March 6 2024

Notes by Sita Somnath Buono

REVIEW: Suman Uncle reminded us of Jeeva and Ishwara’s garden story where you couldn’t just be a passive good person, you had actually take action and help people to be a good person. 

We reviewed the 3 Ls:

LEAVE (a place better than when you started)

LIVE (up tot what is right)

LEARN (always)

The old RAW was to note down if you saw people doing one of the 3 Ls. 

STORY: Jeeva was a school kid and his mother only had one eye. They were poor and Jeeva really wanted to be rich. Also he was embarrassed by his mother having only one eye.  He didn’t invite his mother to Parents’ Day at school. She found out through the school newsletter and thought he had forgotten to tell her, so she decided to surprise him at school on that day with his favorite snack. He was mad that his mother came because his friends teased him about her one eye. When he grew up, he became rich like he had always wanted and lived away from his mother with his own new family. Many years later, his mother came to visit and he pretended he didn’t know her but she went away smiling.

 A few weeks later, he was invited to his old school’s reunion. He went with his family and hoped that his mother wouldn’t come. He had a fun time and on the way back, he decided to stop and see his old home out of curiosity. It was empty but he saw his mother’s diary and decided to read it. He found out that she had donated her eye to him when he had lost his in a childhood accident. He also saw that she had noted every time Jeeva had been mean to her and had written “I forgive you” for each incident. The last entry said that she was sick and that the doctor had told her that her days were numbered. She had wanted to see him as a rich man with his family before she died. The last entry said:  

“I went to see you but you shooed me away. In spite of all this, I forgive you my son.” Jeeva was very sad. 

MESSAGE: We can easily get distracted by our goals and forget what is important to us. In trying to become rich and popular, Jeeva forgot how important his mother was. We know Jeeva’s mother was important to him otherwise he wouldn’t have been so sad at the end. For example, we value our health but if we see a chocolate bar, we forget about our health and just eat the chocolate. In this way, we forget about our health in our desire for chocolate. We should balance between our goals and what is truly important. 

Another thing we should do is sacrifice for those we love. The mother loved Jeeva and 

Sacrifice is when you give without expecting anything in return. Basically letting go of lower thoughts and holding on to higher ones. For example if there is just one chocolate chip cookie left and you know your sisters loves chocolate chip cookies, you could sacrifice and give her the cookie. 

ACTIVITY: To help us understand sacrifice, First Friend Dwija asked us 2 questions. First what our favorite food or toy was and second, whom our favorite person was. Then we were asked to imagine that our favorite asked us for our favorite food or toy. We discussed the pros and cons of giving and in the end, we realized that we would have felt sad not sharing out stuff with out favorite person. This was an example of sacrifice.

RAW: Write a thank you note to anyone whom you are thankful for (can be in our outside of your family). 

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Notes by Saamya Deo

Review

Last class with Sumanji we learned about Jeeva and Isha, 2 friends that went to find their fortune in a magical garden. When they came there they saw statues that looked too real to be true. Jeeva thought that they looked really sad. He walked all the way to the back and found 2 other statues. A happy one and an angry one. The writing next to it said to tell the statues of your goodness to enter the next stage. Jeeva thought and said that he had never done anything to hurt anyone. The happy statue woke up and said that then he would be perfect here then. Jeeva slowly turned into a statue. Isha on the other hand was alarmed by the way the statues looked. She even tried to give them water.  When she came to the other statues and saw Jeeva frozen, she asked the statues to free him. The angry one woke up and did as she asked, releasing everyone as well. 

We learned to always:

1. Live up to what is right and ask those you know more than us
2. Learn
3. Leave everywhere better then where we left it

Story

Jeeva’s mom had one eye and he was so embarrassed of her even though Jeeva’s mom worked hard to support their family. One day at school it was announced that they would have a parents day. But Jeeva didn’t invite his mom. Jeeva’s mom found out anyway and came to bring him his favorite snack. Jeeva was furious! How could she do something like this to him! When they got home, he yelled and screamed at her. Jeeva’s mom was heartbroken! Tears spilled out of her eyes. When Jeeva grew older, he pretended to even know his own mother. One day when she came to visit him and his family, he drove her away, only this time there was a smile on her face. Later that month, he took his family to his hometown for a high school reunion. When he was there, he went inside the house that he had grown up in. His mom was nowhere in sight. On the table lay her diary. In it it said that when he was younger, Jeeva had lost his eye in an accident and that she had donated one of her eyes to him. As he was reading this, tears came into his eyes. He read all about how his mom had sacrificed for him so he would have a good life. 

Lesson

Jeeva compromised by forgetting about what was important to him, his values. Instead, he let what he wanted get in the way. He was so focused on his hopes and dreams that he forgot about his mother.

Jeeva’s mom sacrificed everything for her son. She kept what she valued and what was important to her a priority. She lived up to what she believed in. 

First Friend Dwija’s activity:

What is your favorite thing?

Who is your favorite person?

Would you give your favorite thing to your favorite person? Why or why not? 

Even if that person breaks it, that’s okay because they are your favorite person and they matter more. 

RAW

Write a note to each of your family members and tell them about everything they do for you.