ANNAPURNA SARADA, Friday, August 21, 2015 10:57 am

Snake in the Rope for Kids

For the last three summers, following our annual American River Retreat,  I have given an example from the lessons we give to our young people in SRV Associations.  This year we studied the verse from the Mundako Upanisad:

Hiranmaye  pare  koshe

Virajam  brahma  niskalam

Tac  chubhram  jyotisam  jyotih

Tad yad  atmavido  viduh

Shining like burnished gold in the luminous sheath of intelligence,

the deepest core of the human being,dwells Brahman,

stainless, indivisible, and pure.

That is the Light of all that shines.

That is what the knowers of the Self realize.

The word, “virajam,” in the second line, provided the opportunity to introduce the classic analogy of the snake and the rope.  Virajam means “without the taint of rajas, i.e. ignorance, selfishness.”  In the past years we have incorporated teachings on the gunas, but primarily in terms of observing one’s quality of mind (calm, peaceful, happy, sad, restless, depressed, sleepy).  This summer we showed how the gunas are involved in the appearance (and disappearance) of what appears as external, objective phenomenon.  This teaching will be repeated throughout the years.

A Walk at Dusk

At the end of a sunny, warm summer’s day at dusk, along a country road, a man was taking an evening stroll.  The land of this region was dry, but a cool breeze began to gently blow.  Golden grasses rustled between the lichen-covered rocks that provided tiny bits of shade for lizards, insects, and snakes at the hottest times of the day.

Suddenly, the man saw a large snake warming itself on the road right in front of him.  His heart beat fast and he jumped backwards.  Controlling his panic, he looked carefully at the snake.  He saw that the head was the same size as the body.  He thought, “Poisonous snakes here have triangle-shaped heads.”  He could stop being so fearful.  Then he noticed that the tail did not taper.  “Something is wrong here,” he muttered to himself.  He found a stick and stepped closer to the snake and tapped the ground near it.  Nothing happened.  “I wonder if it is dead?”  Losing all fear, he stepped even closer and went to move the snake with the stick and started laughing out loud.  “Oh, some snake you are!  You are really a rope.  How silly I was to get scared like that.  I won’t be fooled next time!”

More about Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas:

Tamas

Tamas makes the mind dull, stupid, and lazy. 

It is also the power that conceals the Light and Presence of Brahman –

just like when the man could not see the rope

lying on the road.

Rajas

Rajas makes the mind restless, full of desires, and selfish. 

It is also the power that makes Brahman, which is Infinite and undivided, look like objects, bodies, actions, feelings, and ideas –

just like when the man saw a snake instead of a rope.

 

Sattva

Sattva makes the mind peaceful, contented, and selfless. 

It is also the power that helps us see Brahman through those objects, bodies, actions, feelings, and ideas – just like when the man controlled his fear and began to use his powers of reasoning to get at the truth of what his eyes

and mind were seeing.

We live in a world of appearances, floating atop a substratum of Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss, like the rainbow sheen of a little oil on a mountain lake. A two percent shift of perspective and the rainbow disappears.  Experiences, positive and negative alike, are both fleeting.  This is not cause for dismay, because the real meaning and attraction behind everything is That upon which they rest – the Unchanging, Pure, and Free. It is never too soon to offer this perspective to our children – Atman unawares.  It will help them in daily life, granting detachment from difficulties and providing insight and fortitude in the varied situations they will encounter.  It will position them for awakening, which is their own highest good, and that of future generations.

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