The First Convocation

 

I remember many many years back, my husband came home after participating in group Upakarma and shared a delightful tale the Vaadhyaar had shared. Long long ago, far far away, in the times of Maharishi Ved Vyasa, who travelled the length and breadth of the region, (mainly travelled along the Ganges) and taught many students in the settlements all along the river. Much like a visiting Professor, he would travel each year, impart the wisdom and meet all his students. Then one year, he decided to have all of them congregate in one location on the Full moon day in the month of Shravan and conducted a grand ceremony for all his students to mark their graduation in Vedic studies. They all performed the Upakarma together, renewed their vow and thus began the tradition of holding an annual  Convocation of sorts, which is practiced to this day.

 

I remember Swamy came home feeling very proud to be following a practice that was established by Maharishi Ved Vyasa Himself.

 

Isnt it amazing that our practices are so ancient and such little stories shared on occasions like these can kindle so much wonder and amazement in our minds, particularly young children who may take to further reading on this subject. The little story per se may have different versions, but does its job of keeping the traditions alive.

Are you Committed? Really? Read on

One of the nicer parts to Lockdown are the Online sessions one can opt for, from the comforts of our home. I am part of a self study group (Swadhyaya) listening to Swami Suryapada talk on the Srimad Bhagwat Gita. A delightful way to begin the day, a 60 minute session, with easy understanding of the complex shlokas. I love his explanations and the manner in which he connects with the Meditation techniques taught by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. 

So, we were listening to his discourse on meaning of shlokas from Chapter 5 when he came up with an amazing anecdote which is so fantastic that it has got me to blog after one year:-)

He was talking about the importance of 3 things for progress - Shraddha, Commitment & Discipline. Shraddha loosely translates as Faith & Swamiji said the word can best be described as the faith a one year old child has for his/her mother and tweaked it a bit. He explained that the intellect in a one year old is not developed, but having the same faith after the intellect has developed is Shraddha. 

Commitment had the most interesting anecdote. He apparently heard this from a priest in a temple in Tamil Nadu: Commitment is that which transcends Feelings. So, doing something because one feels like it, is not commitment, but doing something because a Master has asked you to do, although you dont feel like doing it is Commitment. He elaborated from the story of Ramayana. When Lord Rama was preparing to leave for the forest, his brothers wanted to join him too. Lakshmana insisted he join him as he was Lord Rama's shadow and no amount of dissuasion from Lord Rama could change Lakshmana's decision. Bharata then pleaded to accompany Lord Rama as well, as he could not dream of leading a life without Lord Rama. Lord Rama however asked him to stay back and rule the kingdom which Bharata did. So, if we need to understand real commitment, its apparently the commitment Bharata had - although he wished to be in Rama's presence, he did Rama's biding by staying back, transcending his feelings!! Such a beautiful explanation of the word and a new dimension to understanding Bharata's personality.

The third quality is Discipline of the five senses which is pretty straightforward. 

Do leave a comment if this story inspired you as much as it did for me.