Hari Om Parents! Please find the summary of the 4/30 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: 5/07/2021
Summary: We started the class with reflection on the Dharma Thermostat. Couple of students shared their week's journey of practicing the values they chose. 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. We covered the following gems in today's discussion:
Gem 11: Firm Conviction (Drudha Nischay): Firm conviction or resolve means having steadfastness, determination to make up one's mind. When we know the value of anything then we make a resolve to get it. Students were asked if they wanted a 100$ note if it was all crumpled up.. Answer was YES because they knew the value of a hundred dollars. Similarly only when we value a thing then we make a resolve to achieve it. It was emphasized to the students that they should have faith in three factors - faith in our sastras, faith in God/Guru and faith in oneself. Just because we cannot see God we cannot conclude that he is not present. There are many things that we cannot see but can experience such as emotions, even though science says that the earth is round and moving all the time we perceive earth as being relatively stationary. But when seen through the eyes of science we understand that the earth is moving all the time. Similarly we need a special 'mirror' to be able to see God, the mirror is the purified mind. We achieve this purification by following the teachings of our sastras. When you watch a movie we don't see the screen, but without the screen the movie cannot play, similarly without God the world cannot exist. Our inability to recognize him is because of our agitations and impurities in our mind. Pujya Gurudev said that the pilgrimage leading to the temple of truth is not easy; one may have to go through dangerous forest, tunnels or precipitous steeps. On this pilgrimage we may experience despondence, despair and hopelessness. Hence we need to have unlimited exchequer of power and strength, and this exchequer of infinite strength is called faith. Students were then asked to read questions like - people say you are very smart but I don't think so, can you help me with my problem? - four or five such statements were read, and students were asked to comment on them. Obviously none of these statements sounded polite or nice or rational. It was then pointed out to the students that this is what exactly we do when we pray to God. Most of the time we are so busy with our life that we do not acknowledge God for what He has given us, but when we need something from Him, then we remember to pray to Him. In fact what we're doing is not 'praying' but we are 'preying' on God. All we need to do is just to look around in nature or even analyze how miraculous this human body works, how the heart pumps blood continuously without a break to understand the greatness of the Lord. He is the one who is running the show of the world and making our body function seamlessly. We are too busy playing with his toys that we fail to recognize and acknowledge them. We forget the Giver!
Story to support the concept of Faith- One night a family woke up from sleep detecting smoke and fire in their house. Frantically the father grabbed the one-year-old and a five-year-old and started running out. Five-year-old remembered that he left his favorite teddy bear in the bedroom so he let go of his father and ran back to the bedroom. In the anxiety and confusion father did not realize that the five-year old son left him to get his toy. Once he got out he realized that his other child was still in the house. By now the fire got much worse which prevented the father from going in. The son was shouting from the bedroom window asking for help. There was a lot of smoke. The father could see the son and asked him to jump from the window. Unfortunately his son could not see him because of all the smoke, so he hesitated. Father assured the son that it is okay that he will catch him to trust him and jump, the son jumped and was saved by the father. Similarly we don't know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future. We just need to hold onto the feet of the Lord, and he will take care of us.
Gem/Value 12: Mind/Intellect centered in Lord ( Mayyarpitha Mano Budhih): To drive this home, we started explaining the concept with a story: The lobby was buzzing with a lot of candidates who were waiting for an interview for an important job. An announcement was made from the public address system which was very soft, only one person who was alert heard the announcement. He entered the interview room and was rewarded with the job. Others had to go back home. Similarly we need to develop ears to hear His announcements, have eyes to see the substratum of the universe. How do we develop these faculties? When a movie is over only then we see the screen behind, so also when we're able to quieten our mind and thoughts the projection behind our thoughts - the Lord is experienced. One of the easy ways to try to quieten the mind is by praying regularly to God and developing devotion towards Him. We can chant His name and keep Him in our mind all the time. Pujya Gurudev stated that our actions should sing His glory and our feelings should have the fragrance of His purity, and our thoughts should express His dynamism. Such God centered life is a true hymn praising the Lord.
Gems 13 and 14: By whom the world is not agitated and whom the world does not agitate (yasmannodvijate lokah, lokannodvijate yah): Devotee of the Lord will not create any agitations in the world around him. Similarly when we are with our friends and family we should try not to spread negative feelings and create agitations and confusions in other minds. Things in the world are constantly in a state of flux, especially now with this coronavirus pandemic, there are many things that are happening that we never expected. A true devotee of the Lord, who is rooted in his devotion to the Lord, does not get disturbed by the happenings around. He does what needs to be done and sees the play of the Lord in all the various changes that are happening around. He is like a lighthouse which is firmly rooted in its foundation, erect and motionless, which watches all the waves crashing onto it. Similarly we should also get firmly rooted and hang onto the Lord who will protect us.
