January 18, 2023

Notes by Saamya Deo

Review

5 weeks ago, we learned about a king who was incredibly lazy. The king absolutely loved to eat and sleep! His love for eating and sleeping got in the way of his duties as a king. He couldn’t even walk to the bathroom on his own! 

2 things we learned

1. Giving into all of our wants isn’t healthy
   • The more we give into them the more arise
   • They multiply
     • Sumanji’s example : Like a tissue box, the more tissues you take the more come out
2. Your health is wealth
   • We have to take care of our bodies or it will start having problems functioning
     • Sumanji’s example : Like a pencil, if we don’t sharpen it how will it fit its function
     • The whole point of a pencil is to be able to write with it but if it isn’t sharpened how will we do that

We need to balance our wants and our needs. When we balance our wants and needs, we prioritize what is good for us in the future. So we can be the best version of ourselves!

Story

One evening, a young man asked a Swami “How do I obtain knowledge?” “Follow me,” the Swami replied. The young man followed the Swami to the ocean. The big blue ocean. The Swami went in and the man followed him. The water went up to his ankles, then his knees, up to his stomach and to his shoulders. 

The Swami swiftly turned around and pushed down on the man’s shoulders. The man’s head went below the surface. The man panicked. He struggled and struggled to get air. As hard as he could! With all his might! Finally the Swami pulled the man up. The young man caught his breath, then yelled at Swami “Are you crazy? Are you trying to kill me?” “What is wrong with you?” he hollered. 

The Swami replied “If you want to obtain knowledge as much as you wanted air, then and then only will you receive that knowledge”. The Swami left the young man pondering, on what the Swami had said as the Swami left the water. 

Lesson

2 things we learned

1. Having a clear goal is important
   • Sumanji’s example : The young man was only thinking about getting clear air
     • He wasn’t thinking about drinking some lemonade before he got air
     • He was just thinking about getting air
   • We practiced this by standing on one leg and closing our eyes which represented not having a clear goal
     • Then we stood on one leg and focused our eyes to look at one spot on the wall which represented having a clear goal
   • A goal helps us be focused
     • Without it we would be distracted, all over the place
2. You have to put in effort to achieve your goal
   • Sumanji’s example : If you have a goal to win the gold medal in the Olympics you have to put in a lot of effort
     • If you didn’t train then it is impossible to win the gold medal
     • If you don’t put in all that hard work you will not achieve your goal

RAW

Every day, set 3 goals using the following prompts . . . . . . . . 

By lunchtime I will . . . . . . .

By dinnertime I will . . . . . . 

By breakfast I will . . . . . . .