Class VIII

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Words in GREEN= Grammar, syntax or spelling error

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Chapter I - Nature
The Natural giver 43

Chapter II - Who Am I ?
Break the Barriers 45

Chapter III - Body
Body, Mind and Action 48

Chapter IV - Mind
a. Mind and Motion 50

Chapter V - Mind
b. S(l)tates of the Mind 52

Chapter VI - Intellect
Be Goal Oriented 54

Chapter VII - Life
No Change – No Future 56

Chapter VIII - Prayer
Prayer – The link between God & you 58

Chapter IX - Guru
The Electrifying Experience 60

Chapter X - The Creator
The Powerless Power 62
CHAPTER I - NATURE

THE NATURAL GIVER

Objectives
 To learn how to give wholeheartedly
 To know how to receive with gratitude
 To learn to share anything that is more than your need
 To learn the drawbacks in us due to negative qualities

Thoughts for Life
 God loves a cheerful giver.
 God forgives and forgets, but man forgets to forgive.
 Every time you give, you receive much more than you give.
 When you want to get you have to give.
 One who gives, receives abundantly. Why? Because in the very act of giving, you are emptying your vessel and He fills it.
Lesson Illustrated
 Nature gives without expectation, and maintains balance without effort
a. Nature gives: Freely, equally, timely, purely, constantly and continuously
b. Sun gives its radiance and heat freely, equally and regularly. It gives us nutritious rain by transforming saline water.
c. Plants and trees give us shade, fruits and vegetables without expecting any reward.
d. Water makes itself available in clear and soothing form. It does not differentiate between plants, animals and human beings. Its flow is constant. It acts as home and shelter for many living things like fish, oysters etc.
e. Animals like cow, goat etc., after consuming grass and leaves convert them into milk and share it with us.
f. Mountains give us minerals, water, rock and sand. It is responsible for change in climatic conditions.
g. Air gives life to all living beings. Pure air leads to pure thoughts. (unpolluted mental atmosphere)
h. The above components of Nature maintain balance and thus make life and living wonderful.
 Man should be the Giver and not merely a receiver
a. Man who is the part of Nature normally neglects the quality of giving, but is always eager to acquire and receive. Thus he becomes self-centered. Unlike the natural elements listed above, most often he doesn’t possess the qualities of harmony, inter-dependence, caring, sharing and giving.
b. Though by nature man is expected to extend unconditional love, which is quite natural even among animals, man does not do so normally. He is very much reserved and calculative, in lending his money, time, energy and service to his society.
c. In order to maintain balance it is essential for man to give up his negative qualities like hatred, jealousy, arrogance, pride, shyness and selfishness.
d. How to give? The perfect act of giving is one, which you perform with love, without discrimination, without expectation and without reservation. In short, the highest act of giving is to give without even being conscious of it. In this act, you are vying with nature.
e. If the act of giving is for the
 sake of appreciation or
 under the influence of pride or
 out of compulsion or
 to please others
 or for namesake
It becomes Useless.
Thus you differ from Nature, which gives without expectation.
 Man – the Natural Giver
Man can be called the natural giver at 4 levels:
1. Material level: At this level, man should share, or give his food, clothes, books, stationery and anything that is more than required.
2. Physical level: Rendering services can be brought under this category. In general, it is expected that man should perform his act without expecting any reward or expectation. [Nishkamya Karma].
3. Mental level: Sharing of knowledge and being loving and compassionate come under this level. Sharing of knowledge is like emptying a bottle, in order to get it filled with fresh water. If the bottle is full any excess of water will overflow, resulting in wastage. This analogy can be applied even for sharing of wealth.
4. Spiritual level: The highest level of giving or lending is surrendering oneself to Guru, God or Ultimate. It also means submitting your lower self [Ego] to the Higher Self within [Soul or spirit].
Activities
 List out the uses of water.
 List out the values learnt from the natural elements, given in the following table.

Elements Values
Sun
Air
Moon
Mountain
Water
Trees

 Collect the pictures of the animal family, plant family and the solar system and prepare an album.
 Man may differ from Nature in the act of giving. Discuss.



CHAPTER II - WHO AM I ?

BREAK THE BARRIERS

Objectives
 To realise that the basic human nature is the same in all, irrespective of their age, differences by birth and external appearances
 To make the individual accept people as they are, feeling the same divine presence in all
 To prove that Divine nature cannot be seen, but only felt

Thoughts for life
 Sow the seed of effort, reap the fruit of success.
 Appearances can be deceptive.
 Don’t judge a person by his outward show; for a feather flies high while a pearl lies low.

