1. Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5 - Collection

Your whole life is nothing but the Mahābhārat War. The Mahābharāt should be read again and again to understand the intricacies of life, the complications of life, and the ability to handle life. The true story of this perfectly recorded epic is about two warring clans, Kauravas and Pānḍavas, closely related to one another. Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the blind king of Hastināpur and father of the 100 Kaurava brothers was the brother of Pānḍu, whose children were the five Pānḍava princes.

It is a tale of strife between cousins and ultimately between dhārmic and adhārmic, righteous and unrighteous civilizations.

Since Dhṛtarāṣṭra was blind, Pānḍu was made the king of Hastināpura. Pānḍu was cursed by a sage that he would die if he ever entered into a physical relationship with his wives.

He therefore had no children. Vyāsa says that all the five Pānḍava children were born to their mothers Kuntī and Mādri through the blessing of divine beings. Pānḍu handed over the kingdom and his children to his blind brother.

Kuntī, who is the embodiment of tapas, spiritual penance, had received a boon when she was still a young unmarried adolescent, that she could summon any divine power at will to father a child. Before she married, she tested her boon. The Sun god, Sūrya appeared before her. Karṇa was born to her as a result. In fear of social reprisals, she cast the newborn away in a river. Yudhiṣṭra, Bhīma and Arjuna were born to Kuntī after her marriage by invocation of her powers, and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva were born to Mādri, the second wife of Pānḍu.

Yudhiṣṭra was born to Kuntī as a result of her being blessed by Yama, the god of death, dharma and justice, Bhīma by Vāyu, the god of wind, and Arjuna by Indra, god of all the divine beings. Nakula and Sahadeva, the youngest Pānḍava twins, were born to Mādri, through the Divine Aśvini twins.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra had a hundred sons through his wife Gāndhārī. The eldest of these Kaurava princes was Duryodhana. Duryodhana felt no love for his five Pānḍava cousins. He made many unsuccessful attempts, along with his brother Duśśāsana, to kill the Pānḍava brothers. Kuntī's eldest son Karṇa, whom she had cast away at birth, was found and brought up by a chariot driver in the palace, and by a strange twist of fate, joined hands with Duryodhana.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra gave Yudhiṣṭra one half of the Kuru kingdom on his coming of age, since the Pānḍava prince was the rightful heir to the throne that his father Pānḍu had vacated.

Yudhiṣṭra ruled from his new capital Indraprastha, along with his brothers Bhīma, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva.

Arjuna won the hand of princess Draupadī, daughter of the king of Pāñcāla, in a svayaṁvara, a marital contest in which princes fought for the hand of a fair damsel.

In fulfillment of their mother Kuntī's desire that the brothers share everything equally, Draupadī became the wife of all five Pānḍava brothers. Duryodhana persuaded Yudhiṣṭra to join a gambling session, where his cunning uncle Śakunī defeated the Pānḍava king.

Yudhiṣṭra lost all that he owned—his kingdom, his brothers, his wife and himself, to Duryodhana. Duśśāsana shamed Draupadī in public by trying to disrobe her. The Pānḍava brothers and Draupadī were forced to go into exile for fourteen years, with the condition that in the last year they should live incognito or ajyāta vāsa.

At the end of the fourteen years, the Pānḍava brothers tried to reclaim their kingdom. In this effort they were helped by Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the king of the Yādava clan, who is the eighth divine incarnation of Bhagavān Viṣṇu.

However, Duryodhana refused to yield even a needlepoint of land, and as a result, the Great War, the War of Mahābhārat ensued. In this war, various rulers of the entire nation that is modern Bharat aligned with one or the other of these two clans, the Kauravas or the Pānḍavas.

Kṛṣṇa offered to join with either of the two clans. He says, 'One of you may have Me unarmed. I will not take any part in the battle. The other may have my entire Yādava army.'

When the offer was first made to Duryodhana, he predictably chose the large and well-armed Yādava army, Nārāyaṇī Senā, in preference to the unarmed Kṛṣṇa.

Arjuna joyfully and gratefully chose his dearest friend, his life mentor and his Guru, Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa, to be his unarmed charioteer!

This whole history is such a beautiful happening. Mahābhārat is actually your life! Every character in the Mahābhārat teaches so much! We don't need to go anywhere for our life success or fulfillment or for anything else that we may desire. We don't need to study any other book to learn the human psychology or the science of living and leaving. Whether we seek righteous living—dharma; or we want to learn business or administration, economy or abundance—artha; or we want to create the best rich lifestyle—kāma; or we want to be a leader and want the enriching life of being enlightened mokṣa, for all these purposes, we don't need anything other than the Mahābharāt!

Study each character. We will not find any more characters in our life than the characters described in the Mahābharāt!

Any character we see in our life is mapped to Mahābharāt's one character. They are either half or full representation of some character.

To know how to handle them and even handle yourself, just see how Śrī Kṛṣṇa handles them and handle them the same way. The Mahābharāt war is a representation of life as it was lived in that age.

Vyāsa, its author is an unbiased historian who recorded the whole history as it happened without trying to apply any makeup. People ask whether the Mahābharāt war happened at all!

If the Mahābharāt was a story and not history, Vyāsa should receive multiple Pulitzer prizes for his highly creative work! The Mahābharāt is the longest literary work in the whole world with hundred thousand Saṃskṛit verses—the longest poem ever written with such delicate harmony of unmatched poetic perfection. It is larger than the Greek epics. Vyāsa had no computer, no tape recorder with speech-to-text capabilities. He dictated and Bhagavān Ganeṣa wrote it down!

• Yudhiṣṭra is embodiment of Integrity the power of words, vāk śakti.
• Bhīma is embodiment of Authenticity the power of thoughts, mano śakti.

Arjuna is embodiment of Responsibility—the power of feeling, prema śakti.

• Sahadeva is embodiment of Enriching the power of living, ātma śakti.

  • Nakula is embodiment of causing reality for others.

• Śakuni, the maternal uncle of Duryodhana embodies the pattern of self-hatred, which is cunningness personified.

• Droṇa represents all the best knowledge one imbibes and the teachers one encounters, who guide us but are unable to take us through to the ultimate flowering of enlightenment. It is difficult to give them up since one feels grateful to them. This is where the Enlightened Master, the incarnation steps in and guides us.

• Duryodhana, represents one's ego or root-pattern, the most difficult to conquer as it leads one to selfdestruction. One needs the full help of the Master here. It is subtle work and even the Master's help may not be obvious, since at this point, sometimes the ego makes us deny and disconnect from the Master as well.

