March 25, 2020

Notes by Arjun Mahes

Last Week Plus Point

• To be a good friend you have to be a role model and make your friends better at what they are doing, musical instruments, etc.

Lesson — Having Daya

Story: Swami Chinmayananda was a faithful student of Swami Tapovan Maharaj. One day Tapovan wanted to test Chinmayananda if he was using the virtues he was learning. So Tapovanam told Swami Chinmayananda to wash and dry his kurta. Chinmayananda did so and left the kurta on a tree to dry. After some time Swami Tapovan inspected the kurta and saw a hole in it. He then went to Swami Chinmayananda and chided him on why his kurta was ripped. Chinmayananda was shocked because he knew he didn’t rip the kurta. So he felt that he didn’t deserve to stay in the ashram. Swami Tapovan then understood that Chinmayananda was using what he was learning

Moral: Always respond. Don’t react

When you understand yourself and others there will not be conflicts and worry. A way to do this is to –

• Watch carefully (especially their body language — whatever is inside will come outside)
• Listen carefully

Ex. Your parents never tell you that they had a bad day. You just know by watching them.

Tao of Pooh: The secret to the sixth sense

• Sit like a turtle
• Walk carefully like a pigeon
• Wake up cheerfully like a dog

Doing this will help you have a quiet body > quiet mind

Practice: We tried to solve riddles to see who is more understanding

• The more there is of this the less you see. — Darkness
• Starts with ‘T’ ends with ‘T’ and has ‘T’ in it. — Teapot
• I am an odd number, if you take away a letter I’m even. — seven
• What travels faster heat or cold? — cold
• How far can a dog run into the woods — halfway
• What word contains 6 letters, when you take away 12 remain — dozens
• It’s the center of gravity, you can find it on Venus, but you can’t find it on mars — V

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Notes by Ira Mehta

REVIEW: How do you know if you’re a good friend? If you help your friends to be better.

VALUE: Daya which means to be understanding

* A way to understand others is to listen carefully and watch carefully

* Did your parents have a good day? You know the answer to that from watching them, you didn’t actually ask them.

* A sixth sense is when you know what’s happening around you more than others.

* You can have a sixth sense if you sit like a turtle, walk like a pigeon, and sleep like a dog. Turtles sit calmly, pigeons walk carefully, and dogs wake up cheerfully.

PRACTICE: Riddles

I wrote a few down-

* The more there is of this, the less you see.

Answer: Fog or darkness

* I am an odd number and if you take away a letter, I become even.

Answer: Seven

* What travels faster: heat or cold?

Answer: Cold because your nose runs

* What word has 6 letters and if you remove 1, 12 remain

Answer: Dozens

Questions

* How do we deal with unhappiness around us such as the Corona virus?

Be a part of the solution, not problem, by being happy. Look after your own health and well-being. Try to donate money to help hospitals.

* How do we know which religion is true?

Once you’ve studied your own religion deeply, you know your insight is true and that people from other religions’ insights are true. Simply accept.

RAW: At 9AM, 12PM, and 6PM, write our Shanti 20 times.

Next week is a combined class at 7:30