Hari Om Parents,
Following was discussed in the e Balavihar class on April 26.
1. Class was conducted again using Zoom conferencing technology.
2. Initial prayers, Tapovan Shatakam and 30 verses of Bhagavad Gita chapter 1 was chanted.
3. We continued with the values taught by Sri Krishna in Chapter XII of Bhagavad Gita, where He enumerates 35 virtues or gems for us to live by. Bhagawan says he is showing us these gems so that we can make use of them and be happy. He says "anyone who lives by these virtues is My darling". Gem 1 – Hate None (advesta sarvabhutanam): Gem 2 – Be Friendly; Maitrah; Gem 3 – Be Compassionate; Karunah; Gem 4 – Free from attachment, Nirmamah; Gem 5 – Free from ego, Nirahamkarah; Gem 6 - Equal minded in pleasure and pain, samaduhkhasukhah; Gem 7 – Forgive, ksami; Gem 8 – Ever content, samtustah and Gem 9 – Steadfast in meditation, yogi Today we discussed two other values – Self-controlled and firm conviction.
4. We continued discussion from last class - the need to have control over the mind which was also explained as yoga. Normally our mind is in a state of constant agitation, it is compared to a river, we can say that our mind is in a state of gushing floods. Just as it is difficult to control a river which is in flood it is also difficult to control your mind which is gurgling with many thoughts. It was explained to the student that the state of flood in our mind is contributed by three main streams which are memories of the past, fears of the future and anxieties of the present. Unnecessary regrets of our past mistake impede us from doing what we need to do now, also over anxiety while performing our activities in the present and excessive fear of future should be avoided. When we can achieve this to some extent - the flood of thoughts in our mind calms down, then it's easier to control the mind. We can build a dam across the 'calmer river'; this dam is built by following right values. Today we used the illustrations on drawing board during the zoom classes to get across this point! We can also imagine that these three portals - regrets of the past, anxieties of the present and worries about future - are the three dissipating channels by which the energy of the mind is dissipated. When we plug these dissipating channels, we can conserve our mental energies. Mind can be made focused and single pointed. Controlling mind is not easy, but will come with patient and practice. This can be facilitated by various means including prayer, study and reflection on our sastras, surrendering to God and devotion, japa and of course by meditation. Thus yoga - the integration of her personality can be achieved by detaching ourselves from the lower and yoking ourselves to the Higher/Lord.
5. Self-controlled, yatatma
initially we had open discussion if self-control is beneficial or not, how can it be pursued – students gave some examples that they are following during these lock down times – getting up early; doing school work in time …. It was reminded that freedom comes with responsibilities. Unless self-control and discipline is followed one cannot achieve anything productive in this life. Pujya Gurudev has said without self-discipline, concentration and total dedication one cannot grow and shine forth. We have seen numerous examples in our own lives of people practicing for many years to perfect themselves in their own specific professions, for example a musician or a dancer or painter probably had put in many hours and years of hard work before they achieve success and recognition. All the professional athletes that we see have worked for years before they could have achieved the pinnacle of the success in the respective sports. Without having self-discipline and self-control we will not achieve anything meaningful in our life. Even when we look at the word discipline and add all the numbers of the alphabet - that is D represents the fourth alphabet; I represents the ninth alphabet; S represents the 19th letter of the alphabet so on so forth the total of all alphabets in discipline adds up to 100%!!! The word itself is showing that we need to put in hundred percent discipline to achieve our goals. As Pujya Gurudev says one who has subjected himself to discipline is a disciple.
6. Firm conviction, drdhaniscayah
firm conviction or resolve means having steadfastness, determination to make up one's mind. When we know value of anything then we make a resolve to get it. Students were asked if they wanted $100 note everybody said they would like to have it. When we said that the hundred dollars note was all crumpled up, still they wanted it, this is because they knew the value of hundred dollars. Similarly only when we value a thing then we make a resolve to achieve it. We asked what is their understanding about belief and faith. They came up with different explanations, ultimately we all agreed that - belief born out of understanding is faith. We also explained that there are many definitions or explanations possible for this word faith or sraddha, it has been said that there is no good meaning available in English language to explain all the deeper imports of sraddha or loosely translated as faith. It was emphasized to the students that they should have faith in three factors - faith in our sastras, faith in God/Guru and faith in oneself. Just because we cannot see God we cannot conclude that he is not present. There are many things that we cannot see but can experience such as emotions, even though science says that the earth is round and moving all the time we perceive earth as being relatively stationary. But when seen through the eyes of science we understand that the earth is moving all the time. Similarly we need a special 'mirror' to be able to see God, the mirror is the purified mind. We achieve this purification by following the teachings of our sastras. When you watch a movie we don't see the screen, but without the screen the movie cannot play, similarly without God the world cannot exist. Our inability to recognize him is because of our agitations and impurities in our mind. Pujya Gurudev said that the pilgrimage leading to the temple of truth is not easy one may have to go through dangerous forest, tunnels or precipitous steeps. On this pilgrimage we may experience despondence, despair and hopelessness. Hence we need to have unlimited exchequer of power and strength, and this exchequer of infinite strength is called faith. Students were then asked to read questions like - people say you are very smart but I don't think so, can you help me my problem? - four or five such statements were read, and students were asked to comment on them. Obviously none of these statements sounded polite or nice or rational. It was then pointed out to the students that this is what exactly we do when we pray to God. Most of the time we are so busy with our life that we do not acknowledge God for what He has given us, but when we need something from Him, then we remember to pray to Him. In fact what we're doing is not 'praying' but we are 'preying' on God. All we need to do is just to look around in the nature or even analyze how miraculous this human body works, how the heart pumps blood continuously without a break to understand the greatness of the Lord. He is the one who is running the show of the world and making our body function seamlessly. We are too busy playing with his toys that we fail to recognize and acknowledge them. We forget the Giver!
7. Story - one night a family woke up from sleep detecting smoke and fire in their house. Frantically the father grabbed the one-year-old and a five-year-old and started running out. Five-year-old remembered that he left his favorite teddy bear in the bedroom so he let go of his father and ran back to the bedroom. In the anxiety and confusion father did not realize that the five-year old son left him to get his toy. Once he got out he realized that his other child was still in the house. By now the fire got much worse which prevented the father from going in. The son was shouting from the bedroom window asking for help. There was lot of smoke. The father could see the son and asked him to jump from the window. Unfortunately son could not see him because of all the smoke, so he hesitated. Father assured the son that it is okay that he will catch him to trust him and jump, the son jumped and was saved by the father.
8. Similarly we don't know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future. We just need to hold onto the feet of the Lord, and he will take care of us.
9. Pradyun did the ending prayers and Varun lead the pledge at end of class.
Pranam,
Mekhala Girish
Devender Akula
Sun AM 8th Grade Teachers
