Notes by Vastavi Choudhari

Review of last week:

Om Aniketaya Namah: the one who has no home, which means try to be comfortable anywhere you go and stop trying to be so possessive over things, try thinking that you are just borrowing the things and they are not yours.

Last Week’s RAW: Last week’s RAW was to sleep in different places in your house each day for the whole week.

This Week:

Anushasana priyaya Namah: this means that I admire the one who likes to be disciplined or the one who does his responsibilities cheerfully.

What is discipline?

It is our ability to overcome things we have to do but we don’t like doing, and one word to describe is responsibilities which mean all the things we have to do.

How do I do the things that I don’t like happily?

To do the things you don’t like happily you can do it through gratitude, for example, if you have to wash the dishes you do it through gratitude for the people who made that food for you.

Story:

The story is about when Shankarji was studying at the ashram in Trinidad, one day his teacher/guru told him that from now on it was his job to take care of the ashram cow Gowri. The first thing Shankarji thought was I have never taken care of a cow or even touched it so then why do I have to do this job but he said yes, so what Shankarji had to was early in the morning wake-up and take the cow out to the field to grace before class and after class. Shankarji did not like it at all; he was always dirty and bitten. So then one day when Shankarji was taking Gowri out he put the rope down and his foot accidentally went into the middle and then Gowri started running so as she ran he was behind her being pulled on his back and he got hurt and that was the last straw for him. Then Shankarji had decided that he had enough and that he was going to tell his teacher that he is not going to take care of Gowri anymore. After that when Shankarji got into his teacher he was telling them about how Lord Krishna would steal butter from the villagers and he would get scolded. Then the teacher asked all the students questions. He asked Who did the milk belong to that Krishna stole, and all of them said it belonged to the villagers. No said the teacher the milk belonged to the cow and it was made for the calf to drink but instead, we use it. When Shankarji heard that a switch in his head turned and for then on whenever he took care of Gowri he did it through gratitude not just because he had to do it, and after that, he loved taking care of Gowri. What we learn from this story is whenever you are doing chores of responsibilities that you don’t like instead of criticizing it you should do it through gratitude and love for everyone and everything you take from and for the people you made given up there time to make that possible for you.

Questions and Answers:

Is it true that life source is something that no one tells you but you already know is there?

So Shankarji said if we have a glass and what is in this glass and we say atoms and atoms are made out of energy and what is energy made out of we don’t know but something that is as subtle as energy is existence and the fact that something exists it shows us that it is there and we can see it.

RAW: This week’s Raw is to clean up after you have your lunch or dinner.

==============================

Notes by Vishva Sachania

This week’s virtue — Today we discussed Anushasanapriya. This means doing responsibilities happily.

Story Time!

During class Shankarji shared a story from his time at the Vedanta Course in the Trinidad ashram. As part of his responsibilities he was assigned to take care of a cow at the Ashram. But taking care of it wasn’t as easy as you would think it would be and after a while he became tired and irritated of doing this. After a particularly difficult incident, he decided to tell his teacher that he could not take care of the cow anymore. During his class that day he was reflecting on the thought of how much we may not like cows, but what if they have the same feelings? His teacher, on that particular day, was talking about how Lord Krishna would steal butter from the villagers and he would get in trouble. He asked all the students who did they think the milk belong to that Krishna stole, and all of them said it belonged to the villagers. The teacher pointed out that the milk belonged to the cow and the calves and humans just take it away from them. This filled Shankarji’s heart with gratitude and he decided from then on to took care of the cow with great attitude. In the end, Shankarji respected the cow and had a great relationship with her!

Story Lesson

We learned from this story to be grateful for everything and remember the other aspects that cause issues.

Practice

Our practice was to get a piece of bread and dip it in a glass of water and taste it cheerfully. The reason behind this practice was to be grateful for things and not to complain, and express gratitude more often and be appreciative.

R.A.W.

Our R.A.W. this week is to do the ‘Dish Duty’ after every meal and care for the people who make our meals everyday, by expressing Anushasanapriya.