Your Body Is A Temple
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THE SPH NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM
श्रीभगवानुवाच ।
त्रिविधा भवति श्रद्धा देहिनां सा स्वभावजा ।
सात्त्विकी राजसी चैव तामसी चेति तां शृणु
॥ १७-२ ॥
śrībhagavānuvāca trividhā bhavati
śraddhā dehināṁ sā svabhāvajā sāttvikī
rājasī caiva tāmasī ceti tāṁ śṛṇu
The Supreme Lord says: The natural
authenticity (faith) of embodied beings
is of three kinds: goodness, aggression,
and ignorance. Now hear about these
from Me
POWERFUL COGNITION
If we worship the right ideal, we are established in satva.
17.3
सत्त्वानुरूपा सर्वस्य श्रद्धा भवति भारत ।
श्रद्धामयोऽयं पुरुषो यो यच्छ्रद्धः स एव सः
॥ १७-३॥
sattvānurūpā sarvasya śraddhā bhavati
bhūrata śraddhāmayo'yam puruṣo yo
yacchraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ
O Arjuna, the authenticity of each is in
accordance with one's own natural
disposition. One is known by one's
authenticity. One can become whatever
one wants to be
POWERFUL COGNITION
The key is to be in the space of completion every moment
17.4
यजन्ते सात्त्विका देवान्यक्षरक्षांसि राजसा: ।
प्रेतान्भूतगणांश्चान्ये यजन्ते तामसा जना: ॥ १७-४ ॥
yajante sāttvikā devān yakṣarakṣāṃsi
rājasāḥ pretān-bhūta-gaṇāṁś cānye
yajante tāmasā janāḥ
Men in the nature of goodness worship the deities; those in the nature of aggression worship the demons and those in the nature of ignorance worship ghosts and spirits
POWERFUL COGNITION
Only a person whose nature is pure goodness can connect with the Divine, with Existence
17.5
अशास्त्रविहितं घोरं तप्यन्ते ये तपो जनाः ।
दम्भाहङ्कारसंयुक्ताः कामरागबलान्विताः
॥ १७-५ ॥
aśāstravihitaṁ ghoraṁ tapyante ye tapo
janāḥ dambhāhaṅkārasaṁyuktāḥ
kāmarāgabalānvitāḥ
Ignorant persons of demonic nature are those who practice severe austerities without following the prescription of the scriptures, who are full of hypocrisy and egotism, who are impelled
POWERFUL COGNITION
The body is the temple of God.
17.6
कर्र्षयन्तः शरीरस्थं भूतग्राममचेतसः ।
मां चैवान्तःशरीरस्थं तान्द्विद्ध्यासुरनिश्चयान्
॥ १७=६ ॥
karśayantaḥ śarīrasthaṁ
bhūtagrāmamacetasaḥ māṁ caivāntaḥ
śarīrasthaṁ tān viddhy āsura-niścayān
by the force of desire and attachment
and who senselessly torture the elements
in their body and also Me who dwells
within the body
POWERFUL COGNITION
There is no need for all this penance.
INTRODUCTION
Kṛṣṇa explains that the way we worship depends upon our natural disposition, the guṇa, attributes that we are born with. When we are born, we carry within us the vāsanā, the essence of the mental cognition or bio-memory from our past lives. This comes with the prārabdha karma (unfulfilled actions from past lives) and the saṃskāras (root thought patterns), that drive our mental makeup and actions throughout our present lives. In turn, guṇas or the attributes we are born with are determined.
Our being, our undying spirit, keeps an account of every thought we have and every move that we make. There is no escape from this account keeper. When we reach the end of the road, when our body dies, the spirit plays back all that happened during the journey of life and goes through the pains and pleasures. According to Kṛṣṇa, the attitude, the space or the last thought with which we left our body carries over to our next birth and the next body that our spirit moves into.
THE LIFE IN YOU
Hence we are born with a natural
inclination based upon our last life
and attitude. Depending on the
attitude, we may have the attribute
of satva, goodness, rajas, aggression,
or tamas, ignorance as our driving
nature.
Listen! If you don't bring
authenticity, inauthenticity is
waiting to take you over. Because
you trained yourself for so many
years with inauthenticity,
inauthenticity is waiting to take you
over. Bring authenticity
continuously; go on expanding, go
on expanding. Authenticity is the
possibility of Life in you.
STITCH YOUR LIFE THE WAY YOU WANT!
One of the biggest mistakes you make in your life is thinking that you are still a possibility, but your life is a reality! That is why you feel weak. Your life is not a stone wall that is already built. It is a wax model that is getting ready! Understand, the reality you experience is not a stone wall that is already built. It is only a wax model that is getting ready. Authenticity is the intelligence to alter your possibility consciously, in the right way. Authenticity is a great possibility for you to alter your life in the right way. Please be very clear, only a person whose nature is pure goodness can connect with the Divine, with Existence— yajante sāttvikā devān (17.4).
An Enlightened Master goes beyond the three guṇas of satva, rajas and tamas. He transcends these attributes because he burns out all his vāsanās, saṁskāras and karmas, of which these triguṇas are a product. An Enlightened Master has no bondages. He is not bound by desires, greed, fear or attachment. He is beyond the illusion of material existence. He dissolves into the cosmic energy when he chooses to leave the body and it perishes.
