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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Collection

First Principle Is Integrated Listening

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THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

sañjaya uvācha taṁ tathā kṛipayāviṣhṭama śhrupūrṇākulekṣhaṇam viṣhīdantamidaṁ vākyam uvācha madhusūdanaḥ ॥ २-१॥

Sañjaya said:

As Arjuna's eyes overflowed with tears of pity and despair, Madhusudana (Kṛṣṇa) spoke to him thus

The first principle is Integrated Listening first allow someone to speak fully

śrībhagavānuvāca kutastvā kaśmalamidaṁ viṣame samupasthitam anārya-juṣṭam asvargyam akīrti-karam arjuna

Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says: Where from has this impurity, dejection descended on you at this critical time, Arjuna! You behave unlike a noble man and this will keep you away from realization

Lead yourself toward your Realization

klaibyaṁ mā sma gamaḥ pārtha naitat tvayyupapadyate kṣhudraṁ hṛidaya-daurbalyaṁ tyaktvottiṣhṭha parantapa

Do not yield to fear, Pārtha! It does not befit you Drop this powerlessness of heart and stand up O Parantapa, destroyer of enemy

Life always demands your expansion, because expansion is the natural law of life.

In Vedānta, the first principle is Śṛavana—Integrated Listening; the second principle is Manana— Intranalyzing, meaning analyzing the truth for the sake of internalizing it not for rejecting it; and the third principle is Nididhyāsana—Living and radiating the truth!

Right listening means allowing the words to enter your inner space automatically; letting them cognize, without you constantly interfering with your incompletions, is Listening.

Arjuna was distraught with pity and despair. His pity was for his opposition that consisted of his svajanam, kinsmen, elders, teachers, relatives and friends. He despaired at the thought of what would happen if he did have to kill them. Kṛṣṇa listened to him carefully, completely.

Kṛṣṇa wanted to give Arjuna time to open his mind, heart and being to Him, Arjuna's friend, guide and master, so that His answers would penetrate Arjuna's very being. Kṛṣṇa asks Arjuna directly, 'How did such impurities, such incompletions come upon you? They are not for a man like you. They will not lead you to higher planes but only defame you.' Kṛṣṇa addresses Arjuna's deep fear and powerlessness straightaway without any philosophy, and asks him to give up his foolish weakness and get up and fight—tyaktvottiṣṭha parantapa. He does not offer any consolation, just a straightforward scolding to awaken him!

Arjuna's root thought pattern originates from fear and worry. His maṇipūraka cakra (navel center) and svādiṣṭhāna cakra (being center), energy centers that get locked due to worry and fear, are now completely locked! Because of his fear pattern, he has deep seated incompletions, stress and worry.

Arjuna is confronted with all the four fears: fear that he may lose whatever he possesses, that he may be maimed in the war, that he may lose his near and dear ones, and fourth, that he may lose his very life. These fears have in turn led to his powerlessness of heart. Understand, all your fears, all your anxieties, all your patterns are directed only in one line—fear of your possibilities

Listen! Your bigness frightens you. You always believe that you are suffocated by your smallness. NO! You are suffocated by your bigness!

Whenever bigness is demanded of you, whenever you feel you are being 'forced' to expand, you shrink even further into your comfort zone. Arjuna's tiredness, his weakness, his powerlessness all these are nothing but the resistance he has to seeing his own bigness!

Listen! The more you engage with life, the greater the expansion that will be demanded of you. Whenever you are feeling weak, tired, and powerless, the first thing you should do is this: immediately take on ten responsibilities and commit to fulfill them within an impossibly short time! Shake your inner space so powerfully with that commitment that there will be no way for weakness and tiredness to grow inside you.

Continuously human beings resist expansion. Incarnations happen on the planet to remind human beings about their possibilities, to expand human consciousness.

The constant, repetitive reference to Bhagavān in the Gītā is to emphasize this point that Kṛṣṇa is not just the mere charioteer of Arjuna, Pārthasārathi, or Keśava, destroyer of the demon Keśin or Madhusūdana, destroyer of the demon Madhu, but that He is Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Energy, who is formless and nameless. This is also to reinforce the satya, truth that you too, like Arjuna, are God and no less.

Helping each child realize the power of listening. Helping each child understand that life is all about embracing expansion. Helping each child go beyond fear and worry. Helping each child reconnect to one's own divinity.

  • ❖ What is right listening?
  • ❖ What are the 3 principles in Vedānta?
  • ❖ What had Kṛṣṇa wanted to give Arjuna?
  • ❖ What locks the Svādiṣṭhāna Chakra?
  • ❖ What locks the Maṇipūraka Chakra?
  • ❖ What do all our fears come down to?
  • ❖ What suffocates you?
  • ❖ 8.What happens when we engage with life?
  • ❖ What is the message that Kṛṣṇa shares throughout the Gītā?
  • ❖ Who is God?

MATERIALS NEEDED:

  • 1. Maṇipūraka Chakra picture
  • 2. Chart paper
  • 3. Variety of shapes of colored paper
  • 4. Glue

PROCEDURE

Encourage the children to create their own collage with the paper shapes, to represent the Maṇipūraka Chakra.

INFERENCE

All our worries are nothing but a collection of words in the languages that we know and they cause so much confusion and misinterpretation in us.

Conclusion: Bringing awareness to the Maṇipūraka Chakra to embrace life and expand

MATERIALS NEEDED:

  • 1. A rope
  • 2. Blindfolds

PROCEDURE:

The children will make a team. Only one member will be the leader and is shown an obstacle course and the manner in which it has to be approached. All members of the team are then blindfolded. The team members are roped together with the leader taking the team through the course.

INFERENCE:

To get the team through, communication and organizational skills are essential.

CONCLUSION:

Leadership requires good listening

Vidhya is identifying the thought currents in which you are stuck and reinventing yourself from it. Discuss a situation where you are stuck and reinventing yourself. Pen down all the situations in your life that you are stuck in due to fear of making a mistake. Write down the thought currents in which you are stuck and need to reinvent. Complete with all those thought currents and write down how you are going to take responsibility for it and get into action.