Lesson Illustrated
 Types of Barriers : There are two main types of barriers - Personal and Social. The former is based on our body, mind and intellect. Social barriers are created by human society like caste, colour, creed, religion, shape, size etc.
Inspite of all these barriers, the inner essence – Divine nature is the one and the same in all God’s creations. This Divinity cannot be seen but felt. To recognize and realize that the soul is same for all, we have the following illustrations.
a. Personal barriers: Truth in a nutshell: in a commonly available coconut, we can visualize the personal barriers as follows:





The outer shell which is thick, natural and protective represents our body. The second inner fibrous layer represents our mind which is more often confused, chaotic and discontented. The third nutty layer can be compared to our intellect which is usually a tough nut to crack. Once this layer is broken it exposes the white, pure, edible kernel inside equivalent to our Soul, spirit or Divine. The water that flows outside from the white kernel can be considered as love which springs forth from our heart.
Thus, when you break your personal barriers, you will realise who you are. You are nothing but the Soul or Divine. To reach this soul, you have to cross the barriers of body, mind, and intellect mentally, and experience it through the process of meditation (Tapasya).
b. Social barriers: The beauty within: Man has been responsible for the creation of social barriers, which are based on caste, creed, religion, nationality, culture, colour, shape, size etc. Inspite of this, man has to realize that Divinity which is the inner essence is the same in everyone; though it cannot be seen or felt.
For e.g. when different coloured, sized and shaped balloons are blown and hung, we are attracted towards anyone of our choice. When the balloon of our choice is pricked the air goes out and merges with the outer air and the beauty of the balloon is lost. Now your choice is shifted to the next balloon. We have to realise that the balloon by itself has no beauty but it is the air which fills it which is responsible. Likewise the inner soul or life force, is the sole factor which projects the beauty in human beings. When the soul moves out of the body, it merges with the divinity outside and remains immortal. The body is discarded as life is out and this is death.
Blown balloon Body
Air within Soul or life-force
Pricked balloon Body without soul (no life)

Note: This can be demonstrated in the class and explained.
 Breaking the barriers : Once we realise that the existence of personal and social barriers are the dividing factors for the unification of humanity, the following values are to be developed.
a. Oneness of humanity
b. Universal love
c. Universal brotherhood
d. Beauty in diversity
e. Unity in diversity
f. Dignity of labour

Finally we have to lose the ‘I’, ‘my’ and ‘mine’ which refers to the lower self.
The higher Self: this is constant and unchanging. Look at the following sentences:
I am a child I am Beautiful
I am an adult I am Rich
In the above sentences the word ‘I’ is constant and refers to the Higher Self in us and the rest are changing depending on the time, birth, growth, possessions and status. We should not be carried away by the changing factors which are the barriers for exposing “the beauty within.” Therefore realise the “Higher self.”

Activities
 Basic human nature is the same every where. Discuss.
 Suggest any substitute instead of balloon experiment given in the lesson and explain the nature of society.
 Find the one common basic ingredient in the following products and analyse the reason for the difference in taste. Compare this analogy to explain the basic and acquired human nature.
a. Pepsi, Coffee, Lime Juice, Butter Milk and Soup.
b. Ice Cream, Rasagulla, Chocolate, Jam, Biscuit, Sugar Cane.
CHAPTER III - BODY

BODY, MIND AND ACTION

Objectives
 To understand co-ordination between parts of the body
 To know moderation at all levels of bodily functions
 To learn factors affecting moderation
 To feel the importance of listening to the heart

Thoughts for Life
 The strongest and surest way to the soul is through the mind.
 A person is a product of his own thoughts.
 Mind is responsible for the activities of the body.

