April 4, 2024 Class Notes by Isha Darbari

Introduction

• In a report on what COVID has done to those going to school, a much higher % of students feel school is not mandatory anymore – many students studied from home, etc; so the notion of going to school became optional
  • Students have become more behind in math, reading, etc
  • In response: schools have begun to send postcards to home if students miss class, invest in tutors, etc
• For us: has virtual learning made you feel that self-development classes are optional? Or do you feel that they are mandatory?
  • They are mandatory – we’re trying to invoke this in all by having such satsangas 
  • In this class: there’s a focus on accountability (emails that class is starting earlier, auxiliary gatherings, etc)  
  • When one feels self-development is mandatory, the only direction they’ll go is up: up towards Sanatana Dharma or Infinite Nature 

Discourse

Review of 81- 90 

• 81: Petitioning for a favor is poison
  • Reminder: begging
    • When I ask for something from someone who is also asking for something from someone – that really is a chain of begging 
    • I’m incomplete; asking for completion from someone who is incomplete, I will feel insecure
• 82: Whenever the priest/ teacher is available
  • Reminder: efficient
    • Whenever someone you love/ revere/ respect is accessible, then access them – that is the right space and time
• 83: Performing one’s one duty is penance
  • Reminder: purity
    • Work and live for purity
    • By doing so, one will be steady, sincere, etc
    • Versus if one works or lives for a result: that sincerity and steadiness will be corrupted
• 84: Restraining the mind is true restraint
  • Reminder: chant
    • We cannot control the mind, we can only restrain the mind
    • Chanting = training for the mind to be more introvert
• 85: The highest form of patience is to accept all dualities
  • Reminder: acceptance
    • The way we accept ourselves: try to feel the same with others
• 86: Modesty is that which makes us refrain from immoral acts
  • Reminder: morality
    • The refraining factor between comfort and discomfort 
    • Ex: curse words – can be jarring, surprising when used by someone from whom it’s unexpected
    • To be someone who is more rigorous: be uncomfortable with immorality
• 87: Knowledge is awareness of the supreme Truth
  • Reminder: knower
    • There is the known, knowing, and knower 
    • Our journey should be from the outside in: from the body to the Spirit
• 88: True tranquility is quietude of the mind
  • Reminder: clean
    • When our cit (memory) is clean, the propensity for our manah (mind) to be cool is higher
    • Reflection: how do you have a clean memory? When your experiences are meaningful, your memory becomes like that
      • If your experiences are distracted, incomplete – one’s memories become like that
• 89: Compassion is the desire for everyone’s happiness
  • Reminder: systemize
    • Create a system where you’re evoking happiness in others—a system allows it to be scalable 
    • Ex: online classes vs in person 
• 90: Having a steady mind is straight-forwardness
  • Reminder: dependable
    • Those who are self-dependent (ie independent) are dependable 
    • Those who are dependent – it’s hard to depend on them 

New Questions

• As we progress, will notice some of the questions repeat
  • The same sentiment is asked and answered in different ways because multiple perspectives are needed for different people
  • Yaksha = a representation of Dharmarajaka/ Yama Raja
    • His questions are a legacy offering – here we are reviewing it in 2024!

• Question 91. What enemy cannot be won over?
  Answer: Krodha (anger) is a very invincible enemy
  • Absolute
    • When we succumb in anger – we want to harm another, but really we are harming ourselves
      • Whose heart rate increases? Who remains thinking about the other person?
      • Example: drinking poison, hoping the effect will come to you 
    • If we reflect that we are doing a disservice to ourselves by being angry, we will be less angry then
  • Relative
    • The proactive strategy of avoiding rather than the reactive strategy of tending to anger will save us a lot of time and effort
      • Avoid feeling that it’s okay to be angry
      • Be careful when having angry thoughts, words, actions to those who are great – your anger is because you don’t understand them; if you understood them, you wouldn’t be angry at them
        • Like a child who gets angry when parent tells them to go to sleep 
        • We should be careful because our anger can inhibit those who are great
      • Ex: Raja Parikshita was cursed to die in 1 week because of 1 person’s anger  
  • Tactile: seeker to engage in reflection and personalization

• Question 92. What disease cannot be cured?
  Answer: Lobha (greed)
  • Absolute
    • A greedy person is one who feels the relative is absolute 
    • They feel the world is real, so they want more and more of this
    • Versus Gita Ch 18: The relative is relative, so renounce it!
  • Relative
    • Greed is a gross vice— more for articles
    • Jealousy is a subtle vice – more for beings (I want to be the foremost being, etc)
      • The way to let go of jealousy is to first let go of greed
      • And the way to do that is to be more generous
  • Tactile: seeker to engage in reflection and personalization

• Question 93. What is a way to recognize one who is  a sadhu (noble)?
  Answer: A sadhu (one who is noble) is one who is working for welfare for all beings: humans, animals, plants, stones
  • Absolute
    • One who is practicing advaita: they are practicing that whatever they feel in their heart exists in the center of the heart of all beings
      • And that’s why they give less concern to nama (names), rupa (forms), guna (qualities) 
      • They are tuned into the dhama (heart / center) of an entity
    • Leela (“the play”)
      • We are all in a play – there are actors, actresses, different combinations 
      • So we’re all on the same team, we all have the same employer
      • A sadhu has this vision, so they want everyone to feel the way they feel!
  • Relative
    • A sadhu is one who is inclusive in terms of:
      • Space, ie they are large-hearted
        • You absorb more, specifically negativity
        • When negativity is projected onto you, you absorb without reacting to it
      • Time, ie they are long-term thinkers and planners
        • You are patient 
        • Ex: someone in urban development – not planning for 1 year, they are planning 50 years ahead
  • Tactile: seeker to engage in reflection and personalization

