May

May 1

End-of-Year Presentation:

• VIRTUAL - during class time - on May 8th

• Ask parents to join, either with you, or separate device

Tips on Doing a Good Presentation:

• Know Your Audience

  • Think about their skill level

  • Present as if you’re teaching the topic for the first time

  • Have some formality

• Get Comfortable with your Environment

  • Limit your distractions

  • Sit comfortably, but not TOO comfortable

  • Be alert

• Focus on speaking skills

  • LOUD - but don’t scream/yell

  • Test sentence - ask can you hear me clearly

  • Use GOOD audio device

  • Take your time - take pauses between thoughts

  • ENUNCIATE - pronunciation, emphasize, open your mouth

  • NO MUMBLING

  • LCS - Loud, Clear, Slow

  • OK to use hand to emphasize, but not too much

• Learn from the Pros

  • Watch some good TED talks or other presentations

  • Learn from how others are doing

  • Watch a presentation on a topic of your interest

• Know your Material

  • Be FLUENT in your topic

  • Be the EXPERT in your topic

  • DON’T READ OFF SENTENCES

  • Speak in your own words

  • OK to have reference points - but don’t be robotic

  • USE YOUR OWN WORDS!!!!!!

  • Don’t read off slides directly

  • Make it a conversation

• Practice

  • Practice practice practice

  • Record yourself - listen, try again

  • Build your confidence in material and skills

  • Encourage yourself

  • Practice saying your prayer!!

• MISTAKES ARE OK

  • If you mess up, pause, take a breath, start again

  • Don’t panic if you make a mistake

For presentation:

• Know who goes before you

• Try to transition the topic

• Be prepared to speak your turn in advance

• Order of presentation:

  • Pushpa Ganesh - The Six Internal Enemies

  • Samarth Kathuria - Desire, the First Enemy

  • Vibhanshu Wadhwani - Anger, the Second Enemy

  • Aniya Mehta - Greed, the Third Enemy

  • Nikitha Aligireddy - Delusion, the Fourth Enemy

  • Samhitha Putrevu - Pride, the Fifth Enemy

  • Aaryan Alegaonkar - Jealousy, the Sixth Enemy

  • Sachit Charan - Ignorance

  • Nidhi Katti - Ahimsa (Not hurting others)

  • Rajat Bhat Padubidri - Shanti (Peacefulness)

  • Arushi Bhalerao - Compassion towards all Creatures

  • Diya Shah - Truthfulness and Honesty

  • Sraddha Sudharsan - Forgiveness

  • Shalini Bajpai - Hard Work and Vigor

  • Anushka Jhavar - Habits

  • Nishka Pandey - Charity & Seva

  • Vihaan Achary - Performance of Worship & Study of Scriptures

April

April 24

Today in class we spent time preparing for our end-of-year presentation

• We discussed tips for material:

  • On the slides, don't write out paragraphs

  • Use summaries and bullet points if possible

  • When you speak, you can add more details - not everything needs to be written on slides

  • Your material should be explained in your own words

  • You can create your own template, colors, and add visual aids if you want - but not required

• We discussed tips on presenting (will discuss more next week):

  • Practice reading your material again and again

  • Become comfortable with your topic

  • Present like you are teaching this to someone who has not attended class (e.g., parents)

  • Practice ENUNCIATING (Loud, Clear, Slow)

  • Don't read off a piece of paper

HOMEWORK:

• Work on End of Year Presentation - By end-of-day or before April 30th: Finish final slides and send to Anagha: anaghamanoj03@gmail.com (send file or share Google slides)

• Here is the template for class presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1f22ftrBdGZM-q3TXa2mUhdEY3mpAnJpF/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112311778222519609976&rtpof=true&sd=true

  • When you open template, click "FILE" and either add to your Google Slides and make edits, or download as powerpoint

  • Once you have finished working on your slides, share with anaghamanoj03@gmail.com (either share Google Slides directly OR email her powerpoint - NO PDFs or IMAGES)

Schedule through end of year:

• In class May 1st: Regular class and presentation prep

• In class May 8th: Virtual presentations - parents PLEASE JOIN

• In class May 15th: Last day of class! (game day)

Here are the assignments for topics:

• Aaryan - Jealousy, the Sixth Enemy

• Aniya - Greed, the Third Enemy

• Anushka - Habits

• Arushi - Compassion towards all Creatures

• Diya - Truthfulness and Honesty

• Nidhi - Ahimsa (Not hurting others)

• Nikitha - Delusion, the Fourth Enemy

• Nishka - Charity & Seva

• Pushpa - The Six Internal Enemies

• Rajat - Shanti (Peacefulness)

• Sachit - Ignorance

• Samarth - Desire, the First Enemy

• Samhitha - Pride, the Fifth Enemy

• Shalini - Hard Work and Vigor

• Sraddha - Forgiveness

• Vibhanshu - Anger, the Second Enemy

• Vihaan - Performance of Worship & Study of Scriptures

April 17

Performance of Worship:

• Praying to God

  • So you have good values in life

  • We have received so much in our life

  • To be grateful

  • To say thank you

  • We’re learning from God - all the examples and stories and qualities

• How/when to pray

  • Panic praying - “make deals” “as for favors” “want help”

  • We shouldn’t ONLY panic pray

  • We should pray in GOOD and BAD

  • Add meaning to our prayer

  • Add love to our prayer

  • It’s ok to ask for extra help and strength through our prayers when things are difficult

• Prayer is a way for us to CONNECT with the energy of Bhagwan

• Prayer helps us become BETTER

• No matter how you pray - YOU have to work hard, and EARN what you have

  • Prayers just helps us get there

  • Add strength and courage

  • Gives us self confidence

  • Prayers enhance our qualities and values

• Prayers are to help us focus our actions and outcomes

• Method of prayer - WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOU

Study of Scriptures (Shaastras):

• Mantras come from shaastras

• Writings and teachings

• Hindu practices - what to do and what not to do

• “Sacred texts”

• A collection/compilation of all our Hindu teachings

• THey’re put together by many many many wise people and gurus

• Examples: Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, Upanishads, Vedas

• They’re kind of like a guide - give helpful information on how to lead a good life

HOMEWORK:

• Work on End of Year Presentation

• Here is the template for class presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1f22ftrBdGZM-q3TXa2mUhdEY3mpAnJpF/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112311778222519609976&rtpof=true&sd=true

• You can download slides or edit in Google Slides

• Schedule through end of year:

  • Homework for April 24th: Do research and prepare your assigned topics

  • In class April 24th: We will do breakout sessions and continue to prepare for presentation

  • By end-of-day or before April 30th: Finish final slides and send to Anagha: anaghamanoj03@gmail.com (send file or share Google slides)

  • In class May 1st: Regular class and presentation prep

  • In class May 8th: Virtual presentations - parents PLEASE JOIN

  • In class May 15th: Last day of class!

Here are the assignments for topics:

• Aaryan - Jealousy, the Sixth Enemy

• Aniya - Greed, the Third Enemy

• Anushka - Habits

• Arushi - Compassion towards all Creatures

• Diya - Truthfulness and Honesty

• Nidhi - Ahimsa (Not hurting others)

• Nikitha - Delusion, the Fourth Enemy

• Nishka - Charity & Seva

• Pushpa - The Six Internal Enemies

• Rajat - Shanti (Peacefulness)

• Sachit - Ignorance

• Samarth - Desire, the First Enemy

• Samhitha - Pride, the Fifth Enemy

• Shalini - Hard Work and Vigor

• Sraddha - Forgiveness

• Vibhanshu - Anger, the Second Enemy

• Vihaan - Performance of Worship & Study of Scriptures

April 10

Charity:

• Giving food or money or something that helps those people who don’t have that

• Donating people things they need (that they can’t get themselves)

• Helping others who may need it

• It’s not always for under privileged

• Give with kindness and niceness - tone matters

• Have genuine feelings when giving

• NOT Charity: if you want to show off

• Keep in mind: some people don’t want to be helped

• Often material

• Ways to do charity:

  • Can give anonymously

  • Do it without taking credit or recognition

  • Do it subtly

  • ASK if something is needed - know the situation

  • “You give a person a fish, they can eat for a day. You teach them how to fish, they eat for a lifetime.”

