Dear Parents and children,
Harih Om,
The following material was taught during the Balavihar session on Sunday, April 25, 2021 to your child
- Beginning prayers
- We chanted all the six verses of Tapovan Shatakam
- Sri Krishna in Chapter 12 of the Bhagavad Gita enumerates 35 virtues or gems for us to live by. Bhagawan says that anyone who wants to come closer to me needs to live by these virtues and becomes "My Darling." Living by these set of values will help us to lead a happy and contented life. In the next few weeks, we will be teaching and discussing each of these gems or virtues in detail:
- Verse 13 of Chapter 12 of the Bhagavad Geeta is where these gems are enumerated:
अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्र: करुण एव च |
निर्ममो निरहङ्कार: समदु:खसुख: क्षमी || 13|| chapter 12
adveṣhṭā sarva-bhūtānāṁ maitraḥ karuṇa eva cha
nirmamo nirahankāraḥ sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ kṣhamī
He who hates no creature, who is friendly and compassionate towards all, who is free from attachment and egoism, who is balanced in pleasure and pain and forgiving
- Gem 1 – Hate none (advesta sarvabhutanam): The idea here is to see everyone as one's own self. When our nose itches due to allergy or cold, we don't hate our nose! Why? The reason is that it is part of me. So, we tolerate our itchy runny nose and appreciate the fact that it enhances our appearance, helps us breathe etc.! Similarly, if we accidently poke our eye and it hurts, we are in great discomfort, we would not want to chop off our finger! Why? Because we know that without our finger we know deep down we cannot carry out certain functions without a finger! Similarly, if we understand that there is God in everyone, we all function because of His presence and that there is none other than Him and every creation in this world- flowers, animals, rivers, rain is but an expression of Him, how can we hate anyone?
So, the question arises how can one not but hate a mass murderer for instance? The answer is that we hate this person's deed/action and not the person himself. All of us have shortcomings and yes, the mass murderer committed several vicious acts of violence, but we should not hate the person.
Pujya Gurudev said love is the basis of many well known and renowned works of art and literature. It is the basis of all religions. People are suffering because they lack love in their life. If someone is acting out it is most likely they did not experience love in their life. So show them love and then they too will learn to love back. If you want to others to love you, be lovable.
Just like in order to bake a cake we need flour, sugar, butter, essence etc, and if even one ingredient is missing then the end product cannot be called a cake! If the farmer did not plant seeds in the spring and harvest them in the fall, we would not have the flour to make bread that we eat every day. If we extrapolate this concept of interdependency, we can see that we all need everybody in the world in order to live a comfortable life. We cannot afford to exclude some people just because we do not like something about them. Hence, we should be grateful to everyone.
6.Gem 2 – Be Friendly; Maitrah – we should be friendly to all. We should not choose friends based on how rich or popular they are. And one should nuture our friendships and not take any one for granted. We have to remember what a needle can do a sword cannot – each has its own role to play. A sword may be a large weapon, but it cannot help us stitch a button!
Pujya Gurudev said we should make the effort to cultivate friends. A friend is a gift that we give to ourselves. We cannot buy/pick or wish someone to be our friend. Nor can be compel anyone to be our friend. The only way to make friends is to ensure that through our behavior. We should be selfless, loving and and have genuine concern for the welfare of others. In addition, we need to nurture the friendship and not take it for granted.
Story – Once in a forest lived a lion in a cave. One day a mouse crossed its path and the lion caught it. The mouse pleaded with the lion not to eat it and said that she too would help the lion when the opportunity arose. The lion was amused when he heard this and laughed out loud. He took pity on the mouse and let her go. After few days the lion got caught in a hunter's net. Even though he was big and powerful, he could not escape. The mouse along with her friends were able to bite the net to shreds and helped the lion escape. From that day onwards they become good friends. Moral of the story is that we should befriend everyone because we never know when we may need their help.
7. Gem 3 – Be Compassionate; Karunah. Be compassionate towards needy. All the children had heard of Mother Teresa the nun who served the poor and sick in Kolkata. Even though she was not an Indian national, she served the poor and the needy with compassion. When the children were asked to name the richest people in the world, they were not so sure of their responses. This goes to show that one need not be rich to be popular.
Pujya Gurudev says that karunah or kindness is an attitude of sympathy cooked in compassion, honeyed with love and served on a golden platter of understanding.
Story – A king had two wives. The older wife was miserable as the King never paid attention to her and instead doted on the younger, beautiful wife. One day she decided that she no longer wanted to live and started walking towards a turbulent river. As she started to walk towards the river she initially came across a plant that was drying up – who asked for her help. The queen watered the plant and removed all dead leaves. After helping the plant, mind still agitated, she continued to walk and saw a thin, emaciated cow that said, "please help me otherwise I will die". Queen cleaned the cow shed, got some grass and water for it. After helping the cow, she started walking again and saw an old saint in a dilapidated hut. She cleaned the hut, cooked food for him and started to make her way to the river. But the saint stopped her and asked her to look at her reflection. And lo and behold when the queen saw her reflection, she found that she had been transformed into a young and beautiful lady. The Queen started to go back to the palace happily – enroute the cow gave her milk and the plant gave her flowers. When she reached the palace, everyone was wonderstruck with her beauty, charm and grace – the King started doting her again and gave her full attention. The younger queen heard her story and decided to go to the river herself so she can become more beautiful. Enroute the plant and cow asked for her help, not only she did not help them but also insulted them. She saw the old saint asked for his blessing to make her more beautiful. He said that everyone gets what they deserve and asked her to take a dip in the river. After the dip the queen became very ugly! Saint said no one can either bless you or curse you. It is own mind that blesses or curses us. The younger queen had no compassion and she was only fully of hatred and jealousy. So, her own thoughts transformed into hateful actions made her ugly. The younger queen started crying and the Saint advised her to lead a pure life and repent for the mistakes she had made. Moral - we should treat everyone with compassion.
This following situation is one which middle school children may face. Suppose your neighbor and you are good friends and go to the same school. One day your friend calls you late at night stating that they had guests over for dinner and so she could not do her homework. She wants to copy your homework and you allow it. Teacher realizes that both cheated – so she fails both of them! What is the right course of action here? How do you maintain friendship? In the end we all agree that even if you are best friends you should not allow your friend to cheat / copy. Rather you can help in other ways to finish the homework. Being compassionate does not mean to facilitate wrong actions.
We spent some time practicing for our play scheduled for May 9th, 2021.
Sitaram Kuchibhotla
and
Mekhala Girish
