Hari OM! Parents,
We began class with starting prayers and then did Geeta chanting verses 57-59.
We drew attention of the class to the tortoise mentioned in verse 58
as an example of withdrawal for safety.
In meditation, we repeated tense and relax technique.
After a brief recap of varna dharma, we explored the inner value of Satya.
What is Satya? Some answers students gave were speaking truth, being
true to oneself, thought and words being aligned. The God of religion
is referred to as Truth by those who have trouble accepting God. But
that is not a problem at all, as God is the name of That Principle
which stays changeless through the 3 periods of time and Truth or
Reality are perfectly fine names. The Upanishads point out a great
definition of God- Satyam, Jnanam, Anantam.
Satyam can also be referred to as Sillence. We told a story to
illustrate this. There was a sage in a forest meditating under a tree.
A thief comes by and hides behind the tree. The police come looking
for the thief and ask the sage about him.. The sage decides to remain
silent and did not get the thief into trouble.
We told the story of Samrat Ashoka. After the deadly Kalinga war the
king had a transformation and decides to life a life of truth and
renunciation
The children narrated the story of Yuddishtira, the Pandava prince who
was an embodiment of truth but swayed away once and had to pay the
price for his actions.
We looked at who we consider role models of satya in our lives. Some
students talked about teachers in their lives who always spoke the
truth, even when unpleasant. On being asked if they could name any
models from the Puranas, we were surprised that none could recall
Harishchandra. Someone called Hanuman a model of truth. For the modern
icon, a student named Mahatma Gandhi.We then shared the story of
Mahatma Gandhi as a young boy, refusing to cheat, even when instructed
by his teacher to make his school look good to the school inspector.
Satya can only be sustained in a mind full of Satva guna and as
students pointed out- when one speaks the truth, there is no stress or
fear.
Class ended early to watch grade 8 play.
Our next Bala Vihar class is on February 4th.
Pranams
Uma and Nirmala