Dharma 9 - Bhagavad Gita

Class Information -

This class covers: Understanding the teachings of Bhagavad Gita and how they apply to students in today’s day and age. Will include discussions and learnings of the philosophical concepts, karma yoga, gyan yoga, bhakti yoga, etc

Ages: 12+ / Grade: 8+

Classroom: Library

Teachers -

Teachers:

• Vishal Agarwal

• Manoj Prasad

EMAIL teachers: CLICK HERE

Teenage Volunteers:

• Vidhi Sharma

• Stavya Arora

Class & Homework-

April 21

Tomorrow, several students and their parents from the local Unitarian Church will join our class to learn about Hinduism. I request all students to show up and parents too to join us so that the class is an interactive one and we can have good interfaith conversations. The class tomorrow will therefore be in the Auditorium right after the assembly is over at 10 AM.

The topic for tomorrow is: The Types of Relationships we can have with Bhagavan in BhaktiYoga.

I am attaching some notes that you can pre-read if you want. In Bhakti Yoga, we consider Bhagavan with someone with whom we have a meaningful and a living relationship.

ATTACHMENT: Click HERE

April 7

We watched a movie about yoga and the pros and cons about it. After watching the movie we had a discussion about what yoga does to a person and what other cultures have to say about yoga going against the culture. We don’t have homework.

March 24

Today in class we talked about owning up to your deeds and to sever others selflessly. Going off to story/examples about a woman who had lost everyone in her family and it would have been easy for her to be in depression but instead, you have to be strong and sing the prayer. The second thing we talked about was to work for the sake of Bhagavan. Many students question why do we have to work for an A or the highest grade if your parents either don't care or there is no point. Karma yoga shows that if you do things out of devotion to God then the outcome will be more successful and for motivational then anything else. Next, we talk about the 8 steps of yoga. The first is the five Yamas which means you should be truthful and non-stealing then number two is five Niyamas which means you surrender to Divine Will, purity. The external practice of yoga is Asana, Pranayama, Hatha-yoga practice, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi which help to achieve peace and a closer relationship with God. Lastly, we talk about the benefits and the side effects of going yoga.

The homework:None

February 3

The material learned: Is Life Fair? And What is Karma?

Homework:n/a

September 30

|| OM ||

Namaste! In the class today, we covered two topics:

1. The four Yogas to attain Moksha that are taught in the Bhagavad Gita. We discussed how Hindu Dharma provides multiple options, understanding that a single approach does not fit everyone because we all have different abilities and temperaments whereas other faiths are narrow minded in requiring a single path for everyone. The suitability of these four Yogas (Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Dhyana Yoga and Jnana Yoga) to different human temperaments was discussed and these four Yogas were discussed very briefly. Going forward, the rest of the year will cover these four Yogas in detail, starting with Jnana Yoga - the path of Spiritual Wisdom and Knowledge. We also discussed how despite focussing on 1 of the four paths, it is better to combine elements from the other 3 Yogas to be successful.

2. We also discussed the concept of moral and ethical pre-requisites to practice all the four Yogas. We took the example of how we grown intellectually in our personal life, from fetus stage, through pre-School, Elementary School, Middle School and High School and finally college. In the first three stages (till Middle School), all study the same subjects although the number of subjects increases as we go to higher grades. Similarly, all must follow some universal Dharmic principles before they become eligible to walk on path of one of these four Yogas. We also listed some bad qualities of character that must be shunned otherwise we cannot make any spiritual progress.

Next week, we will quickly complete topic #2 and then start with an Introduction to Jnana Yoga. We expect this topic to last through November and early December, before we move to Karma Yoga.

Attached are three files:

1. Document discussing the four Yogas in brief.

2. Document discussing the pre Requisites for all the four Yoga in common. The Special Prerequisites for each of these will be treated separately when we talk about the Yogas individually.

3. Slides used in the class today which summarize the entire lesson.

As always, we hope that parents will benefit from this material too and save it on their computers.

Regards,

Vishal Agarwal

September 23

|| OM ||

During the second class, we learned an additional verse, 'brahmaarpanam...." Gita 4.24

The goal this year is to learn chanting around 20 verses in addition to understanding the main teachings of the Gita.

The topic for this class was interesting trivia about the Gita. It is the second most translated scripture in the world, with 700 verses only. It forms a part of the 6th of the 18 books of Mahabharata, which itself has around 100000 verses. The sacred tree under which Krishna parked the chariot while revealing the Gita became immortal and is worshipped even today. The Gita itself is undateable and scholars give different dates for it ranging from 3200 BCE to 200 AD. A recent Buddhist manuscript from China dating to 150 AD however states a tradition that Buddha (6th cent BCE) had studied the entire Mahabharata and lists all the major sections of the epic. This shows that as early as 150, the Gita was treated as an ancient scripture which was said to have been studied by the Buddha himself.

The 'Gita in every Motel' project was alluded to. We also discussed why the Gita was revealed to Arjuna (average joe) and why it was revealed on a battlefield.

The attached slides represent the material taught and the word doc gives many other details that parents would like to read.

Links:

• Background of the Bhagavad Gita: Click HERE to download/view

• Background and Trivia of the Gita: Click HERE to download/view

Regards,

Level 9 Dharma Teachers

September 16

Namaskar. This being the first class, copies of the Bhagavad Gita were distributed to students if they did not have one. Several copies of 'Why do We' by Chinmaya Mission were also given to students. We started by learning how to chant the following three verses:

Vasudevasutam devam...

Sarvopanishado gaavo...

Mookam karoti vaachaalam...

The topic for this class was, "Why should we study the Bhagavad Gita". We looked at several reasons like:

1. Because great men have recommended its study

2. Because it helps us balance the different goals of life

3. Because it teaches us what is really important in life

4. Because its teachings are very universal and verifiable

5. Because it is a summary of the entire spiritual literature of Hindu Dharma

etc.

The slides and the word document accompanying them are attached.

PLEASE NOTE that the slides represent what was actually taught, and the word doc has much extra material. Adults will also profit a lot by studying these, especially the word document that I will be sending with practically every update. The class will be taught through stories from the Hindu tradition and discussions as much as possible and a few videos will be shown as well.

Links:

• Why should I study Bhagavad Gita: Click HERE to download/view

• Why should I study the Gita: Click HERE to download/view

Regards,

Level 9 teachers

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