Hari Om! Everyone,
Namaste!
This past Sunday in our J-CHYK class, after Attendance and Invocation/Meditation, we expanded on a few points from the previous class regarding Arjuna's Vishada (dejection) in Gita, Chapter 1, in which his previous sense of identity with personal relationships, his social position as a Kshatriya and leader of society, and even his inner temperament (swabhav) of wanting to protect the people of his nation from destructive influences, was not enough to solve the deep dilemna he found himself in at the start of the war.
We then began discussion on Shri Krishna's Teaching on the nature of our highest, true Self (Atma) as pure Existence/Consciousness/Bliss, the Light of Awareness, which is unborn, indestructible, infinite and unchanging. We used Gurudev's BMI Chart to begin to identify our 3 equipments of body, mind and intellect, our personality as Perceiver, Feeler, Thinker, and their objects of awareness (Objects, emotions & thoughts); clarifying that all these are ever-changing. Yet, even the function of memory shows us that the "I"-awareness illumines all perceptions/memories, etc., showing that the real "me" is something beyond the changing. We will be going into this in more depth in succeeding classes.
We also began viewing a slide-show of a few important verses from Gita, chapters 1, 2 & 3, along with relevant pictures.
Class ended early, at 1:45, so that all could attend the Saraswati Puja in the Temple.
All students will need to bring along with them the "Chinmaya Vrindavan Balavihar Handbook 2022-2023" which was handed out on the first day of class. If you do not yet have one, please get one at the main desk next week. Please also bring a Bhagavad Gita text with you, if you have one.
I look forward to seeing you next week! Hari Om!
Swamini Radhikananda
