June 6, 2021 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone,

Today being the last class of the year, we started as usual with gitaa chanting (chapter 2).  We have done this diligently from the very first day of class until the last day of the year!  Our students have become very fluent and we are very proud of their accomplishment in this regard.  

We saw a brief overview of what we have discussed this past year – Our topic for the year was the last shaTkam of the bhagavadgeeta, which means the last 6 of the 18 chapters of bhagavadgeeta.  We have learned the topics well and our class had even presented chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16 recently (We hadn't finished 17 and 18 at that time).

We reminisced about some concepts we had discussed such as the three guNas and their influences on our actions, non-attachment, the upside-down tree representing the material world and so on. We discussed, in short, the nature of reality and the shortcomings of the material world. Krishna entreats us to detach from the ever-changing fortunes/misfortunes of the material world and focus on the eternal and divine. Krishna lays out several ways to liberate ourselves depending on our dispositions.  We revisited the fact that we are our best competition and have to constantly strive to elevate ourselves, one day at a time!   

Many fondly recalled their experiences teaching the younger grades; their project work as teams; how they bonded over the year and the topics that struck a chord with them! 

They shared with us their experiences of highly inquisitive and energetic students youngsters whom they taught.  It seems that our sophomores and juniors are looking forward to teaching next year as well!

They recollected some of the topics they enjoyed learning during the year. Some even shared their anxieties about the race for grades!  We then figured that the rat race doesn't end with getting into a good college...  Keeping up the grades at college is essential as well... Doesn't stop there either...!  We have to work towards getting a job..., then again, have to prove ourselves in the new work environment...!  Where does this end...?  Retirement?!  One of them rightly pointed, even then, I guess we have to strive towards staying alive!! :).  In that case, looks like there are only 2 kinds of people who don't have any troubles... The ones who are not born yet and the ones who have gone already...!!  So we decided, it is better to learn to live a calm and contented lifestyle, no matter what stage of life we are in!  Getting anxious will not take us far, but working objectively will help us enjoy the journey of our life!!!  

We then spent our time playing some games to mark a fun last class; tested our memories by playing a 'memory game' and revealed some interesting/fun facts about ourselves to our fellow classmates in a game of '2 truths and a lie' :).  

Overall, it was a fantastic year and our students coped very well despite the online mode of instruction.  They were diligent in attending the classes and participating in all the class activities - gitaa chanting, class presentation, teaching assignment in younger grades, discussions, to name a few.

We are super proud of our students.  We are positive that they are shaping into wonderful, compassionate and responsible young adults who will be great assets to society!  

We wish everyone a great summer break and a wonderful onward journey into college for all our seniors!  Take care and stay safe. 

Regards,

Rashmi and Raghav. 

May 23, 2021 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone,

As the activity of the year, our students visited their younger friends from all other grades and taught their classes!  Our class was divided into teams of 3-4 students and assigned to different grades.  Over the last two weeks, they had coordinated with their assigned class teachers and planned what material they will be teaching.  

We started our class with beginning prayers and a small pep talk. Everyone dispersed to teach their respective grades.  They taught for almost an hour and reassembled back in our class to share experiences.  

Our JCHYKs were super excited and they look forward to this day every year!  All teachers were super proud of our students and gave wonderful positive feedback.  These were the words from teachers regarding the students

• research and teaching material were excellent
• game times planned well
• positive interactions with their younger counterparts
• dealing with difficult topics and making them relevant to the class
• inspiring the youngsters and making the class fun and interactive
• co-ordination and teamwork
• shared information in a well-connected manner
• the clarity in presenting the material 

Our students too had a lot of fun teaching!  After teaching they were are enthusiastic about sharing their experiences.  Here were their takeaways - 

• Procrastination is not good
• Teamwork pays!
• We were nervous in the beginning but we turned out okay 
• It was fun meeting up with the team for planning
• Co-ordination among us as a team was essential
• There wasn't much time for prep, yet we pulled it off
• We opened up more and learned to speak with different age groups
• It is better if we interact in class (This made us think we should have done this assignment at the beginning of the year itself! 😀) 
• Didn't realize there is so much preparation that goes in even for Bala Vihar teachers, we thought it wasn't much! 

Overall, it was a great experience for EVERYONE at Bala Vihar today!  

See you all soon for the final class for this academic year.

Have a great rest of the week. 

Regards,
Rashmi and Raghav.

May 9, 2021 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om,

This week was special as we performed Guru Paadukaa Pooja celebrating the 105th birth anniversary of Gurudev Chinmayananda.

It was followed by class presentations from various grades.  We were entertained by presentations from second graders, third graders, eighth graders, and our very own JCHYK group.

