Week 9 Sanga
Sanga 9: Learning from Experience
Content:
- Read this blog post by Omika Mali
Discussion:
Omika shares a personal story, but highlights many philosophical questions that are relevant to ISKCON’s next generation. What were your initial thoughts? What points did you agree with? Which did you disagree with?
There are many opportunities presented to us for “enjoyment” in the material world that can really draw out the anarthas within our hearts, primarily lust, greed, envy, etc. She mentions this concept of taking these desires we experience and “sweeping them under the rug?” How might this be dangerous for our spiritual life? What is a healthy way to deal with these desires for material sense enjoyment?
Srila Prabhupad also explains that people learn things in different ways. For some people, they have to experience burning their finger before they learn that fire is hot. Learning from experience is actually a positive thing in the outside world, but we sometimes hear in vaishnava culture that the best way to learn is by hearing, reading, etc, from an authorized person. How do we understand these two differing principles? How do they apply in our own lives? Share personal experiences.