When the energy of an enlightened Master is reborn on this planet, when it takes human form, it is imbued with some satva guṇa, since all beings in physical form must by nature have an attribute. Such a being is an Incarnation, an Avatār. Upon realization of the being's enlightened state, that Incarnation reverts to its transcendental state of being without attributes or guṇa. In some cases, the Incarnation continues upon this planet to fulfill the mission that Existence has sent it to accomplish. In other cases, upon realization of its true nature, the Incarnation reverts to its original cosmic state.
Please understand, whatever is
your ideal, whatever you hold in
high esteem, whoever you feel
connected to, whatever you
worship, that is your nature and
that decides your quality. If we
worship the right ideal, we are
established in satva. If we have
Swami Vivekananda's poster or
Śiva's photo in our room, we
are in satva. If we have an
actor's photo or poster in our
room, we are in rajas and tamas.
Tamas is like watching a violent
fighting show. If you
continuously sit in front of the
television and watch fighting,
you are established in tamas.
Kṛṣṇa says that based upon our
ideal, our guṇas (attributes) can
be described
Beautifully Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Please do not torture the Soul inside your body. Don’t abuse your body. The body is the temple of God. By torturing the temple of God, you torture the Supreme Consciousness residing inside.
Spiritual relationships can never exist out of fear or greed. Never be obedient to somebody out of fear. Simply throw things out if it is forced on you out of fear. Never be afraid of anything.
Here Kṛṣṇa says that there is no need for all this penance. You cheat yourself with all this penance out of pride and ego but you never really achieve anything. The person who does these things out of ego and pride is a demon, a rākṣasa. A demon is in deep tamas, in ignorance. All that drives such a person is the boost to his ego, his inauthenticities without consideration for himself and others. Such a person is a spiritual cipher.
GOALS:
Helping the students understand authenticity. Helping the students realize that they must treat their bodies as the temple of God.
ASSESSMENTS
- What do we carry when we are born? Describe it.
- What is prārabdha karma?
- What will happen if you don't bring authenticity in your life?
- What is one of the biggest mistakes we make in our lives?
- What happens when the energy of an enlightened Master is reborn on this planet?
- How can we establish ourselves in satva?
- Why does Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa say not to abuse the body?
- How can our guṇas be described? 9.Define who is a rākṣasa.
ART OF THE DAY
ART OF THE DAY:
MATERIALS NEEDED:
❖ Paper
❖ Pens
❖ Pencil
❖ Eraser
❖ Markers
❖ Pastels
❖ Paint
❖ Brushes
❖ Decorations of any kind (ribbons,
colourful fabrics, sparkles)
❖ Scissors
❖ Glue
❖ Kitchen paper, etc.
ART OF THE DAY:
PROCEDURE: ❖ Trace your own body on a paper and decorate it as a temple. ❖ You can draw your favorite deity living inside of it. ❖ Ask the children to share what they can do on a daily basis to show their gratitude to their bodies.
INFERENCE:
❖ Beautifully Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Please do not torture the Soul inside your body. Don’t abuse your body. The body is the temple of God.
ACTIVITY OF THE DAY
ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:
MATERIALS NEEDED
- Wax paper
- Wax crayons (Crayola) in bright colours.
- A pencil or crayon sharpener
- An iron (to be used by adults only)
- Glue (white glue if the kid is using it or hot glue if an adult is there)
- Wooden craft sticks
- Scissors
- An old towel
ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:
PROCEDURE:
- Glue craft sticks into square or triangular frames. If an adult is there, you can use hot glue. If not, have simple white glue. We used hot glue to save time.
- Sharpen some crayons onto a plate or sheet of paper, so you have a nice pile of colours.
- Lay an old towel on a flat surface and cover it with a sheet of wax paper.
- Arrange the popsicle stick frames on the wax paper and drop bits of crayon inside the frames. You can skip this step, but by taking the time to do it, you will make sure you have enough crayon shavings to go around.
- Remove the frames, but keep track of the order you had them arranged. PROCEDURE:
6. Cover with another sheet of wax paper.
7. Carefully have an adult run an iron (set to low), across the paper, and watch the crayon shavings melt.
8. When everything has cooled, glue the craft stick frames onto the wax paper. Again, if an adult is there, you can use hot glue to speed things up.
9. Trim around the edges of the frames to reveal your sun catchers.
10. Glue string or fishing line onto the backs of the sun catchers and hang from windows or sliding glass doors using suction cup hooks, or tap
ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:
INFERENCE:
One of the biggest mistakes you make in your life is thinking that you are still a possibility, but your life is a reality! That is why you feel weak. Your life is not a stone wall that is already built. It is a wax model that is getting ready! Understand, the reality you experience is not a stone wall that is already built. It is only a wax model that is getting ready
WORKSHOP OF THE DAY
WORKSHOP OF THE DAY:
VAAKYARTHA SADHAS
TOPIC OF DISCUSSION:
“If you don’t bring authenticity, inauthenticity is waiting to take you over. Because you trained yourself for so many years with inauthenticity, inauthenticity is waiting to take you over. Bring authenticity continuously; go on expanding, go on expanding. Authenticity is the possibility of Life in you.
YOU CAN ASK STUDENTS SUCH AS:
• Define “authenticity” and “inauthenticity” as per your understanding. • Why is so much inauthenticity inside of us? • How can we align more and more to authenticity? • Why should we care about becoming more and more authentic? • What is “expansion” to you? • In what ways can you expand in your own life?
WORKSHOP OF THE DAY:
VAAKYARTHA SADHAS
CONCLUSION:
Authenticity is the intelligence to alter your possibility consciously, in the right way.
Authenticity is a great possibility for
you to alter your life in the right way.
Please be very clear, only a person
whose nature is pure goodness can
connect with the Divine, with
Existence