In our presentation, our students summarized 4 of the 6 chapters of Geeta that we have learnt this year.

Our overview of Chapter 13 covered the difference between kshetra and kshetrajna, while Chapter 14 covered the three gunas – rajas, tamas, and sattva. Chapter 15 discussed the nature of reality and the need for detachment, while Chapter 16 covered the divine and demonic qualities. We had divided the class into four groups and each group was asked to present their understanding of the chapters.  They had to work with their teams out of class and record their team's work together.  They all brought their own unique take to their assigned chapters using different modes of presentations!  Teachers were only guides.  We did NOT help them with the script, ideas, or recordings.  We were super impressed by the end result and Swamiji applauded their efforts and understanding of the topics too!  

Please enjoy the recording of the presentation and be sure to share it as we are proud of their hard work and effort that went into making this presentation a success!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16S5uLpxEJDLsOy-MSHEzkRbju9AYfOQx/view?usp=sharing

See you soon. 

Regards,

Rashmi and Raghav. 

May 2, 2021 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om,

Class started with the regular meditation and geeta chanting (chapter 2 first half)

In the discussion segment, we concluded Chapter 17 which examined the nature of behaviors. These can be named as sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic; while our initial class focused on stories of kings and warlords to demonstrate these behaviors, we focused on situations closer to what a typical high schooler would encounter. For instance, we looked at volunteering – what sort of attitude should we approach giving back to our communities? We asked some of our JCHYKs about their volunteering experiences as well as their motivations behind volunteering. Our discussion revealed a sattvic approach focused on serving others rather than a selfish rajasic approach which favored personal benefit or a tamasic approach which would have actively made things worse. We discussed other topics of interest like studying for tests as well where one can once again go about the process in a sattvic, rajasic, or tamasic manner. While there is a school of thought that judges actions by only assessing the results of the actions, Krishna rejects this idea and emphasizes the motivation behind the action which in turn would influence the outcomes. An impure and halfhearted attempt will lead to an equally bad outcome most of the time. The lesson is to examine our motivations before acting.  

We have been emphasizing the importance of introspection over and over again!  Without introspection, one will not be able to re-evaluate his actions and may lead to repeated cycles of making the same mistakes.  If not anything, the one takeaway should be inculcating this habit of introspection every day, as often as we can! 

We will be doing our class presentation next week and celebrate Gurudev Jayanti too.  Look forward to the special event! 

Regards,

Rashmi and Raghav.

Apr 25, 2021 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone,

As always, we began the class with meditation and gitaa chanting (chapter 2)

The discussion of chapter 17 of the Gita began with a story of a strange kingdom that had a custom of changing kings every five years. The new king could do as he pleased during his reign but once his five years were up, he was left stranded in the middle of the jungle alone and without any resources for survival. All the kings till then had enjoyed their 5 years term to the fullest!  On the last day, they would be full of sorrow as they were going to be left in the jungle and their chances of survival would be bleak! 

Then came the new king and his cycle continued for the next 5 years. This king lived humbly unlike his predecessors and he ruled wisely so much so that the subjects of the kingdom grew sad when it came time for the king to go into the jungle. The king was calm at his fate and gladly walked into the jungle. Everyone was taken aback!  This king did not lament like the rest of them.  There was a splendid calmness in his face and he seemed unperturbed by his impending fate!!  When they reached the forest, the people realized that he had spent his five years sending workmen to clear a part of the jungle and build him a palace and set up a new city there; he had also stocked it with everything needed for a comfortable life after his term in that kingdom was done!

This story teaches us that we should plan for our future, while we still can!  This king not only enjoyed the powers, but he also executed them wisely, planning for the future.  It benefited him as well as the people around him!  

This brings us to the topics of chapter 17 - shraddhaa traya vibhaaga yoga

The lesson of that story synchronizes nicely with the message of this chapter – namely that any behavior can be classified as sattvic, rajasic or tamasic. The previous kings acted in a tamasic manner; they prioritized their own pleasure and benefit at the expense of the future and so suffered for it. A rajasic action is full of passion and ambition – this would be a king who leads great wars of conquests to expand his kingdom or builds great monuments. A sattvic course of action does not focus on material gain for the initiator but rather on the benefit provided to others.

These mindsets are not merely for kings, they influence our daily lives. Krishna talks about how they affect our ability to worship, our ability to dispense charity and our ability to perform sacrifices. It even affects something as simple as our food preference as well! Indeed, if we choose the wrong causes and dispense aid incorrectly (the tamasic way), even something benign as charity can become harmful!

