tree in a village. He was very dirty, lazy and had no money. All he did day and night was beg for alms and buy food using the money people gave to him out of pit. Most people did not like to go close to him as he was unhygienic and smelt bad. He barely managed to get enough food to survive. He led a miserable life. Eventually he grew old and died. The municipality people came with a truck and took his body away to be cremated. The beggar used to sit on a pile of old and dirty blankest which the villagers decided to dispose off by incinerating. As the villagers started clearing the waste, they discovered that the beggar had been sitting on a cavity where a box was buried. When the villagers dug up the box, they discovered treasure chest full of beautiful gems, coins and precious jewelry. The beggar had been sitting on a treasure chest all through his life and did not even know about it!
Our situation is similar. Our Scriptures tell us that we have a treasure inside us, but we feel limited, helpless, and miserable most of the time because we seek happiness in external objects. We do not have to live like the beggar! If we find the treasure within us, we can live like kings! Lord Krishna gives out 35 values in chapter 12 of Bhagavad Gita. These values are the treasure that we are looking for. By following these values, we can lead happy and contented life. In the next few classes, we will be discussing these 35 values.
We questioned the students as to who is a true devotee? How can one be a true devotee? Are there any external signs? It was pointed out to them that we can get fooled by external appearances. A person can pretend to be a great devotee by his/her external appearance, but inside their value system may be all messed up. The dress one wears, external marks (example vibhooti) or knowledge of Shastras alone are not essential markers of a true devotee. In the Bhagavad Geeta the Lord Himself points out the qualities he values in a true devotee. By cultivating these values we can also become a true devotee of the Lord.
Discussing the prior values, we went back to discuss detachment and attachment. We can consider the current situation with coronavirus. When the coronavirus was in China and people were dying there, none of us here in US were affected that much, we carried on with our own lives without getting too worried - this was our detached attitude. Once coronavirus has been here in US or in India and a lot more people have gotten infected and people are dying from it, we are now very worried and practicing 'stay home and social distancing' - this reflects our attached attitude. Attachment came only when it became my problem. Whenever there is 'I' and 'mine' involved attachment arises. If a neighbor's dog dies, we may not be that sad but if our dog dies we are very sad – because it was 'my dog'. When we learn to detach from lower values and start attaching ourselves to higher values and a higher ideal, we will be able to lead more happier and productive life and opening a pathway for higher possibilities. By practicing these values, we are trying to chip away the negativity within our personality so that the beauty inherently within us can shine forth. If we continue to cultivate positive values in ourselves the negative values will slowly and steadily be eliminated. It is like gently chipping away at uncut diamond and when this is done well, the natural beauty of the diamond shines forth.
3. Our class play is scheduled for Sunday, May 9th. We spend half an hour assigning roles to the children and have scheduled play practice every Saturday from 5 p.m.. Please ensure that your child joins the zoom session on time every time so that we can practice together and put a wonderful play to demonstrate what we have learnt in the past few months.
Thank you!
Sitaram Kuchibhotla
And Mekhala Girish (Grade 8 Sunday AM Balavihar teachers)
