May 23, 2021 - Grade 9 (Sunday AM)

May 23, 2021 - Grade 9 (Sunday AM) 

 

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 continued with the discussion on Chinmaya mission pledge, recapping what we learnt last class.

# We seek Lord's grace to keep us on the path of virtue, courage and wisdom. May thy grace and blessings flow through us to the world around us.

To lead a life of dharma is not easy. To follow virtue, courage and wisdom is not easy. Life will through many challenges; we will face many temptations to serve away from path of dharma. We need Lord's grace to keep us on the path of dharma – hence this ardent prayer to Him. Students were reminded discussion we had in earlier classes about path of good (shreyas) and path of pleasant (preyas) – we need to consistently choose preyas over shreyas – it may seem difficult in the beginning but will give lasting happiness and success. When we empty ourselves from the negative thoughts/ values & egocentric notions then we will be making ourselves available to the Lord and become an instrument in His hand. Just like the empty flute with nine holes gives out melodies and divine music in the hands of Lord of Vrindavan. Let us make ourselves available to the Lord. Balan made himself available and was transformed as Swami Chinmayananda; Ratnakar made himself available and became Sage Valmiki … so many examples like this we can see in history.

 

# We believe that the service of our country is the service of Lord of Lords and devotion to the people is devotion to Supreme Self.

Gurudev has clearly indicated that serving one's country is as good as serving the Lord – Desha bakthi is equivalent to Deva bhakthi. One should serve the country as best as they can – not just based on emotionalism but with the intellectual understanding of the greatness of the motherland. For us when we look at India (or USA for the students) – it is beautiful, has been the spiritual Jagatguru, has made critical contributions in science, math, arts, literature etc.. This type of analysis will naturally increase our love and admiration. By identifying with the nation we will also be expanding our vision – rather than having narrow selfish view. Similarly devotion means not just lamp lighting etc . – service to the people is devotion too. In fact this is more practical way of looking at devotion. Any act of sewa done selflessly is an act of prayer. So we all can pour out our hearts and express our devotion by serving people. It is not important what we do is big or small; doing service selflessly is the most important things. So as Gurudev would say let us tuck up our pants, roll up our sleeves and dash into the world to serve and help.

 # We know our responsibilities gives us the ability and courage to fulfill them.

What are our responsibilities? – to stand as one family with love & respect; to serve as an army; to fight against all low tendencies and false values with and without; to live honestly; to consume more than what we produce; to give more than what we take … essentially the pledge lays down our responsibilities. Gurudev has given us a grand pathway to Bliss – we need to pray to the Lord to gives us the ability and courage to follow this path shown by our Gurudev. 'It is not easy yet it is easy' – easy if we can surrender to Lord and let Him lead us. Let us all make a sincere attempt to follow the pledge.

Today was a special session JCHKs – Vaibhavi, Maanasvi & Sanjana conducted the class for the students. We are very proud of our Balavihar children who did a great job in taking this class and conveying difficult topics that they were assigned and making it relevant to the students daily life. Here is their message that they conveyed in their own words ..

Vanaprastha: This is a person who, literally speaking, goes away to stay in the forest. We can interpret living in the forest as living in a solitary place, independently, away from social activities. We can learn from this person who prioritizes their own growth so they can focus on their dharma, and ultimately looks back on life with a minimal amount of regrets. 

Samnyasa: Samnyasa is the 4th and final stage of the ashramas and it talks about total renunciation, which means no longer having any desire for things in this world (or in any other world). A true samnyasa is one who sees the world as one's own self and renunciation allows them to detach from the material life to spend their life as a peaceful and spiritual one. We have desires because we think they will make us happy, making us think that our life can only be happy for a few moments, but Samnyasa makes us realize that the materialistic world is not what all that matters.

Antyesti: Ever since the day you are born, as each day goes on, you are one day closer to death. This is the idea of having an expiration date, just like how everyone has a birth date. To prepare for the "afterlife" you need to watch your vasanas, your tendencies. Every action you make since the day you are born affects you even after death. Good parenting and self morals and ethos allows you to adjust your vasanas in order to be the best version of yourself. Every action has its own punishment. You are punished by your sin. It is crucial to think each decision through and to weigh your outcomes before acting on something. Not all consequences come immediately, but be aware that there always will be one, whether it comes years later or immediately. After you pass, your jiva lives on even if your body doesn't. This is the idea of reincarnation. Your jiva travels to a different body after death through cremation of the departed body. This allows the jive to be reborn into a new body.

 

Next class will be our last scheduled class for this year and June 12 th is the annual day done virtually !!!

Pranam,

Rukmani Sriram

Devender Akula