January 9, 2011
In teaching my son to chant Bhagavad Geeta chapter 6, I was experiencing some frustration when he seemed to be taking a very long time to learn a simple passage. I should have known that Śhri Krishna has a solution in the same chapter. In verses 25 & 26 in the same chapter, Śhri Krishna says:
शनैः शनैरुपरमेद् बुद्ध्या धृतिगृहीतया |
आत्मसंस्थं मनः कृत्वा न किञ्चिदपि चिन्तयेत् ||६-२५||
shanaiH shanairuparamed.h bud.hdhyaa dhR^itigR^ihiitayaa .
aatmasa.nsthaM manaH kR^itvaa na ki~nchidapi chintayet.h .. 6-25..
Little by little, let him attain quietude by his intellect held firm; having established the mind in the Self, let him not think of anything else.
यतो यतो निश्चरति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम् |
ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत् ||६-२६||
yato yato nishcharati manashcha~nchalamasthiram.h .
tatastato niyamyaitadaatmanyeva vashaM nayet.h .. 6-26..
From whatever cause, the restless mind and the unsteady mind wanders away, from that let him restrain it, and bring it back under the control of the Self alone.
The Self that is referred to here is none other than the One Self that is at the core of our being, the immutable, changeless Self. Seen in that context, we need to be very clear that the central teaching here is to the seeker who has difficulty establishing his mind in meditation.
When it comes to teaching these Geeta verses to my son, it seemed to me that this is also an approach that should help me as a parent. We can run our households and handle our children with far less stress if we applied Krishna's logic to our everyday tasks. Let me try this with some paraphrasing of Pujya Swami Chinmayanandaji's translation.
Little by little, let us influence our children to be good, to be conscientious students, to be respectful. We can help them not be disturbed by their surroundings, by the latest gadget or fashion or what "every kid in class has". Even the best kid will throw a tantrum, be willful, get misled and can get bad grades. Whatever be the cause, let us lovingly help our restless child bring their minds back to the activity at hand, and under the control of their higher minds.
In this case, my son was frustrated. The shlokas he had got right in the morning, he was struggling with the in the afternoon. His self-doubt appeared to be more potent enemy than distraction. In his early teens, his self confidence swung from 'of course, I know everything and what I don't know, I can Google' to 'Why can't I get this right?' I needed to give him confidence but not get complacent about any lack of effort. I reminded myself and him शनैः शनैः |
I also sent him off for a 5 minutes of exercise. First resistance 'what has running to do with memorizing shlokas?', then finally he did come back in a better mood. He spent the next 20 minutes playing the shlokas on his ipod and repeating.
Slow and Steady - it is really that simple. If there appears to be a problem, Krishna's message is: Pick yourself up.... and start again if you have to. No big deal.
Hari Om. Namaskaar until the next post.
In teaching my son to chant Bhagavad Geeta chapter 6, I was experiencing some frustration when he seemed to be taking a very long time to learn a simple passage. I should have known that Śhri Krishna has a solution in the same chapter. In verses 25 & 26 in the same chapter, Śhri Krishna says:
शनैः शनैरुपरमेद् बुद्ध्या धृतिगृहीतया |
आत्मसंस्थं मनः कृत्वा न किञ्चिदपि चिन्तयेत् ||६-२५||
shanaiH shanairuparamed.h bud.hdhyaa dhR^itigR^ihiitayaa .
aatmasa.nsthaM manaH kR^itvaa na ki~nchidapi chintayet.h .. 6-25..
Little by little, let him attain quietude by his intellect held firm; having established the mind in the Self, let him not think of anything else.
यतो यतो निश्चरति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम् |
ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत् ||६-२६||
yato yato nishcharati manashcha~nchalamasthiram.h .
tatastato niyamyaitadaatmanyeva vashaM nayet.h .. 6-26..
From whatever cause, the restless mind and the unsteady mind wanders away, from that let him restrain it, and bring it back under the control of the Self alone.
The Self that is referred to here is none other than the One Self that is at the core of our being, the immutable, changeless Self. Seen in that context, we need to be very clear that the central teaching here is to the seeker who has difficulty establishing his mind in meditation.
When it comes to teaching these Geeta verses to my son, it seemed to me that this is also an approach that should help me as a parent. We can run our households and handle our children with far less stress if we applied Krishna's logic to our everyday tasks. Let me try this with some paraphrasing of Pujya Swami Chinmayanandaji's translation.
Little by little, let us influence our children to be good, to be conscientious students, to be respectful. We can help them not be disturbed by their surroundings, by the latest gadget or fashion or what "every kid in class has". Even the best kid will throw a tantrum, be willful, get misled and can get bad grades. Whatever be the cause, let us lovingly help our restless child bring their minds back to the activity at hand, and under the control of their higher minds.
In this case, my son was frustrated. The shlokas he had got right in the morning, he was struggling with the in the afternoon. His self-doubt appeared to be more potent enemy than distraction. In his early teens, his self confidence swung from 'of course, I know everything and what I don't know, I can Google' to 'Why can't I get this right?' I needed to give him confidence but not get complacent about any lack of effort. I reminded myself and him शनैः शनैः |
I also sent him off for a 5 minutes of exercise. First resistance 'what has running to do with memorizing shlokas?', then finally he did come back in a better mood. He spent the next 20 minutes playing the shlokas on his ipod and repeating.
Slow and Steady - it is really that simple. If there appears to be a problem, Krishna's message is: Pick yourself up.... and start again if you have to. No big deal.
Hari Om. Namaskaar until the next post.
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