Ceiling on Desires: ENERGY

1. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Sadhana Program Ceiling on Desires: ENERGY

2. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Road map for the Facilitator • As a Facilitator, please be familiar with the COD section in the newsletter and this Powerpoint. Additional reading, resources and activities is not only welcome, but highly encouraged. • We ask that you cover at least one topic for each category. Choose based on what will work for your group. • Suggested duration: 70-90 minutes. • Materials needed • Newsletter section on COD • Study circle pdf-copies for your youth or go green by projecting relevant sections • Pens/pencils/paper • Stop watch • Candle and matches for jyoti meditation

3. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy • 3 Oms • Silent meditation (1 minute) • Lead the group out of silent meditation with this prayer: • O Lord, take my love and let it flow in fullness of devotion to thee • O Lord, take my hands and let them work incessantly for thee • O Lord, take my soul and let them be merged in thee • O Lord, take my mind and thoughts and let them be in tune with thee • O Lord, take my everything and let me be an instrument for thee!

4. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Jyoti Meditation a) Sit in a comfortable posture in front of the flame. Begin breathing deeply in a slow and rhythmic manner. b) Imagine a lamp with a bright and steady flame before you. Bring the flame inside you, resting between your eyebrows. From there let it descend down into the lotus of your heart, in the centre of the chest, illumining the path. c) When it enters the heart, imagine that the petals of the lotus bud open out, one by one, bathing every thought, feeling, emotion and impulse in the light and so removing darkness there. There is no space now for darkness to take refuge. It has to flee before the flame. d) Imagine that the light becomes wider, bigger and brighter. Let it pervade the limbs; now these limbs can never more deal in dark activities. These have become instruments of light and love. e) Let the light reach up to the tongue and falsehood, slander and spite vanish from it. Let it rise up to the eyes and the ears and destroy all the dark desires therein. Let your head be surcharged with light and all the wicked thoughts flee therefrom.

5. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Jyoti Meditation (continued) f) Imagine that light in you more and more intensely. Let it shine all around you and let it spread from you in ever widening circles, taking in your loved ones, your kith and kin, your friends and companions, your enemies and rivals, strangers, all living beings, the entire world. Stay on in that thrill of witnessing light. g) If you are adoring God in any form, now try to visualise that form in the all pervasive light, for light is God and God is light. h) Effortlessly repeat OM SAI RAM or your personal mantra. (2-3 mins.) i) Keep your eyes closed and meditate for a few minutes. j) End meditation. Softly and slowly. Om Asato Ma Sadgamaya Lead me from untruth to truth Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya Lead me from darkness to light Mrutyor Ma Amrutamgamaya Lead me from death to immorality Om Shanti ShantiShanti

6. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Jyoti Meditation: Follow-up Questions a) After going through this meditation, describe your state of mind. b) How did you feel before the meditation and how do you feel after?c) What other activities do you participate in that makes you feel most energized?

7. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Introduction • Define energy in your own terms. What is the first thought that comes to your mind when you hear the term ‘energy’? • The last 3 newsletter topics in this COD series have been on Food, Money, and Time, all of which are more tangible than the topic of this current newsletter, energy. • Why do you think Swami included energy as a part of the COD program? • Can you think of anything else in addition to food, time, money and energy that we could fit in this “COD bucket”? • In your life, how much importance do you place on practicing COD-Energy compared to the other COD topics or spiritual disciplines? • Share an experience from your life where wastage of energy led to undesirable consequences. Likewise, share an experience where conserving energy led to pleasant results.

8. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Introduction Swami has said: “Conservation of energy is very important. Our physical, mental and spiritual energies should never be wasted. You might ask me: “How are we wasting our energies?" Seeing bad things, hearing bad things, speaking evil, thinking evil thoughts, and doing evil deeds all waste your energy. Conserve your energy in all these five areas, and make your life more meaningful.” http://us.sathyasai.org/ssn/2010/SeptOct2010_Aug11b-1.pdf 3. a) Why do you think Swami considers these 5 areas potential ‘energy wasters’? b) What are ways to always: i) see good? ii) hear good? iii) speak/talk good? iv) think good? v) do good?

9. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Concrete & Subtle Energy Simple experiments to try: Concrete:Rub your hands together vigorously for 10 seconds. What do you notice? The friction caused by the hands being rubbed together takes the energy stored in our muscles and turns it into heat. Just as we have the ability to convert one type of energy to another by using our physical strength and muscles, we have the ability to transform subtle aspects of energy using our thoughts, mind and heart. Let us try this next simple exercise to understand.

10. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Concrete & Subtle Energy Simple experiments to try: Subtle: • Sit comfortably. Take a few deep breaths to relax your mind and body. • Start by holding your index fingers at a close distance so that the tips of the fingers are pointing at each other - start with less than 1 cm away. • Observe what you are feeling between your fingers. • Now slowly move the fingers apart...be conscious of the feeling as you do this, • Repeat this process with all the fingers at the same time. Observe what you feel now.

11. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Discussion Questions – Subtle Energy a) During this exercise, what did you feel between your fingers: • when it was closest (without touching)? • as you move the fingers apart? • when repeating the process with all the fingers?You should have felt a slight magnetic pull or a tingling feeling around the tips of your fingers. This represents your aura or your personal energy field. b) What are factors that affect the different aspects (for example, intensity) of our aura/personal energy field?

12. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Discussion Questions – Identifying Energy Wasters Concrete: a) What are the dominant sources of energy (coal, hydro, nuclear, etc) in your city or region? b) What are the main energy sources (electricity, water, oil) that are being wasted in your city or region? In what ways? c) What steps can you take as an individual or as a group to cut down on wastage of energy? Subtle: a) In what ways do you tend to waste your personal mental/emotional energy? b) What steps can you take to conserve your personal energy?

13. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Experiencing “Energy” in our Daily Lives Subtle Energy: You stay up all night working to complete a project and end up sleeping through your alarm and waking up late the next morning. Your to-do list is endless, and you have an important meeting to get to in 45 minutes. Needless to say, there is traffic on the way, and you arrive flustered and unable to settle down, and you get a rude comment from one of your supervisors about not paying attention during the meeting. Even after the meeting is over, your bad mood continues, and people look scared when they approach you. a) What factors typically lead us to be in this type of situation? b) How do you think your energy in this situation is affecting others around you? c) What are ways of improving your state of being so that the energy within and around you is more positive?

14. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Experiencing “Energy” in our Daily Lives Subtle Energy: Consider the following scenarios that a lot of us face in our daily lives: a) Being in the presence of someone who is not taking a positive approach to their current situation- he/she is almost always in a bad mood/ constantly complaining/focusing on the negative. b) Somebody being overly critical of us- bringing our self-esteem and positive energy down c)Working/Going to school in an environment where there is tension, personal conflicts, etc. i) Why do you think we get influenced by the energy around us? Is it really caused by external factors? Or could it be our own state of mind, and our process of reflection, reaction, and resound? ii) What are some things we can do to keep our energy balanced in these situations?

15. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Experiencing “Energy” in our Daily Lives Subtle Energy: You’ve waited all week to attend a special YA bhajan session/study circle/service project, but somehow when you get there, you can’t seem to “connect” to Swami the way you hoped, but you don’t want to lose the opportunity to feel His presence. What can you do to create the ‘divine’ experience you desire?

16. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Experience Sharing: Tuning into Divine Energy Share an experience where you felt an extra ounce of energy from Swami to get through an activity even though you felt that you had absolutely no energy left in you.

17. Quiz: How Energy Efficient Are YOU? Concrete Energy: • In the living room: What color should a room be painted to save energy? • Light Yellow • Navy Blue • It doesn’t matter. The color of the room does not affect energy use • In the kitchen: What temperature should your refrigerator be set at? • Between 23 and 28 degrees Fahrenheit (-5 to -2 degrees Celsius) • Between 35 and 36 degrees Fahrenheit (2 and 5 degrees Celsius) • