Notes by Om Shreejay
Review of last week
We reviewed the virtue of good communication — Om Anglabhasha-viduttamaya Namaha — means we admire the one who speaks very good English, who is good at communicating with others. We reviewed the 3 rules of good communication –
1. Think before you speak — listen carefully before you respond
2. See the situation from the other person’s point of view
3. Give the other person our full attention
Today’s class — Virtue of Large-heartedness
Om Uddara-hrdayaya Namaha — means we admire the one who is large-hearted. Vivekji had taught us that we should be givers instead of getters, just like Mother Nature.
What does it mean to give? We should give our time, our energy and our thoughts.
How do we become a giver? The secret to being a giver is to be grateful for what we have.
We just celebrated Thanksgiving this week. Thanksgiving feast is a celebration of gratitude — for our friends, for nature and for all what we have.
Story
Once there was a professor who gave his students a surprise test. The professor passed out all the test papers face down. When the students flipped the paper over, all the students saw was a small black dot on the paper. The professor asked the students to describe what they saw. After 30 minutes, all the students turned in their answers. When the professor read aloud the answers, he saw that all the students described the black dot, but no one wrote about the white space on the paper.
Lesson from Story
We usually tend to focus on the negative things in our lives — the black dots. When we focus on this, we forget to see the white paper — the good things that we have that we should be grateful for, like when the pilgrims and the Native Americans and had the big feast they were grateful, which is the origin of Thanksgiving.
Practice and its significance
We took 2 minutes to make a list of all the good things in our life that we are grateful for and all the negative things in our life that are causing us problems. When we finished, almost everyone had a bigger gratitude list! The significance of this practice is to remember the positive things in our lives — this helps us become givers.
We watched an episode from Adventure Time — The Music Hole. Finn’s favorite sword got broken. His friends hatch a plan to cheer him up by making him the judge of “Battle of the Bands”. In the background he hears music from the Earth and moves to the song of the Earth towards the end. Earth tells him that his song has been playing from the beginning. Finn realizes how grateful he is for his friends and starts becoming more of a giver and being large-hearted. Gratitude is the way to becoming more large-hearted.
RAW for the week
Start a gratitude journal — write down 3 things that you are grateful for every morning.
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Notes by Pranavi Ananthanarayanan
Name: Om Uddara-hridayaya namah.
Meaning: We admire the person who is large hearted.
How do we become a giver?
To be grateful for what we have and we are able to give.
Story:
True story: Once there was a professor.The professor gave a surprise test to his students, but when the students flipped the paper there was only a black dot in the middle of the paper. They had to explain about what is on the paper. The students handed in the paper. When he looked at the papers he said that everyone forgot to tell about the white paper around the black dot. The professor wanted them to learn a lesson.
Lesson: Always think about the positive {white paper} way, don’t think about the negative {the black dot}.
Activity:Write what you are grateful for and write the bad things.
Adventure times Lesson: To be grateful then you can be large hearted.
RAW: Start a gratitude journal.