April 10, 2022 - Grade 9 (Sunday AM)
Hari om Parents,
After our starting prayers and a recap of last week's class - "The four Varnas/Castes", we started the next chapter - "The Mahavakyas and how to apply them".
Mahavakyas or Great Declarations are taken from the Upanishads. They are pithy statements that sound cryptic and attempt to make us realize that we are more than what we currently perceive ourselves as. They make us "think" and "re-think" OR "see" or "re-see".
Great declarations are similar to great statements made in contemporary history like the statements "I have a dream…" by Martin Luther King.
The four Mahavakyas of our scriptures are:
प्रज्ञानम् ब्रह्म / Prajnanam Brahma: Translated as "Consciousness is Brahman" from 3.1.3 Aitreyopanishad, Rig Veda
तत् त्वम् असि / Tat Tvam Asi: Translated as "That thou art" from 6.8.7 Chandogya Upanishad, Sama Veda
अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्म / Ayam Atma Brahma: Translated as "This Self is Brahman" from 1.2 Mandukya Upanishad, Atharva Veda
अहम् ब्रह्म अस्मि / Aham Brahma-Asmi: Translated as "I am Brahman" from 1.4.10 Brihadarankyaka Upanishad, Yajur Veda
In the mahavakyas, there is a reference made to Brahman. Brahman is derived from the root word "Br" which means "Big". This is distinct from Brahmin. This is one aspect that is sometimes missed in translations and the meaning then gets skewed. Brahman is the consciousness, the awareness that encompasses all.
The mahavakyas are meant for us to realize Brahman. But why should we try to achieve Brahman? The hindu scriptures do not prescribe a specific path for anyone. It is an individual's choice. We always try to get more experience and knowledge in our worldly lives, sometimes for monetary benefit, sometimes for the sake of experience or knowledge.
Realizing Brahman is realizing the highest level of knowledge, awareness and consciousness. This gets us to the Bliss layer. The path to getting there is by thinking differently. "Feel" to go beyond feeling, "think" to go beyond thinking.
We saw a video on how the 2-dimensional entities perceive 3-dimensional entities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a09pUQxSB4o (from 00:32 to 5:22). Just like the 2-dimensional entities find it really difficult to understand 3-dimensional entities, there may be aspects within us that need to be realized by approaching them differently. Mahavakyas are attempting to do that.
Adi Shankaracharya wrote "The perceiver of a pot is ever distinctly different from the pot". This is the seer and seen divide. As long as we have this perceiver and perceived divide, or Subject and Object divide, we know we have not yet identified our true Self. The approach taken to identify the true Self is different from the approach we take in the outside world. We also saw a video on the story of the 10th man - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMRbh3M4AGw (from 38:39 to 40:43). This is a story of 10 people who swam across a river, thought one among them drowned and started crying. When a knowledgeable person walking by helped them by showing them to count to 10 by pointing the finger at themselves too. The story can be interpreted in many ways. One such interpretation is that the knowledge of pointing the finger that was counting outside to turn inwards is a very significant step. That is where the Self is. The Mahavakyas are also trying to tell us this.
We read a story of how six blind men, each of them touching a different part of an elephant, emphatically asserting that they knew what the elephant looked like. This went on till a person with sight told them that they are all right. How can that be true? It can be realized only when you see the elephant in total. We too need to realize that maybe we have got only a part of the whole truth. So, we need to be humble and understanding to other truths too.
At the same time, we should not stop exploring our full potential. "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience." - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
We also read a story of when Yudhishtara is sent to Hell for lying once in his life for a short time. His presence soothes the pain in the hell for others. Later, Yudhishtara exchanges his good deeds for getting them all out of hell. He is unfortunately asked to stay in hell. However, his good deeds and actions there, transforms hell into heaven. We should try this in our lives too. If we have good conduct and behavior, we can make the environment pleasing, even in the most difficult times.
Other Sunday AM, Grade 9 2021-22 class summaries in https://cmnjparentportal21-22.blogspot.com/search/label/Gr%209%20-%20Sunday%20AM
Regards,
Rukmani & Partha