Our previous chapters discussed the cultivation of positive traits would put us in a sattvic mindset and allow us to commit sattvic actions – this is an ongoing process. We cannot be like the previous kings who lived tamasic lives when in power and then try to switch to a sattvic mindset when they have to leave for the jungle. We must be like the last king and prepare ourselves so that we may reap the ultimate reward at the end. We will discuss how these mindsets affect our daily lives next week.

See you soon.  

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.

Apr 18, 2021 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone,

We will resume sending out updates of our class as we are almost done with our prep for the presentation.  

Gitaa Chanting Yagna is done and we are SO proud and happy to say almost 25% of our high schoolers participated in chanting, either memorized or in the reading category!  We are super impressed and happy to see our cool kids setting an example for all their youngsters who look up to their bhaiyyas and didis :).  

Although gitaa yagna is done, we continue to chant all the bhagavadgeeta verses assigned as the goal of learning gitaa is never the competition alone!  The purpose is to carry it on for life and contemplate deeper as we grow.  

We resumed our study of chapter sixteen of the Gita. This chapter focuses on traits of the saintly and the demoniac. We briefly reviewed some of the divine traits and comprehensively these are:

1.      Fearlessness

2.      Purity of Heart

3.      Steadfastness

4.      Giving

5.      Control of the senses

6.      Study of the Shaastras

7.      Straightforwardness

8.      Harmlessness

9.      Truthfulness

10.   Even tempered-ness

11.   Spirit of renunciation

12.   Peacefulness

13.   Absence of crookedness

14.   Compassion

15.   Non-covetousness

16.   Gentleness and Modesty

17.   Absence of fickleness

18.   Vigorousness

19.   Forgiveness

20.   Fortitude

21.   Purity/cleanliness

22.   Absence of Hatred

23.   Absence of Pride 

Each of us needs to review these traits, considering carefully what needs improvement and what should be carried forward. The cultivation of these traits prepares one toward a spiritual mindset that is receptive to the true nature of the Self.

Opposite these are the demonic qualities such as hypocrisy, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness, and ignorance. The cultivation of these qualities leads to the endless dependence on gratification provided by the material world; this also leaves us susceptible to the vagaries, pains, and sorrows inflicted upon us by the world. Those with demoniac natures are subjected to constant pain and turmoil within.  

We focused on ignorance and anger in this class.  We discussed two separate stories of actions blinded by anger.  One was of a lady and her pet mongoose.  Seeing a blood smeared mouth of the mongoose, she feared that it had harmed her baby and killed it, only to find out later that the mongoose had killed a snake that was near the baby's cradle!  Alas, her hasty action had done the damage already! 

The other story was of a warlord who tried to drink water from a spring after a grueling battle. His pet hawk kept knocking the water from his hands. He grew angrier with each occurrence of this and so he finally struck down his pet with his sword. He only then noticed that there was a  snake in the water whose venom had poisoned the water. The bird had saved his life and he had struck it down in his ignorance and anger! Our anger can blind us to our own actions and we might end up regretting them in hindsight!  This is very detrimental to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

We will move onto chapter 17 next week. 

Have a great rest of the week and see you soon! 

Regards,
Raghav and Rashmi.

Mar 7, 2021 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone,

We started our class as usual, with meditation and opening prayers.  Since we have finished learning the 38 verses assigned from gitaa chapter 2, we continued with practising them.  

We will be giving the annual presentation from our class on May 9th.  We have started to brainstorm ideas for that and would like to keep it a surprise for all!  Hence you will not be hearing updates from us for the next few weeks :). 

Although most of you are regular, we have one request to make...  Please be sure to attend classes regularly for the next few weeks.  We will not be able to assign roles and shuffle when someone is absent.  If any communication becomes essential during the week, we will message on the 'Students only' WhatsApp group.  

Looking forward to an exciting prep and presentation! 

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.

Feb 28, 2021 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone,

As of today, we have completed learning all the assigned bhagavadgeeta verses for the year!  That means, we have learnt 38 verses from chapter 2.  We will continue to practice it for the rest of the year.  Students are doing really well!  We pick students randomly and they have to ready 2-3 verses all on their own.  They are asked to practice at least a couple of times during the week (not sure if they do that :).  No matter what, ALL of them have made tremendous progress from when we started and we are very impressed with their learning!  They are able to make an effort and read the random verses they are required to read in class!!

We began our study of chapter 16 in which Lord Krishna tells Arjuna about the divine qualities necessary for spiritual life as well as the demonic qualities that we need to work on rejecting/improving. We began our discussion with the divine qualities where we focused on three traits – fearlessness, purity of heart and steadfastness.