Lesson Illustrated
 Co-ordination between body, mind, intellect and heart and other organs of the body. The co-ordination takes place as follows:
a. Body perceives: Body consists of the organs of perception – eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. These organs as Gnanendriyas only perceives without the knowledge of what it perceives.
b. Mind knows and understands: The function of the mind is to know and understand what the above organs [Gnanendriyas] perceive.
How does it do it?
Mind settles on all the above organs and performs action. For example, there is a table before your eyes. The current of the mind flows through the eyes and surrounds the table in the same way as the water of a canal surrounds the base of a tree, assuming the same form. Thus the mind helps the person to know and understand that what he sees is a table.
If the mind is confused, chaotic and not calm, the thoughts [current] flowing will not be clear. Therefore, such a mind cannot know, understand and give appropriate commands to the body. This results in imperfect understanding and commands. Therefore, there is need to regulate the mind which is nothing but regulation of thoughts to enable us to do or perform the "perfect act".
c. Intellect discriminates: The intellect subtly guides the mind in taking the right decision through discrimination.
d. Heart gives the ultimate answer: The best action is performed when the regulated mind is in contact with the Divine in the Heart which gives the ultimate answer.
e. Mind commands: Because of the influence of the above functions, the regulated mind is ready to give commands to the body to act.
f. Body acts: The command of the mind is perfect when it is not merely used but is applied by focussing its attention on the object. This results in performing action by the body [karmendriyas].

Object Body Perceives Mind knows and understands Intellect
Discriminates

Body acts Mind Commands Heart Gives Ultimate answer

 The Perfect Act:
a. The co-ordination between body, mind and action appears to be of a long duration but in reality it is done in a fraction of a second. That is the wonder of creation.
b. Action of karmendriyas is done based on the time and place. It becomes a perfect act, if done by listening to the Heart.

 Factors affecting the Body and Mind for performing action:
a. Healthy food: Normally we have the tendency to consume roots and tubers which are Tamasik by nature [static] as they are easily available, easy to store and tasty. All the animal food which are Rajasik by nature [agitated movement] will create the same condition in our body cells. Therefore food that helps us to keep the mind calm, cool and regulated should be consumed. They are the stem, leaves, vegetables, fruits and seeds which are Satwik in nature [minimal movements].
b. Sufficient rest: This is essential to recoup ourselves, replace torn, and ruptured or old cells and bring about freshness in body and mind. Change of activity may also lead to rest.
c. Exercise: Bodily exercises help to activate the organs tone-up the muscles and accelerate the growth. This in turn will keep our body and mind healthy and active.

Activities
 Self examine the functions of mind, intellect, heart, and body and record it in your diary.
 List out the diet that you consume for a week. Analyze if it is balanced.
 Maintain a daily schedule for your study, play and rest.
 Role-play:- Let the children play the part of eyes, mind, intellect, heart and hands and dramatize the sequence.
CHAPTER IV - MIND

A. MIND AND MOTION

Objectives
 To understand the difference between needs and wants
 To find out the ways of getting what we need
 To get ourselves prepared to work for the needs of others

Thoughts for Life
 Enough is enough, any thing more is immoral.
 Contentment leads to happiness.
 Desire is like fire - it demands more and more fuel to keep itself burning.
 Needs are limited, therefore easily satisfied. Wants on the other hand have no limit, therefore gives rise to the next want.

Lesson Illustrated
 Cause for thoughts : A desire gives rise to thoughts which sets the mind in motion. Mind comes to rest when the desire is satisfied. This ends in happiness. Happiness is nothing but a state of mind. Therefore mind must be in perfect harmony with the inner nature. This leads to a permanent state of happiness.
Eg: The Pendulum Experiment : Pendulum is the mind. The connecting thread is the subtle connection of mind to divinity which is never broken. The pendulum is in motion when it is given a push. Likewise the mind starts oscillating when a desire sets in. The pendulum comes to rest when it loses its momentum. The mind comes to rest when the desire is satisfied and leads to happiness. But this happiness is temporal.
“Desire sets the mind in motion resulting in the restlessness of the mind.
Desires drain the energy.
Contentment and happiness go together.”
 What are needs?
(a) External needs: These are air, water, food, clothing, shelter etc. All these needs are naturally available. Ever since origin of man, material advancement is taking place on the following lines. First he started living in caves and now in better shelters. Earlier the food was consumed in its natural [raw] state, but now it is mostly cooked and refrigerated. His one time leaf clothing has disappeared giving way to man-made clothing. Scarcity of pure water has resulted in consumption of bottled mineral water. Cottage industries have lead to the establishment of industrial townships.
Inspite of these advancements man is not happy and contented. These material advancements have caused restlessness of mind. To cite an example, industrialization has lead to the pollution of air, water and soil. Therefore, the natural resources, which should be freely available are priced. We have to work hard, earn money to buy them.
(b) Internal needs: They are love, peace, happiness, sympathy, empathy etc. The free flow of these divine feelings has been blocked, because of the grossness created by our impure thoughts, which have polluted the mental atmosphere.
This pollution created in " the mental atmosphere" affects everyone coming in contact with it. Even if a person of this nature dies, his polluted thoughts continue to flow in the atmosphere. It is high time we realised that it is well nigh impossible for any scientist dealing with the external world, to come out with a solution. But it is fervently hoped that Yogis who are scientists experimenting with inner nature alone can find an answer and mitigate such prevailing conditions. In fact the mind in its regulated and balanced state is the only instrument that can solve the problems of existence through meditation.
 What are wants? Anything unlimited and desired more than the needs, can be wants. These unfulfilled desires may lead to disturbed thoughts, anger, jealousy, miseries etc. It is also well known that the miseries caused by natural calamities and other living beings is nothing when compared to the miseries caused by our own mind. All these make our mind and atmosphere heavy and affect other finer feelings. It is imperative to understand that you have to minimise your wants and always lead a life based on needs.
Let us remember that,

