Hari om Parents,
We started with regular prayers and we are continuing to practice "Bhadram Karnebhih" shloka.
We started one of the core concepts of Hindu culture - Karma. Karma is action. An action must have an actor. We discussed seemingly simple but profound questions like - What takes care of you? Who gives you food? Who nourishes you? Who digests your food?
In each of these cases, students initially thought that it is the parents who take care of them, give food or nourish them but after some thoughtful conversation realized that it is God (Nature) who is the actor.
Another concept of karma or action is the result of the action. Every action has a result. We asked students to complete a few sentences we shared in the slide deck - Eg. "Seema got a 4.0 because ..... ". A good result requires good action. Similarly, a bad result could most likely be because of an incorrect or incomplete action.
We read a story about a carpenter who was dejected with his work. When he was asked to build one last house before retirement, he somehow drudged through building the house. He later realized that it was his retirement gift from the company. He then realized that he should have built it sincerely.
Our work should be of high quality irrespective of the result that we expect from it. Life is a "Do it yourself for yourself" project. Results will follow.
We need not do something different for others or behave differently for the sake of 'fitting' in. Each of us has a unique identity that needs to be discovered, nourished and be celebrated. We shared a quote that said - " I changed myself to be a mango for mango lover, to a banana for a banana lover, to a tiny little blueberry for a blueberry lover! Can someone tell me who I really am?" asked the Orange.
We had Bhagwad Geeta chanting in the middle of the class. The students got their notebooks based on the house they belonged to. We had a quick quiz to decide the houses if the students did not remember their houses.
The class was very lively where we had students share their experiences and views on various themes we discussed.
Our class sang the aarti and recited the pledge at the main hall for all chinmaya students.
We did not get the student summary this week.
We will continue with Karma in the next class.
regards and pranams,
Sitaram Kuchibota
Partha Turaga