Fearlessness in this case does not mean recklessness in the face of danger and risk but rather represents freedom from ignorance or judgment. We often discussed that the value we assign to things often is in line with their public perception; a sports car will get you from point A to B as well as an ordinary and cheaper compact car but the sports car holds a greater prestige because of the adulation and envy it inspires in the people around us; the effect would not be the same if we had to choose a car to traverse a barren, unpopulated desert! The goal is to free ourselves from this environment of judgment and feeling of insecurity based on others' judgement about us.

The purity of heart as the underlying basis of our good actions.  We need to cultivate this

To be steadfast is to be unwavering and consistent; it is meaningless if we manifest our saintly natures once in a while; a spiritual and fulfilling life requires consistency and perseverance in the face of the challenges we face.

We didn't have much time to discuss steadfastness as we attended a presentation on the Saints of India. We will continue our conversation on the divine qualities next week!

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.

Feb 21, 2021 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone,

This week we learnt verses till 36 from Chapter 2 of bhagavadgeeta.  We had just enough time to do a recap before dispersing for the House Spirt Day event.

During this event, JCHYKs faced a unique challenge as a contest.  It tested their creativity and teamwork ability. The class split into their respective houses and they had to quickly brainstorm a product based on three pictures and come up with a unique tagline or jingle to advertise their product. The students had two possible sets of pictures to choose from – the first set of pictures were a pumpkin, a watch and a flower while the second set was a watermelon, Rubik's Cube and lipstick. Despite the short amount of time allotted to come up with this product, all houses successfully came up with very creative products.  Their unique concepts and presentations surely blew our mind!  They had designed the product, presented it digitally and come up with a cool jingle to go along as well!!  We were simply impressed by their creativity!  Please speak with your children to know more about their respective experience and thoughts. 

We will continue our study of the Geeta next week with chapter 16.

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.

Feb 14, 2021 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone,

This week we learnt verses till 33 from Chapter 2 of bhagavadgeeta.  

We then reviewed chapter 15 of the Geeta. We reviewed Krishna's metaphor of the world like an upside-down tree. We moved on to discussing what characteristics we can develop within ourselves to perceive the true nature of the world rather than the superficial perception we have of it now. The ideal seeker of the truth should be free from pride and delusion; overcome their attachments and attach themselves to the Lord; become indifferent to pleasure and pain and desires.

We emphasized that this is not an advocacy for nihilism ('nothing matters') or gross indifference to the world (that is, if someone is hanging for dear life from a cliff, help them up!) One strategy to achieve the mindset detailed above is the daily practice of prayer or meditation. If we are to give up our attachments, the mind will be left unoccupied and this state is alien to the mind. Focusing on the Divine will fill this void. Daily meditation or prayer will help focus one towards the Divine and away from the material world. Krishna makes a point about his all-encompassing nature – he is the light of the stars, the nourishment of plants and every human contains His Divine essence. In light of this fact, pride does not make sense as there is a divine spark in all of us – when we claim to be better than someone else, it is like one wave in the ocean claiming to be greater than another despite the fact they both belong to the same body of water and are made of the same water. The fact that one wave may rise above all the rest should not be a point of pride for the wave.  All waves rise and crash along the shore or back into the ocean like all other waves.  

We gave an introduction to the next chapter which is daiva-asura-sampad-vibhaaga yoga.  It deals with our own divine and devilish characteristics.  Krishna lists out the divine qualities in the first few verses and goes on to elaborate on the devilish aspects in all for most of the chapter.  We will discuss in the upcoming classes.

Stay warm and stay safe in this extended winter weather! 

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.

Jan 24, 2021 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

 Hari om everyone,  

We have learnt verses till 24 from Chapter 2 of bhagavadgeeta.  

We discussed chapter 15 of the Geeta this week. In this chapter, Krishna continues his discussion on the nature of reality which he likens to a tree. Reality emanates from an infinite divine and it is the great root from which the tree springs from but we become so enamored with the contents of the vast tree that we miss the source. There are some traits we must cultivate within us so that we may get to the root of the tree – freedom from pride and delusion, control of one's desires and non-attachment to pleasure and pain.

What do these traits mean? There is a lot of room for misinterpretation but we emphasized that non-attachment does not mean complete indifference to the world around you, similarly we are not advocating something so drastic as abandoning your family and retreating to the mountains. We are advocating a more modest goal of preventing our desires from controlling us. For instance, we discussed how we can remove distractions when work needed to be done – what do we do when homework needs to be done but there's our phone or computer offering us hours of entertainment? Some of the students stated that they cope with distraction by locking away their phones while doing their homework or removing them out of sight. This is a good start and we must continue this process towards non-attachment. 

We will carry this discussion forward in the following weeks.  

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.

