May 1, 2024

Notes By Saamya Deo

Review

An older lumberjack and a younger lumberjack decide to have a contest. The younger lumberjack thinks that he is going to win because the older lumberjack was taking many breaks. In the end, the older lumberjack’s pile was humongous! The younger lumberjack was so confused! How could this be? The older lumberjack explained that he was actually sharpening his ax and taking breaks to rest.

We learned to . . . . . . 

• Work smarter not harder (The lumberjack was sharpening his ax)
• Have continuous self care (If you aren’t happy, you can’t help others)
• Have continuous self development (It can teach us how to be even happier!

This week’s story:

A woman prayed to God everyday. Her greatest desire was to meet God. One day, God came into her dreams and said that He will come to her house tomorrow. She was overjoyed! She cleaned the house and cooked delicious food waiting for His arrival. The door knocked and when she opened it she saw a salesman. Thinking that the salesman was trying to sell her something she sharply told him that she couldn’t be disturbed right now because she had an important guest visiting. She waited for a little bit and the neighbor’s daughter came over wanting to play! The woman also told her to leave. The woman waited and waited but God never came! Finally, she fell asleep and God came in her dreams. She angrily asked why He never showed up! He explained that He came in the form of a salesman and as the neighbor’s daughter! He is present in everyone and everything. 

Lesson

We learned that when we expect someone to look a certain way or act a certain way, we aren’t going to expect them to be something different. Just like what happened with the woman and God. 

The woman’s greatest desire was to meet God. Just like how happiness or God is what we are looking for all the time! We despise pain. For example, if someone gave you $100 every time you came, you would keep coming back right? But if they flicked your cheek, you wouldn’t come back. 

So, Sumanji asked us to think of happiness or divinity like a rainbow. All the colors are actually made of white light, but when it rains the colors separate and that is what we see!

The Earth is an example of divinity because she is always giving. She never stops or compares. That’s why we should give more than we take, to balance the ones that never stop giving. 

First Friend Dwija’s Activity: 

Look at this piece of paper? Can you see god? Isn’t he right there?

No, right? But if you put effort into seeing everything as divinity, then it can happen. For example, if 1 student studied everyday and the other student played video games every day but then prayed to god to help them, which one is going to succeed? The one that puts effort is going to succeed because what you do and how you act is really your prayer. Meaning that effort = a form of prayer. 

Usha maushi also came and talked about gratitude or giving. She explained that the best way to show gratitude is to . . . . 

• Take time out to think about what has been given to you
• Remember what has been given to you
• Thank those that keep giving (People, experiences, etc)

For our Gurus, this can mean Gurudakshia which is a responsibility of ours. To give back to those that help us in so many ways!

RAW:

Write God or Divinity or Happiness down on a piece of paper and keep it in your pocket

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Notes by Sita Somnath Buono

RECAP:

We reviewed the lumberjack story where they had a contest to chop down trees. We learned that we need continuous self care and continuous self development. The old RAW was to go outside and carefully observe one thing in nature.

STORY:

There was a woman who prayed a lot and wanted to meet God. One night, God came to her in a dream and said he would visit her. She was excited and cleaned her home and made devious food to welcome him. She heard a knock at the door and thought it might be God. But it was a salesman on the other side. Before he could speak, she shouted at him to stay away as she was expecting an important guest. She waited a while and then there was another knock on the door. It turned out to be the neighbour’s daughter with toys in her hand wanting to play. Again she yelled at her to stay away and not come back today. She went inside and waited for a long time but there was no sight of God. When she went to bed, she had another dream with God. She asked God why he had not come and he replied that he had come in the form of th salesperson and the kid but she had not allowed him to speak at all. The woman thanked God for helping her realize that God is in everyone and everything.

MESSAGE:

God is in everyone and is also the same thing as happiness. The quest for God and Happiness are the same thing. For example, a rainbow is just white light split into different colors as water acts as a prism. Divinity is like a white light and the prism is you seeing that God is in everyone makes you see the rainbow. Divinity asks nothing of you. It’s not like you get a bill from the sun asking you to pay for its sunshine. 

DYNAMICS:

We saw a blank piece of paper and were asked to see God in it. We couldn’t see anything but if she had written God on it, we could have seen it. So seeing divinity requires effort. The example was about a kid studying for an exam for a week vs a kid who played video games and then prayed to God asking to do well on the exam. Even though the first kid didn’t pray he would do well as he had made the effort. Effort is the expression of prayer.

RAW:

Write God on a piece of paper and keep it with you during the week.