Hari om parents,
After our starting prayers. We started with some students sharing stories of samskaras (Namakaran). According to Gautama dharmasutra, it is not enough to go through the sanskaras mechanically but one should cultivate the eight inner qualities in oneself to graduate from the earth. They are: kindness to all beings, patience (forgiveness), free from jealousy, purity, not to feel mental strain, being cheerful, giving charity, and being free from desires (greed).
We discussed these qualities today.
Kindness can also be interpreted as compassion, sympathy, generousness, humanity, consideration. We read a story about a young boy who was hungry and helped by a lady with a glass of milk. Years later the same lady was sick and got treated in a hospital. Then, as she was waiting for her receipt of her fees, she got an envelope saying "Paid in full with a glass of milk!" It was the young boy who grew up to become a consultant at the hospital and repaid the act of kindness done by the lady.
Ksanti is forbearance. Patience to suffer silently, yet to keep on pursuing your own goal of life. Enough patience to forgive even when someone troubles you. We read a story of Eknath - a saint from India. A person spat on him when he was returning after taking a bath in the river. Eknath, without saying anything, took a dip in the river again. This went on for 108 times. The man then fell at Eknath's feet pleading for forgiveness. He revealed that he had been asked to make Eknath ji angry and some rich people would have paid him handsomely. Ekanth replied - "It is a great day. I got a chance to take a bath 108 times because of you. And if you had told me so. I would have acted angry for your benefit!"
Anasuya is the absence of jealousy within. The wise ones accept what they get in life, change the habit of jealousy, and perform good deeds. We read a story about 2 friends who competed with each other and were jealous of each other. They started doing tapas to gain the favour of the god. The God appeared to one and he asked double of what the other would ask for. God appeared to the other to grant his boon. The second friend first asked him what the first friend asked for. When he realized what his friend asked for, he simply asked God to make him blind in one eye! Jealousy had driven them to harm themselves just to see the other get hurt more!
Sauca is cleanliness or purity within and without. Clutter causes confusion and Cleanliness is a sign of clarity. Clean environment helps to think clearly. This cleanliness needs to be both inside and outside.
Ayasa means efforts, exertion; so anayasa means free from mental strain. Stress causes Strain. Strain causes exertion. Eg. Rubber band constantly getting stressed, gets strained. This excessive straining of the rubber band eventually makes it lose all its electricity.
Mangalam means auspicious, happy! By being cheerful wherever we go, we spread happiness and bring auspiciousness! So, we should try to keep smiling all the time. We read a story about two patients in a hospital - one close to the window in the ward and the other in a bed a little farther away who was not able to get up. The one near the window was describing a beautiful garden outside, a stream, kids playing and having fun. This helped the other patient emotionally. Much later, after the one near the window went away, the other patient realized that the window had a view of just a brick wall. When he asked the nurse she said "Sir, he was blind. He could not even see the brick wall. Maybe he just wanted you to be happy!"
Akarpanya means not being a scrooge! Meaning, give generously whatever you have. We can give our time, our talents, and our wealth. We read another story here about how giving was helping a poor man to be happy but when the same person started to feel that he needs to hoard the money, he became unhappy. He then made others around him unhappy too.
Aspruha means absence of desires or clinging attachments. Only when a desire is very strong, we forget what is right and what is wrong. We rationalize and we lose our discrimination.
We read the Bhagavad gita slokas ch 2 v59-60. The class ended early to attend a zoom meeting of all Sunday am classes where 8th grade students presented their program.
Regards,