Jan 10, 2021 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone,

We started the class with ch. 2 gitaa chanting and learnt till verse 21.  

We concluded our study of chapter 14 of the Geeta this week. As there had been a substantial gap since the last meeting, there was a brief review of the three gunas; one example discussed to demonstrate each guna was that of Ravana and his brothers. Sattvaguna was represented by Vibhishana, Tamoguna by Kumbhakarna and Rajoguna was best represented by Ravana. While we do associate many positive traits with sattvaguna and negative traits with tamoguna, it was emphasized that all humans are a combination of the three gunas and all have their appropriate role in life – Kumbhakarna was a formidable and quite a rajasic warrior on the battlefield once aroused from his slumber for example and in our daily lives, one will need tamas to sleep at night!

We also discussed the goal of transcending the three gunas and attaining liberation (moksha) from the endless cycle of pleasure and pain. It was also emphasized that moksha is attainable to people of all dispositions. We also discussed the type of disposition required to attain higher knowledge and liberation and this is done through living a life of equipoise and equanimity. This would mean an individual who remains the same regardless of praise or blame, who does not care for the differences between a pile of mud or a diamond, or someone who does not have an excessive regard for their loved ones over all others and through this detachment, one can attain knowledge of the Lord and the truth beyond the immediately perceivable material reality. Sattvaguna might permit an individual to prepare themselves for this knowledge but ultimately even sattvaguna must be transcended as the desire to gain knowledge might tie one down to the world of matter which ensnares us.

We discussed how this translates to our real-life - what is equanimity?  How do we put that to practice on a day-to-day basis?  Does that mean we have to be passive when someone is bullying or do we stand up for ourselves?  Later, should we continue feeling the animosity or do we move on?  Do we keep the bitterness linger or move forward with a clean slate?  These are things that we really need to evaluate ourselves on a constant basis!  We will understand the deeper imports as we go through life into adult years.

One of the students said they remember certain words from learning gitaa chanting in younger grades.  The explanation and discussion kind of makes sense now!  We had a bingo moment!!  Exactly!!!  We may not be able to apply every word of our discussions today, but they may make more sense at a later stage.  These are thoughts that we need to contemplate on a regular basis and keep evaluating ourselves if we are leading a saattvik life.  

Keep these thoughts going and we will see you in two weeks.  Happy Sankraanti to you all. 

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.

Dec 20, 2020 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

 Hari om everyone,

Here's an update for our Dec 20, 2020 class.  We started the class with gitaa chanting and learnt chapter 2 till verse 18.  

We continued discussing ch. 14 and did a recap before Christmas and New Year break. 

We discussed the three gunas which infuse all humans in different combinations – these are sattvaguna, rajoguna and tamoguna. 

While sattvaguna represents more intellectual pursuits;

Rajoguna is passion, enterprise and activity; 

Tamoguna represents sedateness and passivity which can potentially lead to negative outcomes like ignorance 

We have all these guNas at different times.  The guNas themselves are neither good nor bad.  It is how we employ them and how we overcome their outcomes.  

We have discussed in previous weeks, the concept of liberation from the constant cycle of pain and pleasure. Krishna lays out a path towards liberation for people of all tendencies and characteristics – one does not need to be an ascetic meditating in the forest to find liberation! Those without the patience for meditation may attain liberation through study while those more action-oriented may prepare themselves for liberation through Karma Yoga. Even those individuals with no desire for intellectual pursuits or possess an orientation towards enterprise might attain liberation by living a devout life focused upon the Lord. Krishna also lays out what fates those of each tendencies will encounter upon death – for instance, those who are extraordinarily rajasic will be born into a life that further compounds their desire for action and hopefully this will exhaust their tendencies. Those of tamoguna might be born as animals or among the 'senseless' and this will be an opportunity to exhaust their appetites as well and attain a 'higher' birth. We will focus on the implications of gunas during the present life – the ultimate goal is to transcend the gunas and go above them. Even living a sattvic life, striving towards attaining knowledge.  We hope to discuss during our next meeting on the strategy of transcending the gunas and this will conclude our study of chapter 14.

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.

Dec 13, 2020 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone, 

We have learnt up to verse 18th in the 2nd chapter of the geeta.  Attached is the script for the bhagavadgeeta chapter 2 for those of you who have not picked up the handbook from the ashram.  Please take a print out of the script and keep it ready.  We will not be sharing the script on the screen from the next class as you all have it now in this pdf!    