  • Think about the effect

  • Empathy - understanding and feeling for the other person’s situation - having perspective - have compassion

• Avoid:

  • Savior complex - you think you know what’s best for everyone, and think you’re the one who can save the world/person/situation

  • Charity with judgment

  • Giving something to someone they don’t want

  • Waste by not meeting requirements

  • Don’t give beyond your means or their needs

Seva:

• Type of service

• Do some work for others (people or animals)

• Selfless help

• Desire to help others

• Not self serving

• Not letting ego get in the way

• You cannot have true seva without compassion

• In many faiths and beliefs - seva is considered the best way to get closer to God

• Ways to do seva:

  • Volunteering at a place that needs help

  • Giving back to the community

  • Thinking about what others need

  • Helping family/friends - above and beyond - share workload

  • Limited recognition

  • Not expecting something back in return

  • Empathy - understanding and feeling for the other person’s situation - having perspective - have compassion

  • Can help sometimes anonymously (e.g. take out elderly neighbor’s trash)

  • KNOW where help is needed - ASK FIRST

• Avoid:

  • Hard to do seva anonymously

  • Developing pride/ego

  • Savior complex - you think you know what’s best for everyone, and think you’re the one who can save the world/person/situation

  • Seva with judgment

  • Giving something to someone they don’t want

• Examples of seva:

  • Helping in animal shelters

  • Food drive & collections

  • Helping someone with their work

  • Household help for others

  • Making cards for others

  • After natural disasters - help clean up and organize

Charity vs Seva:

• Charity is focused on materialistic things - can do from behind the scenes

• Seva is focused on help, actions, and beings - needs more involvement - can help us remove ego and closer to reality of world

• BOTH are equally important - you can give things where they are need and/or help where is needed

Homework:

• Ask someone in your life - why do you volunteer (do seva) you do?

• Chapter 51 & 52 - Performance of Worship & Study of Scriptures

• Continue habits!

End of Year Presentation:

• Reminder, our presentation is on May 8th virtually!

• Review this section for topic assignments: https://sites.google.com/site/hatshsmn/classes-dharma/dharma-7?authuser=0#h.f43lor231c9t

• For homework due 4/16, research and write out answers for sections 1-3. We will do breakout session in next week’s class to review further:

  • Name of Value/Topic

    1. Meaning & Description of your Value/Topic

    2. Real-Life Example

    3. Example of your value from Mahabharata/Ramayana/other

    4. Shloka relating to value

March

END OF YEAR PRESENTATION:

We will be doing our End-of-Year presentation VIRTUALLY on May 8th during class time. This weekend in class we started discussing our plan with students as well.

We have assigned topics to each student. Over the next two weeks (as part of homework over spring break) we want all students to make notes and do research on their assigned topic. They can use the chapters in the book, notes from class, and any other resources. We want each student to become very comfortable and confident about their topic. The following weeks, in class, we will set aside some time for the students to discuss their topics and start working on their presentation.

We will send out a slide template in April that the students will have to fill out and send back to us for the final presentation. We are very excited to see what the students have learned! Please mark you calendars for our presentation date: May 8th!

Here are the assignments for topics:

• Pushpa Ganesh - The Six Internal Enemies

• Samarth Kathuria - Desire, the First Enemy

• Vibhanshu Wadhwani - Anger, the Second Enemy

• Aniya Mehta - Greed, the Third Enemy

• Nikitha Aligireddy - Delusion, the Fourth Enemy

• Samhitha Putrevu - Pride, the Fifth Enemy

• Aaryan Alegaonkar - Jealousy, the Sixth Enemy

• Sachit Charan - Ignorance

• Nidhi Katti - Ahimsa (Not hurting others)

• Rajat Bhat Padubidri - Shanti (Peacefulness)

• Arushi Bhalerao - Compassion towards all Creatures

• Diya Shah - Truthfulness and Honesty

• Sraddha Sudharsan - Forgiveness

• Shalini Bajpai - Hard Work and Vigor

• Anushka Jhavar - Habits

• Nishka Pandey - Charity & Seva

• Vihaan Achary - Performance of Worship & Study of Scriptures

March 27

Purity of Mind:

• Clean up bad thoughts

• Focus on happy thoughts

• Don’t focus on the negative things

• Think positively

• Don’t be stuck on a thought

• Be open minded

• Meditation

• Balance in your mind

  • It’s very specific towards each person

  • Control and manage your own thoughts

  • Understanding good vs bad - but then ACTING on it

  • Knowing when to react and HOW to react

  • Managing our ideals and values

  • Controlling our internal enemies

• Example: Gandhi Ji - stuck to his values, controlled his ego (internal enemies) - he had the whole world’s of pressure and expectations - half the world was with him, half was against him - regardless of what anyone else said or did, he was CLEAR about his values and actions - he knew what we wanted and WHY - he didn’t let other people’s OPINIONS and desires affect his values and actions

• Example: Krishna - during conflict, he focused on negotiating before violence - during the war (bhagvad gita) - in the middle of conflict, he was smart and calm and balanced enough to manage violence with values

• Example: Ram - chose to positively go into exile, decided to turn it into opportunity to help the community, used that time to grow his family and friends network, did everything with a smile on his face

Cleanliness of Body:

• Hygiene

• Taking care of ourselves

• Meditation

• Having a proper mindset - pure mind

• Eating healthy/clean

• Feeling clean/good based on external actions

• Having good practices - we’re helping and world and environment

• Example: greeting people - put your hands together, good hygienic practices

• When we eat healthy, we’re less likely to get sick, less likely to need healthcare, which means less exposure to other health problems, less increasing cost of healthcare, more sharing healthcare who need it

HOMEWORK:

• Start researching topics for presentation

• Read chapters: 33 & 34 - Charity & Seva

• Keep practicing habits

March 20

• saha nau avatu Saha nau bhunaktu

• Saha – together

• Nau – ”both” “all”

• avatu – protected / safe

• bhunaktu – nourished / healthy

• Summarized Meaning: May we be protected and healthy

• Saha viryam Kara va vahay

• Saha – together

• Viryam – power / strength / energy

• Kara Va Vahay – performing action - using “hand”

• Summarized Meaning: Together let us have energy/power and perform actions (not being lazy)

• Tejasvi na vadheeta mastu

• Tejasvi – light / brilliance / intellect

• Nau(v) – ”both” “all”

• Adheeta(m) – learning / studies / intellect

• Astu – be

• Summarized Meaning: Let us become brilliant by learning together

• Maa vidhvishaa vahaye

• Ma – not

• Vidhvisha Vahai – having hostility / animosity (negative feelings towards someone else)

• Summarized Meaning: Not hurting or hating each other

May we be protected and healthy

May we have energy/power and perform actions (not being lazy) together

May we become brilliant by learning together

May we not hurt or hate each other

This prayer is important because:

• Reminder on how to treat others

• No “GOD” represented

• Telling us how to be

• Focuses on “GROUPS/OTHERS”