“Money can buy bed, but not sleep
Money can buy books, but not knowledge
Money can buy degrees, but not education
Money can buy a house, but not a home
Money can buy comforts, but not happiness
Money can buy the whole world including Man, but not God.”

Activities
 Every desire is holding us back in life - not only the present but also the future – Discuss.
 List out your needs and wants.
 Suggest ways of minimizing our wants.
CHAPTER V - MIND

B. S(L)TATES OF THE MIND

Objectives
 To learn the states of mind and their effects in the functioning of a person
 To understand the negative qualities arising in mind due to Tamasic and Rajasic states and solutions for them
 To realize the need to maintain Satwik qualities to become a ‘perfect man’

Thoughts for Life
 When you are angry a great deal of energy is used up and wasted.
 Use energy wisely. Peace is so hard to find because it is right under our nose.
 You are cheerful when you smile.
 Condition your mind and remain cool under all circumstances.
 A good clean-minded person sees the good points in others. A dirty minded person is always looking for dirt.
 A person with negative disposition always finds fault with others.

Lesson Illustrated
Values are formed based on the states of mind. There are three states of mind – Tamasic, Rajasic and Satwik.
 Tamasic State of Mind:
a. Perception Level: At this level of perception (tamas), the state of mind will be sleepy, dormant, gross and lethargic. Eg :- Watching T. V. without receiving the message.
b. Action Level: At this level of action (tamasic rajas), one performs his work lazily without having the knowledge of what he is doing. eg:-
 The light of a candle cannot be seen if layers of papers and cardboard are kept in front of it.
 Drinking water without knowing what is being drunk.
 Rajasik State of Mind:
a. Perception Level: In this state, the condition of the mind will be confused and wavering. eg:- Not able to watch T. V. or do any work as one is restless. One is not able to sleep or even read.
b. Action Level: In this state(Rajasik Rajas) one performs action in an agitated and confused manner. This results in imperfect action. eg:-
 The light of a candle cannot be seen clearly when a coloured glass paper is kept in front of it.
 When a child knows that he is late to school, arranging books in the bag may not be done systematically, as he is in a hurry to reach school on time.
 Satwik State of Mind: – (clear state, crystal clear as water)
a. Perception Level: In this condition, the boy or girl will be very calm, clear in perception and understanding.
b. Action Level: (Satwik Rajas) Correct action is performed under the influence of a calm and clear mind. This results in the achievement of the desired goal. Experiment – Take two beakers and fill it with water. Place a stone in each one of them. Agitate the water in one of the beakers; the stone will not be visible clearly. This refers to the Rajasic State. The other beaker with clear water may be compared to the satwik state.

Activities
1. Identify the states of mind the following activities represent:
 a. A blank slate with nothing written on it.
b. A slate on which something is scribbled.
c. A slate on which a word is clearly written.
 a. Switch on light music and ask children to talk aloud and make a noise.
b. Ask children to maintain silence and switch on light music. They enjoy the
music.
c. Light music is on and class remains silent. But some children are not
responding.
2. Discuss the ways and means to be followed to become a Satwik person.

