January 29, 2020

Notes by Dhruva Shreejay

Review

We started class with a review of the story of Dhruva and the value of Vrata— being determined.

Story

Vivekji told us a story about Vali, the leader of the monkeys. All the monkeys kept challenging Vali and life was very tough as a leader. One day, Vali met a great prince named Sri Rama. Sri Rama said that he could help Vali make him the final absolute leader of the monkeys. Vali was skeptical and didn’t believe what Sri Rama had said so he asked him to prove that he could help him. So, to prove it, Sri Rama took one arrow from his quiver and aimed his bow and shot the arrow at five trees. The arrow went through the five thick trees then it came right back into his quiver. Vali was amazed and believed that Sri Rama could indeed help him. Sri Rama told Vali that he was a person of ‘eka’ (one) — “When I shoot, I shoot one arrow (eka bana). When I speak, I only speak once (eka vachana).”

Message of Story and Value for this week

This story leads us to the value of this week which is Dama — to be controlled. The story shows us how Sri Rama was so controlled when he was able to shoot the arrow — he had full control over his eyes, hands, bow and arrow. He controlled his mind and body. In martial arts, some people can break a piece of wood with their bare hands, by being controlled.

Vivekji taught us the difference between reacting and responding. Whenever there is a difference between who we are and who we want to be and we make mistakes, do you keep your cool or lose your cool. Reacting is when you lose your cool. Responding is when you keep your cool.

In the book “The Little Prince”, the little prince’s rose kept complaining that she wasn’t getting cared for enough. The little prince felt bad and ran away from the flower and from his planet. He reflected later and realized that the flower was spreading fragrance in his planet and that he should have responded to the flower and not reacted. He should have exercised dama — control.

Practice

For our practice, Vivekji asked us what our greatest weakness is and if it causes more or less happiness. We had to put our strong hand behind your back and brush your teeth and get ready for bed using your weak hand for 5 minutes. This practice taught us the value of control (dama)-

1. If we get frustrated and lose our cool when we use our weak hand, then we are reacting and not practicing dama. This leads us to being less happy.

2. If we know that we are going to be in a challenging situation and go ahead and accept the challenge without losing our cool, then we are responding and practicing dama. This leads us to being more happy.

Lessons from Questions

1. How do you get happiness out of things you don’t like? Change your mind or perspective to shift from dislikes to likes. Try to find something about the thing that you don’t like that is good e.g. if you don’t like spiders, think about the good things about a spider — they are hard working and lead to less mosquitoes/ flies around!

2. Why is it not okay to be excited in the present? Vivekji taught us the 3 thieves in the mind –

a. Regrets of the past

b. Anxiety about the future

c. Excitement in the present — because we start to depend on or attach to what is causing the excitement

Lesson from RAW (from previous week)

Our RAW was to do 20 push ups and 50 sit ups a day. This is practicing vratta (being determined) and helps us to be healthy.

RAW (for upcoming week)

Whenever you feel frustrated, sit down, close your eyes and breathe in and out until you are no longer frustrated. This is practicing dama (control) so you can respond and not react.

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Notes by Sahana Iyengar

Once, there was a monkey king named Sugriva. Sugriva really needed help with his brother Vali who usurped his kingdom. So he called Rama who was in exile, at the time. Rama, said that he could help Sugriva, but Sugriva doubted Rama’s power. He needed proof so Rama took one arrow out of his quiver and he shot the arrow through six trees and came out of the end of the last tree. Rama was so controlled that he could shoot the arrow right through the trees. So our value this week was Dhama which means being controlled.

Have you ever made a mistake. You are probably thinking, what sort of question is that? Yes everyone has. But you can make fewer mistakes by controlling your mind. And are you what you want to be? Are you sure that you are a baseball nerd? Well, if you are not someone you want to be, then go ahead and change your current image!

For our practice, we had to put our dominant hand behind our back and brush your teeth and do all the stuff you do before bed. Think about it. How does the practice relate to the story?

And finally, for our RAW, we have to breathe and smile whenever we are frustrated. Have a good week and practice your RAW!