• Community and society, or friends and family

• Gives guidance on actions, habits, behaviors

Non Hoarding

• Cleaning can result in satisfaction

• Can help in organized thinking

• When we have clutter - our senses are over activated

Simple Living

• Limit greed

• Don’t focus too much on things you don’t already have

• Doesn’t mean leave everything that you have

• Don’t overdo your actions and lifestyle

• How do we approach thinking about others

• What we wear, what we do - how does it affect us vs others

• Limiting desires

• Don’t take on more than you should

• Be aware and appreciative of what you have

• It’s a certain mindset - knowing where to focus your attention

Homework:

• Memorize word-by-word meaning of saha na avatu

• Keep up with habits

• Brainstorm ideas for end-of-year presentation (VIRTUAL - May 8th)

• Chapter 47 - Purity of Mind & 46 - Cleanliness of Body

March 13

Homework Review:

• Keep up with habits - see if parents can do with you

  • DOWNLOAD TRACKING SHEET:

    • PDF version for printing: CLICK HERE

    • EXCEL version for digital: CLICK HERE

• Talk to your parents - Examples of truth with sensitivity and lying on purpose

• 42 - Hard work and Vigor

• Look up the word-by-word meaning of: saha na vavatu

Hard Work & Vigor:

• Vigor:

  • Hard work

  • Effort into something

  • Good health (result)

  • Strength

  • Energy

  • Force

• Hard Work

  • Studying

  • Practicing

  • Physical endurance

  • Making an effort

  • Having motivation

  • Improvement

  • Persevere a goal

  • “HARD” - this word has a negative connotation (e.g., could be difficult)

  • “HARD” work - is not about doing difficult work, it’s about how HARD (strongly) you are deciding to work

  • HARD = solid, tough, can’t be broken, strong, not soft

  • The real way to do hard work is to think about it with strength, instead of difficulty

• Why is it important to do “HARD WORK” even when something is easy

  • Helps you in the future

  • Builds confidence

  • Results in good/better outcomes

  • Increase quality of results

  • Keep UP the quality of results

  • Maintain your mental strength

  • Have a goal in mind

  • Effort > Talent

Homework:

Fill this out -

• saha nau avatu Saha nau bhunaktu

• Saha – together

• Nau – 

• avatu –

• bhunaktu –

• Summarized Meaning:

• Saha viryam Kara va vahay

• Saha –

• Viryam –

• Kara Va Vahay – 

• Summarized Meaning:

• Tejasvi na vadheeta mastu

• Tejasvi –

• Nau(v) –

• Adheeta(m) –

• Astu –

• Summarized Meaning:

• Maa vidhvishaa vahaye

• Ma –

• Vidhvisha Vahai –

• Summarized Meaning:

Spring cleaning for Holi!!!

Chapter 43 - Non Hoarding & Simple Living

Keep up with habits

Next week will start talking about end-of-year presentation

March 6

Truthfulness & Honesty

• Honesty - tell the truth most of the time

• Truthfulness - not lying (for the wrong reasons)

• External- Say what actually happens

• Internal- Say what you actually feel/think

• Forms lying:

  • White lie - (e.g., not brushing teeth) - harmless lying

    • It can negatively impact you

    • Can spiral - and turn into more lies

    • Can break trust with others

    • Can make you feel guilty, getting wrong credit

    • It’s hard to keep it at just one lie

    • You have to remember what you lied about

  • Deceptive lie - (e.g., the boy who cried wolf) - tricking others “for fun”

    • Others can quickly lose trust

    • Repetitive lying

    • When you need help, no one will be there

    • Involves other people in the lie, can spread

    • Can get out of control fast

    • Can build ladder of lies

  • Silent lie - (e.g., “No I didn’t see that happening) - staying out of it

    • Watching bullying happen - not standing up for them

    • Avoid situation to not get in trouble

    • Lie to avoid getting hurt

    • Being a bystander ONLY - dependent on situation

  • Half lie/truth - (e.g., Yudhishtir - “Ashwathama -the elephant- is dead”) - skipping part of the truth

    • Can be equally as harmless as harmful

    • Only telling part of the whole situation

    • You can still be a part of “half lie” without even lying

    • Just skipping certain details

• Is lying always bad?

  • Depends on situation - INTENT

  • E.g., life saving situations, surprise birthday, will it hurt/help someone else

• Forms of truth: - avoid causing harm

  • Bitter truth - the truth isn’t good, but needs to be heard “tough love” can get worse otherwise

  • Evil-intended truth - speak truth in order to hurt someone or cause problems, revenge, embarrassment

  • Sensitive truth - emotion driven

  • Complete truth - straight forward, not missing any points

Homework:

• Keep up with habits - see if parents can do with you

  • DOWNLOAD TRACKING SHEET:

    • PDF version for printing: CLICK HERE

    • EXCEL version for digital: CLICK HERE

• Talk to your parents - Examples of truth with sensitivity and lying on purpose

• 42 - Hard work and Vigor

• Look up the word-by-word meaning of: saha na vavatu

February

February 27

Discuss how you increase the different parts of Ashtanga Yoga in your daily life, and how they affect your habits

• 1. Yama [moral codes]

  • Calming yourself (post anger) – Ahimsa

  • Reducing anxiety practices

• 2. Niyama [personal discipline]

  • Making your bed

  • Studying

  • Prioritizing your tasks

• 3. Asana [posture]

  • Physical exercise

• 4. Pranayama [breath control]

  • Can focus on when waking up

• 5. Pratyahara [sense control]

  • When you have free time

  • Not getting distracted or involved in things not needing you

  • Keeping attention on one task

  • Staying within your limits

• 6. Dharana [concentration]

  • Focusing on tasks or homework

  • Working towards something

  • Sports

• 7. Dhyana [meditation]

  • Regular practice

• 8. Samadhi [deep absorption/contemplation]

Ashtanga Yoga steps:

• At home - write these out - put it somewhere visible.

• Look at the list daily - ask yourself throughout the day, how many am I doing to day

• Increase your steps whenever you can

• Plan your day, think ahead

• These actions will help your day be smoother

• It will help you become a better person

HABITS -

• It is very hard to create new habits

• You have to actively work on it

• 21 DAYS STRAIGHT

Homework:

• Print out Ashtanga Yoga checklist - monitor every day

  • Outline: CLICK HERE

• Keep up with HABITS, try to find someone to do it with you

  • DOWNLOAD TRACKING SHEET:

    • PDF version for printing: CLICK HERE

    • EXCEL version for digital: CLICK HERE

• Read chapters:

  • 36 - Truthfulness and Honesty

  • 42 - Hard work and Vigor

February 20

Today we learned about Ashtanga Yoga and how it affects our daily lives. We discussed each step of Ashtanga Yoga and how to apply it. Here is the presentation outline: CLICK HERE

We also continued talking about our HABITS

• Habits = something that we do regularly without thinking about it

• It does take effort to develop this

• It takes 21 DAYS to build a habit

For our project, we’re going to ask all students, parents, teachers to pick a habit:

• Something EASY

• Something you can do EVERY day, regardless of weekday, weekend, school, vacation, etc.

• Something you can track

• E.g. make bed, brush teeth at night, floss every day, read 10 min, etc.

