Hari om everyone,
Here's a quick synopsis of our class this week. We started with meditation and Geeta chanting, chapter 5. It has been a while since we last chanted. We worked on some tongue twisters and were back on track.
Quirky Question (QQ) of the Day: We use our phones, books, bags, etc. But what is it that belongs to us but is used by others more than ourselves?!
A few students zeroed in on an answer: Our Name! But then, one student suggested 'door bell'! It belongs to us but is used by our visitors more often than ourselves. True! Had not thought of that and liked the out-of-the-box thinking 
.
. We continued the discussion of Chapter 2 of the Geeta. Krishna had started to give Arjuna the ultimate knowledge and asked him not to lament for his near and dear ones. But comprehending this is no easy task.
So, Krishna started to tell Arjuna the reality of everything is the same substratum. To understand this better, we saw a simple story of two brothers - the father had passed away, and the two brothers were splitting the inheritance. One of the brothers was very naive. The other one wanted to take advantage of him. He said, "Let's split equally! In this gold chain, you keep the chain, I will keep the gold. In this gold bracelet, you take the bracelet, I will keep the gold. In this gold necklace, you keep the necklace, I will take the gold!"
Even as I was saying this, the students pointed out, "Wait a minute, Aunty! How is that even possible?! There IS no necklace without the gold!"
Bingo! They had hit on the right note!! Just as it is not possible to separate the form from the material it is made up of, we cannot separate the Lord from different people. Just as the same gold was in different shapes, making different ornaments, the same Lord is in different shapes and names as different people. We are nothing without the support of the Lord! We CANNOT exist without Him, just as ornaments cannot exist without gold.
This is exactly what Krishna said to Arjuna. But how come we do not perceive the commonality among all of us? How come we feel that each one of us is separate from another? How come we feel like we are disjointed entities?!
The reason for this is our identification with our Body, Mind, and Intellect (BMI) complex. We give a name to this BMI and develop individuality (ego), which gives us an illusion that we are different from each other. During meditation, we saw how we are all connected through the same 5 elements that make each one of us. If we focus on what we are truly made up of, we will be able to see the oneness. Even for the 5 elements, the support is the Lord Himself.
We also understood that 'ego' here is not the same as 'egotism'. Any identification with the individual self is termed as 'ego.' Learning this is a lifelong journey. We will discuss it further in future classes.
We then planned to watch a movie at Aunty's house on March 30th. We have planned it to be a potluck, and students have signed up for things they want to bring. We will be sharing the Google sheet for the signups on our WhatsApp group. We are so excited for the movie day end of this month . Those of you who haven't signed up, please do so when we share the sheet with the group.
. Those of you who haven't signed up, please do so when we share the sheet with the group. Until next time, here is something to ponder -
See you next week.
Regards,
Rashmi.
http://sanskritpearls.blogspot.com/
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Rashmi.
http://sanskritpearls.blogspot.com/
On Facebook,
http://www.facebook.com/SanskritPearls
