Positive Thinking

Sunday School Presentation by

Ambrish Patel Hardik Gupta Vrinda Khullar
Vrinda Girdhar Kishori Pamidi Manjari Bhat
Someshwar Majhi Rayna Mahadevan Nandini Patel
Kirthi Ganeshan Amrith Mothkuri Vibhu Boppana
Vishwambar Singaraju
 Overview

• What does positive thinking mean ?

• What do Scriptures say about positive thinking?
• Knowing our real identity- A first step towards positive
thinking!
• Why we need to approach a Guru?
• What qualities should a disciple have?
What Does Positive Thinking Mean in
General?
 Positive Thinking

Positive thinking is a mental attitude in which you expect good and favorable
results. In other words, positive thinking is the process of creating thoughts that
create and transform energy into reality. A positive mind waits for happiness, health
and a happy ending in any situation.
Positive Thinking

When people are in tough situations,

they feel a little better when they smile.
This is another way to think in a positive
way.
 Positively Think Only in Your Capacity
 For example, a donkey should not think of running as fast as a
horse. This is way beyond its ability
 Another example is: An elephant should not think of trying to fly
like a bird; this is definitely beyond its ability
We do not
want
positive
thinking like
this!
Positive Thinking
This material world was made to be place of temporary
happiness and a place of misery. In the Bhagavad Gita,
Krsna says:

duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam

This means: Temporary world , which is full of

miseries.
B.G. 8.15
Negation of Negative is not Positive
SCRIPTURES
 WHAT ARE SCRIPTURES?

• Scriptures are revealed texts!

• They are still relevant today
• Scriptures are the words of God
• They contain all things knowable by man
 VEDIC SCRIPTURES

• Vedas
• Bhagavad Gita
• Srimad Bhagavatam
• Sri Caitanya Caritamrita
• Sri Isopanisad

• Mahabharata
• Ramayana
• Nectar of Devotion
• Nectar of Instruction
 WHAT IS BHAGAVAD GITA?
• Bhagavad Gita is the song of God
• It is the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna
• Bhagavad Gita is the main scripture of Krishna consciousness
• Bhagavad Gita is the essence of all Vedic literature
• The key to understanding Bhagavad Gita is a spirit of devotion and
submissiveness to the Lord and His devotees
 WHY IS BHAGAVAD GITA IMPORTANT?

• It teaches us how to live our life

• Provides Absolute Knowledge because it is spoken by Krishna
• Krishna gives instructions to Arjuna on how to go back home back to Godhead
 GITA MAHATMYA 3

Maline mocanam pumsam

Jala-snanam dine dine
Sakrd giamrta-snanam
Samsara-mala-nasanam

TRANSLATION

One may cleanse himself daily by taking a bath in water, but if one takes a bath even once in the
sacred Ganges water of Bhagavad-Gita, for him the dirt of material life is altogether vanquished.
 WHY SHOULD WE READ SCRIPTURES?

• The scriptures tell us who we are, and our eternal relationship to the
Supreme. Only when we know our true identity in relation to the
Supreme, we will better understand what thinking positively means!
• We learn how to go back home back to Godhead
• They give us spiritual knowledge and teach us how to live our life
spiritually and blissfully.
 BG.15.15
Sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto
Mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca
Vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
Vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham

TRANSLATION
I am seated in everyone’s heart and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all
the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.
What does BHAGAVAD GITA teach?
Knowing our real identity- A first step towards
positive thinking!

Hardik Gupta
Vrinda Khullar
• Positive thinking at the level of material platform has limitations.
• But once we know who we really are, then we can really take our
consciousness to real positive platform.
First we need to understand what is our real
identity.
• Are we this body or something else?
• What is the difference between a dead
body and a living body?

=
 When someone dies, we say Mr. such and such passed away
But if we are just this body, and body is still lying there, then who has
passed away!!!
 We are the spirt soul, we are not this body.
Lord Krishna told Arjuna and all of us in the
Bhagavad Gita
dehino 'smin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati
As the embodied soul continually passes, in this
body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul
similarly passes into another body at death. The
self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a
change. (BG.2.13)
Our body is never the same. It is always changing
at every moment. At the time of death the soul
transfers into a different body.
 What is the nature of the soul?
na jayate mriyate va kadacin
nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah
ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano
na hanyate hanyamane sarire
For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does
he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and
primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.(BG.2.20)
The soul has been existing, is existing, and always will exist.
 vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya
navani grhnati naro 'parani
tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany
anyani samyati navani dehi
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones,
similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up
the old and useless ones.BG.2.22
The soul keeps on going through the bondage of birth and
death until one realizes the ultimate goal of life.
 nainam chindanti sastrani
nainam dahati pavakah
na cainam kledayanty apo
na sosayati marutah
The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor
can he be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor
withered by the wind.(BG.2.23)
The soul is immortal, nothing can destroy it. Not even
todays modern weapons can destroy the soul.
 anta-kale ca mam eva
smaran muktva kalevaram
yah prayati sa mad-bhavam
yati nasty atra samsayah
And whoever, at the time of death, quits his body,
remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this
there is no doubt.(BG.8.5)
Anyone who ends their body in Krsna consciousness is at
once transferred to the transcendental nature of the
supreme lord.
Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his
body, that state he will attain without fail. (BG 8.6)
Warning!
We may get the body of a dog or lion in our next life. It all
depends upon our past activities and present consciousness.
Story of King Baratha
Need For A Spiritual Master