Gem15: Free from joy, fear, and will, and anxiety ( harsamarsha bhayodvegair muktttah): When we get the desired object we feel happy, if you don't get the desired object we are envious of those who have it. Once we procure the desired object we have the fear of losing it and if the object goes missing there is an anxiety for the object - all this is not there for somebody who does not have too much desire or attachment for an object. Fear is always because of unknown or uneasiness in our heart. Such emotions when left uncontrolled can prevent the blossoming of our personality. This happens due to lack of faith and lack of understanding of the Lord. A child might feel fearful in the dark, but holding onto the mother the same child can walk in darkness fearlessly. Similarly if we hold onto the Lord we can have the courage to face any challenges and overcome our inner agitations such as uncontrolled joy, envy, fear, and anxiety.
Story - once in the depth of ocean lived a fish, which was restless to explore and swam up to reach the surface of the ocean. It saw the vast sky and looked down below at the deep ocean which was many miles deep. The fish was overwhelmed with fear. He thought it was going to drown in the ocean. So it only swam on the top of the ocean. The Lord of the ocean appeared and asked the fish why it was only rolling on top of the water on the top and not swimming gracefully. The fish replied that it is trying to catch his tail by mouth so it may hold onto the tail and prevent itself from drowning. The Lord smiled and said that you should use your fins to swim gracefully; I am the one who is supporting you. It is my job to make sure that you float. The fish did not listen, and succeeded in catching its own tail. Now the fins could not move so it slowly sank to the bottom of the ocean, the Lord could only look on. Similarly we are given a healthy body, hands and legs, utilizing which we should work and be free to act. We need to give up unnecessary worries and have trust in God who supports us. Do we get into the train and then carry the luggage on our head? Don't we put the luggage on the train so that the train can carry your burden. Similarly while we are traveling in this life journey, we need to put the burden of her problems on God and let him support us in this journey. Make Him our friend and supporter so that our journey may go on smoothly.
Gem 16: Free from dependence ( anapeksah): One who is free from wants or to be free from dependence. True devotee of the Lord is not dependent upon external objects or things for his sustained happiness. We all feel happy when favorable things or situations happen, and feel upset when facing unfavorable situations. For most of us our happiness or sadness depends upon external objects or relationships over which we have little control. In contrast ,devotees of the Lord draw his inspiration and joy from his attachment to the Lord, his happiness springs forth from a deeper source inside him, so external objects and happenings have little influence over his inner peace and joy. Once we realize that the external objects, emotions and thoughts are constantly changing and hence cannot give us everlasting happiness we will try to find the source of happiness within us. Pujya Gurudev says that when we experience sorrow, tragedy, happiness we need to shift our attention to the one who is aware of these emotions. Then the attention is not on the object or on the experience of sorrow, but is directed towards the consciousness within us. For example if you eat a food item that you like, initially it may give us pleasure, but if we continue to eat too much of it, then we will experience only misery and sorrow. In the long run this habit can also cause detriment to our physical health. God has given us so many precious things, in fact most important things that we need in life are freely available such as air, water and sunlight. We need to be thankful to God for this. Focus on what we have rather than dwell on what we don't. In fact if you make a list of things that we need/want, most of us usually have 80% or more of what we need or want. Thus by reorienting our mindset and focusing on positive aspects we can learn to be happier and less dependent.
Gem 17 - Be Pure ( sucih): We need to maintain purity both external and internal. Maintain cleanliness in our relationship with others and keep our surroundings clean. Our sastras have a lot of emphasis on externally cleanliness, because without external purity, internal purity will be a distant dream. Hence we have to keep our body and our surroundings clean and organized. In addition internal purity, that is, having pure intentions and clear thoughts is also extremely important. Pujya Gurudev states that we should not be satisfied by practicing passive goodness. We need to live a disciplined life following our values sincerely. When the majority of people in a society have honest intentions and pure motives; then that generation will lead the nation to glorious summits of joy and success. Once a poor man decided to invite the King to his house. The kind King granted his wish. Royal messengers came before the King came and cleaned up his house, spread the carpet and decorated the place to receive the King. When the King visited everything was already set and ready. Similarly if we invite God to take his seat in our hearts he will do what is necessary, he will send his messengers to clean our hearts so that our heart is a fit-place for him to arrive. One of the simple ways to invite God and achieve purity is to pray to him regularly with devotion. Prayer should be done not to ask God some specific material stuff but is done to ask for His blessings and guidance. Regular introspection is necessary to look at our thoughts. We can then identify and remove those thoughts that are not serving any good purpose for us. We should always question what we are doing and why we are doing a certain thing – thus explore our motives behind our actions. This helps us to keep our mind clean and free from malice etc.
After this discussion, we wrapped up the class with closing prayers.
Regards,
Mythili and Anandi
