Hari om everyone,
This Sunday was our very first eBalaVihar class ever. In light of the ongoing World crisis, our Swamiji guided us towards going digital but not stop the learning! Our sincere thanks and gratitude to our Swami Shantanandaji, admins and the digital team who set up the logistics in record time, made sure it was communicated precisely to everyone and executed seamlessly!!
We logged into class 10 min early so that we are better prepared for the new medium of instruction. We saw that 4 students were already in waiting! We had the maximum attendance, with two new students who were unable to come to classes from the beginning of the year.
Thank you, parents and students, for taking to this new structure, like fish to water! We will be doing eBalaVihar until further notice and your participation sure is encouraging.
Also, thank you for signing on to the WhatsApp group. It will definitely make our communications easier. If you are not already, please send us an email and we will send you the link separately to join.
We started with meditation and chanting. We learnt aaditya hRudayam till verse 15 and finished learning ALL of the 47 verses of bhagavadgeetaa chapter 1. Below are the links for the new verses.
In our excitement with the new mode of learning, we forgot to discuss the answer to last week's brain teaser! So, here's the answer.
Last week's Brain Teaser: You have to fill up a dark empty room in 3 mins. How would you accomplish this?
Answer: Light a lamp. The light will fill up the room in no time!
Today's Brain Teaser: Tell me something about that which never was and never will be! (na bhooto na bhaviShyati). What is it? Send in the answer.
Before going into the class mode, we shared our views about the ongoing Coronavirus situation. We spoke about how Mother Nature has Her ways of setting things right and how we have to be respectful of the dharma of everything around us. We also saw a short but very powerful video that put these thoughts into perspective. Do check out this brief video, voiced wonderfully by Julia Roberts -
Nature is nothing but the Lord's order. If we disrupt the order, we pay dearly!
We learnt a story about Krishna, Balarama and the demon named Fear. The demon grew to the size of the person's fear. He claimed, "I am a demon, the size of your fear!" Krishna said, fear not and take necessary measures to face the fears. The demon shall shrink in front of you!
We briefly reviewed chapter 9 and started learning the topics addressed in chapter 10 of bhagavadgeetaa. This chapter is called 'vibhooti yoga'. We will learn about the glories of the Lord in this chapter.
Krishna said to Arjuna, since you are dear to me, I shall explain my glories further. He said I am 'sarva-loka-maheshvara', meaning He is the Lord of the entire world. Lord here doesn't mean that He is the owner, but He is 'in and through' everything. In the following discussion, we understood some important concepts.
They: What does 'in and through' mean?
Us: Remember the example of the 'Spider and the web'...? How we said, that the spider was the maker of the web and he made it using the secretion that came from his own body? The spider had the web in him already (in the form of secretory juices), but the material of the web didn't have the spider in it. To explain it further, the existence of the web is dependent on the spider, but the spider's existence is NOT dependent on the web. Similarly, if we connotate the spider as bhagavaan and the web as the world, we will understand how His existence is 'in and through' the web (world).
We continue: Here, it is very important for us to understand two other words - 'Ishwara sRuShTi' and 'jeeva sRuShTi'. The creation of the Lord is Ishwara sRuShTi. Whereas the creation of us mortals is called jeeva sRuShTi.
Them: What?!
Us: Let's understand this with another example. This one will stay with you for a looooong time and will come up in all vedaantic discussions. Adi Shankaracharya's very dear example - the 'rajju sarpa nyaaya'. The example of the 'rope and snake'.
(With a funny story, we learnt how a man mistook a rope to be a snake and actually imagined that he was going to die due to its bite. When he saw the rope in light, he calmed down :))
Us: So, here the truth was the existence of the rope, which was Ishwara sRuShTi. The superimposition and mistaken identity of that rope to be a snake (due to the ignorance of that man), was jeeva sRuShTi. The snake didn't really exist but was 'brought to existence' by the man's mistaken cognition. Our goal is to see the truth, rather than harp on our misplaced cognition. This applies to my perception of 'myself' even!
Understanding this is easier said than done. It will take us many lifetimes to understand the depth of this statement! It is for us to contemplate, ponder and come to understanding over time.
Them: So, you are saying that we don't know our identity?!
Us: Yes! Our perception of ourselves is based on external factors. Let's see. If you came to the ashram in a BMW or a Mercedes, would you say 'I came in my BMW' or 'I am BMW'?!! As silly as it sounds, we do a similar mistake!! The body that we possess is nothing more than a vehicle. We do NOT identify ourselves with the vehicle that we drove in, but we claim our nature to be the nature of the body - I am short; I am tall; I am pretty/handsome; I have great hair/skin; etc.
We continue: This is a concept we will have to dig deeper and understand better. As we are running out of time, we will have to discuss this in the next class. Let us finish with our ending prayers :).
Don't forget to send in your answers for the brain teaser.
Happy contemplating!
Regards,
Rashmi and Kishore.
Rashmi and Kishore.