• Karṇa is the repository of all good deeds and it is his good deeds that stand in the way of his own Enlightenment. Śrī Kṛṣṇa has to take the load of Karṇa's puṇya, his meritorious deeds, before he could be liberated. The Enlightened Master guides one to drop one's attachment to good deeds arising out of what are perceived to be charitable and compassionate intentions. He also shows us that the quest for and the experience of enlightenment is the ultimate act of compassion that one can offer to the world. Bhagavan Ṣri Kṛṣṇa, the 8th most powerful purnāvatar of Ṃaha Viśnu, is the embodiment of pure celebration, boundless love, compassion, and completion.

Bhagavan Ṣri Kṛṣṇa is the only incarnation demonstrating and expressing Ṣarva Ṃangalatva all the auspicious qualities and all dimensions of an avatar during His physical happening. The līla Bhagavan Ṣri Krsna is one of sheer innocence and simplicity, in a peace-loving, diplomatic, conflict-free way.

Karṇa is the repository of all good deeds and it is his good deeds that stand in the way of his own Enlightenment. Śrī Kṛṣṇa has to take the load of Karṇa's puṇya, his meritorious deeds, before he could be liberated. The Enlightened Master guides one to drop one's attachment to good deeds arising out of what are perceived to be charitable and compassionate intentions. He also shows us that the quest for and the experience of enlightenment is the ultimate Till now everyone blames Bhagavan Sri Krishna for this Kurukshetra war but that's the greatest sacrifice Bhagavan Sri Krishna did to save the planet Earth. If Kurukshetra was not conducted at that time under the controlled conditions and direct supervision of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, planet Earth would not have survived more than three years.

act of compassion that one can offer to the world. Bhagavan Ṣri Kṛṣṇa, the 8th most powerful purnāvatar of Ṃaha Viśnu, is the embodiment of pure celebration, boundless love, compassion, and completion. Bhagavan Ṣri Kṛṣṇa is the only incarnation demonstrating and expressing Ṣarva Ṃangalatva all the auspicious qualities a nd all dimensions of an avatar during His physical happening. The līla Bhagavan Ṣri Krsna is one of sheer innocence and The wide spread availability of the Astra shastras without Shastra, without the knowledge and vision, was posing a huge threat to the whole of humanity and planet Earth, and for life itself. The greatest achievement of Bhagavan Sri Krishna is destroying all the weapons in one controlled condition and saving planet earth, eliminating the nuclear weapons and the knowledge of these nuclear weapons to save humanity from total annihilation.

simplicity, in a peace-loving, diplomatic,

conflict-free way.

Bhagavad Gītā appears in the heart of Mahābhārat in Bhīṣma Parva, the sixth chapter of its eighteen chapters. Veda Vyāsa, the narrator, in glorifying the Gītā sings, 'the one who drinks the water of Ganges (the sacred river for Hindus) attains liberation, what to speak of the one who drinks the nectar of Gītā?

Gītā is the essential nectar of the Mahābhārat, bhāratamṛta sarvasvam as it is directly spoken by Nārāyaṇa, Bhagavān kṛṣṇa Himself.'

The armies assembled in the vast field of Kurukṣetra, now in the state of Haryana in modern day Bharat. All the kings and princes were related to one another, and were often on opposite sides. Facing the Kaurava army and his friends, relatives and teachers, Arjuna was overcome by remorse and guilt, and wanted to walk away from the battle out of total powerlessness unbecoming an invincible warrior among warriors.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa's dialogue with Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra out of His utmost concern and love for him and humanity is the content of Bhagavad Gītā. Of its seven hundred and forty-five (745) verses, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa sings the Gītā in six hundred and twenty (620) verses responding to Arjuna's fifty-seven (57) enquiries.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa persuades Arjuna to give-up his powerlessness unfitting an Ārya—the spiritually evolved one who understands human life and urges him to raise himself again as Parantapa—the conqueror of enemy, and take up arms and vanquish his enemies. They are already dead,' says Śrī Kṛṣṇa, 'All those who are facing you have been already killed by Me. Go ahead and do what you have to do. That is your responsibility. Do not worry about the outcome. Leave that to Me.'

Authored by

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

arjuna uvāca sannyāsaṁ karmaṇāṁ kṛṣṇa punaryogaṁ ca śaṁsasi I yacchreya etayorekaṁ tanme brūhi suniścitaṁ Arjuna says: Oh Kṛṣṇa, you asked me to renounce work first and then you asked me to work with devotion. Will you now please tell me, definitely, which of the two will be more beneficial to me?

Before measuring life in terms of success or failure, one should know how this success is to be measured in the first place

śrībhagavānuvāca sannyāsaḥ karmayogaś ca niḥśreyasakarāvubhau tayostu karma-sannyāsāt karmayogo viśiṣyate

Bhagavān says: The renunciation of work [sannyāsa] and work in devotion [karmayoga] are both good for liberation. But, of the two, work in devotional service is better than renunciation of work.

What we are doing is not important, who we are being is important

jñeyaḥ sa nityasannyāsī yo na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣati nirdvandvo hi mahābāho sukhaṁ bandhātpramucyate

He who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities has renounced. Such a person, free from all dualities, easily overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated, Oh Arjuna!

Do something enriching just for the sake of enriching, not for any purpose."

sāṅkhyayogau pṛthagbālāḥ pravadanti na paṇḍitāḥ ekamapyāsthitaḥ samyag ubhayorvindate phalam

Only the ignorant, not the wise, speaks of the path of action [karma-yoga] to be different from the path of renunciation [sāṅkhya yoga]. Those who are actually learned say that one who is firmly established in either of the paths, achieves the fruit of both.

Work without motivation is the only real work. It will never make us tired! Every moment we will be working out of bliss.

Helping you realize your possibility and supporting you to complete with your self-doubt is Kuṇḍalini Awakening. Constantly turning many impossibilities into possibilities by playing that within human laws, rules and regulations is the job of an Incarnation. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, who is the possibility of all Incarnations, teaches us how to reach our true state. This is what the word samādhi means—to go back to our true nature.

We will never get an answer or solve a problem if we start thinking about which would be more beneficial. Before we evaluate the benefits of something, we should be clear about the scale we want to use to measure the benefits. What is beneficial for one person may be completely useless for another.

Karma or Sannyāsa, What is my path? Again and again, all of us ask ourselves this question. The mind is in dilemma! The mind asks for a single instruction! Our mind will be alive as long as we are caught between any two extremes. The moment we come to any single conclusion we will be liberated. We will be ignorant as long as we are moving from one extreme to the other. Don't say 'Ignorance is bliss.' If ignorance is bliss why are so many people suffering on this planet? Ignorance is not bliss. Innocence is bliss.

To overcome this isolation, this incompletion we need to realize that no man is an island. We are all connected at the spiritual level.

Innocence means we will not carry a scale with which we are continuously measuring our life. Ignorance means we will have a scale but we will not be able to fulfill our life according to that scale.

