Hari Om Parents!
Please find the summary of the 4/23 class.
Opening prayers: Om Sahana Vavatu
Om Sri Ganeshaya NamaH
Om Sri Saraswatyai NamaH
Om Sri Sadgurubhyo NamaH
Vasudevasutam Devam (Krishna Shloka)
Activity: Dharma Thermostat
Lessons: continued with the 35 Gems/virtues discussion.
Closing prayers
Next Balavihar class: 4/30/2021
Summary: We started the class with reflection on the Dharma Thermostat with a couple of students talking through their experience of trying to reach the goal they have set that week. Kids are being honest in their assessments and also being realistic in setting their goals. We will continue working on this for the rest of the year.
We continued with the values taught by Sri Krishna in Chapter XII of Bhagavad Gita, where He enumerates 35 virtues or gems for us to live by. Bhagawan says he is showing us these gems so that we can make use of them and be happy. He says "anyone who lives by these virtues is My darling". We covered the following gems in today's discussion:
Virtue/Gem5 : Free from Ego (Nirahamkarah); Pujya Gurudev says ego is a noun not a verb. Ego is nothing but a bundle of past actions and reactions, from birth till now. He commands us to throw away this stinking bundle down and look at the world without this muddy poison. Where ego is dropped, divine experience arises. Ego is false identification with our body, mind and intellect. When ego is divinized, the individual will automatically remain equanimous in both success and failure.
The Balloon Effect – when a balloon filled with helium is let go, it rises up as it is less dense than atmospheric air. With greater displacement of air it will go higher and higher and in the process it expands, until the elasticity of the rubber is reached and it bursts. The balloon shrivels and falls down. Similarly we, the perceiver, feeler and the thinker – the ego entity – will get filled up with "helium" as we study scriptures and follow a value based lifestyle. The vasana burden in us gets reduced and the mind & intellect get an upward thrust. As we progress in our sadhana a time will come just like the balloon our mind and intellect will explode and we will merge with the Reality.
On a practical note we can see that too much ego leads to its own problems. We can get angry with people, hurt our family and friends – even though we know we did wrong, our ego prevents us from saying 'sorry'. When we say sorry we should really mean it
Supporting Story – in a forest lived an egoistic elephant and it treated everyone badly. One day a bunny who never heard about the elephant, did not greet the elephant and went about singing. Elephant got angry and wanted to crush the bunny. A mosquito nearby decided to teach the elephant a lesson. The mosquito challenged the elephant to fight with it and to leave the bunny alone. The mosquito got into the trunk of the elephant and started biting him. The elephant jumped and rolled, but could not get rid of the mosquito. All the animals started cheering for the mosquito. Finally the elephant realized the result of his egoistic attitude and asked forgiveness from all the animals. Mosquito then left the elephant alone.
Gem/Virtue 6 - Equal minded in pleasure and pain( samaduhkhahsukhah) : One needs to be balanced in our responses to various situations we encounter in our daily lives. A Balanced mind does not mean living like a statute. Normally we get very happy when we get things that we like or if people behave according to our liking. We are unhappy when we get what we dislike or if circumstances are not conducive to our liking. What we need to realize is strong likes and dislikes make us unhappy. For example I must sit in my favorite dining chair to eat my food, I must eat pizza every Friday from Pizza Hut, I cannot eat pizza without Coke or I get upset if I do not see my favorite TV show. We should avoid such strong likes and dislikes which will inevitably make us unhappy. Instead if we have a balanced mind we will be more peaceful and happy. Likes and dislikes depend upon background and environment. When we put fingers in ice water for a few minutes and then put the same finger in warm water, it will feel very hot. When the finger is put in lukewarm water, then put in warm water the water will not feel that hot. Similarly, all our feelings are relative. Our likes and dislikes are conditioned both by circumstances and environment
Gem/Virtue 7: Forgive (Kshama): God is all forgiving. All we need to do is pray and ask for his forgiveness; He immediately responds. The more we rub Sandalwood to the stone, the more fragments it gives. Such is the beauty of forgiveness and life. Once a holy man was invited to a town to judge wrongdoers to see what punishment they can be given. The holy man entered the town dragging behind a basket full of holes filled with sand. People did not understand his behavior. The holy man replied - like this sand my sins are running behind me. I do not see them but I have come here to judge others. It only means that what right we have to judge others. Just as we forgive and overlook our own sins, we should learn to forgive others. When we forgive people, it is we who benefit more than the person whom we have forgiven. We need to forgive and forget. A lot of times people say they have forgiven a person, but every time they meet the person they'll remind him about the incident. It is important that we forget the hurt that incident caused even if we can't forget the incident. Forgiving somebody despite the harm or ill that they have done to us is what we should strive for. We should forgive everyone without exception, maintaining grudges against one or two persons will still poison our mind. For example one may say I forgive everyone except my in-laws, this is not good enough. Forgiveness should be complete. "To err is human, to forgive is divine." – Alexander Pope. "It is by forgiving that one is forgiven." – Mother Teresa.
Gem/Virtue 8: Ever Content (Santhushtah): Definition of Content is 'ease of mind'. When there is contentment, there is ease of mind. Contentment has nothing to do with our possessions or wealth. Our urge to have more is when we don't get it is what makes us unhappy. To keep the session interactive we asked the students to name some of the wealthiest people they could think of along with the greatest sports stars of all time. Although they answered the questions it took them some time to come up with the names. We then asked them a second set of questions and asked them to think about the answers mentally and raise their hands when they thought of someone. The questions were: think about a teacher who has helped you, think about a role model who you look up to, think about someone you can trust wholeheartedly. Students took just a few seconds to raise their hands and we asked them why they thought answering the second set of questions was much easier. They responded by saying that it was because they interact with these people often and think about them in tough times.
To drive the point home, we went a story of two mules and learned to " Be content and do not show off, lest you should get into trouble"
Gem 9: Steadfast in meditation (Yogi): We started the conversation by laying the fundamentals through the discussion of some key words. We talked about who a Yogi is and what having Laser focus means. We told the children that their minds are like a river and they are controlled by memories of the past, fears of the future, anxieties of the present... all of these cause flooding of the mind. Through yoga and meditation, the goal is to have no vasanas (disturbances within oneself) and we discussed how to meditate briefly as well. We shared an incident from Swami Vivekananda's story when Vivekananda was a teenager who was full of desires. His guru, through a clever way, teaches Vivekananada how to meditate and also shows him the power of meditation. It makes our mind quiet and our desires evaporate.
Gen 10: Self-control ( Yatatma): Initially we had open discussion to see if students remembered 'Indriya Nigraha', one of the 10 core values we discussed as part of Manu Dharma discussion. We discussed whether self-control is beneficial or not, how can it be pursued – students gave some examples such as doing school work in time etc.…. It was reminded that freedom comes with responsibilities. Unless self-control and discipline is followed, one cannot achieve anything productive in this life. Pujya Gurudev has said without self-discipline, concentration and total dedication one cannot grow and shine forth.
We wrapped up the class after discussing a little about our monthly program and chanting closing prayers.
Regards,
Mythili and Anandi
