Hari Om! Here is the class update for the week ended March 2nd.
We started the class with 3 OMs followed by opening prayers, then we chanted the Gita Dhyanam.
We used half of today's class to work on the play outline - the children split into groups and worked on their part of the story.
For the rest of the class, we had a very interesting discussion on "The Goal of Life". We went around the room and everyone stated their goal in life- mostly along the lines of - "I want to be happy, rich (that will make me happy), successful (again, this will make me happy)" and "I want to be happy, following a dharmic way of life". Some wanted to be content, accept death peacefully when the time came. After some discussion, the consensus was that it meant having the means to do what one wanted.
The question then was what does being happy while following a dharmic way of life mean? The general consensus was- as long as we do not hurt others, that is dharmic. We also realized that being happy involved being independent, to decide what we want for ourselves, without any one else's (cough"adults/parents"cough :)) interference. Now how would these two goals then be along the same lines? Dharma does state do's and don'ts, which may interfere with our "freedom" to do the things we want and thereby be happy.
As we worked to reconcile this "lack of freedom" that Dharma sometimes brings, there was a discussion on what it means to be free. Freedom is to be not bound by likes and dislikes, "my wants", "things I hate".. anything that binds us to a certain thing or a point of view. To be really free is to be free from likes and dislikes. But in our current life, we have bound ourselves with ideas - this is what I like, this is who I like, this is someone or something I hate - and we consider all that to be what makes us unique. Once we let go of this identity with our "self" then we are free to realize our True Self. That is real freedom. This freedom can come as we live if we only understand that much of what we take to be "me" is what binds us and leaving that aside and being free is the true goal of life.
Bhagavad Gita: We have learnt upto verse 25 in Chapter 5.
We started the class with 3 OMs followed by opening prayers, then we chanted the Gita Dhyanam.
We used half of today's class to work on the play outline - the children split into groups and worked on their part of the story.
For the rest of the class, we had a very interesting discussion on "The Goal of Life". We went around the room and everyone stated their goal in life- mostly along the lines of - "I want to be happy, rich (that will make me happy), successful (again, this will make me happy)" and "I want to be happy, following a dharmic way of life". Some wanted to be content, accept death peacefully when the time came. After some discussion, the consensus was that it meant having the means to do what one wanted.
The question then was what does being happy while following a dharmic way of life mean? The general consensus was- as long as we do not hurt others, that is dharmic. We also realized that being happy involved being independent, to decide what we want for ourselves, without any one else's (cough"adults/parents"cough :)) interference. Now how would these two goals then be along the same lines? Dharma does state do's and don'ts, which may interfere with our "freedom" to do the things we want and thereby be happy.
As we worked to reconcile this "lack of freedom" that Dharma sometimes brings, there was a discussion on what it means to be free. Freedom is to be not bound by likes and dislikes, "my wants", "things I hate".. anything that binds us to a certain thing or a point of view. To be really free is to be free from likes and dislikes. But in our current life, we have bound ourselves with ideas - this is what I like, this is who I like, this is someone or something I hate - and we consider all that to be what makes us unique. Once we let go of this identity with our "self" then we are free to realize our True Self. That is real freedom. This freedom can come as we live if we only understand that much of what we take to be "me" is what binds us and leaving that aside and being free is the true goal of life.
Bhagavad Gita: We have learnt upto verse 25 in Chapter 5.
Regards
Abhirami Shrinivas
Selvi Deepak