Here, Arjuna is in a dilemma as to which of the two is more beneficial for him. If we look into life as a utility, as some means to a benefit, then we are creating our own hell. If we reduce life to this, we will be in hell.

If we constantly try to see which of two things is more beneficial, it means we have a pure business mind. We can't do business with life. At some point we need to relax from the business mind. I always tell people, 'For at least half an hour per day, do some enriching which will not get dollars for you— some painting, some writing.'

Enrich just for the sake of enriching. You will see that during that half hour, you will fall into your very being; which is the space of completion!

You can also enrich at some place of worship by cleaning it without expecting anything in return. Engage yourself in any form of selfless enriching activity. Serve food to people. Even while volunteering, we do it so that we can tell others about it and get applauded for it. So now at least for 30 minutes, authentically enrich with responsibility, without the cognition of getting yourself any benefit.

The question concerning Karma and Sannyāsa—responsibility and renunciation— has been asked from time immemorial, and each time it has been answered. Yet this question remains.

Somebody asked me, 'Why is the Gītā still relevant today?' I said, 'Because we never learned it.' Although Gītā was uttered at least 5,000 years ago it is still relevant today. Why? It is simply because man has not listened and he has not learnt his lesson yet! History repeats itself. Man is not even aware of what he is going after. He thinks he wants something and runs after it. But by the time he gets his hands on it, he wants something else. So there is a constant restlessness, powerlessness within. This puts man in constant incompletion, dissatisfaction and depression. Listen! By merely flooding completion into this depression you can get out of it.

Everyday at least for forty-two minutes, consciously decide to do the selfcompletion process, svapūrṇatva kriya. Decide consciously to be complete: 'Let me sit and face my powerlessness and complete with my patterns. Let me restore my space of completion today.' Tell yourself, 'I will allow the cognition of completion to enter into my consciousness this week. I will solve all my problems only with this complete cognition. I create the space of completion.

Let us deeply analyze these paths of Karma and Sannyāsa. Karma is normally out of greed and desires. Sannyāsa is always invariably out of fear, bhaya. There is a fear of life. When you are not ready to take the risk, you renounce everything. In the entire world, only three types of human beings exist: One who has surrendered to greed, one who has surrendered to fear and the one who has surrendered to the supreme intelligence, divine consciousness.

Let all our feelings, let all our mental thoughts, let all our physical deeds be directed towards gratitude to the Divine.

Don't work out of fear or greed, because no matter how much we achieve out of greed, we will not be fulfilled. It is like pouring ghee (clarified butter) into the fire. Can we quench fire by pouring ghee into it? Never!

Never work out of greed because whatever we achieve is going to be taken away at the time of death. Never become silent and inactive out of fear because there is really nothing to lose. Whether we are afraid or not, everything is going to be taken away at the time of death. So why be afraid? In either case, why not be blissful?

To help the children understand what Kṛṣṇa answers to the old question concerning Karma and Sannyāsa — responsibility and renunciation.

• 1. Why do we need a scale to measure?
• 2. What happens when we come to any single conclusion?
• 3. Why can't we do business with life?
• 4. Can we do enriching without a purpose?
• 5. What are ways we can enrich others? Is ignorance bliss? Is innocence bliss?
• 6. Why is the Gītā still relevant today?
• 7. What happens when ghee (clarified butter) is poured into the fire?

Part 2: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5

• 1. Paper
• 2. Pencil (or) Sketch pen

Write or draw matching pairs of extremes. For example, hot and cold, near and far, lazy and busy

Our mind will be alive as long as we are caught between any two extremes.

TV or laptop for children to watch a video

Show a video of a homa where ghee is added to the fire and the fire responds. Talk about What catches fire easily and what does not catch fire easily, and to be careful around fire That when you are greedy and want more, then even when you get something it is not enough

When we are acting from greed, no matter how much we achieve, we will not be fulfilled. It is like pouring ghee (clarified butter) into the fire.

Help the children to hold Vaakyartha Sadhas on the paths of Karma and Sannyāsa. Karma is normally out of greed and desires. Sannyāsa is always invariably out of fear, bhaya.

We can't do business with life. Life itself is a benefit.

Authored by

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

yat sāṅkhyaiḥ prāpyate sthānaṁ tad yogairapi gamyate ekaṁ sāṅkhyaṁ ca yogaṁ ca yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati

He who knows, knows that the state reached by renunciation (sankhya) and action (karma) are one and the same. State reached by renunciation can also be achieved by action,

Sometimes you are an optimist and sometimes you are a pessimist. Both can lead to the same goal if the inner space is pure and complete.

sannyāsastu mahābāho duḥkhamāptumayogataḥ yogayukto munirbrahma na cireṇādhigacchati

Renunciation without devotional service afflicts one with misery, Oh mightyarmed one. The wise person engaged in devotional service attains the Supreme without delay.

When we are complete and ecstatic, flowing spontaneously in tune with the wonderful symphony of Existence, we are true brahmacāris.

yogayukto viśuddhātmā vijitātmā jitendriyaḥ sarvabhūtātma-bhūtātmā kurvannapi na lipyate

The person engaged in devoted service, beyond concepts pure and impure, selfcontrolled and who has conquered the senses is compassionate and loves everyone, although engaged in work, he is never entangled.

Have the courage to live life with intelligence, with consciousness and completion, with spontaneity. Just this small shift in your space can do wonders for you; every moment will then be a celebration!

naiva kiñcitkaromīti yukto manyeta tattvavit paśyan śṛṇvan spṛśañ jighrann aśnan gacchan svapañ śvasan

One who knows the truth, though engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, dreaming, and breathing, always knows within himself that he never does anything.

When we are so involved in the action, when we are completely relaxed, we are overflowing with compassion and love, and we just do out of the blissful energy in us

pralapan visṛjan gṛhṇann unmiṣannimiṣannapi indriyāṇīndriyārtheṣu vartanta iti dhārayan

'I never do anything at all.' While talking, letting go, receiving, opening, closing, he considers that the senses are engaged with their sense objects.

Understand that the senses, body and mind are not us. We are something much beyond these.

Who is an optimist and who is a pessimist? An optimist is a man who created the airplane. A pessimist is a man who created the seat-belt. In life you always play both the roles. Sometimes you are an optimist and sometimes you are a pessimist. Here, both can lead to the same goal if the inner space is pure and complete. Please listen: Whenever we move our body while feeling a particular emotion, that emotion gets settled inside our system. That emotion will become part of us and get created again and again in our system. Jiḍḍu Kṛṣṇamurti, an Enlightened Master from Bharat, made a wonderful statement about emotions. He says, 'If you can, try to remain centered, silent, without moving your body when a particular emotion rises in you, without cooperating with it. Within eleven times, or I can say within eleven emotional upsets, if you have managed to be this way, you will be liberated from that emotion.'

