Hari om everyone,
Here's a synopsis of our class this week. We started with our usual practice of a quick meditation and chanting BG ch. 3.
Aunty: So where were we, last class? What were we talking about?
Some review points were discussed. While answering something, they said, ‘Of course, Hinduism!’ (and chuckled)
Aunty: Why did you say so?
Class: Of course! Because everything is Hinduism! (with an almost eye roll, because this statement is so clichéd :)
Aunty: ok. Before we go ahead, let’s take attendance.
Some of the students: Why Aunty? No Quirky Question today?
Aunty: Later…
(attendance is marked)
Aunty: So, what is it that is at the beginning and end of existence, at the end of time and space, in and through everything, everyone and everywhere…?!
Class: God!!!
Aunty: Think some more… It’s in every second, week and year!
Student: Oh! Letter ‘e’!
Aunty: Bingo!! See! Everything doesn’t have to be Hinduism! ;) This was the Our Kyun Kyun (QQ - Quirky Question) of the day and the answer is the ‘alphabet E' :))
Jokes apart, Hinduism is a way of life, not a bunch of rituals and rules! That’s what we have been working towards learning here :)
We continued our discussion of BG chapter 10. Here Krishna started to explain to Arjuna that He is IN AND THROUGH everything! (of course our students were ALSO right when they answered the Quirky Question :). Here, our discussion took another interesting turn!
Student: So, can God create a rock so big that even He cannot lift it?!
Aunty: Of course!
Student: Then how can He be ‘all powerful’?!
Aunty: Oh ok! It is a ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ situation now :)). If we say He can’t, ‘He can’t create such a rock, so He is not so powerful!’ If we say, He can create such a rock, the contention will be ‘He can’t lift that rock, so He is not so powerful after all!’. Now you are trying to trap bhagavaan only :)). To understand this, we need to understand the ‘order’ of bhagavaan-hood itself.
We discussed that the All-powerful God we speak about is ‘brahman’ (NOT brahma, one with 4 faces). Who is this now? He is other than the trinity of Gods - Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara. This brahman is the one who empowers and assigns roles to all other Gods that we see and worship. Anything that has a beginning has to end. But brahman has no beginning or end. He is eternal…
Student: Parvati made Ganesha. So will he also die? Because you said anything that has a beginning has to end!
Aunty: Yes! ALL VISIBLE Gods are manifest forms of the one Supreme Brahman. They can manifest and become ‘unmanifest’ (we wouldn’t term it as ‘death' for Gods) as and when required. We have birth and death because we have our ‘karma phalam’ (fruits of our actions) to enjoy. They don’t. We are made up of Vaasanaas (inherent tendencies) and comprise of Body, Mind, Intellect. They are not. (We discussed the BMI chart as well).
Students: How do we know WHEN the FIIIIST deed (karma) happened to yield result so I had to take birth?
Aunty: There’s a problem with this sentence. When we say ‘beginning of time’, it makes no sense because, the very word ‘beginning’ is a reference of time. To know when it began, I need time. To know that, time needs to come into existence. So, the ‘cycle' of birth and death is, as it says, is ‘a cycle’. It is not linear to say, 'it started at one time and will end at another'. Time itself is cyclical and not linear! Hence, our birth and death are also cyclical!
There were so many wonderful questions today, but just not enough time to finish our discussion. We will certainly continue the discussion in the next class and understand the question as well as the answer in more detail! :).
Wishing everyone a fun spring break. See you all after that. For now, we will leave you with this to reminisce :)
Rashmi.
