Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6

Persevere and See Kṛṣṇa In Everything

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Kṛṣṇa is emphasizing an important
spiritual quality - perseverance. We
expect the mental setup that we
have created and solidified, to be
broken and restructured in a few
attempts, almost instantly. How is
this possible? We need to be more
patient and persevere in our efforts
for the real change to happen. So
what if we fail sometimes? Why
don't we look at the positive side
and see that we succeeded a few
times? When we measure our lives
based on our weakest moments, our
failures and our incompletions, we
take a wrong reading of ourselves.
Why can't we give credit to
ourselves for the strong, successful
moments of our lives

We have been conditioned by society to consider ourselves weak beings, that we are not powerful. We have been taught to feel guilty. Does that help us in any way?

No! It only creates low energy and powerlessness.

Listen. Strength is Life. We need to measure ourselves by our strongest moments, our greatest moments of powerfulness, when we have displayed extraordinary awareness, courage, compassion, love and such other divine qualities. A human being is the sum of his greatest moments of completion.

In the words of Swamiji, In fact, in my first spiritual experience at the age of twelve, this is what I clearly saw. When I was twelve, I was playing with this technique of just watching where thoughts came from, the source of my thoughts. At that age, I didn’t even realize it was meditation. One day, at the foothills of Arunachala, in my hometown of Tiruvannamalai in South India, I was sitting on a rock, just playing with this technique that I had been practicing for two years

Suddenly, something
happened; something
opened within me. I felt
as if I was being pulled
inside. Suddenly, I could
see 360 degrees in all
directions. My eyes were
closed but I could see
everything in front of me
and behind me. Not just
that, I felt that whatever
I was seeing, was all me.
I could see myself in
everything — in the
trees, in the rocks, in the
ground, in the hills,
everything!

In the ultimate sense, the moment we understand that we are deeply, totally and intensely connected to the whole Universe, not only do we start experiencing bliss, we really start living in the space of completion. The root of God is love.

The root of God lies in seeing Him in everything. Have the courage to go deep inside and love. We will start feeling the common thread of Existence in all that we see. Automatically we will start loving everything in the same way without any trouble because we will see only Existence in everyone and everything. Each and every atom in this Earth is unique, is divine, and is an expression of Existence.

Illustration of Lord Krishna with a flute

GOALS:

To understand an Enlightened
person sees no difference
between Himself and the rest of
the Universe

ASSESSMENTS

When we learn something after just one experience, what is that called?

Why do we need to be more patient and persevere in our efforts?

What happens when we measure our lives based on our weakest moments?

How do we need to measure ourselves?

Illustration of a young spiritual teacher

How should we relate to the whole Universe?

What is the root of god?

Where is Existence?

ART OF THE DAY

ART OF THE DAY:

360 DEGREE

MATERIALS NEEDED:
❖ Paper
❖ Color pens

PROCEDURE
Get the children to draw Swamiji sitting
on the rock at the foothills of
Arunachala and how he saw everything
around him

INFERENCE
Swamiji experienced seeing the Supreme
in everything We are deeply, totally and
intensely connected to the whole
Universe

Swamiji as a child sitting on a rock at the foothills of Arunachala

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY: JUGGLE A SMALL BALL

MATERIALS NEEDED A small ball for each child

PROCEDURE First get the children to throw the ball up and catch it. Then try it with one hand. Then try it with the other hand. Then try to clap after you throw the ball up, before you catch it again. Then try to clap twice!

INFERENCE Learning new activities requires perseverance We need to be patient and persevere in our efforts

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY: VAAKYARTHA SADHAS

Hold Vaakyartha Sadhas on how we can experience that we are deeply, totally and intensely connected to the whole Universe.

CONCLUSION Learn to give credit to ourselves for the strong, successful moments of our lives. When we understand that we are connected to the whole Universe, we start experiencing bliss and start living in the space of completion. Kṛṣṇa gives Arjuna the glimpse of the Truth when Arjuna sees that Kṛṣṇa is one with the Universe.