December 15, 2021
Notes by Om Shreejay
Review/ Virtue of the week: Śama (Quietude of mind)
Last week we learned the virtue of Śama which is quietude of mind, which is to have control over our thoughts. We can direct where we want our thoughts to go. The opposite of a quiet mind is a distracted mind. Every time we have to make a choice, there are two paths –
- The path of the good – when we decide to do what is best for us in the long term, even when it is hard in the short term e.g., being honest and telling the truth is taking the path of the good, even if it means accepting negative results in the short term because of being truthful. Another example is eating healthy, which helps us most in the long term
- The path of the pleasant – we choose to do something that feels good right now, but it does not help us grow in the long term e.g., lying – helps us avoid negative consequences now, but does not benefit us in the long term.
When we have Śama or a quiet mind, our mind chooses the path of the good over the path of the pleasant. Śama gives us the strength to choose the hard path over the easy path. This is why śama is so important.
One way to practice śama is to be more responsible and have a better relationship with our devices (TV, tablet, phone etc.). When our devices pull us in a certain direction, our minds are distracted. We can avoid distractions by setting limits on our use of devices.
This week, we studied a different way to improve our quietude of mind – through Cleanliness. There is a strong relationship between quietude of mind and cleanliness. Shankar ji shared how in trying to eat healthier, he noticed that any time his kitchen was messy, he had no motivation to cook. When the kitchen was clean, he felt like cooking. Similarly, when Shankar ji was in school, he could not study without having a bath in the morning. One way to stay motivated to study is to keep our body and the space around us clean and organized.
Practice and Significance
We did an activity to investigate the relationship between cleanliness and quietude of mind – does being clean help us have a quieter mind?
Shankar ji asked us to put something sticky on our non-dominant hand. Then he gave us a test – he asked us to close our eyes, he then read out ten numbers and asked us to try and remember all ten numbers and type them in the chat.
We then repeated the same exercise after cleaning our hands.
More than half the class got more numbers correct with clean hands than with sticky hands! This shows that by keeping our bodies and spaces clean, we can keep our minds clean and are more able to keep our thoughts focused in the present. We are much more ready to choose the path of the good.
To practice quietude of mind, practice keeping your space clean and organized. Make your bed, keep your room clean. This will help us make better choices, even though they may be hard to do now.
RAW (Reflection Adventure of the Week)
Keep your room as clean as possible. Make your bed, put your clothes and books where they should be. See if this makes your mind more quiet this week.
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Notes by Reva Sagi
Review on Quietude of Mind
Quietude of mind means to focus on 1 thing at a time, so our mind can choose the good path. Every decision has 2 paths, a good path: that is true or telling the truth and an easy path, that feels good but doesn’t benefit us.
We talked about the relationship between cleanliness and Quietude of Mind? When we clean our room, have a clean work space and clean our body, we can learn better.
Practice to demonstrate:
Step 1: Put anything sticky on your non dominant hand. Once your hands are sticky
Step 2: ask your parent to tell you 10 numbers while your eyes are closed.
Step 3: repeat the numbers back and see how many you get right
Step 4: clean your hands and repeat Step 2&3.Did you get more or less correct with clean hands?
When you have a clean space around you, your mind is quieter and you can focus
RAW: Keep your room clean for the week and see the difference it makes.