Hari om everyone,
Here's a quick synopsis of our class this week. After meditation, we did Geeta chanting, Chapter 5.
Quirky Question (QQ) of the Day: We know the definitions for odd numbers, even numbers, and prime numbers. We also know 7 is a prime number. Now, how can we make 7 even, without multiplying, adding, subtracting, etc.?
Many students had the correct answer! Write the number as 'Seven.' Drop the 'S' and it becomes 'even'!
Smart kids, we have. They were right! We will relate this to our lesson later.
We picked up where we left off — discussing the ego. Every opinion we have about ourselves accounts as thoughts of the ego, the 'little i' — I'm tall, I'm smart, I'm not good enough, I'm a girl, I'm a boy..., each one of them can be categorized as thoughts about our body, mind, or intellect (BMI). But BMI is not the real me!
We saw how my body is not the same since my birth. My mind and intellect keep growing and changing. Anything that is changing is NOT me! But the awareness, the conscious within me, is constant. It is the same from the minute I was born till I die. That is why we don't wake up every day with an identity crisis :). We remember who we are.
This awareness is the substratum for my existence. Just as in Seven, even was ALREADY THERE, this substratum is ever present in us. Just as we dropped the 'S' to arrive at 'even, if we drop our 'ego identification, ' we can arrive at the consciousness that is EVER PRESENT in us!
We talked about what the problems are if we are attached to the ego. Let's look at them step by step.
- With ego come vaasanaas, likes and dislikes, from birth.
- They give rise to desires.
- We will either run towards our desired objects or run away from them.
- If I don't get what I want, I will get angry.
- With anger, I become delusional.
- With delusion, I forget who I truly am — not this little ego!
- When I forget my nature, my intellect is compromised.
- With a compromised intellect, I shall perish!
- On the other hand, when I get what I want, I will gravitate more towards it and insist that I get it every time! If I don't get the desired object, this cycle starts all over again!
This ladder of fall was explained to Arjuna by Krishna in the 2nd chapter.
We discussed real-life examples of what our students face and how this Ladder of fall is absolutely true! For example, we saw how small white lies can sometimes lead us to compromise our values and self-esteem too!
With many examples, we saw that nipping such thoughts in the bud is the easiest way of tackling them!
We concluded that the mantra for us to take away from this class is — DESIRES DESTROY ME! It empowers the troublemaker, the 'little i' and destroys everything else.
Until next time, here's something to contemplate -
Regards,
Rashmi.
Rashmi.