• Question 94. What are signs that one is asadhu (ignoble)?
  Answer: They are adhyaya (lack compassion); they are mean
  • Absolute
    • Once creation came to Bhagavan Brahma and asked how can we be better? He shared the letter “dha”
      • The suras – those who live in heavens: they interpreted dha as dhama – calmness of body
        • In heaven: senses are super senses, and the sense objects are super sense objects; so all the beings do is engage their sense organs in sense objects 
        • They have no control over their body – so they interpreted dha as  dhama
      • The humans – those living on Earth; they interpreted dha as dana
        • Humans try to find security outwardly – always collecting, hoarding
        • So they interpreted this as dana – they should train themselves to let go so that they can find inner security 
      • The rakashas – those who live in hell: they interpreted dha as dhaya (compassion)
        • Rakshaka = one you need raksha (protection) from 
        • They replied dhaya – so they’re not harming others   
    • Gita Ch 3: The way to protect another is to make them independent
      • Those who do are not helping others to become more independent = ignoble (ex: those who promote IQ over SQ or EQ)
  • Relative
    • One who is ignoble is dismissive – they think the world revolves around them, so they dismiss others
    • To ensure we are noble: be active with others – active listener, active feeler; hold their hand, be there so they don’t feel dismissed 
  • Tactile: seeker to engage in reflection and personalization

• Question 95. What is moha (confusion, delusion)?
  Answer: When one is confused on dharma (their responsibilities, purpose)
  • Absolute
    • Our original map is the Vedas; has 2 core subjects
      • Dharma — responsibilities
      • Brahma – realization  
    • If you are confused in your responsibilities, you will never make it to the second more advanced subject of realization
  • Relative
    • If you don’t know who you are, you won’t know what to do
      • So invest in getting to know who you are
      • We invest so much in trying to figure out what to do – but the smarter investment is to figure out what you are 
    • Movie: The Peaceful Warrior
      • Dan (the seeker) is face to face with himself (his ego) 
      • His ego screams “Do you know who you are?” and he shouts, “I don’t” and let’s go of the ego– he may not yet know he is Divinity, but he knows he is not the ego
  • Tactile: seeker to engage in reflection and personalization

• Question 96. What can be clearly seen as maanah (pride)?
  Answer: Thinking more of oneself than one actually is – an exaggerated sense of self worth
  • Absolute
    • Yaja Ratati was in heaven 
    • Indra = chief of heaven asks, how are you leading heaven? He replies “because no one has engaged in tapa like me” as if saying “no one is as humble as me”
      • As soon as he said that, all the reasons he was in heaven started to crumble and he starts falling 
      • He prays and says “I now understand how egotistical I am; please let me fall into the company of sadhus, those who are living for others”
    • A sadhu is someone who lives for others; they don’t have to live, they are already fulfilled – they are only living for others; reflect on that degree of humility
  • Relative
    • Please share in the chat: one facet of your life you’re proud of, not in a healthy way
      • When you feel prideful – remind yourself that it’s still finite; it’s still being proud of what is happening in a dream 
  • Tactile: seeker to engage in reflection and personalization

Discussion:

From last week: 

• How do we grow out of rewarding ourselves for rightness?
  • The reward should be a responsibility, but of a lower intensity 
  • Ex: when sick – exercising at a lighter intensity; but that way still maintain the habit/ don’t stop completely 
• Envision a system your group can facilitate to encourage large groups of people to be happier
  • Create a context where there is no comparing – if you can, you’re encouraging people to be happier

This week: 

• If the world were unreal, how would your life change?
  • Theoretically you already know the world is not real 
  • Would you be more accepting – when you are in a dream, do you judge it? You just experience it
    • Ie stane – all is as all is

Dialogue: 

• Question 1: Earlier in class Vivekji shared, “when our experiences are meaningful, our memory becomes clean.” What can we do about past memories?
  • Proactively: try to immerse oneself in contexts where one will be more clean
  • If you can’t be in a context which is meaningful: whatever context you’re in, focus on that – when you focus on an experience, it becomes complete
    • When you’re distracted, it becomes fragmented then 
    • People who are focused – everything they do is complete, they sleep more soundly
  • Re: What about past memories?
    • You are supposed to have gone through that – if you weren’t supposed to have, you wouldn’t have
    • Relative: learn from the past – this is a form of closure; that learning helps to take out the negativity from that memory so it becomes clean
      • Like taking small stones out of daal  
• Question 3: Are these questions being repeated as reminders?
  • If you take the Bhagavad Gita – there’s much more “repetition”: it is to remind us, BUT also Divinity is in the details
    • With each question and answer, imagine there is a 0.1% refinement – that detail will lead you to Divinity  
    • Math: 1+1 is always = 2; but with managing anger, a lot of refinement is needed – ex: much different to handle anger with daughter vs son 

RAW

RAW last week: What is your value triangle?  If you value these values, you will follow them; if you find you’re not following them, that means you don’t actually value them 

• Ex: if I lost my class notes book – would spend 10 hours trying to find it, versus a pen – only 10 minutes
• Vivekji’s answer:
  • commitment (at an intellect level – whatever I say yes to/ decide to do – no annotating, blaming, complaining); 
  • discipline (at a mind level – if I’m committed, no changes to be made); 
  • healthy (at a body level – that way I can be committed for a long time) 

RAW this week: Act on this discussion subject: If the world were unreal, how would your life change?