Hari Om Dear Parents,
Update of class : Mar 10th 2023
We practiced Japa with Japa mala. Kids focused while doing the Japa and the whole class was silent, which is a rarity :)
We then practiced Gita Dhyanam - upto 7 verses.
Recap:
As part of recap, we brainstormed kids on the first 4 gems that they learnt from previous classes - Hate None, Be Friendly, Compassion and Free from Attachment.
Lesson : 35 Gems of values to live by
Gem 5: Free from Ego
We encouraged kids to explore what ego would mean. Their answers ranged from 'not saying sorry' to 'thinking oneself as correct all the time'.
Ego is a verb and not a noun. Its a label that we give ourselves which we believe is us. We discussed characters of Ravana and Duryodhana - both of them never accepted defeat, never acknowledged anyone and full of greed, jealousy, anger, etc.
We also explored fictitious character, Spiderman. When ego and fame got to his head, he turns into a venom.
To keep ego under check, we need to listen and learn, and also identify ourselves with the higher.
Gem 6: Equal minded in pleasure and pain
We asked kids to write a moment when they were truly happy and when they were hurt/in pain. We asked kids if anything was a constant. Both pleasure and pain come and go, its never a constant feel of only happiness or only pain. Its upon us that we realize both can be seen in equanimity.
We later discussed the movie, Gods must be crazy. A tribe in the midst of nowhere comes across a coke bottle thrown from an airplane. What was once a cohesive community, started fighting over this coke bottle, thinking it fell from heaven. Some believed it was a boon and some bane. One of the tribal men atlast travelled to a cliff, which he believed was the end of the world and threw it out.
Gem 7: Forgiveness
We watched the video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_AbkgFl99k on forgiveness and discussed how forgiveness will keep us sane.
Once there were 2 best friends walking in a dessert. They felt very thirsty and started looking for an oasis. One of them got really angry with the other and picked on a fight, atlast he slapped the other boy. The other boy wrote on sand - 'Today my best friend slapped me'.
When they found the oasis and quenched their thirst, the boy that slapped felt very happy. He hugged and thanked the other. The other boy wrote in a stone nearby - 'Today my best friend hugged and thanked me'.
Upon enquiring why he wrote one in sand and the other in stone, the boy said that he hoped that wind would act as forgiveness and erase what's written in sand and that only the happy ones should be etched in memory like on a stone.
Gem 8: Ever Content
We discussed what contentment meant to kids. Kids said that owning 100 iPhones would make them content. We reminded them that ultimately they had only 2 hands and one pair of eyes.
Without contentment, we will never know when to say enough. Hindu Dharma never says not to accumulate wealth but teaches us the dharmic way to accumulate and how to feel content with what we have. Whether its wealth, power or position, we should know its materialistic and be content with what we have.
After seeing the 4 gems, we discussed a few questions from Yaksha Prashna.
We asked a question and one of the kids enacted the answer for the others to figure out - kind of like dumb charades. Kids enjoyed it a lot.
Here are the questions and answers :
i. What treasure is the best? Skill
ii. What wealth is the best? Knowledge
iii. What is the greatest gain? Health
iv. And the greatest happiness? Contentment
Bhagavad Gita Chanting :
Kids continued to chant Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3. They repeated after Swamiji's recorded verses.
Next Class : Mar 17th
Thanks and Hari Om
Shankar and Purnima
