Hari om everyone,
Below is our class summary for this week:
We started off with meditation followed by chanting Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 (Karma Yoga - right action with the right attitude). We have learned until verse 18 now. We even recorded their crisp and confident chanting! We will be sharing it on our class WhatsApp groups too.
Our Kyun Kyun - (QQ - Quirky Question) for the day was: In a year, there are a few months with 30 days, 31 days, or even 28 days. This year, how many months have 28 days? Some of them quickly said one, while some others said... all the months! Well, yes - all the months, is the right answer! To have 30/31, those months should have already had 28 days :)
With this, we discussed 'clarity of thought'. One needs to think clearly before arriving at a conclusion. Arjuna was chosen by Krishna to give the knowledge of Bhagavadgeeta. Not Yudhishthira, Bheema, Nakula or Sahadeva. The reason for this was Arjuna's Ruju swabhaava (straightforwardness). Just like his arrows, his thoughts were straightforward. That is an essential attribute to be able to receive this knowledge.
Some of the key points of BG Chapter 2 that we discussed today are:
Arjuna asks, why should he fight against Bhishma and Drona, who are fit to be worshiped? Shri Krishna's answer is that the wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead. We experience stress, anxiety, dejection, and sorrow due to a lack of knowledge. The knowledge he was referring to is that "we are eternal joy". We are more than our body, mind, and intellect (BMI).
We asked them if we were the same body that we were on the day they were born. Of course not! As a matter of fact, we physically DO NOT have a single cell in our body today that we were born with! Our mind nor our intellect are still the same... Then what is it that makes me, ME?!! The "existence principle" that keeps my BMI going, is who I truly am!! When I identify this, I won't be perturbed by the day-to-day events of life. In short, we won't have grief!
So, "what is Grief?" Grief is ignorance of our true nature.
We also discussed
- Sanatana Dharma and Mental Health: We can tackle these inner enemies of the mind with the following framework:
- Absolute perspective: We are Joy, so this sorrow is not who we are!
- Relative perspective: Appreciate yourself and practice gratitude.
- Tactile perspective: Do not be worried about the results (fruits) of your actions. Do your best and leave the rest!
- In Chapter 1 Verse 32 - Arjuna asks why he should fight, for there is no use of pleasure, kingdom, or life! Shri Krishna's answer is in Chapter 2 Verse 38 - make pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat the same; engage in battle as your responsibility. If we are focused on the ups and downs in life, then we will continue to spin without an end in sight.
By the end of class, one of our students rightfully asked "when I am sad and I tell myself that I'm happiness, am I not deceiving myself?!" She sure had a great point! We discussed how the 'happiness' that I am, should not be confused with 'I'm happy because I ate ice-cream', etc. My true nature of being happy does not need a reason! We confuse 'joy as an outcome of events' with 'joy as our true nature'. We need a little more time to explain this further. We will do that in the following classes.
The RAW for this week is: Identify one expectation (can be anything - short-term, long-term, etc.) that you have.
We are excited for our students to teach their younger-grade friends during the next Bala Vihar.
We will leave you with these thoughts -
See you all soon.
Regards,
Rashmi and Ananya
