March 11, 2020

Notes by Dhruva Shreejay

Review

We reviewed the value of Shraddha (Faith) that we studied in last week’s class. As a child, Vivekji used to go to a catholic school where he recalled a quote from the Bible — “Faith can move mountains.” Vivekji didn’t know what it meant at the time, but as he studied more about happiness, he understood the importance of faith — If you are faithful, then you are not fearful. If you are fearful, then you are not faithful.

Story

We started by understanding what the word “apartheid” means. It comes from “apart” — where one is separated from others. Apartheid was a policy that separated humans based on their skin color. It was the law in South Africa that separated white people from black people with white people being on top.

In 1918, a dynamic leader was born in South Africa — his name was Nelson Mandela. Mandela did not believe in apartheid because he thought it was wrong that humans should be separated because of their skin color. He fought against apartheid to ensure everyone had the same opportunities. He was put in jail for about 27 years!

When Mandela was freed from jail, he worked to dismantle apartheid. He wanted whites and blacks to not be separated and be equal. He succeeded and got the Nobel Peace prize for his efforts — the highest prize possible for Peace.

Mandela said “Courageous people do not fear forgiveness for the sake of peace.”

Message of Story

The meaning of this quote is that someone who wants to be peaceful will forgive, while someone who does not want to be peaceful will be afraid of forgiving. Our value for this week is Kshama — to be forgiving.

Why should we forgive someone if they make a mistake or are mean to you? Because this will make you feel normal and happier. When we forgive others, we get more than we give and we are the ones who benefit.

We must also ask for forgiveness from others as we all make mistakes and can grow when we learn from our mistakes.

Lesson from The Little Prince

We reviewed chapter 12 where the little prince left his planet to go to other planets in order to learn. At the first planet he goes to, he met a king. When the little prince yawned, the king said, “I order you to yawn.” The king was not in touch with reality.

The little prince tells the king, “It is harder to judge yourself than it is to judge others.” We make more mistakes than others, but it is harder to see our own mistakes. When we learn to see that we make mistakes, we become wise. The lesson is to judge ourselves and not others.

Practice

Vivekji asked us to write what we were doing 1 year back, 1 month back, 1 week back, 1 hour back, 1 minute back, 1 second back and right now in our notebooks. In this way, we went from the past to the present.

The lesson from this practice is that whenever we don’t forgive someone, we are living in the past. If you can bring yourself to the present, then there is nothing or no one to forgive. Let go of the past and focus on the present. Thinking of the present also makes it easier to forgive.

Questions

Why do some of the Gods do “non-God-dy” things? Because Gods are also Gurus (teachers) who do whatever it takes to help their students grow. This is for us to relate to the teaching to learn and grow.

What is Vivekji’s favorite book? Ramayana — as it is filled with love!

RAW (for upcoming week)

Make a new friend this week at school, and post something about your new friend on Vichara Gurukula.

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Notes by Sahana Iyengar

Our story was about a man named Nelson Mandela. In South Africa, the government allowed something called Apartheid. Apartheid, seperated white people from black people. Nelson Mandela, fought for the negro’s rights. He was put in jail, many times. He even won the Nobel Peace Prize. One of his famous quotes was “Courageous people do not fear forgiveness, for the sake of peace.” So our value this week was Kshama which means being forgiving.

So, why forgive? It makes you feel happy. How? HOW? Well, when you forgive someone, you feel normal, you feel happy that you did do this good deed! But when you don’t forgive, you feel abnormal, which is not something you would want to feel.

For our practice, we had to write what we were doing last. For example, let’s say Vivekji asks what you were doing last month. Let’s say, you were studying for a big test. So that’s what you would write down. We went from the past, to the present.

And finally, for our RAW, we had to make 1 friend, write about him/her, and post it one our website. Have a good week!