CHAPTER VI - INTELLECT

BE GOAL ORIENTED

Objectives
 To know that one who has one goal to achieve, will have only one problem to face and the result of his absorption will be very effective
 To understand that for going somewhere, one must know where, when, how, who accompanies and how expensive. Without destination the other four become useless
 To conclude that “goal” remains within “self”

Thoughts for Life
 Arise, awake and rest not till the goal is achieved.
 Life without a goal is like a train without destination.
 The ultimate goal is to seek the Self within.
 Do one thing at a time and do it well.
 Seek within, you shall find the goal.

Lesson Illustrated
Whatever you want to do and whatever you do, your attempt should be goal-oriented. If at all your effort should achieve success, you must have decided your destination before hand. Thus you can claim that you are goal-oriented in your attempt.
Ways to achieve your goal
 Do only one thing at a time. This helps in doing and completing the work in the way it should be, and saves time and energy. If you take up 2 or 3 types of work simultaneously, it most probably may suffer with no proper end result. Eg. Reading, eating and watching T.V. at the same time.
 Focusing or paying full attention on the work that you are doing will result in perfect action and consequently achievement of your goal. When you focus a lens on a sheet of paper under the sunlight, the rays are focused on a single point without any divergence.
 Concentration results in perfect action. This is because you focus your attention on one particular work. Eg. Suns rays focused on the lens passes through it and reaches the paper. Paper is burnt. From this it is evident that silence and stillness of mind helps to develop concentration. This action has the power to achieve success in the shortest possible time.
 You must prioritize your actions based on right thinking. Under this your action or work is followed one after the other, by considering need, importance and time. This is possible when we plan our day’s work. – (a) during working days (b) during holidays.
 Very important aspect is that your plan and action should have a clear goal. It may be short term or long term. Your success is assured in an action, provided you fix up the goal, and work hard and rest not till you achieve it.
 Your completing an action is related to the fixation of time, based on your goal. Hence you have to use the time most efficiently to achieve the goal.
Highest or Eternal Goal
It is essential for any common man to understand that the purpose of life is to reach the source [God]. In fact this is the reason why the soul has come down to earth using a body as its vehicle and leading the life of a human being and has set its goal to go back to the Source again. It is like whenever we go for an excursion, field trip, picnic etc, however enjoyable it maybe, our desire is to reach back home ultimately.

Activities
 The object of goal is to achieve the original condition. Justify
 No person should rest until the goal is reached – Elaborate.
 One thing at a time and that done well. (time management) Explain.
 You are the captain/leader of a team to organize a tour for 3 days. How will you plan for the trip? What are the aspects for your consideration?
CHAPTER VII - LIFE

NO CHANGE – NO FUTURE

Objectives
 To understand that Grihasthashrama (family life) is the best ashram in our life in which higher approach is easily possible
 To realize the ways to approach the changeless change

Thoughts for Life
 Change is the instrument of progress.
 Change is a process, which involves events in time.
 Growth involves change. Can there ever be progress without change? Can a baby become an adult without changing? Can a seed become a tree and yield fruit without change?
 Change yourself and the universe changes.

Lesson Illustrated
 Levels of Change : Life is a process of change and change results in growth. This change can be discussed at three levels. Physical, Mental and Spiritual.
Physical represents our body, Mental represents our Mind and Spiritual represents our Soul. For any progress in our life, we have a process, leading to change, resulting in evolution. The highest form of evolution is called the changeless change.
 Need for change: "No change no Future" is a well-known maxim. Human beings are subjected to change by forces beyond their control. There are the natural changes brought about by climate, by diurnal motion of the earth and by cosmic and super cosmic forces of nature. Human beings have normally no control over such forces.
The following table clearly illustrates the process of change.
Process Change Evolution
Body Consumption of food and Physical exercises.
Multiplicity in cells resulting in growth
From baby to man
(visible)
Mind Listening, interacting, learning visual experiences, meditation, reading spiritual books, Mental maturity and development of thinking process, alertness Development of balanced and regulated mind.
Soul
(surrounded by impressions, and grossness) Keeping silence, listening to the heart, following a spiritual guru, meditation – it is nothing but silent talk with the Divine itself. (Going within involution) The change results in involution – to be loving, concerned, and compassionate. Feeling lighter, enthusiastic etc., The change is unseen but felt. A perfect, balanced unbiased man, who becomes Personification of love, (Permanent evolution) and a self realized man.
The above table indicates that the "change is the only permanent thing in the universe of ours". It is the change that produces the future without which a man will be a failure in his life.
Accepting that there is a change in his life, it is obvious that it is only at the physical, mental and social level, resulting in better standards of living. But what about the standard of his life? Has it become better? Is he a better perfect and balanced man? Is he unbiased in his views and possesses love and compassion? Has he got self-realisation? The answer is a big ‘NO!’ The change is there, but not towards spiritual advancement. It is perceived only in a deteriorating condition towards sub-human levels of behaviour. This is not evolution, but devolution.
Therefore, man should focus his attention in involution through the process of meditation. This can serve as a panacea for discarding all evils created and existing in and around him. Man should realise that he should lead a life akin to the railway track, which must help him to reach his destination in the shortest possible time. This progressive, positive growth will lead him to the state of changeless change.

