ACTIVITY of the day
MATERIALS NEEDED:
- 1. Paper
- 2. Pen
- 3. Eraser
- 4. Pencil
PROCEDURE:
Read the following story and ask the students to engage in a discussion. You can ask them question such as:
- 1. How can someone who was a robber realize the truth and surrender to God so quickly?
- 2. How can cognitive shifts happen?
- 3. What is a cognitive shift you have had recently?
- 4. How important is spiritual knowledge on the path of Living Enlightenment?
PROCEDURE:
"One day the sage Nārada was passing through that jungle. Nārada is cosmically known for his devotion to Viṣṇu. All Nārada had was a small stringed instrument that he played while constantly singing the praises of Viṣṇu.
When Vālmikī saw him, he stopped him and said, 'Give me everything you have, otherwise I will kill you!'
Nārada told him, 'I don't have anything with me except this small instrument and God's name. So I can't give you anything.'
Vālmikī thought he was bluffing. He asked Nārada, 'How can you not have anything?
PROCEDURE:
Nārada smiled and asked, 'What do you do with all these things that you rob from others?
Vālmikī told him, 'These are for my family, my children, my wife and my parents.'
Nārada asked, 'You do all this for your children, wife and parents. Do you think they will stay with you forever?'
Vālmikī told Nārada, 'Yes, of course, they will be with me. I get them wealth and food. They will always be with me.
Nārada once again asked him, 'Are you sure they will always be there for you?'
Vālmikī became irritated. He replied, 'Can't you understand? I am sure that they will always be there for me.
PROCEDURE: Activity of the day:
Actually Nārada was only keeping Vālmikī engaged in a conversation and made him look at life from a different cognition. Finally Nārada asked, 'Okay, you have lots of trust that your family will always support you; they will always be there for you. Will they be there when you die? If you ask them to die with you, will they agree?'
Vālmikī confidently answered, 'I am sure at least one of them will come if I ask them. I am robbing people only to support them. They are surviving because I get them this wealth. I am sure if I ask, they will die with me.'
Nārada said, 'Okay, if you think they will do that for you, go and ask them and come back to me. If any one of them agrees, you can kill me. I will not go anywhere. I will stay here.
PROCEDURE:
Vālmikī agreed and went home. He asked his wife first if she would die with him. His wife said, 'Dear, it is true that I am your other half, but I don't think it is fair to ask me to die with you. When it comes to your death, it is your death only.'
Vālmikī was shocked. Anyway, he thought his children would surely go with him, as they loved him very much.
They said, 'Father, we are young. We haven't seen the world yet. You have seen everything but we haven't. How can we die with you?'
PROCEDURE:
Vālmikī became depressed. His wife and children were saying they wouldn't be there with him when he died. He then thought his parents would surely go with him as they had taken care of him and had raised him. So he went up to them and to his surprise, they said, 'Why should we die with you? We are enjoying our life with our grandchildren.'
This shocked him. He went back to Nārada and told him what had happened. Nārada listened and told him, 'The only person who can be with you always is God.
PROCEDURE:
Vālmikī did not have any knowledge about spirituality. He was a robber. That one statement by Nārada made all the difference. He started looking inward after that, and became enlightened.
INFERENCE:
A person need not have any spiritual knowledge to start on a particular path. There is no prerequisite. Even if the person is totally new to spirituality, he can follow a spiritual path. Only a cognitive shift must happen.