Today we started learning about the 14th chapter.  It talks about guna-s which translates to 'our nature' or 'tendencies'. This topic has come in previous years and so the class knew there were three gunas – tamas, rajas and sattvic. Each person is a combination of these three natures. If the supreme consciousness is like a river, each human is water drawn from the said river contained in a glass bottle. Depending on where the bottle was immersed in the river, the composition of the water will be different. The other concept discussed in class was that of maayaa – it is born out of ignorance (avidya) and delusion which clouds the nature of reality from the individual. The gunas of an individual enmesh them in a world of material desires and vanities shaped by their desires – a person may assume superiority over others due to a special skill they got by birth or circumstances and this arrogance might blind them to the triviality of their beliefs and prevent them from achieving liberation.

What are the three gunas then? The first is sattva guna which enmeshes an individual in pursuit of knowledge and other noble ends (such as an artist engaging in creative endeavors). The second is rajoguna which is a tendency towards ambition and enterprise and the third is tamo guna which is inertia. Tamo guna is associated with tendencies such as laziness and delusion which prevents an individual from achieving their true potential or engaging in noble pursuits.  But each one of us is a combination of all 3 of these gunas.   We are not to label them as good or bad, but work towards being predominantly saatvic as any kind of learning happens only when we are in a saatvic state of mind!  If we are industrious (rajas) or lethargic (tamas), learning can never happen.  So, in a quest for the ultimate knowledge we are talking about, we need more sattva.  So, we must nurture our sattvic tendencies and accumulate knowledge and then we have to transcend gunas entirely. That will be the topic of discussion in the upcoming weeks.  

Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful snow day!  Stay safe and have fun :) 

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.

Dec 6, 2020 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone,

We started the class with chanting bhagavadgeeta chapter 2.  We have learnt up to verse 15 and will continue to learn and practice as we go along.

This week, we finished reviewing chapter 13 of the bhagavadgeeta. We began with a brief recap of the points brought up in the previous weeks – we recollected our discussion of the nature of reality which is split between consciousness and matter. The consciousness cannot directly interact with the world and only does so through matter. We discussed a process of encountering pleasure and pain is called samsara. We discussed the sorts of temptations we face in life from video games to dessert – and how pleasure can turn to sorrow. If we continually eat desserts, we may enjoy the first one but by the tenth, we wish that we had never eaten it in the first place! We can go through life going from pleasure to pleasure and pain to pain but this is a miserable lifestyle.

The traits we discussed last week, as well as Krishna's discussion of nature earlier in the chapter, are to prepare Arjuna and any other listener towards liberation from the vagaries of life (moksha). Liberation is not merely a concept for sages and Swamijis; we discussed the four paths laid out by Krishna towards liberation tailored towards people of all dispositions and natures. The first path is the yoga of meditation which is the attainment of liberation through introspection and meditation; this is for individuals who possess a high level of detachment (vairagya) from the world. The second path is Saankhya yoga or the yoga of knowledge – this is for individuals who have less detachment to the world than the first. These individuals attain moksha through a study of scriptures and contemplation of philosophy. The third path is for those more action-oriented individuals who can't simply study – this is for people like Arjuna – this is Karma Yoga or the path of action. Through the performance of one's duties, one slowly detaches themselves from the fruits of their actions and prepares themselves for moksha. Liberation is not merely restricted to the action-oriented or intellectual – even those individuals who are ignorant or incapable of following the other paths, simple faith and worship of the Lord can allow one to attain liberation. The chief example of this is drawn from one of the stories told at the end of the Satyanarayana puja – we discussed the humble woodcutter who spent the money of his extra sale on performing the puja with utmost devotion and continued living a pious life in faith and thereby attained moksha.

While moksha and the nature of reality as described by Krishna might seem like abstract philosophical concepts, there is much to gain from this chapter as it lays out a strategy to deal with the numerous temptations we face in life. We can get pulled along by the highs and lows of life and suffer accordingly or we can aim towards a life lived in equipoise aiming towards vairagya which will insulate us from such shocks. That should be our aim.

Wishing you all a wonderful rest of the week.

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.

Nov 22, 2020 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari om everyone,

We started the class with geeta chanting (chapter 2, till verse 12) and continued our discussion of the traits listed by Krishna as those necessary for spiritual awakening; for review those are:

·         Humility

·         Unpretentiousness

·         Non-injury

·         Forgiveness

·         Uprightness

·         Service to teacher

·         Purity

·         Steadfastness

·         Self Control

 

We had in previous weeks discussed concepts such as humility and non-injury. We expanded our discussion to the other traits as well – for instance, we looked at forgiveness and recounted the story of Krishna and Sisupala; Krishna most famously pardoned Sisupala for one hundred offences against him before striking him down – in the case of forgiveness, one should be willing to endure suffering and inconvenience with forbearance through patience should not be exercised naively. When offence is given with malice as in the case of Sisupala, a person must be willing to answer though perhaps not to the extent of Krishna! We discussed Purity, Uprightness and Steadfastness as well as they are interrelated concepts. Uprightness is the intent within the person for right conduct, similarly, purity is cleanliness in thought, deed and action – uprightness leads to purity and we can maintain the two only through steadfastness – that is to maintain consistency and focus in your actions. That in turn is achieved through self-restraint and resistance to temptations. The last concept we briefly touched upon was service to teacher – this is not merely providing assistance to your guru but aligning yourself with their teachings. Arjuna found an excellent guru in the form of Krishna and we must strive in our own lives to find similar.