With integrity and authenticity, eleven times is too much. When that emotion rises in you, don't cooperate. Let your body not go after that emotion. Don't be taken away by that emotion. Just decide, 'I am not going to be taken away by this emotion. I am completing with it.' I tell you, within three or four times, you will be liberated from that emotion because you will learn the technique of completion.

When you come down to this planet, you bring enough energy to live all your desires or to achieve whatever you want to achieve in this life; to create your reality as you want. You have already brought enough fuel. You don't need fuel from fear or greed.

Work only for your desires. Don't waste your life working for others' desires. Decide clearly, 'For the next ten days, I will work only out of my power, my joy and bliss. I will do everything out of my completion.' I can assure you, it will transform your life.

When you start practicing this, for the first few days you will feel a little unsettled because a new inner space is created. Say 'No' to any desire or any fear that comes up. Initially, you will feel some emptiness, a vacuum, but don't worry. In a few days you will beautifully settle with the new space. Don't worry when you fail a few times. Starting this way is much better than staying in fear of failure. So start! At least you will know the technique. I tell you with integrity, it will transform your whole life. It will give you such great strength and courage that invariably you will be liberated.

Remove the tremendous stress and load from your inner space. Decide, 'For ten days, I will do all my actions out of deep bliss, out of a settled mood of

powerfulness and joy.'

In Saṃskṛit, 'Śiva' means causeless auspiciousness, reasonless energy. It is possible to live with that reasonless, unmotivated energy. Only two things are needed for that. The first thing is trust that you have that energy. The next thing is starting to live it. Only these two things are needed to reach the Divine Consciousness. When we start working with the causeless auspicious energy, we become Śiva. Otherwise, we are Śava (dead body).

When we use the word 'renounce' the way we understand it, we exclude something. Exclusion can never be the solution. When we say 'I should give up or avoid something', we exclude some creation of Existence. When we try to renounce the world, we are renouncing the creation of Existence. We are trying to prove that we are more intelligent than Existence.

Just sit down for five minutes and be aware of how you perceive situations. With completion and awareness, look at everything you think and do, and you can understand what I mean. When we come to an understanding of our own self and are able to live as a witness to everything that goes on around us, unaffected by situations and people around us, we become a realized soul, living enlightenment. If we do things fuelled by fear and greed, we become hypocrites.

In the Mahābhārat war, Kṛṣṇa drives Arjuna's chariot. The horses represent the senses held beautifully in control by the divine charioteer. He drives the being represented by the warrior, in the body represented by the chariot towards victory, towards bliss.

When the individual consciousness surrenders control to the Divine, the Divine controls the body-mind-spirit and steers one towards one's true nature, bliss.

We have forgotten what it is to respond with intelligence. No situation can be exactly the same as before. How can it be? Can a river flow in exactly the same way at two different points? The very water would have changed from the time it flows from one point to the other. Life is like a river. It is continuously changing.

Existence is energy. It can never repeat itself. Every moment is unique.

It is just like when we are in a dream, we don't realize it is a dream. We think everything that is happening is reality. The moment we wake up from the dream we realize in a flash that it was just a dream. The way we are living life now is exactly the same. We are living life in the dream of the future and the past. And we think that the dream is reality.

The reality is actually in the present, which is the space of completion. When we realize this, we simply wake up to the true reality from the dream of illusion. Then, we understand that the senses, body and mind are not us. We are something much beyond these. With this awareness we become complete and blissful.

For the children to understand they do not need fear or greed to live their life. To understand that we should live from completion and awareness, unaffected by situations and people around us.

brahmaṇy ādhāya karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ lipyate na sa pāpena padmapatram ivāmbhasā

He, who acts without attachment, giving up and surrendering to the eternal consciousness, He is never affected by sin, in the same way that the lotus leaf is not affected by water.

The lotus flower grows in a dirty pond yet the flower is so beautifully above the water. Similarly, when you are neck-deep in the activities of the world and yet unaffected by what goes on, you have reached the goal of renunciation.

kāyena manasā buddhyā kevalair indriyairapi yoginaḥ karma kurvanti saṅgaṁ tyaktvātmaśuddhaye

The yogis, giving up attachment, act with the body, mind, intelligence, even with the senses for the purpose selfpurification.

Realized souls are so centered in themselves that the outer world incidents happening do not affect their core in any way.

yuktaḥ karmaphalaṁ tyaktvā śāntimāpnoti naiṣṭhikīm ayuktaḥ kāma-kāreṇa phale sakto nibadhyate

One who is engaged in devotion, gives up attachment to outcome of one's actions and is centered, is at peace. One who is not engaged in devotion, attached to the outcome of one's action becomes entangled.

Surrender to the flow of life with the true understanding that we are being taken care of.

sarvakarmāṇi manasā sannyasyāste sukhaṁ vaśī navadvāre pure dehī naiva kurvanna kārayan

One who is controlled, giving up all the activities of the mind, surely remains in happiness in the city of nine gates (body), neither doing anything nor causing anything to be done.

Be so completely involved in something that we become the very action itself.

Time and again Kṛṣṇa talks about detachment. This is the whole essence of the Gītā. This detachment is renunciation. Renunciation of attachment is true renunciation. You can give up all material possessions and move into a forest or an ashram, but if the mind still hankers for those possessions, renunciation has not happened.

One can still be very much in the material world, busy with wheeling and dealing, and yet be totally detached about the outcome.

The basic truth behind creating this space of centeredness and completion is really this: Existence is a loving Mother caring for us every moment, providing all that we need. When this understanding happens, we surrender to Existence. The wave drops into the ocean, blissfully aware that it is a part of the ocean. It no longer feels it is a separate entity trying to fight Existence, thinking that the ocean, the Whole, is its enemy

Again and again, Kṛṣṇa is repeating a single point in various ways: action without attachment. He emphasizes that life happens only when we live as a witness to everything that happens, when we do not identify and attach with external incidents. We just have to watch what is happening in and around us without letting what happens outside affect our inner space.

Of course, the way in which we live automatically creates an effect, a transformation in others as well. We attract incidents that fall in tune with our desires and thoughts. When we are blissful inside, whatever happens outside will also be blissful.

Even the same situation will be seen in a completely different way when we witness it with completion. Automatically, no emotion can sway us because now we are just witnessing, we no longer have any vested interest or incompletion in the situation. Our state is in no way affected by what others say or do. Then, we are Masters unto ourselves.

Kṛṣṇa gives us a technique to realize who we are. By giving up attachment to the sense objects, by dropping all false identifications with the body, senses and mind, we can live life with intelligence and this leads us to self-purification, selfcompletion.

Once a man went to Ramaṇa Mahaṛṣi, and said, 'Bhagavān, I want peace!' Ramaṇa replied, 'From your own statement, just remove the word 'I,' remove the word 'want' and what remains is peace!'

