What Is Freedom ?
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THE SPH NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM
मुक्तसङ्गोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वितः ।
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योर्निर्विकारः कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते
॥ १८=२६ ॥
muktasaṅgo’nahaṁvādī
dhṛtyutsāhasamanvitaḥ
siddhyasiddhyor nirvikāraḥ
kartā sāttvika ucyate
The performer who is free
from attachment, non-
egotistic, endowed with
resolve and enthusiasm, and
unperturbed in success or
failure is called sāttvika
POWERFUL COGNITION
Never your effort towards
freedom is going to give you
freedom. It is only the
knowledge about the freedom
that will give you freedom.
रागी कर्मफलप्रेप्सुर्लुब्धो हिंसात्मकोऽशुचिः ।
हर्षशोकान्वितः कर्ता राजसः परिकीर्तितः
॥ १८-२७ ॥
rāgī karmaphalaprepsur lubdho
hīṃsātmako 'śuciḥ
harṣaśokānvitaḥ kartā rājasaḥ
parikīrtitaḥ
The performer who is impassioned, who desires the fruits of work, who is greedy, violent, impure, and affected by joy and sorrow, is called aggressive.
POWERFUL COGNITION
To own, you don't need to eliminate others.
अयुक्तः प्राकृतः स्तब्धः शठो नैष्कृतिकोऽलसः ।
विषादी दीर्घसूत्री च कर्ता तामस उच्यते
॥ १८=२८ ॥
ayuktaḥ prākṛtaḥ stabdhaḥ
śaṭho naiṣkṛtiko ‘lasaḥ viṣādī
dīrghasūtrī ca kartā tāmasa
ucyate
The performer who is
undisciplined, vulgar,
stubborn, wicked, malicious,
lazy, depressed, and
procrastinating is called
ignorant or tamasic.
POWERFUL COGNITION
Respond to the now.
IF YOU WANT TO OWN, YOU CAN OWN THE WHOLE WORLD.
Only if you eliminate others, you feel that you are victorious, which is not right. This is a basic wrong understanding. Please get it! I want you to know a very important fact. Never, ever will you be free by your efforts to be free. Freedom will happen to you only by the right knowledge about freedom, never by your efforts towards freedom. Never your effort towards freedom is going to give you freedom. It is only the knowledge about the freedom that will give you freedom.
So, the basic mistake that
eliminating others is the
only way you can possess or
own is wrong! To own, you
don't need to eliminate
others. But because of this
pattern, just because you
want to eliminate others,
you are ready to settle down
with a few acres of beach.
You are ready to forego the
whole ocean! It is exactly
with the same patterns, it is
only with these patterns you
define your identity.
Without patterns, it is like
you in the ocean.
In tamas one is fully in delusion, in the delusory cognition of incompletion. One sticks to root thought patterns, incomplete knowledge or inadequate cognition and conditions without making an effort to verify the answer of the 'why', whether they are right or wrong, appropriate or not, harmful or not. Listen! If one does not find the answer for 'why' and eats somebody else's answer, one can even be made as a religious terrorist. Religious zealots are in tamas. There is no difference between them; only their objectives are different. Both are dogmatic, violent and totally selfish. They adopt any means, even criminal, to achieve their objectives.
Tamas does not just mean inactivity, laziness and procrastination. Yes, it is all that; however, it also includes mindless action performed without realizing that one is part of a whole. The ego is so enlarged that it believes it is the whole. It believes nothing else of significance exists; others are of no consequence.
GOALS:
Helping students
understand the space of
responsibility of a karma
yogi. Helping students
understand what is
"status" and what is
"state".
ASSESSMENTS
- What pattern is Krishna explaining here?
- What does this pattern make us do?
- How can one be made to become a religious terrorist?
- What are the similarities between religious terrorists and religious zealots?
- How is the ego of one who is in the state of tamas?
ART OF THE DAY
ART OF THE DAY:
THE EXPERIENCE OF FREEDOM
MATERIALS NEEDED:
2 sheets of paper per student markers, crayons, erasers glue, seashells, sand, etc.
PROCEDURE:
Ask the students to draw two pictures. One being a few acres on the beach that they possess (ask them to draw a fence around them) and the second being the whole ocean. Make sure that they draw themselves in both drawings (inside the fence on the first one and inside the ocean on the second one). In the end, ask the students which drawing makes them feel more free and ask them to discuss what about the drawing is making them experience freedom.
ART OF THE DAY:
THE EXPERIENCE OF FREEDOM
INFERENCE:
So, the basic mistake that eliminating others is the only way you can possess or own is wrong! To own, you don't need to eliminate others. But because of this pattern, just because you want to eliminate others, you are ready to settle down with a few acres of beach. You are ready to forego the whole ocean! It is exactly with the same patterns, it is only with these patterns you define your identity. Without patterns, it is like you in the ocean.
ACTIVITY OF THE DAY
Materials required:
Tape
ACTiViTY OF THE DAY:
iT iS MiNE!
PROCEDURE:
- Create a big square on the ground with some tape and ask a student to stand inside of it. Tell the student that the square is their land and that he/she possesses it. Then ask the other students to try to invade the property/to take possession of it by putting one foot inside the square. To make sure the invaders go away, the student who is inside the square must touch the invaders' shoulder who then needs to move back 10 steps before trying again to invade.
ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:
IT IS MINE!
PROCEDURE:
• Let it happen for 10 minutes while ensuring that the whole activity is done calmly and let the students take turns inside the land. • In the end, ask the students to share their experience. • How did the student who was told that he possesses the land felt every time he saw someone else's foot inside the square? • Did they feel like they needed to eliminate others in order to be victorious? • Make the students understand that this cognition of "I need to eliminate others to be victorious" is wrong understanding.
INFERENCE
If you want to own, you can own the whole world. See, unfortunately, only if you eliminate others, you feel that you are victorious, which is not right. This is a basic wrong understanding.
WORKSHOP OF THE DAY
WORKSHOP OF THE DAY:
VAAKYARTHA SADHAS TIME FOR A SPEECH!
PROCEDURE
Guide the students into a discussion about freedom. Is it possible to achieve freedom through our own efforts? Then tell the students to visualise themselves as the leader of the country and that they have to give an important speech to motivate the population about the topic of freedom. Give students 21 minutes to write down a speech and have them present it in front of others
WORKSHOP OF THE DAY:
VAAKYARTHA SADHAS - TIME FOR A SPEECH!
CONCLUSION
Never, ever will you be free by your efforts to be free. Freedom will happen to you only by the right knowledge about freedom, never by your efforts towards freedom.