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.

 

Nov 8, 2020 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om All,

Here's the update from our last Balavihar class. We had the week off for celebrating Deepavali.  After you and your family played with firecrackers or enjoying sweets, hope you discussed what was being celebrated during our festival of lights.

As we returned from a long break in October and our House Inaugural the previous week, we took some time to cover what we had previously learned in Chapter 13 about subjects and objects and their interactions; we perceive our world through five senses and we act upon our perceptions with five organs of action. Our sensory information is processed by and our actions are formulated by our ego (ahamkara), our intellect (buddhi) and our unconscious, unmanifested impulses (avyakta) and all of this is located in one center – the mind (ekam). Now that we know the tools by which we interact with our world, our goal is to move towards spiritual awakening and a higher state of being than merely being consumed by the pleasures and pains of the world. To achieve this we have to cultivate a list of traits which are:

1.       Humility

2.       Modesty

3.       Non-Injury

4.       Forgiveness/Patience

5.       Uprightness

6.       Service to Guru

7.       Purity

8.       Steadfastness

9.       Self-Control

 

We discussed the first few points of this list – with a particular focus on non-injury which has figure prominently into Indian history and political philosophy as ahimsa. We also looked at the meaning of forgiveness and patience – this is defined as the capacity to suffer without being upset but does this mean to forgive any slight against us? We would ask everyone to take a look at this list and contemplate on their meanings and we would like to hear your perspective during our next session. Do you possess these qualities? If not, which ones do you have to work on? Please think about these and we will see you on the 22nd. 

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.

 

Nov 1, 2020 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om All,

This week was our House inaugural ceremony. All Bala Vihar students are divided into four houses – Arjuna's Arrows, Bajrangi Bolts, Krishna's Cowboys and Durga's Daredevils. Each house represents different values we would like to cultivate in our Bala Vihar students – one day we hope all to be as courageous, compassionate and forthright as heroes like Arjuna, Krishna, Durga and Hanuman.

As part of the inaugural ceremonies, 8 through 12th grade joined a special Zoom meeting and divided by house into four breakout rooms. Each house was tasked with coming up with a presentation on compassion in 40 minutes! We face numerous problems today – hunger, poverty, ecological degradation, racial inequality and so on. The students were directed to choose one of the issues facing society and come up with a plan on addressing them if they had a hypothetical budget of 1 million dollars. They were also tasked with coming up with ways of helping even if they did not have the money – after all, compassion is not about how much money you are willing to spend but rather about your dedication and will to help.

Our groups addressed a wide variety of problems in their presentation – racial inequality, LBGT healthcare, hunger and came up with some spectacular solutions as a team in a wonderful collaborative effort. Hopefully, we can channel this collaborative spirit and compassion to achieve great things in the years to come.  The plans these young adults came up with sure made us adults to see things in a different light!  We were very impressed by how wonderfully they each of the teams presented in such a short time!!  Please discuss further with your children about their individual teams and thoughts.

We will return to our regular curriculum for next week. Thank you all for attending this week!

Regards,
Raghav and Rashmi.

Oct 11, 2020 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om All,

Thank you for attending the fourth week of Bala Vihar. 

We began our class by chanting Bhagavadgeeta chapter 2.  We have learnt until verse 6.  Please take some time to practice what we learned so far in the upcoming break.  The script for chapter 2 is in the book.  Those of you who do not have the Bala Vihar handbook, please pick it up from the ashram during the weekend (Please check the website for timings).  

After we concluded our weekly practice, we continued our discussion of Chapter 13. We delved into the concept of Kṣetra and Kṣetrajña brought up last week. We had defined them as 'Subject' and 'Object' (or World of Objects) in the previous week and expanded upon this definition. We established that this world of objects did not merely encompass the items we see around us (i.e. the water bottles, the computers in front of us and so on) but also relatively intangible objects like our sense of self or ego (our 'I-ness' or ahamkara; what distinguishes ourselves from other people), our intellect (buddhi), and our unconscious impulses (Avyakta), etc.  