Activities
 What do you understand by the terms devolution, evolution and involution?
 What difference do you find between a man who is child like and another who is childish?
 Plant a seed, observe its growth, and record the changes. Using this experiment explain a value.
CHAPTER VIII - PRAYER

PRAYER – THE LINK BETWEEN GOD & YOU

Objectives
 To understand what to pray for
 To learn how to pray
 To know how prayer helps
 To feel the connection between lower and higher self
 To understand that Guru is important

Thoughts for Life
 To become that which you must become, you must be in a position to help others who are to be helped.
 Utter the prayer mentally once and a connection with Him is created and that is the only purpose.
 Prayer helps for the flow of Divine Grace.
 Prayer should be offered with a heartful of love and devotion.

Lesson Illustrated
We pray to understand what we are. We pray to become what we must become. We pray to help others who need our help. We pray to expose our divine grace and ultimately reach the source from where we descended into this world of human affairs.
 What to pray?
Normally, we have the tendency to pray for our material developments and comforts for our living. We normally don’t pray to reach the source of our creation. In fact that is where we are supposed to go and for which prayer is the only means.
To achieve this goal, we have to possess a mind to treat our pleasure and pain; joy and sorrows; success and failure; satisfaction and disappointment alike. We should not aspire for our material well being at the expense of spiritual upliftment.
 How to pray?
Prayer is our heartfelt execution. While praying we should bear love and devotion to God. We must realise God is in us and we are in God too. As we have to realise that God is within us, our prayer should flow forth from our Heart of Hearts. Prayer should be such that it reaches the base and shakes it so that the effect of it reaches the person.
 How does prayer help us?
Our prayer to God is expected to be from the depth of our hearts. It helps us to bear a mind to put up with ourselves and accept our ‘Self’ as it is. In addition to this, our prayer enables us to put up with our surrounding atmosphere under all circumstances and situations. It is needless to emphasize that prayer can be introduced at all levels, irrespective of age, status and nationality. Prayer has no barrier in its execution and deliverance.
 How prayer links us to God?
When we pray we connect our soul to the higher Self or Divinity. This is possible through our sincere, loving, heartfelt prayer endowed with devotion [total involvement].
 Who can help us in this endeavour?
Only a Guru or a spiritual teacher can help us in creating a link between us and God. He alone can serve as a regular guide in this spiritual journey.
Hence, we have to have a Guru who is worthy of guiding us to reach the Self.

Activities
 We must always pray for our material well being. Debate.
 Which is more potent? Silent prayer or verbose. Justify your reasons.
 Do you want to be connected to Divinity? Why?


CHAPTER IX - GURU

THE ELECTRIFYING EXPERIENCE

Objectives
 To realize the three levels of understanding through mother, father and teacher
 To differentiate the ways of expressing love and their effects in our sincere prayer

Thoughts for Life
 The Master or Guru is God in human form with a mind and heart. Therefore, he is able to respond to our prayer.
 Guru can help in situations where no God can help us.
 Tradition is for one who has no Guru. For one who has a Guru, the Guru is the tradition.

Lesson Illustrated
Experiment: Demonstrate the following with an electrical switchboard fitted with varying watts. With this analogy the experiences a person gets at three fronts – at home – at school – at spiritual level can be explained.

