Summarized by Prasanna Kumar:
We started with pranayam and meditation
Recap & Initial Q&A
- We talked about wokeism and it’s impact on our kids .
Though the end game of this wokeism is not clear this seems to present a very disturbing situation for our kids when they get exposed to this ideology in their college years. This could lead some of them to question and then finally give up on our religious beliefs and customs. The best we parents can do is to give our kids a good foundation of Indian culture and scriptures. Programs like Balavihar hopefully helps them in navigating these situations. We cant force our kids once they reach their college years to worship or follow rituals like us. We should give them the space to explore and come to their own conclusion of what’s right and what’s wrong. And hope with the balavihar upbringing they don’t fall into the trap of wokeism.
Books on this subject : “ snakes in the Ganga”
Summary from Last class:
- We as spiritual seekers should move away from Manoranjan to Aatma Ranjan. Don’t settle for smaller things but aim for higher goals.
- We talked about having faith or believing something we do not know yet. And over time if we keep the faith and pursue the goal it will become a fact.
Discussion
We discussed about the symbolism of Rama , Sita and Lakshman walking to that of Brahman, Maya and Jiva. Brahman walks in the front followed by Maya and then Jiva. This could also explain why we/ Jiva have difficulty seeing or experiencing Brahman as it’s clouded by Maya. It is said that Sita did not step on the foot steps of Rama. So she stepped in the middle. And Lakshmana kept to the left of Rama and Sita so that he could have a view of Rama/ Brahman at all times.
As Sri Ramakrishna stated “ Such is the arrangement of Brahman, Maya and Jiva in this world. So long as the illusion of Maya does not move aside , the creature cannot see the creator - man cannot see the God.”
We are made up of higher and lower nature. God is in our own higher nature but it is difficult to realize it.
Chap 7. Verse 19, 20 , 21
- Verse 19 : We all go through a journey of many lives to realize Brahman. But don’t be discouraged though it’s extremely rare for realization.
- Verse 20 : why is it so difficult to achieve the higher nature. Because of desires and in our fascination to fulfill our selfish desires we don’t have the determination to seek the higher nature. Gurudev gives the example of people giving into the excuse of drinking to fit in to a company dinner.
- Verse 21: Gurudev narrates the story of “ all you want store and where everything is free”. The moral is that self effort is the reason for everyone’s success , intense faith in god will help you do what your are doing even better. God gives us the seed and each one of us have to put in the effort and let the seed grow. Thus if we prayed for an apple , he gives you the apple seed that you then plant and nurture for couple of years to be the apple tree that gives you lot of apples for years.
Analysis
Just like the process of stopping an activity if it restricts our breathing , drop activities that takes us away from the path to Brahman . Do not waste time in worldly pleasures . Develop intense faith or shradda.
The 7 things we should have faith in are mantra , tirtha, dvija (flag), deva (God), daivajna (astrology), bhesaja (medicine) and guru . For instance if we have faith in the doctor or medicine just a sugary substance could also treat the disease. This explains the placebo effect. And having intense faith in the Lord is what protected Mirabhai from poison or Prahlad from all the attacks against him orchestrated by his father Hiranyakashipu.
The videos we viewed in class are -
Om Shanthi!
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