The first class of this month’s teens class was cancelled due to the labor day weekend. In the next class, we mainly discussed the scientific proof behind the existence of the soul and the process of reincarnation. People are worth a lot more than objects and the reason is that their bodies have souls in them. For example, in a car crash, you would make sure that the driver is okay before you check on the car. The reason for this is because the driver is not replaceable like the car. This is why the living body is worth so much. The difference between the soul and the body is that the soul is conscious, a spirit, and eternal, unlike the body which is matter, not conscious, nothing without the soul, and is constantly changing. The soul does not perish when you die, the soul simply reincarnates into the next life. An example is phobias, the explanation behind them is that it was the way we died in our past life. However, the reason that we can’t remember any of our previous lives is because Krishna makes us forget them so we don’t dwell on the past. 

The third class and the fourth class both focused on the laws of karma. In the third class we learnt that karma is the cosmic law of actions and reactions, under its control, the souls in the material world receive results, whether they’re good or bad. This law only acts upon us when we desire to act separately from Krishna and causes us to go through an endless cycle of birth and death. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that our current life is often the result of our previous life and the karma we received during it. Good karma does not cancel out bad karma, but service to Krishna is what finally removes us from the endless cycle of karma. We need to remember that ignorance is not an excuse to be excluded from the law of karma.

In the fourth class, we learnt more about how karma works in real life and making decisions based on principles, i.e moral and ethical dilemmas. We started with an ice breaker where we used a website to anonymously submit the values that are most important to us in life. Many people said family, loyalty, kindness, honesty, and hard work. Next, we discuss the principles of dharma and how to connect spirituality to it. A moral dilemma is when there is an obvious right and wrong answer. An ethical dilemma is when there are many options and they all seem correct so it’s a much more difficult decision. We discussed a few different scenarios and what we would do. The first one was if we are hiding a person who is being persecuted and you are asked by the authorities if the person is in your house. Do you maintain your integrity and turn them in or stay quiet? We also talked about what you would do if two of your friends are in a fight. Would you choose sides, remain neutral, or support both of them? The real-life scenarios helped us imagine the situation and understand how to deal with it. That concludes the sunday school classes of september!

Hare Krishna!