Electricity Transmitter Bulbs Less watts More watts
Home Level Love and Discipline Mother, Father and other members of the family Children Less loving and indisciplined - conduct and character not upto the mark. Loving and disciplined – leads to right conduct and character

School level Knowledge Teachers Students Less interest and respect, frequent absenteeism - results in lack of knowledge. More interest, respectful, full attendance - this results in absorption of maximum knowledge
Spiritual level God all pervading Spiritual Guru Disciples Less craving and no surrender, slows down the process of evolution and self-realisation More craving and surrender - enables one to evolve and reach the goal








For our spiritual experience and elevation, there is a need for every individual to have a spiritual guide or teacher or Guru. He is the embodiment of affection and perfection.
The chart given above explains the following:
 A child can experience the nearness of Guru in the form of mother, father and teacher. They are solely responsible for his progress in life; at home, school and society. Guru is also the leader and responsible for the child to realise the God within him.
 Just like electricity flowing through a transmitter makes a bulb glow, knowledge, discipline and love [God = Love energy] flowing through the transmitters – parents, teachers and Guru, brighten the life of the child.
 If there is resistance in receiving the electrical energy by the ‘O’ watts, its glowing is poor. Similarly if there is resistance in receiving the knowledge by a student, he will not shine in his life. This is not applicable to a child who can receive without resistance.
O watts – More resistance – receives less energy – less glow
Student – More resistance – receives less knowledge – will not shine in his life
100 watts – less resistance – receives more energy – more glow
Student – less resistance – receives more knowledge – will shine in his life
If a child is disconnected physically as well as mentally with the parent, teacher or Guru, he can never shine in his life because he cannot receive anything. This is equal to a bulb not connected with a transmitter, and unable to glow.
 Bulb – connected to transmitter – glows
 Child – connected to parents, teachers or Guru – shines in his life
 Bulb – not connected to transmitter – doesn’t glow
 Child – physically or mentally not in contact with parents, teachers or Guru – doesn’t shine in life
From the above it is clear that right connections with interest craving and love can lead to maximum absorption and perfection at all three levels. Only an able Guru can help a child to achieve this.

Activities

 Discuss: (a) How do you express love?
(b) Regularity in attending school helps you to gain knowledge.
 Using the switch board, list out some more values.
 “Some experiences cannot be explained – they can only be experienced, appreciated and then understood.” Prove this statement practically by distributing five different sweets and asking the students to explain the difference in the taste of each sweet.
 Narrate stories illustrating the importance of a Guru.


CHAPTER X - THE CREATOR

THE POWERLESS POWER

Objectives

 To realize the nature of God, before He created the world
 To learn about God’s creation, man and his functions
 To feel what soul is

Thoughts for Life

 God is infinite.
 God is the soul of man.
 God cannot be easily understood.
 God cannot be explained, He can only be experienced.
 If there is no filament in a bulb there is no light. If God is not there in your life, there is no life.

Lesson Illustrated

 God is other wise known as Powerless power. Before creation came into existence, God was static and the source of "potential energy". Hence he was powerless power. When He started creation, this “potential energy” got converted into "kinetic energy". Therefore He is said to be power. We can deduce that "God or energy in action is power and when static powerless power."

The equation below will make the above explanation clear.

(a) Potential energy [hidden power] static [not in action] – seems powerless. Eg. Ball in hand
(b) Kinetic energy [power released] dynamic [in action] powerful. Eg. A bouncing ball

 Man: Man who is a creation of God is made up of body, mind and soul. The life force or potential energy is the soul. The soul as such has no attributes nor has functions – It is as it is. This potential energy is drawn by body and mind and converted into kinetic energy, when in action. It is imperative that body and mind must function as long as life exists, making use of this potency. Otherwise it may lead to accumulation of excess power causing physical and mental ailments. For example, a ball in hand is inactive and is said to possess potential energy. But the purpose of the ball is to be played in which case the potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. Likewise the purpose of body and mind is to be in action to maintain the standard of living and as well as existence. When actions are performed with divine knowledge, it results in perfect action, exposing him as a perfect man.

 Soul: The potential energy, which is the very source of life can be experienced only in utter silence, with full attention drawn inwards. When in contact with the inner self, ignorance is removed and knowledge is revealed. This knowledge is power, which is also powerless power.
Thus man, the creation of God is also powerless power. In other words, he is "Potentially Divine."

Activities

 God is unspeakable beauty - Discuss.
 When you were born, He hid Himself in you and exposed you. Now hide yourself and expose Him - Explain.
 God is the unchanging principle of perfection itself – Justify.
 Making use of a mango seed, how will you prove that "We have come from Nothingness and that Nothingness is Divine".


"Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be
true to yourself.
Being true to anyone else or anything else
is . . impossible."