HOMEWORK:

• Start/continue your habit this week

• DOWNLOAD TRACKING SHEET:

  • PDF version for printing: CLICK HERE

  • EXCEL version for digital: CLICK HERE

• Read Ashtanga Yoga notes with parents

• Discuss how you increase the different parts of Ashtanga Yoga in your daily life, and how they affect your habits

February 13

Actions that bother us

• Internal

  • Our own actions

    • When we don’t have time to think about/plan

  • Our physiology

    • Hunger

    • Tiredness (lack of sleep, perhaps)

• External

  • Other people

    • Often our inability to positively interact with others

  • Things that annoy us

    • External environment

Forgiveness

• Also important to “forget” – let go

  • Importance of memory of past events – allows you to prepare better for future

• Not forgiving continues negativity

  • Continues with anger

• Brings balance back to our lives

Commitment and Perseverance

• Prioritizing actions to decide what to commit

  • Think before you commit – only make promises that you can keep

• Growth mindset needed persevere

  • Recognize that we have the ability to learn and grow

  • Overcoming failures is important

    • Know what went wrong and do something different the next time

HABITS PROJECT:

• Pick a SMALL, SIMPLE, DAILY habit to start

• E.g. make bed, brush teeth at night, floss every day, read for 10 min

• Anything that you do EVERY SINGLE DAY

• It takes 21 days to develop a habit

• Start your habit this week

• PARENTS - do project with children

• DOWNLOAD TRACKING SHEET:

  • PDF version for printing: CLICK HERE

  • EXCEL version for digital: CLICK HERE

February 6

Humility & Respect

Humility

• Similar to “Humble”

• Modest

• Not too proud or arrogant

• Not acting superior to anyone

• Not having ego

• Not selfish

• Thinking about others

• Acting smaller around people

• Considering what others around you need

• Not boasting about yourself

• Blending in with others (figuratively)

• Acting in a way to not hurt others

• Gandhi Ji - When you practice your other values - you will automatically get humility

• The minute you start thinking you’re modest/humble - you’ll get an ego

• It’s one of the few values that we can’t “openly practice”

• Humility is about how other people perceive you

• Humility is a feeling, not an action

Respect

• Being kind to someone

• Being welcoming to people (e.g. guests)

• Showing manners

• Treating others based on their qualities

  • E.g. we often respect older people more

  • But should also show respect to younger people

• “A feeling of deep admiration for someone or something based on their abilities, qualities, or achievements”

• “Due regard for feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of others”

• We have to be careful to not just have blind respect

  • We have to know if we’re respecting the right kind of people

  • Know what someone’s qualities are

  • See if someone is doing something right or wrong

  • Can’t just respect people because of the things they have or accomplishments

  • Focus on values and personality

  • Don’t respect based on status

  • Consider how people treat other people

  • If we don’t have all the facts, think about perspective and add positivity to situation

  • Put benefit of the doubt when you can

  • Depends on the situation!! How do you handle a situation where an elder or person in power directly connected to you, acts in a way that is not respectful

  • Share with someone else to find a solution

  • Find a way to productively talk to someone

  • You can still act respectfully without respecting another person

  • Act with values (kindness, less ego, not emotional)

  • Think about the situation - why did the person react or say what they did

• When you are disrespectful - you are insulting yourself and/or someone around you

• Self-respect is just as important

Starting our Habits project soon!

• Habit:

• Something you do a lot

• Daily routine

• Can be good or bad

• Can be working towards something bigger

• It’s often something you do without actively thinking about it

• It becomes “subconscious”

• Almost a reaction

• E.g. brushing teeth, making bed, reading, sports

• Habits can improve or make life worse

• Most people have almost twice as many bad habits as good

• Really difficult to break a bad habit

Homework:

• Chapter 38: Forgiveness

• Chapter 41 - Commitment & perseverance

• HABITS: (parents should do this project with the kids) - we will start project next week after discussion - write down:

  • 3 good habits you have

  • 3 bad habits you have

  • 1 goal for improvement

January

January 30

AHIMSA (cntd.):

Two types of violence (himsa):

• Physical

  • Killing (animals or people)

  • Torturing

  • Hurting

  • Destroying the environment

  • Hitting/slapping within family members

  • Getting in a fight

  • Pushing/shoving

  • Shooting (casual AND police related)

  • Riots

  • Protests

  • Burning things down

  • Wars

• REACTION to physical violence:

  • Try to stop it first - say no, talk it out

  • If needed - self defense is important

  • Ask for help if possible

  • Never react “offensively” - react “defensive”

  • Reactive violence can help protect others

  • Last case scenario!!!!

  • E.g. Mahabharata & Ramayana

• Non-Physical

  • Mental torture

  • Cyber bullying

  • Bad words & insults

  • Bullying

  • Talking bad

  • Lying & hiding the truth

  • Gossipping & rumors

  • Teasing

  • Jealousy

  • Judging

  • Arguing

  • Discrimination:

    • Judging someone based on something they can’t change

    • cultural - physical - religious - racism - sexism - ageism - mental

• WHY do these forms of violence happen??

  • INTERNAL ENEMIES

  • JEALOUSY!!!

  • Anger

  • Desire

  • Ego

  • Lack of Self-confidence

  • Overconfidence

  • Fear

  • Reaction (payback, defending yourself, fix a situation, etc)

• How to backtrack and avoid any form of violence

  • Difference between argument and debate:

    • Argument = includes emotions and at least ONE internal enemy - and you want to WIN - nothing productive comes out of it (going in circles)

    • Debate = a conversation based on FACTS - limited emotions, no winning necessary - leaving judgment out of it - an opportunity to learn and grow

  • Limit/stop talking

  • Staying calm

  • Listen only

  • Think before you speak

  • Explain your point of view - ASK for the other point of view

  • Try to find a solution

  • Stand up for yourself

  • Knowing what you want

  • Gain self-confidence

  • Think about the big picture

  • Having clear thoughts

  • Responding with kindness and empathy

  • Focus on a compromise

  • Focus on NEEDS instead of WANTS

Homework:

• Chapter 32: Humility and respect for everyone

• Chapter 38: Forgiveness

• Start our habits projects for the year

January 23

Homework Review:

• Find ONE shloka/mantra - MEMORIZE its meaning

  • Learn and be able to say the meaning without reading it (in your own words)

  • Within the shloka/mantra learn THREE sanskrit words

  • Some resources to use:

  • https://greenmesg.org/stotras/

  • https://greenmesg.org/stotras/ganesha/vakratunda_mahakaya.php

Shanti -

• Peacefulness and calmness

• Happiness

• In a state of relaxation

• Controlling yourself

• Unity and peacefulness

• State of mind - can block everything out

• Where do we hear this most often?

  • End of prayers - om shanti shanti shanti

  • Meditation

  • Say it 3 times

  • Body, soul, mind

  • Past, present, future

  • Others, Nature, Self

  • To reduce disease, discomfort, suffering

  • 3 Bhagwan: Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva / Durga-Saraswati-Lakshmi

  • 3 Worlds: Earth-Heaven-Hell

• How to be peaceful in the world

  • Take deep breaths

  • Share with someone else - work towards change

  • Listen to others

  • Share with the initial problem creator IF possible

  • Ignore and walk away

  • Don’t let it get under your skin

  • Avoid reacting emotionally

  • Often time silence is important - to calm the situation down

  • Write it out before saying it

Ahimsa -

• Non-violence

• Not just about wars and fights

• Trying to create change with peacefulness

• Making change without hurting others

• Caring for others

• Avoiding violence

• Small things as well

• Can be accidental

• TWO TYPES OF AHIMSA:

  • Physical

  • Non-physical

Homework:

• Continue conversation on Ahimsa

  • Write - 3 points each on two types of ahimsa

• Chapter 32: Humility and respect for everyone

• Continue memorizing and revising your prayer (especially the sanskrit words)

  • Find ONE shloka/mantra - MEMORIZE its meaning

    1. Learn and be able to say the meaning without reading it (in your own words)

    2. Within the shloka/mantra learn THREE sanskrit words

    3. Some resources to use:

    4. https://greenmesg.org/stotras/

    5. https://greenmesg.org/stotras/ganesha/vakratunda_mahakaya.php

Parent-Teacher summary 1/16

We started class off with parent-teacher conference. We discussed the following points:

• Discussed the topics we have covered (6 internal enemies, other values, and negative qualities)

• We talked about our upcoming plan for rest of year:

  • Start talking about the meaning of prayers and practices

  • Focus more on critical thinking and open conversation at home

  • Additional parental involvement in the homework

  • Start habits project

  • Encourage students to speak up more, most of the classes going forward will have to be more conversation and interaction based

• We also discussed that we want parents to be more aware of the weekly topics and homework, and discuss those points with the students at home more - as well as encourage students to take initiative and have conversations about topics/homework at home

• We want all parents to (along with students) learn and memorize the meaning of at least one mantra/shloka - and be able to say it in your own words, along with memorize 2-3 sanskrit words from that shloka/mantra - to introduce the practice of KNOWING what we are saying when we pray

• We also heard some great feedback from parents on the progress of class, and will continue to improve as best we can

January 16

Hatred & Enmity:

• Disliking something someone did

• Intense dislike towards something or someone or what is said

• Don’t approve of what someone’s doing

• It’s beyond anger

• Highest level of not liking

• Holding a grudge against someone

• Can come from “crossing the line”

• Judgement - towards someone, something, some idea, some action

  • Opinion - having a strong opinion against someone/thing

  • When you decide who someone is based on your own thoughts and expectations

  • Thinking someone’s actions are wrong or crazy

  • You can have judgement towards people who are right or who you care about

  • Depends on the situation and how well you know someone

  • When we are reacting to a situation, focus on which emotions are coming up? Anger? Judgement? Hatred? - which values were affected?

• You can have some judgement towards someone doing the wrong thing WITHOUT having hatred

  • This can also depend on the outcome

  • How you act can depend on how you’re affected by a situation

  • Temporary emotions (e.g. sibling rivalry) - but not affect long term emotions and relationships

  • You can judge, but have ALL the facts (almost impossible)

• What are the values that are driving our actions and thoughts?

  • Focusing on our reactions

  • Focusing on understanding the full situation

• Adjust our own actions and expectations

  • What choices are we making that are affecting our emotions?

• You can have judgement without hatred

  • E.g. Pandavas and Kauravas judged each other - but only Kauravas HATED the Pandavas

  • Pandavas thought about big picture - family, long term

  • Didn’t base their final opinion on just emotions

  • Did or did not react to their internal enemies

Unity and Mutual Cooperation

• Unity

  • Everyone is together

  • Thriving peacefully

  • “One” - as one person, one thought, one idea, one emotion

• Mutual Cooperation

  • Some form of an agreement

  • Common between two things/peoples/thoughts

  • Find a common and “together” solution

• When starting from judgement

  • Calm down before making any decision

  • Have conversation - explain your perspective

  • Reach an agreement with the other party

• Where can we see more unity and cooperation

  • Societal problems (public health, environment, housing, public, littering, racism, government, political beliefs) - big level

  • Personal lives (public health, environment, housing, public, littering, racism, government, political beliefs) - small level

  • TALK to people - and find a common point, to create fewer problems and more solutions

  • Before you speak up, make sure YOU are doing the right thing (avoid being a hypocrite!!!!!!)

HOMEWORK:

• Chapter 28 - Shanti (Peacefulness)

• Chapter 27 - Ahimsa (Non-violence)

• Find ONE shloka/mantra - MEMORIZE its meaning

  • Learn and be able to say the meaning without reading it (in your own words)

  • Within the shloka/mantra learn THREE Sanskrit words

  • Some resources to use (can find your own as well):

  • https://greenmesg.org/stotras/

  • https://greenmesg.org/stotras/ganesha/vakratunda_mahakaya.php

January 9

We had meditation class today

December

December 19

BIAS = going in favor of a thing/person/group because of your personal preference - even if its unfair or wrong

• When this becomes a common thought process (e.g. ONLY going to do…)

• This can turn into stereotyping, discrimination, ignorance

• Mahabharata: Dhritarashtra (father), Karna (friend), Bheeshma (duty)

Hypocrisy:

• Telling someone else to not do something, but doing it yourself (and vice versa)

• Just lying, cheating, bullying isn’t hypocrisy - tell others not to

• Saying something, but doing something else

• Not following rules or guidelines that you set for others

• Guiding others:

  • Different in certain circumstances (helping)

  • INTENT matters (why you’re doing what you’re doing)

  • Providing assistance

  • Stopping others from getting hurt

• Morals and values - actions and thoughts

• You have to be ACCOUNTABLE (trustable, responsible)

• Examples (very complex):

  • Public health - wear masks

  • Screen time!!!

  • “Don’t argue”

  • Environmental issues - littering, usage

  • Racism and discrimination

• WHEN we call out hypocrisy

  • Denying it “I didn’t do that”

  • Refusing to accept it

  • Hurts their ego and feelings

  • People feel attacked

  • People don’t want to change, prove themselves right

• How and when can we call out hypocrisy

  • Bring it to someone’s attention

  • OK to call it out

  • Be direct and don’t sugar coat

  • Approach alone, don’t make a scene

  • Make sure you’re not being hypocritical

  • Provide examples and explanations

• Changing hypocrisy is slow progress

• Change only happens for people who want to learn and grow (ignorance vs knowledge)

• We should still speak up - we ourselves need to limit our stereotypes, ignorance, hypocrisy

  • E.g. Vibhishana in Ramayan - he’s doing the right thing, he tried his best based on knowledge, set an example for others

Homework:

• Chapter 22 - Hatred & Enmity

• Chapter 25 - Unity and Mutual Cooperation

• Find ONE shloka/mantra - MEMORIZE its meaning

  • Learn and be able to say the meaning without reading it (in your own words)

  • Within the shloka/mantra learn THREE sanskrit words

  • Some resources to use:

  • https://greenmesg.org/stotras/

  • https://greenmesg.org/stotras/ganesha/vakratunda_mahakaya.php

December 12

IGNORANCE:

• Not caring

• Not listening or understanding what others are saying

• Can come off as stupid

• Being stubborn, even repeatedly

• Don’t follow someone’s instructions repeatedly

• Can be hypocrites

• Not having empathy towards anyone unless they’re getting help too

• Examples:

  • When someone doesn’t care or dismisses your problems

  • Discarding the importance of the pandemic

• Lack of knowledge or awareness

• Often being uneducated can lead to ignorance

• Turning a blind eye to what’s going on

  • Not adapting to change

  • Ignoring what’s going on

  • Not helping those who need it

  • Assume things a lot

  • “Not my problem”

• Strongest internal enemy: EGO!

• Results of ignorance:

  • Harshness

  • Cruel

  • Hatred

  • Enmity

  • 6 internal enemies

  • Hypocrisy

  • Gossipping

  • Being mean

  • Being unaware

• INTENTIONAL Ignorance

  • On purpose

  • Not listening to others

  • Not thinking about other people (empathy)

  • Annoying others

  • Getting under other people’s skin

  • Fighting to be right

  • Discrimination

    • Treating people differently because of various reasons

    • E.g. skin color, gender, ethnicity, race, choices, preferences, food

  • Pandemic - mask wearing

• UNINTENTIONAL Ignorance

  • Automatically happens

  • Saying something that YOU believe to be true

  • If someone gets the wrong information

  • We don’t know what we don't know

  • Blind spot - can’t see it until you make an effort

  • Stereotypes

    • Judging people based on specific characteristics

    • All old people are wise - Young people are good with tech - Teenagers are difficult

    • Gender: games and preferences and colors

    • Girls cook, boys work

    • Asian people are smart

    • Asian people become engineers and doctors

    • Smart people (esp Indians) only do STEM

    • Indian people have more Indian stereotypes than non-Indian people

    • All Indian people are really rich or really poor

    • Clothes!!! (Cars and gadgets as well)

    • Clothes as identity

  • They come from the environment people grow up in

  • Lead to things like: hatred, racism, discriminiation, negative actions, hurting others

• How can we overcome ignorance (intentional OR unintentional)

  • Look at other people’s perspectives

  • Have EMPATHY

  • LEARN LEARN LEARN LEARN LEARN LEARN LEARN

    • Read books

    • Read news

    • Talk to others

    • Go to educational programs

    • Make relationships with people who are DIFFERENT than you

    • Have diversity in your life (in all parts of existence)

    • Limit judgement and criticizing others

    • Ignorance cannot be an excuse

    • 
      

Homework:

• Gita Jayanti - on the 14th do prayer for Krishna and include these shlokas from the Gita; Chapter 2 - shlokas 62-63

• Ignorance - Write 5 stereotypes that YOU have against others

• Hypocrisy

• Chapter 22 - Hatred & Enmity

December 5

We had meditation class this week. Homework is the same as previous week.

