Notes by Sita SB

Last Week’s Recap: 

Last week we saw two Asuras who tried to trick Krishna. First, Vastsa Asura, who came to Krishna disguised as a calf. He represents sneaky thoughts, like “Maybe it is ok to eat just one laffy taffy, even though Amma said not to.” Krishna recognized this bad thought before it could do harm. To defeat it, he used the power of Virgo, which means you shouldn’t hold too tightly to things. If I wasn’t so attached to the laffy taffy, I wouldn’t have stolen it! 

Next, we met Bakasura, who was disguised as a crane. While he looked calm and wise, he tried to eat Krishna. To defeat this demon, Krishna had to see the real truth. This is called Arjava, and it means to be true to yourself. 

Our RAW was to eat whatever was put on our plate. Debriefing on this we realized that by eating everything whether we liked it or not, we were letting go- not holding tight- to our likes and dislikes. That helped us practice Viragya! By not pretending and just accepting what we didn’t like, we were also practicing Arjava. 

There was only one problem with eating everything on your plate- what if you were eating in a bowl? 😂

Revival:

For our revival we did 25 exhausting squats!

Story:

Krishna and his friends were on a picnic- when Agasaura got there. He had lost his brother Bakasure, and his sister Poothana. He wanted revenge, and all he felt was anger. He transformed into a snake so bis, his mouth looked like a cave! When Krishna and his friends went to explore it, he closed his mouth and trapped them! Krishna was calm, and grew so big that Bakasure couldn’t breathe. The kids were saved. They happily went home. Only years later did they fully understand that Krishna saved them.

Agasura was defeated because Krishna controlled his anger. From this we learn to show titiksha or steadiness. Agaura represents sin. He can be defeated by burning selfishness. We also learned the sanskrit value of tapa (embracing discomfort). Tapa grows titheeksha. Being able to be uncomfortable grows your strength. Being with Krishna means standing with what’s right. Keeping good company requires inner strength.. Once you have inner strength, you can grow, just like Bhagvan Krishna did. The kids with Bhagvan Krishna weren’t perfect, but standing with righteousness helps you become better.

RAW:

Captain Suman said that we had to end our shower with cold water. Hopefully, we will survive the RAW and come to class next week!

Dynamics: 

We thought of a time we were selfish. To make up for that we noted 8 acts of kindness we could do. We have to choose one to do everyday. Sumanji added a thought that whenever we feel regret, we should pay attention to it so that we are motivated not to repeat actions that cause it. 

At the end of the class, we saw a super funny Happy Hour Promo video!