Below is the synopsis of our class this week.
We started with meditation and chanting of the Geeta ch. 3. We would encourage all our students to register for the individual chanting during the yagna on Apr 22nd. Please use this link to register - https://bit.ly/GCY2023-CNJRegionals
(This is separate from the Group Chanting as a class. We will send more details regarding this soon.)
Our Kyun Kyun (QQ - Quirky Question) of the day: What is it that you can make a lot of, but no one can see it?! Not even you!!
Ans: Noise :)
This question stumped the class. They couldn't arrive at the answer. The reason probably was that everyone was so sleepy! So much that we turned off the lights and gave a 5 min. break on timer. They perked up after that, just as they had promised! :)
We continued our discussion on chapter 9. We revisited the rajju-sarpa nyaaya from last class.
We were discussing this because Krishna said to Arjuna that the entire world is nothing but Himself but we see differently. We discussed that all objects we see can be described by these 3 aspects, their - name (naama), form (roopa) and existence (sattaa). As we see, each object will have its own name and form. But the 'existence' (sattaa) aspect is a commonality among EVERYTHING! The very basis for this 'existence' is brahman (Krishna) Himself. It is from Him, because of Him and of Him that everything comes forth!
How can we explain this better? To make a pot, we need - clay (material), a potter's wheel (instrument) and the potter (intelligence). These 3 are different from each other.
Whereas, if we consider a spider's web, it is made: by the spider (intelligent cause), using the secretions that come from its gut (material cause), spun by its spinnerets below the belly (instrumental cause)! All 3 causes for its making are the spider alone! Similarly, bhagavaan alone is the cause for the world and hence, the substratum of everything is bhagavaan alone!
Krishna said, surrender to this bhagavaan (Me) fully. Then you will have no trouble living in the world. We discussed how all our troubles are because of our likes and dislikes. When I say I like something, it automatically means I dislike something else (or) I like this more than something else. There is always a gradation of objects when there are likes and dislikes. This is what causes anxiety in me.
All our efforts are to obtain something we like (yoga) and then, preserve it forever (kShema). Krishna declared in the famous verse
'ananyaashchintayanto maam ye janaaH paryupaasate, teShaam nityaabhiyuktaanaam yogakShemaM vahaamyaham',
he who has no thought other than me, his yoga and kShema will be taken care of by Me!
Is it so simple? Not really. That is why this knowledge is called 'raaja vidyaa raaja guhya'. We all can know it but putting it to practice is not so easy!
Our ego pops up time and again clouding our focus on the higher Self. It is almost like the Whack-a-mole game we see at the game arcades… we whack a mole that pops up from a hole but before we hit that, another one would have popped up from another hole, and before we know it, there would be moles all over and we get exhausted whacking all of them down! 🤨 The little 'i' (ego) is exactly like this illustration below 😊.
Our job is to stay alert, whack the little 'i' (ego) every time it pops up, and allow the 'I' (Self, all-pervading brahman) to function through us! This sure is a tall order and not easy to practice all the time.
But we have to 'marinate' these thoughts in our mind to enjoy the benefits of these thoughts. Just as food becomes more flavorful when it is marinated, these teachings will yield their sweet fruit to us when we dwell in this alertness!! It takes a lot of patience too.
We then discussed the Movie Night tonight at our home. It was a fun event but we missed all those who couldn't make it to the movie. For now, we will leave you with these thoughts -
See you Sunday.
Regards,
Rashmi.