November

November 21

Pride:

• All characters in Mahabharata (except Krishna) had a high dose of ego

• Even Yudhishtir - lost his kingdom because his ego got hurt

• In games (e.g. NFL) its great to celebrate when you get touchdown, but if you over celebrate you can get penalty for “unsportsmanlike conduct”

• We get an ego about something we’re not even connected to (e.g. sports teams, parents, teachers)

• False modesty

  • Not accepting compliments

  • Overreacting in a “modest way”

  • It’s important to know how to properly accept a compliment

  • Throw in positive emotions into the conversation

  • Move the focus from the “achievement” to the conversation

  • Compliment the other person back

• False bragging

  • When people like to overly show off

  • Really easy to get frustrated

  • It can affect your confidence and pride

  • Generic compliment

  • Go along with conversation - can eventually change topic

  • If you react, the other person will get defensive

• Good pride:

  • We can be proud of our interactions

Jealousy:

• Why do we get affected by others' achievements?

  • We don’t have that

• We get wrapped up in other people’s comparisons

• When you’re trapped in other’s comparisons, how do you stop your jealousy?

  • Ignore others - try to stop the conversation

  • Remove yourself

  • Think about what you have (not what someone else does/doesn’t have)

  • Have conversations - WITHOUT high emotions

  • Makes boundaries with people

Chapter 29 (Compassion)

• Being friendly

• Being mindful to others

• Showing positive emotions

• Showing affection, sympathy, care

• Caring for others

• Helping other people

• KARUNA - caring action

• Caring for animals - they can’t do by themselves

• Caring for ALL creatures (humans, plants, animals)

  • It’s the right thing to do

  • Plants provide oxygen and food

  • GLOBAL WARMING

  • Planting a tree

• Hindu Dharma - these concepts are very popular because of KARUNA

  • Environmentalism

  • Vegetarianism

• Vs pity (feel bad for someone)

  • Can make them feel bad, negative emotions, can remind of bad things, embarrassment

  • Instead of pity, combine empathy and compassion

  • BE THERE for someone - build on your relationship

Chapter 31 (Empathy)

• Knowing what others are feeling

• Considering their thoughts

• Understanding what others are going through

• Put yourself in their shoes

• Help others

Compassion vs empathy:

• Empathy = understanding

  • Careful about crossing a line

  • Don’t let others impact your life

  • Only help those who need it

• Compassion = caring

  • Actually helping those people

  • Acting upon your empathy

  • Emotionally helping those who need it

Example from Mahabharata:

• Draupadi was getting attacked and sari pulled off

• EVERYONE else was looking away and feeling sorry for her (PITY)

• KRISHNA - (empathy) understood what she needed in that moment, (caring) provided her sari AND emotional comfort

It’s not just when things are bad - we need to act on empathy and compassion on a DAILY basis - in everything we do

Homework:

• Internal enemies - write an example that connects ALL internal enemies

• Read chapters: 21 - Ignorance & 19 - Hypocrisy

• Write 2 instances where you actively practiced empathy + compassion

November 14

Recap: Six Internal Enemies

• Desire (Kāma), anger (Krodha), greed (Lobha), delusion (Moha), ego (Mada), jealousy (Mātsarya)

Competition

• Living to the “cool kids”

  • Fear of being bullied

  • Desire to attract more friends

  • What others think about you

• Sports: be like the best

Pride

• Self-centered; think you are the best

• Happiness of one's own dignity/ self-esteem

  • Negative consequences of self-esteem → pride

• One-upmanship

• Balance self-worth and pride

• E.g. Karn, Raavan

Jealousy

• Unhappiness towards someone else’s achievements

• Can lead to competition

• E.g. Duryodhan

Recognize your internal enemies and know what to do with them.

Remember: the six internal enemies do interact with each other

HW: Chapter 29 (Compassion) and Chapter 31 (Empathy)

Think about examples from your life where you have noticed the interactions between the six internal enemies.

November 7

Recap:

• SIX internal enemies

  • DESIRE - when we WANT something

  • ANGER - negative reaction to an unwanted situation

GREED (Lobha):

• When you want something, and more of it

• Keep wanting more and more

• You can negotiate to fulfil what you want

• You forget the differences between NEED and WANT

• It can make you feel jealous

• Uncontrolled selfish desire for something

• It can hurt our personal relationships

• It’s very hard to get rid of

• Kids/toddlers

  • Want more toys and things and food

  • Want more love and affection

  • Want something they can’t have

  • Want attention

  • Don’t want consequences

  • Want something that someone else has

  • React - negotiate - cry - throw tantrums

  • They’ll get bored with it

• Adults/young adults

  • Want more money

  • New/fancier things (technology)

  • Can cheat to get what they want

  • Want better social life

  • Want better job

  • Want better grades

  • New clothes, more shopping

  • Better “Status” (what other people think of you)

  • Want “better” food

  • React with anger

  • Show disappointment

  • Act surprised

  • Talk with humor (or sarcasm)

  • Lie or pretend about the situation

• WHY - why do we have greed?

  • It’s related to jealousy

  • We want to “act cool” or “seem better”

  • Live in a very competitive world

    • Lot of competition and comparing with others

    • Want to be better than what people think you are like

    • You think you’ll be treated better if you are better

    • When you’re surrounded by people who have more things

    • Emotionally better too

  • State of competition about:

    • Academic (studies)

    • Who has more money

    • Who has more athletic ability

    • Who has more things that are trending

    • Who does more good

    • Who is more popular

    • Who has better fashion and looks

    • Who is healthier

    • Who is a certain race

    • Who is a certain gender

    • Who has better kids

    • Whose kids have better grades and activities

    • Whose families have more fancy cars

    • How many teslas do you have

  • How do you stop competition from turning into greed

    • If someone else wins - don’t be a bad sport

    • Control your reactions to other people

    • Find the right motivation

      • E.g. when getting into college, don’t focus on showing off that you got in a better college, think about where you can learn more

    • Try other things - find an alternative

    • Ask yourself WHY

      • Do you want that thing because someone else has it?

      • Do you want that thing because it would look better?

      • Do you want that thing because it will make your life better?

      • What happens if you don’t get it? What’s the worst that will happen?

    • Our “results” don’t equal success or failure - what things we want is temporary

    • What we want is always going to change

  • Mahabharata (e.g. greed)

    • “Bad person” acting with good qualities - Karna: stood up for his friends, he didn’t want kingdom just for himself, very selfless

    • “Good person” acting with bad qualities - Yudhishtir: he gambled away his family

DELUSION (moh):

• Imagining something to be different from what it is

• Trying to make it seem different than what it is

• Thinking something is real event if it isn’t

• Not thinking clearly (not focusing on the facts)

• Examples:

  • Defending someone even if they did something bad

  • Overreacting

  • How come someone else is getting something i’m not

  • “IT’S NOT FAIR!”

