Hari Om Parents,
We began with the Opening Prayers. We continued to learn chanting of Shiva Manasa Pooja stotram. We also played chanting of this stotram by Swami Brahmanandaji to help practice.
We briefly talked about Adi Sankaracharya, as May 16 was his jayanti. Children were reminded how Adi Sankaracharya revived vedantic philosophy in India. In a short life span of 32 years he travelled on foot to all corners of India and established four peethams in four corners of India - Badrikashram Jyotirpeetham in the north, Dwarka's Shardha peetham in the west, Govardhan peetham in Puri in the east, and Sringeri Sharada peetham in Karnataka. The spiritual knowledge that we are getting exposed through Chinmaya Mission, is mainly the teachings of Adi Sankaracharyaji and his works. He not only composed bhasyas for Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads and Brahmasutras; but also penned many other hymns; stotrams and original works. Shiva Manasa pooja stotram, that we are learning is also His contribution.
Today we discussed Chinmaya mission Pledge – given by Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayanadaji Himself; most of it in question and answer form to engage the students – lot of the information we shared are the ideas taken from three set of talks given by Swami Mitranandaji (CM, Tamil Nadu) – we would strongly suggest all the parents to view these talks at their convenience. Our pledge imparts to us vedantik vision as envisioned in our Upanishads.
# We stand as one family bound to each other with love and respect.
For any relationship to sustain one needs both love and respect. This is applicable between friends, in a company, between wife and husband, within the mission, in a society between communities … between nations. Gurudev gave us the secret recipe for a successful relationship which is universally applicable. Both love and respect are needed for a relationship to blossom and grow. What will happen is only love is there & no respect? – there is a chance of one being taken for granted. How about if only respect is there and no love? – the person can turn bitter. Relationship can be managed with either love or respect – but it won't blossom unless both are there. If only one aspect is there in relationship – what should one do – abandon the relationship? – no hold on to whatever is present either love or respect – the other aspect will come back. Say if your friends one day do not give you attention / respect do not stop interacting with them – be with them with love; eventually they will notice their mistake and respect will come back into the relationship.
What is expression of love? – identification is expression of love. Greater the identification greater is the love. For a mother, a part of herself is her children, no matter where the child may be – in same house or a different continent; no matter what the age of the child is – if the child is suffering the mother also feels the suffering – that is because of her love/identification with the child. Similarly we love our nation or mission because we identify with them. Towards the object of our identification we give our best. What is the difference between love and attachment? In love 'the other' is more important; while in attachment 'I' am more important. Love is selfless and attachment is selfish. We asked students to introspect and identify who they truly love – without any specific expectations. It is ok to realize that we have been selfish all this time – but let us make an attempt to be selfless and provide unconditional love.
We should respect everyone – our tradition is to do Namaste- the divine in me bows down to the divine in you. When we see this divinity in everyone we cannot but respect everyone, no matter what their caste, creed, race or nationality etc. We are all in this grand journey of evolution – some more spiritual others less – but all travelling towards same goal. So no need to look up to some people and fell jealous; nor look down on other persons and be disrespectful.
# We serve as an army, courageous and disciplined, ever ready to fight against all our low tendencies and false values, within & without us.
Why serve as army? In army there is room for discussion and debate; but once the decision is made and the commanding office orders, then everyone has to follow officer's order – no more dissent or discussion. That is the kind of disciple that is needed to achieve great things collectively. We must we courageous and fearless – have the courage to be who you are – from a religious standpoint be proud to be a hindu. Does not mean look down upon other religions. Be proud of our heritage for we have 33 crore options (devas) to seek God. God is one, means to reach Him are many. Why courage and disciple both needed? – because without disciple courage deteriorates into arrogance – like Ravana.
We should have disciple to follow dharmic way of life at body, mind and intellect level.
Service needs to have disciple. Service needs to be accountable. Only then an organization can flourish as a movement. Otherwise service without disciple will not yield the intended long term results.
What are low tendencies? – anything that takes us away from God is low tendency and that which takes us closer to Him is higher tendency. What are false values? – projecting ourselves to be someone else than what we are, for example wanting the latest iphone, even if your parents can't afford it, so that you can 'fit' into your friend circle – is a false value. Be proud to be who you are – have that self-respect. These low tendencies and false values within ourselves – we need to identify and correct them ourselves. When we see problems outside – we need to act collectively as an army to tackle them. To make any change patience is needed. We need to make change from position of strength. Any company we join/ any group we are part of.., we should not start criticizing and try to make changes as soon as we join. We should first study the system, survive in the system, establish ourselves in the system and then make a change when we are in position of strength. Otherwise no one will pay attention to our suggestions etc. This approach is applicable to any group/organization/society we are in.
# We live honestly the noble live of sacrifice and service, producing more than what we consume and giving more than what we take.
What is a noble life? – life based on sacrifice and service. What do we need to sacrifice? – selfishness. We need to get rid of selfishness; expand our vision, try to help people and society around us as best as we can – no work is too small; no help is too little ( like the each one, reach one slogan we have now in the mission for Covid relief). Service should have service alone as its motive or motto. There should be no personal agenda in service. This does not mean service will not benefit us – it will immensely benefit when done selflessly dedicated to higher altar – it purifies out mind and intellect; and puts us in the path of evolution to the higher divine possibilities.
How does one live noble life? – by living honestly. Pujya Gurudev has so beautifully given these sentences – each word has significance and they all support each other!
Principle of karma yoga is given in the sentence – students will learn more about karma yoga in next few years as they study Bhagavad Gita. We need to introspect and see for ourselves if we are giving more / producing more? This was the second task given to the students. Let us look at the nature and learn – tree gives – breeze, flowers, fruits, oxygen, shade, beauty to enjoy … giving more than what we take. One of the biggest obstacles in our spiritual journey is selfishness. Let us learn to be selfless….
More in next class.
Pranam,
Rukmani Sriram
Devender Akula
