Notes by Aarya Mishra

Story:

     It was a hot and sunny day in Vrindavan. Shri Krishna, Balrama, and his friends took his cows far, far out to graze, in the fields near the forest. The cows munched on the greenest grass, and the kids laughed and frolicked and played the entire morning. Suddenly, somebody’s tummy growled. All of a sudden, everyone felt very tired and hungry. They all flopped down and called, “Krishna! We’re all hungry! What do we do?”

     Krishna smiled. He had a plan. He pointed to some smoke rising in the distance. “You see that? Over there, there are many learned people doing a fire yagna. Tell them, Krishna and Balrama sent you, and ask politely for a bit of food.”

     So the group of kids walked there. All of the holy men were chanting, pouring ghee, tossing things in the fire, and were completely surrounded by huge amounts of food. The kids’ eyes widened in delight. They folded their hands, and said, “Hari Om. We are Krishna and Balrama’s friends. Could we please have some food?”

     As they finished speaking, it was as if the holy men heard nothing. They were too busy focusing on getting everything right -the chanting, the offerings- that they chose to ignore the kids.

     The kids waited for a bit, hopeful, then walked back to Krishna with their heads down. “Krishna,” they said. “They didn’t give us anything..”

     Krishna smiled knowingly. “I know. It’s ok. This time, go back again and walk a little further. There, you will find Devi’s, the holy men’s wives. Ask them for a bit of food.”

     Following Krishna’s directions, they found the Devi’s. Now, the Devi’s had heard of Krishna’s stories for a long time. Their hearts were filled with devotion and love for Krishna. So when the kids asked for some food, they instantly dropped whatever they were doing. They grabbed all of the food that they could find. They didn’t have any baskets, but needed to bring the food to Krishna. So they bundled up the bottom of their kurtas, filled them with food, and ran as fast as they could to Krishna. As they ran, food tumbling out, some people stopped them, saying, “Where are you going?” or “You have responsibilities.”

     They ignored it all and just ran. They served Krishna and his friends with all the love in their hearts. Unlike the holy men, who completely ignored the children, the Devi’s dropped anything and everything, simply to serve Shri Krishna.

Lesson:

     When real help arrives, it never has to wait. If you think about the holy men doing the yagna, they believed that what they were doing was the only thing that mattered. But when the Devi’s heard someone was hungry, they left everything and ran to help them. They didn’t wait to perfect everything. They didn’t ask for a couple extra minutes. 

     When you help someone, it’s never about how big of a service, or how fancy of an object, it’s about the intention and the heart behind it. If you think about what you ate this morning, the food was first grown or made somewhere. Then it was brought to grocery stores. Then someone went and picked it up. Then someone prepared it for you. There are so many hands that have contributed to that one meal in the morning.

     The word for these helping hands is Bhuta Rna, which essentially means, we are all connected. Nobody in the world does anything by themselves. So the best thing to do is to pass it on to someone else, to create a circle of giving. 

Think of a tree. A tree offers many things. A home for animals, a place of shade, fruit, or shelter, and never takes anything in return. That’s what we should strive to be.

Dynamics:

     Grab a bunch of sticky notes and a pen. Think about someone who helped during your day today. On your sticky note, write down who, and how they helped. On your second one, write down a way that you helped someone today. On your third one, write down a way that you can help someone tomorrow. Now, place your third sticky note somewhere where you will see it tomorrow, like your bathroom mirror or closet. Try to fulfill that tomorrow, and more if you can!

RAW:

     Every day, look around you and count. Count the number of people who have offered you a helping hand. Did they drive you, produce your food, teach you, comfort you? Then, at some point in your day, be that helping hand. Help someone understand a tricky problem, be kind, lend something to someone. Think about how being a helpful hand makes you feel.