  • You WANT it badly

  • Start thinking other people are horrible

  • Calling out other people’s issues

  • Calling others hypocrites

  • Judging others and pulling them down

  • Questioning others “why do you care”

  • Compare them with others

• “FAIR”

  • Comparing to see if you have the same things

  • Having same amount of experience or things as someone else

  • Equality

  • Getting the “right” thing or treatment

• We only see what we WANT to see - no matter the consequences

• Mahabharata (e.g. delusion)

  • Dhritarashtra - his son (family) has to be right no matter what

  • Bheeshma - he made promises that he shouldn’t have (sticking to things out of “status”)

• If you make your choices for a reason you made up in your own head - that’s delusion

Homework:

• Think about all the parts of your life where you are in competition - try to focus on reducing one area of competition

  • Talk to parents: How to reduce competition and comparisons - talk about why it exists

• Chapter 17 - PRIDE

• Chapter 18 - JEALOUSY

October

October 31

Started class with in depth presentation and conversation on Diwali.

Continued conversation on Anger and discussed the individual answers from last week's homework.

2. ANGER (krodha)

• Most of the things that make us angry are very small and relatively unimportant

• We react to our own laziness and ego

• Often, we’re not angry about the things we SHOULD be angry about (e.g. big things: covid, violence, racism, gender inequality)

• We get angry at the people in our immediate lives

  • We feel hurt

  • It might be something else that’s bother us - we just take it out on people around us

  • It’s displaced anger

  • It’s easier to be angry to be upset with people we’re closest to

  • “When our house is on fire, instead of running after the person who caused the fire, we should put out the fire” - just like anger, when we’re angry, instead of jumping on the other person, let's find a way to calm down first

• Most of the time - when we’re angry, it’s only affecting our mood, the other person doesn’t even realize - only YOU are getting hurt when you are angry about minor things

• ****Forms of anger:

  • Anger

  • Mad

  • Frustration

  • Annoyance

  • Irritation

• Reactions:

  • Attitude changes

  • Argue

  • Make a scene

  • Stop and make noise

  • Make bad decisions

  • You don’t think straight

• How do you stop being angry? DOES NOT INCLUDE ANYONE ELSE

  • Take a few deep breaths

  • Take a step back (physically)

  • Be alone

  • Talk to others - once you’re calm

  • Distract yourself

  • Reading - read something good

  • Fidget - move things around - stay physically distracted

  • Listen to music that makes you feel good

  • Take a nap - resets your brain

  • Take a shower - refreshing

  • Think about something good coming up

  • Physically active - jumping jacks (your body releases chemicals called endorphins - which reduces negative feelings and triggers positive feelings)

  • Think about other things

• Next steps

  • Talking about it - to the person who made you angry

  • Apologize if you reacted

  • Explain why you got angry

  • Think about WHY you got angry

  • Talk to yourself about it first

  • Talk to a third party (neutral) - someone who is not in the middle of a situation << friends!!

  • Have someone in your life who trusts you, who you trust, and can be honest

  • TURN IT INTO ACTION - make sure it doesn’t happen again

Homework:

• Read Chapter 15 - Greed

  • How you can reduce this in your life (especially holidays around)

• Read Chapter 16 - Delusion

October 24

Internal Enemies:

• Bad thoughts - inside us

• Qualities inside us that can be controlled, but not easily

• Anger, Desire, Greed, Jealousy, Ego, Delusion

1. DESIRE (kaama)

• When you want something

• When it benefits you

• When you wish that you have things

• WHY do we want things?

  • If others have it

  • Don’t want to feel left out

  • Could be jealousy

  • How it feels or looks

• Its usually something that we want (sometimes for no reason), but can sometimes be need?

• WANT vs NEED

  • WANT = You don’t have to have it, doesn’t impact living, can be unnecessary

    • E.g. when you already have something that’s working fine, but “want” another - upgrade their phones because a newer model came out

  • NEED = Required to function, could affect surviving (food/water, clothing, shelter), will be necessary

    • E.g. tools, phone, bed, shower, fridge, medicine, technology

• The REASON we want/desire something matters the most

  • SHOWING OFF

  • When we want things just to say we have it

• WHY is this problem

  • Waste of money

  • Waste of energy

  • It may impact someone else who needs it more

  • It affects your mind: can make you feel guilty, it can also make you see others in a bad way,

  • You will never stop, it will never be enough

• INTENT - knowing WHY we do what we do

  • Making a choice that we know is for the RIGHT reason

• Eight Forms of Desire

  • Organs of Perception (senses) - 5

    • Sight - how things look

    • Hearing - how things sound

    • Touch - how things feel

    • Taste - how things taste

    • Smell - how things smell

  • Mind - 2

    • Glory - feeling good about self

    • Exaggerated self-respect (maana) - how we think others see us

  • Body - 1

    • Laziness - physically not wanting to do something

• How we conduct ourselves by ourselves and around others

• The problem is desire is - its the FIRST internal enemy

  • It starts and triggers the rest of your internal enemies

2. ANGER

• Negative feeling or emotion - it takes over your body and mind

• It impacts your thinking and decision making

• Forms of anger:

  • Anger

  • Mad

  • Frustration

  • Annoyance

  • Irritation

• Cause any form of anger:

  • Sibling - parents - immediate family

  • Any person

  • When someone does something that doesn’t align with our “good”

  • Leaving us out on purpose

  • Bullies

  • Inaction from others

  • Society problems

  • Media & politics

  • HEALTH

• How do we react?

  • Raise our voice

  • We wish badly on others

  • Most of the time in anger - say stuff you regret saying

  • Arguments

  • Fighting

  • Screaming

  • Venting - ranting - going on and on and on

Homework:

• ANGER:

  • Make a list of things (minimum 3, think of variety) that have made you angry

    • How you reacted

    • How you SHOULD have reacted

  • How you can control your anger once you’re in it

  • Talk to your parents - what’s the number one thing that gets them angry and how they deal with it

• Read Chapter 14 - Greed

October 10

Science of the Mind and Sense Organs

• Chariot - sense organs are part of chariot

• SENSES

  • Body’s workers

  • The way we understand things

  • The way our organs gather information

  • “Active senses” Examples: smell, touch, taste, sight, hearing

  • What drives our thoughts -

    • What we think about (even randomly)

    • A topic

    • Know what’s around us

    • Guides how we feel

• MIND

  • Our thoughts and actions resulting from thoughts

  • Our feelings and emotions

  • Our expectations

• BODY

  • Physical thing that holds all our organs and mind

  • The physical actions that we take - we use our body

• ATMA

  • Soul

  • Living energy

  • Energy that drives everything we do

• INTELLECT

  • Commands the rest of what we do/think

  • Intelligence - how much you know

  • Influences whatever you do

  • Wisdom - thoughts - decision making

  • Common sense

  • Gives us direction

• Mind vs Intellect:

  • Mind is the object, intellect is how it works

  • Fire: mind knows it can spread, hot, dangerous - intellect tells us don’t touch it, don’t near it

Six INTERNAL ENEMIES:

• Enemies that have a hard time going away

• INTERNAL - they’re not physical, you can’t see them

• In your mind

• Can push you back

• External: bully, “karens”, virus, medical things, ignorant people, racial discrimination, physical limitations, violence, riots

• Internal: Anger, fear, bad voices, laziness, jealousy, arrogance, greediness, ego

• Are these internal enemies dependent on your or what someone else does to you?

  • Can be both

  • Can be driven by someone’s actions

  • But your own actions can drive it too

  • In any situation - YOU decide how to feel and act

• Only YOU are responsible for your actions

• Desire (Kāma), anger (Krodha), greed (Lobha), delusion (Moha), ego (Mada), jealousy (Mātsarya)

• Think about how they are connected to each other?

