I am a student of Vedanta, a believer in the Gita and a huge fan of Brian Weiss. And Grey’s Anatomy, Gossip Girl and Criminal Minds.
In today's Gita class, Swamiji spoke about how the Gita advocates healthy eating, regular exercise, sleep for upto eight hours every night and the importance of being mindfully occupied. And, he quoted a verse to validate the same. Which left me thinking about people’s perceptions about spirituality that may not be entirely true. People have a tendency to think that spirituality is reserved for Sanyasis and deals with complicated subjects that are difficult to grasp. In turn, they may pass on this misconception to their children. The truth is, spirituality is sensibility at the most basic and practical level. It even talks about diet and exercise.
Religion and spirituality and culture are all independent entities, not to be confused with other. They can peacefully co-exist and are only dependent on each other when we choose to combine them. The Gita is not reserved for grand-parents, monks or religious Hindus. It is a text, when properly explained, helps you understand your priorities in life, cope with modern day stresses and reach out to fellow human beings with love and compassion.
In today's Gita class, Swamiji spoke about how the Gita advocates healthy eating, regular exercise, sleep for upto eight hours every night and the importance of being mindfully occupied. And, he quoted a verse to validate the same. Which left me thinking about people’s perceptions about spirituality that may not be entirely true. People have a tendency to think that spirituality is reserved for Sanyasis and deals with complicated subjects that are difficult to grasp. In turn, they may pass on this misconception to their children. The truth is, spirituality is sensibility at the most basic and practical level. It even talks about diet and exercise.
Religion and spirituality and culture are all independent entities, not to be confused with other. They can peacefully co-exist and are only dependent on each other when we choose to combine them. The Gita is not reserved for grand-parents, monks or religious Hindus. It is a text, when properly explained, helps you understand your priorities in life, cope with modern day stresses and reach out to fellow human beings with love and compassion.
While we spend so much time planning our children’s future; setting aside money for college, planning what summer camps and swimming classes they need to go to etc, how much time do we spend thinking about what we need to do as parents to help them grow emotionally and spiritually? Do we even take responsibility toward the same?
What can we do to ensure that our children are respectful, compassionate and tolerant of all religions and beliefs? When we teach our children to be tolerant, we expand their horizons, enabling them to discover wonderful lessons in various beliefs and cultures. I know that many children today learn verses from the Gita and even take part in chanting competitions. I think that is wonderful, learning something that is so powerful in its meaning, which can only serve to enrich their minds. However, I wonder how many of these verses are explained properly and how many children are enrolled in such competitions for the sake of knowledge and not potential trophies.
Even we we talk about how stressful school curriculum's have become for children, we justify the same by immediately validating how competitive the world has become and how it is 'ok' for our children to be trained to fit into the rat-race? Does that even make sense? What about the early heart-attacks, increase in substance abuse and high stress levels that accompany this rat-race? Do we conveniently forget that while preparing for the future. Could we re-train our minds to think about striking a better balance for our children?
When we celebrate our religious festivals, do we as adults truly understand what we are celebrating and the intrinsic meaning behind what we do? Most festivals have turned into commercial fests where children watch too much TV and we as adults over-eat and in most cases, over-drink.
If God was one of us, he would be amused.
Blog Title: What if God was one of us – Joan Osbourne
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