Hari Om Parents,
We started class with beginning prayers followed by chanting of Maha
Mrityunjaya mantram. The students took turns in chanting and sending
well wishes to children with March birthdays and to the people of
Ukraine. We then learned verses 65 - 68 from chapter 2 of the Bhagavad
Gita.
For our mediation session we did a progressive relaxation followed by
breath awareness, focusing on clasped hands and then on the
temperature felt around the body.
After recapping last week's lesson on Faith we discussed how we can
build faith on the Law of Karma as we are all familiar with the cause
and effect principle.
Our lesson for this class was based on the famous Upanishad vakyam
'Arise Awake! and stop not until the goal is reached'.Watched
Gurudev's talk on the famous verse Karmanye vaadhikaraste... which is
verse 2:47 of the Bhagavad Gita. The students took turns to help us
understand this verse and how we can implement it in our lives to
achieve our goals.
Narrated the story briefly of Nachiketas from the Kathopanishad and
Swami Vivekanda using this vakyam to inspire the youth during India's
freedom struggle. Told the story of King Janaka having doubts about
whether he was in the waking or dream state. He questions his teacher
Ashtavakra about the reality of the waking world and rhe dream world.
The teacher taught King Janaka about the difference between waking
from our sleep every morning and spiritual awakening.
Talked about Gurudev's detachment-attachment yoga with examples. Using
Gurudev's profound quote, ' Shake off the dullness in you and wake up
to fulfill your goal',the students participated in a discussion. How
do we drop the dullness in us, or shake off the tamas in us?
'Put away my cell phone during work', 'don't procrastinate', 'do
meditation regularly' were some of the answers the students gave.
Concluded that the mind can leave the lower pleasures only if it is
attached to something higher to achieve our goals!
Reminders:
Holi celebrations on Saturday, March 19th
Bhagavad Gita competition on April 2nd. We would like students to
participate in the reading category
Our next class is on March 25th.
Pranams
Uma and Nirmala