Hari om everyone,
This week was an exciting class! We were meeting in-person for class and continuing into a satsang with Swamiji plus a pizza party!
We started as usual with meditation, followed by chanting the Bhagavadgeeta. We chanted verses 39 - 72 from 'BG chapter 2'. It was nice to chant together as a group.
We started to learn what Krishna said to Arjuna in Chapter 5. To understand that better, we asked our students why they have a particular preference be it music or food or anything else! How do they describe their preferences? Objects always exist as pairs of opposites! Meaning, things of the world can ONLY be defined as an absence of the opposite! Hot means, it is not cold. Bright means, it is not dark. Like is described as not dislike...
Our entire life, we are either running TOWARDS what we like or running AWAY from what we dislike!
So, Krishna told Arjuna to go beyond these pairs of opposites. Meaning, DO NOT have likes and dislikes, etc. Only then, he can see things the way they truly are.
We also spoke about accountability and taking ownership of our actions. Arjuna wanted Krishna to tell him what to do! But Krisha never made the choices FOR Arjuna. He always told him to think through his choice and make his own decisions! We wanted to 'be told' so that if something goes wrong, we can easily pass the blame onto someone else. This is not a good choice because we should be the ones living with our decisions. Hence taking accountability for our choices is very essential!
It was so nice to see everyone in-person. We asked everyone to share one topic that they connected with most, this year. It was nice to see they remembered various aspects of our discussions! We played a game called 'Pass the Story'.
By then, Swamiji joined us to treat us with his satsang! He spoke to us about how we should have a reaction-free mind. We should respond, but not react! He beautifully explained the differences to the class. He instilled in us better shraddhaa (faith). His words surely reinforced and deepened the faith in our scriptures for all of us!
During Q and A session, one of the questions was, 'how do we know our actions are right or wrong?' He said after performing an action if it makes us feel miserable, it is a wrong action. Something that uplifts us, is the right action! This is because each one of us has that light of consciousness in us to guide us properly. He also explained when we do our actions, without expectations, it is more freeing. Then we won't be setting ourselves up for disappointments :).
We played a game of 'Musical chairs' before breaking for the pizza party :)
We all enjoyed some desserts and drinks along with warm pizzas and socialized before dispersing.
See you all next class.
Regards,
Rashmi and Raghav.