All our want for peace is all a want. When we start to want peace, we create desires in us. That desire drives us to do various things for getting peace and we once again start to worry about the results of those actions. These worries take us away from peace and then again we want peace. So this becomes a vicious circle. When we drop the idea of wanting peace, when we can just be and let Existence take care, peace automatically happens. So, absence of want is the criterion to be peaceful.

Suppose a child is playing with some small toy and you bring him a new big toy. If you take away the small toy from its hands, what will the child do? It will start yelling and crying. Even if you explain you have a much better, bigger toy, will it listen? No! Just give it the new toy and suddenly, it will forget the old one and start enjoying the new one. In the same way, Existence also tries to give us a big toy. Just imagine the kind of toy that Existence has given us—the whole of Itself! Enjoy it to the fullest. Celebrate it and express your gratitude!

Just live life in a simple way. Be complete every moment, enjoying the splendor of nature. Enjoy every thing that Existence has created. They will show us what it is to enjoy life without a reason

In these verses, Kṛṣṇa refers to the body, which has nine gates to the external world: the two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, mouth and the two organs of evacuation.

Here, Kṛṣṇa does not refer to not doing anything out of laziness and indulgence. Here, the mind has been stilled. It has stopped all activity but the body moves according to the will of the divine. We are in the midst of intense activity and yet are not doing anything.

Kṛṣṇa is talking of being so completely involved in something that we become the very action itself. It is not the action that gives us the joy but the conscious experience of the bliss within us through the action that actually gives us happiness and bliss.

When we realize through experience or understanding that the bliss in life is completely within us, we will get over our wrong cognition that external pleasures are what give us joy. We will relax into the loving arms of Existence and just flow with it beautifully. Let the Universe take care and you carry on with your work!

To help the children understand action without attachment. That the conscious experience of the bliss within us through the action is what actually gives us happiness and bliss.

• 1. What is true renunciation?
• 2. What does Existence provide for us?
• 3. Are we separate to Existence?
• 4. When we are blissful inside, what happens on our outside?
• 5. How can we achieve that no emotion can sway us ?
• 6. When we look at a situation with completion and without completion, will we see the same situation?
• 7. What technique does Kṛṣṇa give us to realize who we are?
• 8. What are the 'nine gates' of our body?
• 9. Who does Kṛṣṇa say should be lazy, the mind or the body?
• 10. How does Kṛṣṇa say we should do actions?

Part 3: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5

• 1. Cardboard cut into squares, the approximate size of the tassel
• 2. Wool or yarn
• 3. Scissors

• 1. Wrap the yarn around the cardboard 20 times or more
• 2. At one end of the cardboard, thread some extra yarn through all the wrapped yarn and make a tight knot
• 3. At the opposite end of the cardboard, cut the yarn. Remove the cardboard
• 4. A little below your first knot, tie a second pierce of yarn around all the threads to form the tassel shape

We can live as a witness to everything that happens - the loose ends of the tassel move freely like our actions we are witnessing

Small Ball

Each pair of children gets a ball to throw to their partner. A child only is successful in their throw if their partner is able to catch their throw. So the children need to take care to throw in a way that is helpful for their partner to catch.

Experience the bliss within us through an action without attachment

Hold Vaakyartha Sadhas with the children on how to be "in the midst of intense activity and yet are not doing anything." What is the mind doing ? What is the body doing ?

Review the important understandings about action without attachment.

Authored by

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

na kartṛtvaṁ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ na karmaphalasaṁyogaṁ svabhāvas tu pravartate

The master does not create activities nor makes people do nor connects with the outcome of the actions. All this is enacted by the material nature.

Everything that exists has always existed in some form or the other. It will continue to exist in some form or the other.

nādatte kasyacitpāpaṁ na caiva sukṛtaṁ vibhuḥ ajñānenāvṛtaṁ jñānaṁ tena muhyanti jantavaḥ

The Lord, surely, neither accepts anyone's sins nor good deeds. Living beings are confused by the ignorance that covers the knowledge.

The mirror in which God sees Himself is man. Can the reflection be a separate entity from what it is reflecting? No!

jñānena tu tadajñānaṁ yeṣāṁ nāśitamātmanaḥ teṣāmādityavajjñānaṁ prakāśayati tatparam

Whose ignorance is destroyed by the knowledge, their knowledge, like the rising sun, throws light on the supreme consciousness.

Consciously decide that you will face every moment with deep completion, with deep ecstasy. The very decision will transform your life. Not only will you feel total and complete, you will radiate the bliss to others as well.

tadbuddhayas tad-ātmānas tan-niṣṭhās tat parāyaṇāḥ gacchanty apunar-āvṛttiṁ jñāna-nirdhūta-kalmaṣāḥ

One whose intelligence, mind, faith are in the Supreme and one who has surrendered to the Supreme, his misunderstandings are cleansed through knowledge and he goes towards liberation.

The light of knowledge dispels the ignorance and we realize the state in which we have always been.

Kṛṣṇa gives a very deep understanding here. He says, 'I do not create activities or make people do or connect with the fruits of the actions. All this is done by the material nature of humans.'

Kṛṣṇa is talking about the creation of the Universe itself here, not just about individuals. Understand, nothing in this Universe can be created or destroyed. Everything that exists has always existed in some form or the other. It will continue to exist in some form or the other.

Science also says the same thing that matter and energy are interconvertible and energy can never be destroyed. The beauty of the Vedas is that they say what science is now understanding

The End or The Beginning? People ask me, 'Who created this Univers?

The Universe itself is the creator, the created and the creation. If the creator and the creation were different, it means that the Creator is more intelligent than the creation. But the creation and the Creator are one and the same; they are both divine.

The game of life is all about man trying to realize the Divine in him and the Divine trying to express itself through man.

What Kṛṣṇa teaches here is actually a sūtra, a technique. Understand, when you are disturbed or angered by anything, the disturbance cannot disappear suddenly because it is a physiological happening. Your hormones have been released into your system; the body has been poisoned.

But when you remain in the space of completion as a witness, even though the anger cannot go away immediately, there is the awareness in you that will dissipate the effect of the anger that remains in the periphery. The center, the core is untouched. You are now aware of these two points, the core and the periphery as two distinct identities co-existing.

This one glimpse will enrich you and become the strong support for you. The next time you see that you are being swayed by incompletions, you will remember this and such awareness will make you conscious and complete. This is what is meant by the term 'being centered in completion.' You are no longer a slave to your emotions, or to others.

The light of knowledge dispels the ignorance and we realize the state in which we have always been. We cannot remove the darkness directly. Ignorance also can be removed by just shining the light of knowledge on it! Just like the rising sun removes the darkness of the night, the light of knowledge dispels the darkness of ignorance.

