Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6

ALL ARE INFINITE

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People ask me, ‘How can we tell
that you are the right Master for us?’
I tell them simply, ‘If I am truly
your Master, you can never forget
me. I will be there even in your
dreams!’ The relationship between
the Master and disciple is one of
pure love.

An incident from the life of

Swami Vivekananda:

One night, Vivekananda woke up at
two a.m. and woke up his disciples.
His disciples became anxious.
Vivekananda said that he was feeling
a lot of pain and that in some part
of the world there was a natural
calamity happening that was causing
him the pain. The next morning,
the newspapers carried the news of
a terrible earthquake in Fiji Islands
that consumed many lives.
Vivekananda was sensitive to a
calamity that happened in some
corner of the world thousands of
miles away!

What happened in Vivekananda is what we call empathy. It is not sympathy. Sympathy is a very superficial word. We are all capable of sympathy. When someone tells us that they are suffering, we make some noises and just confirm their suffering for them. That is sympathy.

What an Enlightened person or a Master feels is never sympathy. It is empathy. Empathy is when we feel another's suffering in our own being. It is when a person does not have to tell us he is suffering, but we simply know because the Existential energy in us feels it. Masters are one with us because they are one with Existence and we are a part of Existence. It is only that we see them as separate. In reality that is not the case.

A digital rendering of a youthful Hindu deity with a dark turban, seated before an ornate, golden temple background, with a small circular inset portrait of a man in the upper left corner.

When we realize the sense of non-duality and infinity with the entire Universe, we experience a tremendous overflowing of love and compassion for every being without discrimination, because we realize that everyone is a part of the same Whole.

Just as the fingers on the hand and the toes on the feet belong to the same body, we will be able to see that everyone is a part of the same Universal Energy. This is when true compassion, empathy and sincere service towards enriching everyone can happen. Until then we will only be using our logic, mind, ego and conditioning, to enslave others.

When we realize the
infinity of everyone, we
will express our
unconditional love and
compassion towards
everyone without
discrimination, because
we know that all
discrimination is baseless
and false. Our very walk
and talk will start
radiating so much bliss
that our very presence
will start healing others.

We will become a
blessing for planet Earth
and the people who
experience our presence.

Goals: To help children understand non-duality, to see the divine in everything

ASSESSMENTS

How does Kṛṣṇa become always available to us?

How do we dissolve into Existence?

How can you tell who is the right Master for you?

Why did Vivekananda wake up feeling a lot of pain?

What is the difference between sympathy and empathy?

What happens in us when we
realize the sense of non-
duality with the entire
Universe?

What is discrimination?

How can we start healing others by our very presence?

ART OF THE DAY

ART OF THE DAY: NON DUALITY WITH UNIVERSE

MATERIALS NEEDED: ❖ Large sheet of paper and some smaller sheets ❖ Paints ❖ Magazines or prints of a people’s faces ❖ A picture of a globe to color in ❖ Scissors ❖ Glue

PROCEDURE Make a poster that can be used for an event like World Peace Day. Give each child an activity that contributes to the poster, ○ Write and decorate appropriate slokas or the Sanskrit word for peace “Shanti”, ○ cut out and make a collage of many different faces ○ colour in the globe ○ write a title in large letters, so on. Arrange the individual items on the large sheet and glue in place.

INFERENCE When we realize non-duality with the Universe, we experience a tremendous overflowing of love and compassion for every being We are all part of Existence

A girl with glasses coloring a picture on a piece of paper

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY: LEARN DANCE STEPS

PROCEDURE

Get all the children to stand in a circle. This activity needs an even number of children. Without leaving their spot in the circle, one child turns to their left, the next to their right, and so on around the circle until all are facing someone. Each child then moves in this way:

❖ Put out your right hand and hold the hand being stretched towards you.

❖ Take a step or two forward so you are
standing next to the person holding your
hand.

Illustration of a flute on a musical staff with musical notes

❖ You will see one of the children in front of you facing you - put out your free hand (your hand) and hold the "new" hand being stretched towards you.

❖ Let go of the "old" hand you were holding now move so you are standing next to the new person.

❖ Keep repeating, taking the "new" hand stretched toward you, releasing the "old" hand, and moving forward.

❖ Always move so that when you are holding someone with your right hand then they are on your right.

❖ And if you are holding someone's left hand they are on your left The children move around the circle from hand to hand.

iNFERENCE

❖ Compassion and empathy towards everyone can happen. Just as our hands and feet belong to our body, we will be able to see that everyone is a part of the same Universal Energy.

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY: VAAKYARTHA SADHAS

Hold Vaakyartha sadhas on what the
children know and understand about
the form of Kṛṣṇa and the
formlessness of Kṛṣṇa

CONCLUSION
When someone is suffering, if we
only have sympathy we just confirm
their suffering for them. If we have
empathy, we feel another’s suffering
as our own. True compassion,
empathy and sincere service happens
when we see that everyone is a part
of the same Universal Energy

Illustration of Lord Krishna playing a flute