Yesterday, was day 5. My daughter was home from school for Teacher Learning Day. So, she had a 4 day weekend.
We started the day, with feeling miserable. She was nervous and excited, about the Violin class, she was starting, later, in the day. I tried to help her to calm down, maybe I do too much, but it was not helping. All suggestions to do yoga or breathing exercise or meditation, fell to deaf ears. And I was getting cranky too.
Anyways, miserable or not, we spent the morning, cleaning up her desk and her room, getting it ready for school, the next day.
We both took a time- in with ourselves, her, more reluctantly than me. I, usually, do this to mitigate any loss of composure, in plain English, that would mean, shouting and screaming.
Somehow, we got through the morning. I read a book, this usually helps her calm down, but it did nothing today. Partly, cause, I was feeling irritated as well. We tried to do some Math practice, and that did not go too well either. I wanted to go to the temple and she was not up for that. It was one of those days!
Finally, we just settled to do some drawing, something else, she finds calming. At noon, we decided to step out and pick up the meal ordered for my husband for dinner. We got there early, and so we went to Trader Joe’s to get some fruits and followed by purchase of sourdough bread from Boudin.
Can we eat fermented foods in Paryushan? the answer is No. But, eating it in a detached fashion is not as bad as eating it with passion. 3 Chakaravartis, who, bound the Tirthankar naam gotra, went to war since they bound the Chakravarti nam karam before they bound the Tirthankar naam karan. They were detached during the wars they fought. They were Shantinath, Kunthunath, Arnath.
Lunch, yesterday, was a simple affair of ripe banana sabji with masoor dal and white Basmati, all her favorites. She chose to eat the rice and dal with sev, today.
After lunch, was time to do more nothing. It was a hot day. We turned on the fans and lounged in our living room. She read a book. I read a few pages of a book.
I am not quite sure how the time passed. Soon, it was time to get ready and go for the Violin class. She met her teacher, turns out that he loves to laugh. He showed her the parts of a Violin and the posture needed. He told us what book to buy. She was happy after the class. On our way out, we met her pre school teachers.
Once home, my husband followed within minutes, from work. They decided to play Pickle ball. I went to make some rotis. After that, we spent time, going over her wardrobe, trying to figure out what she was going to wear thenext day for Picture Day. In all the excitement of the dress-up time, I forgot about the Pravachan.
We had dinner , and after dinner, my husband and daughter, called it an evening and went to bed early.
I sat up and went over the Pravachan on the Youtube channel. Some takeaways for me, were
1. Agyaa of Paramatma is more important than Paramatma
2. Every ritual has spiritual symbolism. Performing the ritual with awareness of the symbolism, is true utilization of rituals as a tool to come closer to understanding our Higher Self.
3. All creatures have Darshan, Gyan and Charitra eg An ant has knowledge to recognize sugar, knows it can eat sugar and eats sugar, but this will not translate to Samyak Gyan, Darshan and Charitra. Only 5 sensed creatures with a mind can develop these to Samyak.
4. To follow the 3 fold path of Samyak Darshan, Gyan and Charitra, practicing: Daan, Sheel, Tap and Bhaav is the way. If unable to do Daan, Sheel, and Tap , have Bhaav, to do these. Having Bhaav will raise you from your lower instincts to higher ones with further evolution. With evolution, one leaves Bhaav and rises to Paramparic Bhaav state.
5. The 6 essentials of the path: there are 2 sets of these: Samayik, Chaturvimati, Vandana, Pratikraman, Karyotsarga, Pratyakhan and Dev puja, Gurupasti, Swadhyay, Sayyam, Tap and Daan.
Leaving you with these take-aways, for this day.
Life, a daily exploration 