Kṛṣṇa gives us another technique to liberate ourselves. He says surrender leads to liberation, and happens when one's intelligence is focused on Him.

All we need is the faith, the courage of authenticity to allow the supreme intelligence to guide us, to surrender our mind that oscillates between the extremes. The knowledge removes the ignorance.

In times of extreme self-doubt, doubt your ego. Never doubt the Master. The Master is the only truth you can cling to when all else gives way. The Master is the only one who can guide you when everything seems to be confusing.

To help children understand that the Universe always existed, and is it's own creator, created and creation To understand how from the space of completion you can be a witness to your anger Help them understand that knowledge is like a light that removes the darkness of ignorance

• 1. Did the Universe ever not exist?
• 2. Does science agree with the Vedas on the existence of the Universe?
• 3. How does awareness help when our anger releases hormones into our body?
• 4. Who can guide us when everything seems confusing?
• 5. Why do Masters come to mankind?
• 6. What are the three energies that the Master lives?

• 1. Paper
• 2. Pens
• 3. Colouring pens
• 4. Examples or pictures of certificates like degrees, diplomas or other training certificates to show

Show the example certificates and explain that these are presented to people who have gained knowledge on something. Then get the children to make themselves a certificate for all the learnings they have gained from the Bagavad Gita. Even this one lesson has added to their knowledge.

• Sticky tape as many pieces of paper as there are children, each with one word such as:
• Universe
• Agamas
• Creator
• Completion
• Knowledge
• Guru
• Teachings

Attach a paper on each of the children's backs so it is readable. Don't show the word to the child who you are sticking it to. The children move around asking each other questions until they find out which word is on their back.

Allow the supreme intelligence to guide us

Hold Vaakyartha Sadhas on how each child has experienced anger, and how they can apply their learning from this lesson on the hormones in the body because of the anger, and the benefit of awareness

Just like the rising sun removes the darkness of the night, the light of knowledge dispels the darkness of ignorance.

Authored by

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

vidyā-vinaya-saṁpanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini śuni caiva śvapāke ca paṇḍitāḥ samadarśinaḥ

One who is full of knowledge and compassion sees equally the learned brāhmaṇa, the cow, the elephant, the dog and the dog-eater.

ihaiva tairjitaḥ sargo yeṣāṁ sāmye sthitaṁ manaḥ nirdoṣaṁ hi samaṁ brahma tasmād brahmaṇi te sthitāḥ

In this life, surely, those whose minds are situated in equanimity have conquered birth and death. They are flawless like the Supreme and therefore, are situated in the Supreme.

We move seamlessly from birth through living into death and again into birth.

na prahṛṣyetpriyaṁ prāpya nodvijet prāpya cāpriyam sthirabuddhir asaṁmūḍho brahmavid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ

One who does not rejoice at achieving something he likes nor gets agitated on getting something he does not like, who is of steady intelligence, who is not deluded, one who knows the Supreme, is situated in the Supreme.

Kṛṣṇa says that one who is of steady intelligence, one who does not get caught in the play of opposing emotions or patterns like pleasure and pain, happiness and misery, is established in the Supreme, is Supreme himself.

bāhyasparśeṣvasaktātmā vindatyātmani yatsukham sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā sukhamakṣayamaśnute

One who is not attached to the outer world sense pleasures, who enjoys in the Self, in that happiness, he, having identified with his Self by engaging in the Supreme [brahmayoga], enjoys unlimited happiness.

Kṛṣṇa advises us to turn inwards. Move away from your senses, move into your Source

Kṛṣṇa succinctly explains the neutrality and equanimity of Existence. Existence has no favorites.

Kṛṣṇa says there is no difference between a human and an animal, and that there is no difference between those we consider to be saints and those we consider to be sinners. A learned scholar, the priest and the brāhmaṇa should be seen as equal to an animal or a person who eats dogs. Even more dramatically, He says that one in full knowledge sees the dog and the dog-eater as the same.

Existence sees everyone as equal. It does not discriminate. Everyone is a part of the same Existence. Similarly, Masters see the whole world as one with their own selves. That is why only they can show compassion to anyone and everyone.

When we see the eternal, blissful being as the core of each and every one of us, we will realize the inherent divine nature of each of us.

Classifications of lower species and higher species, good and bad are all made by society and by our minds, not by Existence. Only human beings think they are more intelligent than the rest of Nature!

When we just realize this very life is a divine gift to us, our attitude changes from taking life for granted to one of gratitude to Existence for everything! With every breath that you take every moment,

The life energy flows into you and keeps you alive. We take for granted the life energy that converts bread into blood. The mind continuously runs behind 'more and more.'

Kṛṣṇa goes on to explain the characteristics of one who is Supreme. He says that one who is of steady intelligence, one who does not get caught in the play of opposing emotions or patterns like pleasure and pain, happiness and misery, is truly not deluded and is established in the truth, and in the Supreme.

This is actually a sūtra, a technique that Kṛṣṇa gives. If we put our attention neither on pleasure nor on pain, but between the two, we actually go beyond both and transcend the play of the mind.

What do we normally do? If we are in pain, we try to run away from it. If we are in pleasure, we try to cling onto it. Understand that both pleasure and pain are of the mind. They are based on our saṁskāras, root thought patterns from our past. They are not of the being.

For example, if we have a headache, don't try to resist it. Just witness it. As the tree is there, as the night is there, so also the headache is there. On the other hand, if we are very happy, don't try to cling onto it. Whether it is happiness or pain, just be a witness to it.

Normally we either suppress or express our desires. Suppression does not lead to elimination of that desire. It temporarily blocks access, but that desire will rise with renewed vigor again. Expression also does not mean completion. Again and again, the desire will rise even after repeated expression because we rarely experience anything with completion.

Karma is nothing but unfulfilled desire that makes us repeat the same experience again and again, simply because we do not have the intelligence to enter into that experience with complete awareness. Once we experience the situation with awareness and complete with it, we will not be the doer, the deed or the doing. We will transcend all three. We will transcend our karma.

When we are situated in the core of our being, when we are one with the Self, we are not shaken by the emotions that happen on the periphery. It is like a rock that is standing in the ocean. The waves of the emotions are continuously lashing against the rock, but the rock still stands unperturbed, established in completion. The happiness arises from our very being, from our Self. It is unlimited eternal bliss because it cannot be stopped by any external agent, thus says Kṛṣṇa.

For the children to understand that Existence has no favorites. All comparisons and hierarchies are man made. Understand that birth and death are passages. Neither is a beginning nor an end. To help children understand that instead of looking for fulfillment and solutions outside of ourselves, the real solution lies inside.

• 1. Who or what are the favourites of Existence?
• 2. Who created classifications like lower species and higher species, good and bad?
• 3. What does the mind continuously want?
• 4. Why do many people fear death?
• 5. What are the characteristics of one who is Supreme?
• 6. What should we do when we get a headache? What is karme?

7. When we see ourselves like a rock unshaken by waves, what are we stopping from shaking us?

1. Paper 2. Colouring Pens

Get the children to draw pairs of beings that look or act very different to one another, for example, a giraffe (tall) with a mouse (short), an elephant (heavy) with a grasshopper (light), a snake (smooth) with a hedgehog or porcupine (prickly), a bird (can fly) with a fish (can swim)

Have a long list of prepared questions. About half should be easy ones like "what is your mother's name" or "what is the colour of grass". The other half should be difficult ones like "Tell me the first six numbers of the special number pi that is used to calculate the area of a circle".

Have the children sit in a circle and rapid-fire ask questions going round the circle. Start with easy questions and get the children comfortable with being able to answer. Then start adding in difficult questions. Avoid all negative responses to a child not being able to answer. Just keep going round the circle. Acknowledge a child saying they do not know an answer as being truthful.

When we are situated in the core of our being, we are not shaken by the emotions that happen

Part 4: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5

Get the children to hold Vaakyartha Sadhas on all the examples they have seen where something or someone has been classified higher or lower. For example, that a father talks about better cars. Or a teacher tells a student they are 'slow' in a negative voice. Let them discuss how this is different to Existence who sees everyone as equal.

When we have the intelligence to enter into an experience with complete awareness, then we transcend our karma

Authored by

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

ye hi saṁsparśajā bhogā duḥkhayonaya eva te ādyantavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ

The intelligent person surely does not enjoy the sense pleasures, enjoyments which are sources of misery and which are subject to beginning and end.

"First, let us get our body and mind under our control."

śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṁ prākśarīravimokṣaṇāt kāmakrodhodbhavaṁ vegaṁ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ

Before leaving this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges of material senses and check the force of desire and anger, he is well situated and he is happy in this world.

Only a person who has gone beyond greed and fear can relax into his being. He will know what his place is in this planet Earth.

yo 'ntaḥsukho'ntarārāmas tathāntar-jyotir eva yaḥ sa yogī brahman-irvāṇaṁ brahmabhūto'dhigacchati

One who is happy from within, active within as well as illumined within, surely, is a Yogi and he is liberated in the Supreme [brahma-nirvāṇa], is Selfrealized and attains the Supreme

When we are completely immersed in the present moment, we enjoy the path. When the path itself becomes the goal, we enjoy the goal also every moment.

labhante brahma-nirvāṇam ṛṣayaḥ kṣīṇakalmaṣāḥ chinn-advaidhā yatātmānaḥ sarvabhūtahite ratāḥ

Those, whose sins have been destroyed, who have dispelled the dualities arising from doubts, whose minds are engaged within, and who are working for the welfare of other beings, attain the eternal liberation in the Supreme [brahma-nirvāṇa].

Only when we work out of bliss, we will do things to enrich others and ourselves

kāmakrodhaviyuktānāṁ yatīnāṁ yatacetasām abhito brahmanirvāṇaṁ vartate viditātmanām

They who are free from lust and anger, who have subdued the mind and senses, and who have known the Self, easily attain liberation [brahmanirvāṇa].

When we feel genuine love for others, we will take up responsibility because we want to share that blissful love with others around us.

If we don't fuel our being with fear and greed, suddenly, we will see a new clarity. We will start working out of intelligence, out of Divine Consciousness, out of Eternal Bliss. Just decide, 'Whatever I do out of greed will only result in more greed. I have been getting nowhere. Enough!' In the same way, if we are escaping from something out of fear, decide, 'Alright, how long can I escape? This fear will come and attack me in some other form. If I am afraid of this now, I will be afraid of something else later. So let me face it now.'

Again and again, Kṛṣṇa declares, 'Let you live in the space of completion. Let you work out of bliss.' And I tell you, if you are complete and work out of bliss, you will create bliss for yourself and for others; you will never know what tiredness is.

Let me tell you honestly that I still can't understand the meaning of the word 'tiredness.' How can you have tiredness? Tiredness is the inner contradiction between the icchā śakti (power of desire) and kriya śakti (power of action), between your being and your action. Inside, there is a deep problem. Your greed and fear are attacking each other. If we are feeling tired, it means there is a big war going on inside you. The Mahābhārat war between fear and greed is happening within you.

Why do we feel tired? We feel tired when we are not integrated within ourselves. One half of our being that wants to express itself but we have suppressed it for various societal reasons. The other half of our being is what is expressing itself in the manner that we are forcing it to. When we become tired, the suppressed, unconscious half of us becomes more powerful than the conscious, pretentious half, and it starts dominating.

First, let us get our body and mind under our control. As of now, it is under the control of fear or greed. Let that be controlled by us. Then, automatically, we can get anything under our control. If our body and mind are not under our control, whatever we wish to bring under our control will never come under our control.

Here is a beautiful sūtra, a beautiful technique from Kṛṣṇa to enter into the supreme consciousness: 'Just be happy, restful and complete from within', says Kṛṣṇa When you are in the space of completion in the present moment with full enthusiasm, you are in a state of bliss. Bliss is the state of joy that has no reason and which is not affected by the past or future.

This is what Kṛṣṇa says: When we are tuned fully inwards, we no longer have any attachment to what happens outside; we are one with the All, the Existence, and we have transcended all karma. We are then in brahma nirvāṇa—the ultimate liberation, one with Existence, and we are in nityānanda, eternal bliss. When we are tuned inwards, we live in the present; the past and future do not exist for us. When we are in the present, we are one with Existence. I call this All- one-ness.

We are All-in-One. We are in the space of Advaita, non-duality. We encompass everything. In this state, we are at the height of spontaneity; we are at the peak of our possibility.

The more responsibility we take up, the more we expand.

With responsibility, we harness the power of feeling. When we feel the space of responsibility, we take it up without any doubts.

Responsibility can happen to you only after completion. If you take responsibility because you have to be a performer, or a leader, or to be productive, you will feel responsibility as a weight on you! Listen! Understand, only when you complete, you will know the right reason for taking responsibility.

Whatever happens in and around you—you ARE the source! That is why you need to take responsibility for whatever is happening in and around you. You need to take responsibility because you are responsible, and not for any other reason. Whether you believe it or not, you ARE the source. When we feel genuine love for others, we will take up responsibility because we want to share that blissful love with others around us. Only when we work out of bliss, we will do things to enrich others and ourselves. Taking responsibility and enriching makes life happen to you! When we take up responsibility spontaneously, we do not act out of fear or greed. We will always be giving.