Here's a line of thought we discussed - When I come in a car to the ashram, I do not say the car came to the ashram, but will say 'I came to the ashram'.  I clearly know that I am different from the car; a car is an object other than me; I used it to travel to the ashram, etc.  When it comes to subtler things, the thought process is not as clear!  Technically speaking, not a single cell in my body is the same exact on that I was born with! So, who IS this 'I' I am talking about?!  This body of cells is NOT what I am referring to!  Then, is it my mind?  Is it my intellect?  My mind and intellect have changed as per my experience and exposure along with age...  So, that can't be the 'I' either!!  Then who is this that gives me a sense of 'individuality' ever since the day I was born?!! 

The Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud mentions the psyche into three – an id, ego and superego with the id corresponding to the impulses, the superego corresponding to rationality and the ego being the mediating force between the two.  There are some similarities to his conclusions to what our discussions from chapter 13 are saying.

We are going to continue this discussion further in our upcoming classes.  We concluded for the week by examining the fact that the spirit or the self can affect and interact with the world through sense organs. We established that there were 10 sense organs We discussed the first five which correspond to touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing and we left it as homework to conceive what the other five might be and we look forward to answers in the next class.

Happy navaraatri to you all.  May devi bless us all today and always to be on the right path.

We will be taking a break for the next two weeks to celebrate Navaraatri and will reconvene on November 1st.

Until next time, happy contemplation! 

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.

 

Oct 4, 2020 - JCHYK Gr. 10-12 (Sunday AM)

Hari Om All,

It was a great third week of Bala Vihar.  Before we go ahead with the report, below are a couple of important links.  Carefully choose the right one, pls :). 

Here's the link for our PARENTS ONLY WhatsApp group.

https://chat.whatsapp.com/******* (not a real link)

And, here's the link for our STUDENTS ONLY WhatsApp group.  

https://chat.whatsapp.com/******* (not a real link)

We would like to keep it this way for specific conversations.  Parents, please share their link with your children so they do no miss out on any notices or information.  

During this session, we continued to practice chanting Bhagavadgeeta chapter 2 until verse 6.    

We began our study of chapter 13 which is called the 'kṣetra-kṣetrajña vibhaaga yoga'. This chapter begins with Arjuna enquiring to know more about six concepts.  He wanted to know more about - 

1.    prakṛiti

2.    puruṣha

3.    kṣetra

4.    kṣetrajña

5.    jñānaṁ

6.    jñeyaṁ

This chapter is heavy with discussion on several interesting concepts. We will start with the two words which give the chapter its title – what are Kṣetra and Kṣetrajñaa? Swami Chinmayananda translates Kṣetra as the Field and Kṣetrajñaa as the Knower-of-the-Field. We have a consciousness which experiences the world through the body; the peculiar conditionings of each individual modifies their interactions with the world. The material world is the Field, it is prakriti or matter and the soul/consciousness (purusha) can only experience both good and bad of prakriti via the body. Prakriti not only constitutes what we observe and encounter in the world outside but it also encompasses abstract concepts including the individual ego, ahamkara, which sets us apart from the rest of creation. There were several examples given to better understand these concepts – Swami Chinmayananda likened the soul to electricity; raw electricity does nothing itself but if it used to animate a fan, it can provide cool air or if it is provided to a lightbulb, it can emit light and heat.  The Holy Geeta book with Swami Chinmayananda's commentary provides great insights into the topic we are discussing.  We recommend all students to get this book for reference.  It is great for not just high school years at the ashram, but throughout their life! 

We saw with several examples how to think of the concepts we are discussing.  Just as one wouldn't claim he IS the car he drives, one SHOULDN'T claim he is his body either!  We are something more than just the body that we see...  Our cells die and get replenished at different intervals for different organs.   Coming to think of it, we do not have a single cell that we were actually born with!  So, are we really this body?!  Just as we are NOT the vehicle we drove to class in, we are NOT this body that we use to function through! 

We also briefly discussed how these concepts have influenced western culture as well; we touched upon the 1999 sci-fi classic, the Matrix as one which explored the interaction between the soul and the 'material world'.As these concepts are not immediately intuitive, we spent class discussing these ideas and we will move onto jñānaṁ and jñeyaṁ in depth.

They were given homework..., whenever they get some time, we would highly recommend them to watch some of these movies!!  Yes, that's the homework :).  These movies tickle our brains and give us material to think about.  More than anything, there are many concepts we discuss that can be connected with the characters or aspects of these movies.  So here's a standing list! 

Matrix series; Inception; Starwars series; Interstellar; Avataar

Have fun catching up with these movies! 

Until next time, happy contemplating.

Regards,

Raghav and Rashmi.