Hari Om! Parents,
We started the class with the beginning prayers followed by the Vedic chant on Lord Shiva,
Om Namaste astu…
Trayambakam yajamahe…
Chanted verses 26, 27, 28 from the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita along with Pujya Swamiji.
The children then chanted an revised verses 15 to 25 from the same chapter.
We then went on to our curriculum which was,
!. Completed our discussion on Upasana.
Defined upasana as worship of the lord. Like we become exactly as the company we keep, so also if we live in the company of deities and worship our chosen deity we slowly imbibe those same qualities.
Discussed about japa and upasana.
Manasa japa is superior to loud chanting, and manasa upasana is very powerful as indicated by Acharya Shankara is his Shiva manasa Pooja. We also talked about this prayer.
Told a story about one of the 63 Nayanars who were Shiva bhaktas.
There was a Nayanar who built a Shiva temple mentally. At the same time the local king built an expensive Shiva temple in the city. The king fixed the kumbhabhishekham on a particular day. Lord Shiva appeared in the king’s dream and told him that his appointment on that day was already fixed. The king’s ego was hurt and he asked him about the other temple. The lord gave him the address. The net day the king went to the bhakta’s house and found nothing. When the king asked him about the temple, he told him that he had built his temple in his heart and fixed the kumbhabhishekham. The king then realized that manasa upasana is superior to all other kinds of upasana.
We also talked about the greatness and power of prayer with a story of how the lord fulfilled a poor lady’s wish for food after her sincere prayer.
Briefly discussed the 16 step or Shodasa Pooja. We reminded them of the Saraswathi Pooja we had performed during Navaratri.
Taught the phalam of upasana, which are,
Developing compassion, patience, purity in thoughts words and deeds, developing self esteem, being cheerful and getting rid of jealousy and greed.
Finally asked the children to practice upasana daily on their ishta devata.
Our next topic was on the the Great Declarations or the Mahavakyas from the four Vedas.
For our understanding, we taught this topic with a story from the handbook.
1. The student goes to his teacher for learning Brahma Vidya with an attitude of surrender. The teacher gives an objective definition of Brahman with the statement,
“Prajnanam Brahma” from the Rig Veda.
The teacher asks the student to contemplate on this. He understands it as, all the objects in the universes are expressions of the ONE LORD.
He then comes back to the teacher who tells him,
2. “Tat Tvam Asi’ or ‘That thou art’ from the Sama Vadea
The teacher teaches that the lord is not somewhere in Vaikunta or Kailasa but right here in you. The student understands this only intellectually, but his experience does not support this. So he returns to solitude and meditates and comes to understand,
3. “Ayamatma Brahma” or “this self is Brahman” form the Atharva Veda. Having gained this knowledge he come back to the teacher and finally declares:
4. “Aham Brahma Asmi” or “I am Brahman”(Yajur Veda)
We will be discussing more on this in our future classes.
Discussed that focusing on objects of the world makes us a materialist. Our goal in life is to focus on the spiritual aspects so that we can move closer to the lord and become his devotee.
Discussed how to change our focus in life with example such as,
Appreciating the paper on which words and letters are written in a book
Focusing on the canvas rather than the painting
Focusing on the water rather than the waves
Focusing on the screen rather the movie etc…
Concluded focusing on the not obvious things in nature helps us on focusing on our spirtual culture
Announcements:
Shivaratri celebrations in the ashram on February 21st.
Our net class is on February 28th. We will celebrate spirit day, an evening filed with fun activities.
Pranams
Nirmala and Purnima
