Class Summary for Mar 26, 2024 - Chapter-3 Slokas 8 - 13
Summarized by Aishwarya Ramani
After a recap of last week's discussion, we dove into a discussion of what is unintelligent action.
We discussed Gurudev's writeup on Chapter 3 verse 9 where he mentions unintelligent actions and the bonds created by them.
Every living being performs actions. Actions of animals are instinctive. They only have the intelligence needed for survival. We humans are thinking beings. Once we have taken care of the basics (Maslow's hierarchy), we no longer need to act instinctively. We can focus on acting with intent, which is to do something to get something. What we do, can be intelligent or unintelligent. We talked about the effects of intelligent vs unintelligent action.
We talked about the white coat syndrome in this context.
White coat syndrome, or white coat hypertension, is the term for when you get a high blood pressure reading in a doctor's office and a normal reading at home. The anxiety of being around doctors in white coats can make your blood pressure rise
When read in the context of this verse, anything done for the Supreme Lord, is intelligent action. The analogy discussed was that of stepping up the ladder and letting go of the worst things, work our way up
Good actions also have a result. To get the benefit of good actions, we have to take a birth.
We discussed that every action, however simple, can be dedicated to the Lord. An example of a day to day, seemingly mundane situation of purchasing girl-scout cookies was discussed. While it is for a good cause, instead of consuming the girl-scout cookies onseself, it can be donated to those in need, or a payment can be made towards the cause without actually taking home any cookies.
The group watched Gurudev's commentary videos on verses 8 to 13. One of the takeaways discussed was that a true Guru will not ask his or her followers abandon their obligatory duties.
We discussed Gurudev's writeup on Chapter 3 verse 9 where he mentions unintelligent actions and the bonds created by them.
Every living being performs actions. Actions of animals are instinctive. They only have the intelligence needed for survival. We humans are thinking beings. Once we have taken care of the basics (Maslow's hierarchy), we no longer need to act instinctively. We can focus on acting with intent, which is to do something to get something. What we do, can be intelligent or unintelligent. We talked about the effects of intelligent vs unintelligent action.
We talked about the white coat syndrome in this context.
White coat syndrome, or white coat hypertension, is the term for when you get a high blood pressure reading in a doctor's office and a normal reading at home. The anxiety of being around doctors in white coats can make your blood pressure rise
When read in the context of this verse, anything done for the Supreme Lord, is intelligent action. The analogy discussed was that of stepping up the ladder and letting go of the worst things, work our way up
Good actions also have a result. To get the benefit of good actions, we have to take a birth.
We discussed that every action, however simple, can be dedicated to the Lord. An example of a day to day, seemingly mundane situation of purchasing girl-scout cookies was discussed. While it is for a good cause, instead of consuming the girl-scout cookies onseself, it can be donated to those in need, or a payment can be made towards the cause without actually taking home any cookies.
The group watched Gurudev's commentary videos on verses 8 to 13. One of the takeaways discussed was that a true Guru will not ask his or her followers abandon their obligatory duties.
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