Homework (due Oct. 24):

• Chapter 13 - DESIRE

• Chapter 14 - ANGER

• Write examples of each one

• Build a RAAVAN for Dussehra

October 3

KARMA

• ACTION

• Doing something

• Whatever you do comes back to you

  • Good or bad

• Be aware of action - so you don’t do something wrong

• If you can’t act on something, you can’t really change anything

• “YOURSELF” - you are the only person who can change you

• YOURSELF - The sum of all your actions

• Similarities with Newton’s Laws of motion:

  • • https://image.isu.pub/170823223915-3c8566782012103ba5561783d05ff66d/jpg/page_1.jpg

• Active & Passive actions

• Active actions:

  • Helping others

  • Walking

  • Eating

  • Brushing

  • Stretching

  • Drinking water

  • Talking

• Passive actions:

  • Subconscious actions

  • Breathing

  • Living

  • Sleeping

• Random acts of kindness - begin a chain of actions

  • Helping others spreads kindness

  • Helping without asking for anything back

  • Makes the community around you a better place

  • What happens when you do something kind but someone reacts badly?

  • Does that mean we’re getting something negative in return for a good action?

  • We can’t guarantee the immediate response

• Reasons for doing the “right thing”

  • Intent of actions: do you expect anything in return?

• INTENT

  • The meaning or purpose behind doing something

  • Making an active choice

  • Thinking about action (or desire)

  • WHY am I doing something?

  • MOST of the things we do in life, is because we want something better back in return

  • Finding a balance between your actions and intent

  • In the world around us - so many people are doing really bad things, but nothing bad is happening to them - but if we stress about that, we’re not better

  • It’s important to focus on OUR SELF and our actions we do - are we following our values? Regardless of what someone else is doing

  • Are our thoughts and actions helping or hurting others??

  • How are we thinking in bad situations?

  • If you do something good with bad intentions, thinking you’re getting good karma - its just as hurtful and bad as doing bad actions

HOMEWORK:

• Talk to parents about KARMA & INTENT

  • Ask them a situation where they were faced with something negative/bad - how did they adjust their intentions and karma (actions) - e.g. bullies, at work, socially…

• Think about YOUR intent in things you do all week

• Try to think of OR do one random act of kindness - where you do NOT get the credit

• Review Chapter 2 - Science of the Mind and Sense Organs

• Read Chapter 12 - The Six Internal Enemies

September

September 26

Meaning of: “Dharma” (NOT religion) and “Religion”

DHARMA:

• Honesty

• Truth

• Value

• Trust

• Good Deeds

• Belief

• Respect

• Being Kind

• Doing the right thing

• Equality

• Happiness

• Keeping your word

• Prosperity through practice of Dharma

• Strength

• Spirit

• Peace

• Knowledge

• NOT separate from science or government

• Summary:

  • Acting on our qualities

  • Doing the right thing

  • Following a good and value based path

  • Making decisions in a positive way

  • Following your respective duty

RELIGION:

• Beliefs about God/Gods

• Faith and worship

• Geographical distinction (origins and practice and culture)

• Belief in a superhuman power

• Languages (e.g. Hindu: Sanskrit, Christianity: English latin greek, Islam: Arabic)

  • Is it possible to practice the religion without knowing the original language?? YES you can. We may not know original language, but we can learn and understand what we are saying.

  • Important to spend time to understand meaning of words from language that’s not common

• Often has books “spiritual texts” or “scriptures” (e.g. Gita, Ramayana/Mahabharata, Bible) - how to connect to TODAY’s day and age?

• Often separate from government AND science

• Summary:

  • Set of rules and guidelines

  • A God or figure to pray to

  • Something or someone to believe in

  • Historical beliefs

Difference between Dharma and Religion:

• Dharma: good deeds vs Religion: belief (faith, worship, language)

• When following religion, people can put their own perspective on it, you can practice all the steps - Dharma is more about following good deeds

  • E.g. Ramayana - Ravana: Was a very big Shiva devotee - but he was greedy and selfish, he acted on his bad qualities

• Dharma vs religion:

  • Dharma - anyone can do the right thing

  • Religion - something you pray to

• Many forms of Bhagwan

  • Culturally in India - many regions believe in different things and values

  • Each bhagwan represents a different quality - “ROLE MODEL” or “Exemplar”

    • E.g. Hanuman: strength/loyalty, Saraswati: knowledge/wisdom

• Understanding these key concepts helps get rid of ignorance and stereotypes. Be able to share our story/stories.

Meaning of: “Ideals” and “Values”

IDEALS:

• Something we think should always happen

• Role models

• How a person should behave

• How things SHOULD be

• To strive to something

• Things we look up to and follow

• What do I do

• A goal

• Right thing to do

• Expectations

• Standards, could be good, for future, external, could be unachievable, Expectations for something

• Examples: idealistic things use the values to become idealistic. For example, Arjun was idealistic because he fought in the Mahabharat War

VALUES:

• Good qualities

• Being kind

• Giving

• Characteristics

• Things we respect

• Things we believe are important to live by

• Good characteristics to follow and grow

• Giving importance to something

• Things to live by

• Can we live in a world with no values? - NO - Values help us do good things

• Are good vs bad always consistent? - NO - it can depend on situation and ideals

• About yourself - internal - what you choose to act on

What’s the difference or similarities between the two?

• Example: Historical examples of girl vs boy responsibilities - now that has changed

  • Ideals: historical expectation was that men worked outside the house and did physical labor and ran the society / women stayed at home, did house related work, and raised families - NOW both are combined and equally distributed

  • Values: historically - a person could be bitter and been mean about their restrictions OR acted courageously and kindly to help make change - if they didn’t act on values, no change would happen

  • Society and humans change based on the values we act on - ideals adjust based on society

  • The world changes around us a lot (culture, challenges, etc), but values can stay the same - values help us make right decisions

  • When we think of history, think about how people’s values drove their decision

Chapter 1: Human Being

• Greatest parts of being a human - we have the ability to shape our decisions

• We have the ability to act on values not just instinct

• What is instinct? - first impulse/thought/feeling you have before you add logic - how we REACT - an urge to do something - “Fight or flight”

• When we add values, we can override our “bad instincts”

• Subconscious workings

HOMEWORK:

• Meaning of Karma

  • Look up AND ask your parents

  • How does intent tie in to karma?

• Read Chapter 2 - Science of the Mind and Sense Organs

September 19

WELCOME to Dharma 7: Hindu Ideals and Values

General Information:

• Is an interactive class.

• Student Participation is very important.

• Please try to participate at least one time each week.

• The lessons we learn apply to everyday life.

• This year is a transition year from stories to the application of these stories in day-to-day scenarios.

• Please refrain from eating/snacking a lot during class.

• Please finish your homework.

• Be accountable, responsible, and have fun!

• Parents, please discuss the topics covered in class at home with the students!

• Please try to keep your camera on throughout the class

• Please keep your microphone muted unless participating/sharing something to the class

• Please be on time!

Contacts:

Feel free to contact the student volunteers and/or the teachers if you have any questions.

Covered In class:

Hindu Dharma

• Be kind

• Good actions

• God

• Prayers

• Religion

  • What we believe in

    • God

    • Forms of God

    • Values

    • Self

  • What we practice

    • Karma

    • Pooja

    • Prayers

    • Values

    • Celebrations

• India

• Languages

• History

• Lotus

• Honesty

• Festivals

• Pray for different things

• How do we do these things?

  • Go to mandir

  • Recite

  • Fasting

  • Hands together (namaste)

  • Close eyes

  • Light diyas

  • Bells

  • Offer

  • Say prayers

HW:

• Meaning of: “Dharma” (NOT religion) and “Religion”

  • What’s the difference and similarities between the two?

• Meaning of: “Ideals” and “Values”

  • What’s the difference or similarities between the two?

• Read Chapter 1: Human Being