February 8, 2024 | Class Notes by Ameya Madduri 

Introduction

Through a personal experience of donating plasma, Vivekji realized that “when the body starts to feel pain, it shuts down”. (segue to Pareeksha…!) 

Pariksha (Test)

10 Questions based on Questions 1-31 in Yaksha Prashna:

1: What was the focus of our first Thursday evening course? 

• Fear– Face It. 

2: What is the training for our tenth Thursday evening course? 

• We are training in being more reflective. There are three gauges of the evolution of our mind– balance, focus, and reflection. 

3: What does Yudhishtira mean? 

• Balanced in conflict. The key point is “balance that is being tested”. 

4: What makes the sun rise?

• Map. We have access to maps (Yaksha Prashna, Vishnu Sahasranam, Bhagavad Gita, etc) that bring light into our lives. We know what to see and where to go. 

5: How does one attain greatness? 

• Tapasa/tapah– austerity or burning one’s comfort zones. 

6: What is the greatest Dana? 

• Abhaya dana– fearlessness. To offer the charity of fearlessness or courage is the greatest charity. However you can only give what you have so you must first cultivate fearlessness. 

7: Mind your mind and….? (4 words)

• Mind your own business. If you mind your own mind, you will radiate quietude to the world around you. Those who mind others’ business are deflecting. Those who mind their own minds are reflecting. 

8: What do the four legs of a cow symbolize? 

• Tapah, sauca, daya, satya. Tapah– to burn one’s comfort zone. Sauca– to be organized. Daya– to not be self-centered. Satya– to have an ideal/live by an ideal. 

9: What is more numerous than grass?

• Worries. 

10: What is the most obvious change you have felt on account of this course? 

• Seekers encouraged to reflect on their own journey and how they have changed. 
• Vivekji’s reflection: has begun to understand and appreciate perspective more. 

Discourse

When we think of relationships in life, almost all of them have started because of beauty. What starts with beauty matures based on adaptability. The best relationships are based on adaptation. When we think about the collective, we think about GDP (gross domestic product). When a  country matures, the measure of growth is (or should be) GDH (gross domestic happiness).

Our course is a course based in maturity. 

• Maturing from beauty → adaptability 
• Product → happiness
• Maturity is cultivated by responsibility and reflection

Review: 

Q57: Contentment is the best kind of happiness. In Sanskrit, the word for enough is alam and word for fire is analam. When one does not know what enough is, they are always on fire. Fires burn everything that comes near it as it does not know what enough is. A way we can start to feel contentment is to know what enough is (friends, vacations, etc). In our lives, we think “doing what we want is freedom” but it is the opposite. True freedom is knowing what not to do and  knowing how much to do. 

Q58: The highest virtue in this world is empathy. 

Framework:

• Apathy (hatred)- “I know that you have a problem but I don’t care”
• Sympathy (fear)- I know you have a problem but I’m still going to look after my own problem. The sentiment is verbal but not actionable
• Empathy (love)- I know you have a problem and your problem is as significant as my problem. The way I love myself and tend to my problems is how I will tend to your problems too. 
• Often we feel that we are empathetic but we are actually showing sympathy.

Q59: The three Vedas always bear fruit

• Vedas = precedent 
• The Vedas set the precedent for those who have found peace and is documentation for us to follow to also find peace. If you follow the wise, you will see change in your life towards peace. 

Q60: One should control the mind to avoid grief. 

• The mind cannot be controlled, but it can be directed. 
• Vivekji’s personal practice: Try to sense the mood of the mind and find a plan/action relating to the mood. For example, Vivekji was feeling tamasic last Tuesday night. But he understood the mood of his mind and therefore tried to engage in more physical work. He did things to prevent his mind from saying “you need to sleep right now”. When you understand the mood of the mind, it becomes more of an object. When you objectify the mind, it becomes an equipment and therefore can direct the mind rightly.  

Q61: Association with good people never goes in vain. 

• How do you define someone who is good? 

• Pujya Swami Tejomayananda wrote a book and shared talks on “why do bad things happen to good people?” 
• → Insight 1: Are you a good person? Reflect on if you are truly a good person. 
• Qualities of a good person: They give themselves to you (not just one facet) in many ways including time, resources, and effort. 
• → You will know you are with a good person if you find more clarity in life when you are with them. (If you are more clear in your day and purpose)

Q62: By giving up pride, one becomes dear to all. 

• In a  practical way, how do we reduce pride? (lifestyle change or practice?)
• → Ask people how they are and follow through with helping them. When you ask them how they are, then really mean it. 

New content: 

• What are the three gates of hell?
• → Desire, anger, greed

Q63: What, if given up, one will not feel sorrow? 

Answer: One will not feel sorrow of they give up krodha (anger) 

• To give up anger, do not helicopter around what makes you angry. 
• Suppose you meet someone for coffee and they come late. If you keep helicoptering around the fact that they came late, the coffee will taste bad and everything that happens will be negative. Instead if you don’t helicopter (and you accept the fact that they came late and you let it go), the coffee will taste better and the communication will be clearer. 

Q64: What can you give up to become richer? 

Answer: Giving up desires can help one become wealthy

• Wealth provides opportunity… 

Q65: What, if given up, helps you be happy? 

Answer: By giving up greed, one becomes happy. 

• → Line from a Pearl Jam Song: It is a mystery to me we have a greed with which we have agreed. We have agreed to be greedy. 

→ This is how society works. 

• If you give up greed, you get so much more. 

Discussion Subject

What can you do to stop brooding? 

• Vivekji’s Reflection: If you are brooding, you are not moving forward. Additionally, whatever you are brooding over is not worth losing the quietude that is being taken from you. It is not worth it to get worked up over nothing. 

Dialogue

• What makes one grow from wanting peace to needing peace? What is the distinction between want versus need?
  • Wanting is optional, needing is not optional. When someone wants peace, they are getting enough from the world so they do not turn inwards. When someone understands and appreciates that the world is not the source of Joy, they turn inwards. This results in them needing peace. 
  • When you are around people who live satisfied with the world, you feel that it is possible. When you are around those who are unsatisfied in the world, you become like them. It is hard to be around those who are great as they are showing you what your potential is. Through their life, they are showing you that you can go beyond the greatest to God. What are you doing?!

RAW

• Prepare for part 2 of the Pariksha (covering questions 32-62)