To understand to live in the space of completion and work out of bliss Help the children understand where tiredness comes from Help them understand responsibility

• 1. What decision can you make to get out of greed?
• 2. What decision can you make to get out of fear?
• 3. What is tiredness?
• 4. Why do we need to get our body and mind under our control?
• 5. What is the technique Kṛṣṇa gives us in this lesson?
• 6. What happens to our attachment to the outside when we are tuned fully inwards?
  • 7. What does Swamiji call being one with Existence?
  • 8. What is the difference between responsibility taken for the right reason and responsibility taken for reasons that are not the right ones?
  • 9. Who is the source for whatever is happening in and around you?

1. Paper 2. Colouring Pens

Challenge the children to find a way to draw that their tiredness is their inner contradiction between icchā śakti (power of desire) and kriya śakti (power of action).

If we are feeling tired, it means the Mahābhārat war between fear and greed is happening within us.

Blindfolds for half the children A few obstacles to place around the room like a cushion, an empty cardboard box, balloon.

Place the obstacles around the room. Put the children into pairs. One of the pair wears a blindfold and the other child is responsible for taking the blindfolded child around the room safely, without bumping or tripping. After a little while, change the roles in the pair. Ask the children how it felt to be responsible for someone else, whether it was a heavy responsibility or a blissful one.

When we feel genuine love for others, we will take up responsibility because we want to share that blissful love with others around us.

Hold Vaakyartha Sadhas with the children on "Whether you believe it or not, you ARE the source." How can they use this lesson at school? At home? With their friends?

Authored by

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

sparśān kṛtvā bahir bāhyāṁś cakṣuś caivāntare bhruvoḥ prāṇāpānau samau kṛtvā nāsābhyantara-cāriṇau

Shutting out all external sense objects, keeping the eyes and vision concentrated between the two eyebrows, suspending the inward and outward breaths within the nostrils and thus controlling the mind

Kṛṣṇa gives a beautiful technique to move your energy from fear and greed to divine consciousness

yatendriya-mano-buddhir munir mokṣaparāyaṇaḥ I vigatecchā-bhayakrodho yaḥ sadā mukta eva saḥ

Senses and intelligence, the transcendental who is aiming at liberation, becomes free from desire, fear and the by-product of desire and fear, anger all three. One who is always in this state is certainly liberated.

Your fear is rooted in the svādiṣṭhāna cakra, the energy center situated two inches below the navel. Your greed is rooted in the mūlādhāra cakra, the energy center that is in the root of your spinal cord. Kṛṣṇa gives us the technique to elevate ourselves from these two cakras, to the eternal consciousness, the ājñā cakra at the brow center

bhoktāraṁ yajñatapasāṁ sarvaloka-maheśvaram suhṛdaṁ sarvabhūtānāṁ jñātvā māṁ śāntimṛcchati

One who knowing Me as the purpose of sacrifice and penance, as the lord of all the worlds and the benefactor of all the living beings, achieves peace.

Kṛṣṇa gives a beautiful technique to move your energy from fear and greed to divine consciousness, eternal consciousness. Your fear is rooted in the svādiṣṭhāna cakra, the energy center situated two inches below the navel. Your greed is rooted in the mūlādhāra cakra, the energy center that is in the root of your spinal cord.

Kṛṣṇa gives us the technique to elevate ourselves from these two cakras to the eternal consciousness, the ājñā cakra at the brow center, where the eternal consciousness resides. When we have elevated our self to ājñā, we go beyond our ego or mind.

1. Please sit straight and close your eyes. Let your head, neck and backbone be in a straight line. Intensely pray to that ultimate energy, Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, to give us the experience of this meditation.

2. First, visualize all your senses completely shut; your eyes are completely closed. Don't allow any visualization to happen inside your being. You should close the eyes too, because we continue to see things from behind our eyelids even though we shut our eyelids. Visualize that your eyeballs have become completely dark. You are seeing only darkness in front of you.

3. Visualize your ears are shut. Visualize your sense of touch is shut. Visualize your smelling capacity is shut. Visualize your face to be shut. Feel deeply that all the five senses have been shut down.

4. Inhale and exhale as slowly as possible. Slowly, let your nostrils blow the air. Let your consciousness reside between the two eyebrows. In a very relaxed way, be aware of the space between your two eyebrows. Don't concentrate; don't tense yourself. Just be very relaxed, have a deeply relaxed awareness.

5. Let your mūlādhāra cakra, located at the base of your spine, be relaxed. Let your svādiṣṭhāna cakra, located just below the navel center, be relaxed. Let your whole consciousness come up to the ājñā cakra, which is between the eyebrows.

6. Concentrate on the space between the eyebrows.

7. Visualize cool, soothing light in the ājñā cakra, in the space between the eyebrows. Relax in the ājñā cakra. Forget all other parts of your body. Forget about the body, mind and the world; remember only the ājñā cakra, the space between the two eyebrows.

8. Go deeply into the ājñā cakra, in the space between the two eyebrows. Visualize a beautiful, cooling, soothing light in the ājñā cakra. Let you experience beautiful, blissful light in the ājñā cakra. Don't tense yourself; let your awareness be in the ājñā cakra in a very relaxed way; let your consciousness rest in the space between the two eyebrows.

9. Relax in the same space of eternal consciousness. Let you be beyond the body and mind. May your intelligence be awakened. Let you work from your eternal consciousness. Let you have the pleasant awareness of the ājñā cakra. Let you all have the grace of the divine consciousness. Let you be established in the eternal consciousness. Let you all be in, with and radiate eternal bliss, nityānanda.

10. Om śānti, śānti, śānti...

• Om tat sat.
• Relax. Slowly, very slowly, you can open your eyes.
• Try to remain in this mood at least for the next ten days.

Understand: Don't concentrate by force. Have a pleasant awareness. Let you learn the science of how to connect yourself with the Divine energy, how to be driven by the Divine Consciousness. Let you live all your possibilities. Let you function through the Eternal Consciousness.

Children to understand: Let your whole energy will be directed towards the Eternal Consciousness

1. How do you move your energy from fear and greed to divine consciousness?
2. Where is your mūlādhāra cakra located?
3. Where is your svādiṣṭhāna cakra located?
4. Where is your ājñā cakra located?
5. What sort of light do you visualise during the meditation?
6. How do we concentrate during meditation?

1. Pieces of shiny or colourful paper (Optional)
2. Scraps of material, pieces of wool and yarn, bits of ribbon
3. Scissors
4. Glue
5. A paper each with the outline of the ājñā cakra

In the mood of the meditation, encourage the children to do a collage of their representation of and colours of the Divine Consciousness.

A blindfold for each child, and mats or yoga cushions to sit on.

Hold the meditation of the lesson.

Kṛṣṇa gives a beautiful technique to move your energy

Hold Vaakyartha Sadhas on concentrating during the meditation, the experiences during the meditation, and how to remain in this mood at least for the next ten days