Hari Om Parents,
We began the last class of this year with opening prayers and a small mindfulness exercise- to be aware of the posture of the body, and the slowing down of the breath.Both these help settle the mind and make it flow toward one direction.
Since most of the class was absent the previous class, we recapped what Gunas are. Gunas are subtle constituents of matter. We explored the distinction between gross matter which is easily grasped and visible like the physical body and subtle matter like the mind which is not visible , but what we are keenly aware of.Here is where Hindu thought is radical in its categorization of thought and hence mind as matter. This explains the close mind - body connection and the modifications in the mind reflecting in the body and vice versa.
We explored Satva -the guna of calm, serenity. Rajas- the guna of activity, restlessness,. Tamas- the guna of laziness, indolence .
We experience an ebb and flow of these gunas on a periodic basis. When we are tired, and need to sleep, it is tamas at play. When we are up and actively leading, organizing activities, it is Rajas at work. And when the mind is calm, focussed and we apply ourselves to maybe reflect on a new lesson, or create music or meditate, it is Satva. Also, we discovered that we may have a guna or two that are predominant. That then becomes our personality type. This guna based classification in ancient Hindu society was called varna ashrama dharma. Predominantly Satvic people were called Brahmana, predominantly Tamasic were Shudra, predominantly Rajasic with Satva next were Kshatriya and predominantly Rajasic with Tamas next were Vaishya.
The Varna system also took into account the karma people engaged in. The scholarly people who preserved , protected and passed on knowledge were Brahmana. The craftsmen and artisans who worked with their hands were Shudra. The traders, business class who created wealth were Vaishya. The active, dynamic, leaders, and warriors were Kshatriya.
The question of how birth alone has come to the forefront of the classification and how our understanding today of what is called caste system was on the minds of many. We did look at it- but we will spend some time in the next class separating the social construct of jathi from varna. Clearly caste is now the stick used to bash Hindus with and the more clarity we have about what the scriptures say( along with awareness of the social milieu) the more comfortable we will be in our skin and better able to answer questions about this topic.
We then played a matching game- various scenarios were written on slips of paper and students took turns to read a slip and put it under the matching guna for that situation. Some samples were- I like to organize events, My idea of a vacation is to curl up in bed with a book, I love to eat spicy food, My role models are Elon Musk and Bill Gates and so on.Our students correctly pointed out that the point of understanding the gunas is to understand our own strengths and limitations better , so we can pick the line of studies and maybe even job that aligns with our guna make up.
We chanted Bhagavad Geeta verses 9 and 10.
The Likhita Japa booklets were collected for house points and then returned to the students.
As the year draws to an end, and we get together with family and friends to celebrate, let us pause to give thanks for our abundance and share with those in need.
We hope you were able to attend Vrinadavan Surabhi and support the work of the Mission this year.
We are happy to answer any questions you may have.
9th grade teachers
