The Seer and the Seen - Rishona Chopra

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The question about who we really are often bugs me. Who are we? Are we the mind? The body? Or are we the soul? 

There is a simple philosophy to finding this out. "The Seer Is Not The Seen". If I am seeing a plant, that means I am not the plant. So I, the seer, am not the plant (the seen). Now, I can see my body, that also means that we are NOT our body. We know our feelings and thoughts so in a way we can see our thoughts. But if we can see our thoughts that means we are not our thoughts so if we are not the body and not the mind, who are we? 

We are the conscious; our soul. But is my soul different from yours? No, we are all the same conscious and have the same guiding lights within us. We are only so different in our thoughts and body but we are all the same. 

The "God" we look for in temples and photos is within us. Our conscious and guiding light is God. Going by the definition, God is the creator and the light within us, in fact, the creator is the very reason for our existence. God is not living on Jupiter and noting our deeds in his long register. It's a power within us and that's what makes humans so special. We have the power to choose and to create. 

Let us take the example of two pots kept in a room. In that room air flows. Both pots also enclose air in them. But can we see that the air in one pot is different from the other? No, not at all. The air in both of them is just the same. Can we also say that the air enclosed within the pot is the "pot's air" alone? The same air is enclosed in the room too. 

Similarly, consciousness is one, but we assume each has a different soul by looking at different thoughts and looks. But the soul in each is the same and one. 

Rishona Chopra

Grade VII 

Gyanshree School

Questions I ask - Rishona Chopra

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Nature is so perfect, But why are we so wrecked? Why are we with flaws? Why do humans have the habit of going against the laws? Why aren’t all of us patient and kind? Pure and with a clean mind.

Why do people steal?
Why do people not feel?
Why do we lie and cheat?
Why are people poor and on the street?

When I ask these questions, I realize,
I don't have to look for the answer up in the skies.
The answer is within me,
I am the holder of the key.

God is the fuel of the car,
Helps the car move like a bright star.
But it's the driver’s fault that the car has met an accident,
The fuel isn’t responsible for the mistakes and accidents.

God has given us this body and mind,
Given endless freedom to humankind.
Gave us materials so we have enough food,
But we’re the ones who wrongly viewed.
We made alcohol and tobacco,
We blamed god for our troubles although,
We were the ones to blame,
We were lost in making money and fame.

God gave us the mind,
We had an option to be kind.
But we’re the ones who made the other choice.
And lost the pureness in our voice.

Rishona Chopra

Gyanshree School

Grade VIII

International Mother Language Day- Shambhavi Nautiyal

International Mother Language Day

The indispensableness of knowing our mother language is understood by all of us. It connects us with indigenous culture, people, traditions, and history. It helps us learn where we come from and who our ancestors were, as they are who we are since we are compact from our ancestors. They reside in our bodies, shower us with blessings, and guide us from the subtle realms.

A testament to this is in the fact that we can find fragments of our ancestors in our countenance, devolved virtues and values, how our ancestors can find semblances of them in us and how they can tell with a single glance that we belong to their lineage just by the aura and mien we have may they be dead or alive. To me, connection with my mother language means connection with my ancestors, who may be from a millennium ago or just a generation ago.

The expressions, slang, speech, and literature in their era let me know what kind of people they were, how the times gone were and how it would feel getting to know them. By learning about our mother tongue, we get to know them through word of mouth or writing, which may divulge the allegory of their life, how they reacted to their plight and what I can learn from that.

Even though in the present times we have several translations of our scriptures, and I own to have read them too yet, there is an implicitly distinct sentiment of being connected to your roots, almost like watering the roots of a tree and maybe even discerning how our past life had been like because there is a reason for everything, including why we were born on this part of the universe, belonging to our peculiar ethnicity, may we be aware of it or not.

The reason for that is to learn something new and succeed in our spiritual advancement by picking up something from this realm, the people surrounding us, and the language of our ancestors bequeathed to us. And that's why try at least learning to be fluent in speaking our mother language.

Shambhavi Nautiyal

Ahlcon Public School

Grade- IX