Day 6 - Workshop was from Aishwarya Didi who gave a picturesque description of Mahabharata from Pandu’s demise to the battlefield - Kauravas vs Pandavas, where Arjuna was in emotional dilemma.
Topic & set of questions were given for the group discussion.
Topic: How can we relate Arjuna's emotional dilemma to our personal experience?
Questions:
- What is your definition of the word 'duty'?
- What is your duty as a child of a parent, as a student and as a human being?
- Action vs Result
- When does each of this happen?
- Which of these two are in our control?
- What should be our attitude towards Action, Result?
- What should be our feelings towards it?
- Should we do action at all?
Children were asked to have a group discussion within their respective team under the guidance of their mentor and present their conclusion. Again children themselves judged their peers and awarded marks.
All the groups came up with very deep answers to these questions! A few salient points from their discussion and the workshop summary-
Duty is what one needs to do - rightfully for that particular role he/she is playing at that moment. It changes with time, place etc.
As a child (of a parent), one must obey his/her parents, respect them, make them proud of him/her
As a student, one must study, respect his teachers, apply/use what he/she learns.
As a Human Being, we should be respect nature and other beings around us, take care of them, behave responsibly towards others etc.
Action vs. Result - Action happens in the present, result could be any time in the future.
For some actions, the result is almost immediate (example - it pains as soon as one pinches), whereas for some others it would be later (you write the exam, results come a few weeks or months later).
For certain actions, we do not know when the results would come, it could be weeks later, months later, years later or even in the next birth.
So, only action is in our control. Result is not! This was a little tricky since science establishes certain laws - if we throw up a ball, it has to come down! Didi impressed upon the children that there could be many obstacles on the way even in such situations - a monkey sitting up the tree can catch the ball or it can get stuck in the branches of the tree!!
We should do our best, give our full effort and focus to the action which is in our hands.
For the result, take whatever comes at the Lord's Prasada
One of the groups mentioned the quote "Do your best, leave the rest"
Act we must! If we do not act, for fear of result, then the potential good result we may get won't be there. One must therefore do his actions, to the best of his abilities offering the results completely to the Divine.
Didi also explained to the children 4 stages in the action-result process
1. Kartavya NirvahaNam - Performing the action
2. Samyak AcharaNam - Doing it as best as one can
3. IshwararpaNa Budhi - Perform action as a worship to the Lord
4. Ishwara Prasada Budhi - Take result as the Lord's Prasada
The workshop was summarized with Bhagawad Gita - Chapter 2; Verse: 47
karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣhu kadāchana
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stvakarmaṇi
Thy right is to work only, but never to its fruits; let not the fruit-of-action be thy motive, nor let thy attachment be to inaction.
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