Hari om everyone,
We were so happy to be in class finally! It had been a while since we had proper class time. We were waiting to discuss the movie 'Inception' that we had watched together as a class.
Soon after meditation, we dived straight into analyzing the movie, even before Gita chanting :). Some of the students shared what stood out for them or what they liked. Some had questions about certain incidents and what they meant. We discussed the movie at length and in detail!
Truly missed some of the students who were eager for the discussion but not in class today... All the vedaantic connections made so much sense in the movie! We will be using these references more often going forward :)
Now that our students have learned the entire chapter 3, they chanted it fully. It was such a pleasure to listen to them! A recording was taken but since it was a large file, it was shared on the WhatsApp group. We couldn't be prouder of our class!!
After that, they were asked our Kyun Kyun - (QQ - Quirky Question) for the day: What is something that you have, but if you share it, you won't have it anymore? Ans: Secret.
A couple of them had the answer to this question. This answer was a perfect segway towards our discussion for the day. We are starting to learn Krishna's teachings in chapter 9. It is called 'Raja-vidyaa Raja-guhya yoga'. Krishna says this knowledge is 'raaja-vidyaa' - king of all types of knowledge! It is also 'raaja-guhya' - a royal secret!
What is a secret? In our Quirky Question, we said that if we share it, we won't have it anymore, because it won't remain a secret anymore! So, if Krishna said this to Arjuna, how can it still be called a secret?! We heard a story to understand this better.
One family had a pet parrot. That parrot could talk very sweetly and it could echo anything anyone said. One day, when the mother was cooking in the kitchen there was a fire accident. The mother couldn't get up. The parrot was sitting on the ledge of the window. She said to the parrot, 'there is a fire, go get help!' The bird continued to sit on the ledge and started chanting loudly, 'there is a fire, go get help!' 'There is a fire, go get help!' repeatedly, without moving from its place!! Finally, someone saw the smoke and came to their rescue!
This clearly showed that the parrot did not understand the meaning of the lady's words and was literally 'parroting' the words that it heard! We do this many times - whatever we hear through our ears, we spill it out of our mouths perfectly, without processing the words in our brains!
In such circumstances, isn't it an open secret, meaning, it is known to everyone but no one understands!! That's exactly why this chapter is called 'raaja guhya'. Whatever Krishna is saying can be heard by everyone, but if we don't understand the meaning of it, it will remain a secret to us. It needs to be contemplated deeply and understood thoroughly. Krishna asked Arjuna to understand it.
Krishna said, 'by knowing this knowledge, you would have known everything that is to be known!' How is that possible? If I learn carpentry, I'll know carpentry. If I study medicine, I can be a doctor. If I study architecture, I can be an architect. So on and so forth. But what is it that if I learn, I will know everything?!! Quite intriguing, isn't it?!! We will discuss it further in the next class.
Btw, our students want another Movie event soon. Please await more details :).
We will leave you with this thought -
Have a great rest of the week.
Regards,
Rashmi.
Rashmi.