By: Ambrish And Someshwar

 Blind attachment leads to misery
• A foolish miserly(Kripana) person is satisfied with struggling to solve
the problems of material life.
• But an intelligent person keeps the ultimate goal of life in mind
realizing we are the soul.
• This is how most people live in the world as a Kripana.
 Why We Need A Spiritual Master
We have a teacher through every walk of life. When we want to learn to
dance, sing, study, karate etc. we take a coach.
Then why not accept a teacher in Spiritual life.
We need a Spiritual Master to learn about goal of life and to learn
about God.
• When Sri KRSNA came to this world he set an example by accepting Sandipani Muni as his
Guru.
• Lord Rama accepted Guru (Vashishtha Muni).
• Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also accepted Guru
(Ishwara Puri).
 BG. 4.34
tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and
render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they
have seen the truth.
 How To Identify A Bonafide Guru
 Guru must be from Guru Parampara (disciplic succession System) which shall connect back to God
(KRSNA) Himself.
 He must know God, How to achieve God, shall not claim himself as God.
 He shall teach only about the Absolute Truth, help his disciples to understand the relationship
with God, and how to go back to Godhead.
 He Must be well decorated with Veda, and the essence of Veda.
 A self made guru cannot be guru because he has 4 defects (commits mistakes, illusion, cheat,
imperfect senses).
 He must instruct his disciples to follow rules and regulation of Veda that are
favorable to go back to Godhead.
 The Guru bestows spiritual knowledge to his disciples, not material benefits
 A Bonafide Guru should preach by his own example.
 The Guru should be decorated with all saintly qualities.
 How to Identify a Bonafide Guru

 Guru should not propose yoga for money.

 Mislead us or shall take us away from God.
 They shall teach God based on scripture.
 They should not tell their students to disregard the four principles. (No
meat eating, no gambling ,no intoxication, no illicit sex.)
 Check and Balance through Guru-Sadhu-Shastra

• In the Vedic method of receiving knowledge there is a Check and Balance System called
Guru-Sadhu-Shastra. A Guru’s teaching should be corresponding as teachings of the
Sadhus which, in turn, must all correspond with the direct meanings of Shastra (the
scripture).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzrjwOQpAl0
 Qualities of a Disciple

By: Amrith, Vibhu and Vishwambar

• To learn this knowledge from a bona fide spiritual teacher in a
proper disciplic succession, scriptures recommend that a
disci[ple needs to have certain qualities
 Bg 2.7
kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ
pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ
yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi tan me
śiṣyas te ’haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam

TRANSLATION:
Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all
composure because of miserly weakness. In this
condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what
is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul
surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.
 Humble Surrender
• A disciple should be submissive and humbly surrender to the spiritual master.
• One should approach a spiritual master, humbly submit to him, inquire from him in
how to progress in spiritual life.
• We need to do this because a bonafide guru can enlighten the heart
of a receptive disciple with transcendental knowledge.
 Inquisitiveness
• A disciple should be sincerely inquisitive about the ultimate goal of life and the
topmost long-term goal of life.
• Prapadyeta jijnasuh sreya uttamam ( Shrimad Bhagavatam 11.3.21) “ Any person
who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bonafied spiritual master and take
shelter of him by initiation.
• To understand that transcendental science one must approach a bona fide spiritual
master.
 Submissive Service
 A disciple should never be proud of education, Bodily beauty, Wealth
and High birth.
 Such qualifications have no connection to spiritual life.
 Unflinching faith in the Order of Guru
• The disciple must have unflinching faith in the spiritual master and must make his
instructions his life and soul.
• By the mercy of the spiritual master, and by his blessings, one can
achieve peace and prosperity and be able to fulfill the mission of life.
• A disciple can achieve the blessings of the guru by faithful service to the guru, by
giving up ones independent mentality and by endeavoring to please the guru by
strictly following his instructions.
In the above verse from Ch 4 , Tad Viddhi
pranipatena – Srila Prabhupada says both blind
following and absurd inquiries are condemned.
Not only should one hear submissively from the
spiritual master, but one must also get a clear
understanding from him, in submission and service
and inquiries.
 Blind following

• Guru told disciple to tie a cat to a tree

because it was disturbing the class.

• After some time the guru passed

away and his disciple became a guru
and the practiced continued.

• After a while this guru passed away

and his disciple became a guru.

• The cat was no more , so he told his

disciple to go get a cat and tie it to
the tree so that he can begin the
class.
 A SINCERE DISCIPLE SHOULD have

compassionate

enthusiastic

humble

Cleanliness

Peaceful
 How does the Video Connect?
• Father represents the Spiritual Master and the Son represents
the disciple.
• The struggle during the race represents the obstacles we face
in our lives towards our path to Godhead.
• Spiritual master is very merciful and will help us go back to
godhead.
• The disciple should be grateful and not confuse the glory with
his effort but understand that it as the mercy of Guru.
 CONCLUSION
• Positive thinking as we know it, cannot be achieved by just
negating the negative. (emotional and physical)
• Positive thinking is only possible if we know who we truly are
and our relationship with Krishna. (Spiritual)
• Knowing our spiritual nature gives us strength to face the four
problems (birth, old age, disease and death) of material
nature in any circumstance.
• Depth of our positive attitude is determined by how much we
are in knowledge of our Spiritual self.