Contributed by: Rohin, Kavi, Surabhi, Shruthi, Ayushi, Keshav & Varun
Teachers: Naveen Gudigantala and Sushi Nema
In our 9th-grade class, the BMI chart was introduced as a framework to understand the Bhagavad Gita. The BMI chart emphasizes important ideas to understand Vedanta. A key idea is that of consciousness. If you close your eyes, notice how after some time, a thought appears in your mind and you start thinking about it. Focus on how there is some sort of reality that recognizes the thoughts that appear. This is consciousness, the space between your thoughts. It’s represented as OM in the BMI chart, and is something that all human beings are: a shapeless, infinite spirit that represents the presence of God. The chart also teaches that all of us have likes and dislikes called vasanas, in a subtle part of our mind, that are responsible for the preconceptions that influence all of our actions, represented near the top of the chart. The next row of the chart is BMI; the “B” stands for “Body”. The body perceives objects. The “M” stands for “Mind”; the mind feels emotions. Finally, the “I” stands for intellect; the “intellect” thinks thoughts. The OET (objects-emotions-thoughts) constitutes the world.
We learned of “being aware of being aware” through a meditation exercise. This exercise taught us to be aware of everything in our lives. You would be surprised how many things we can miss while we are wide awake but don’t deliberately notice. Being aware of being aware taught us to never let thoughts fill our minds when we are trying to focus.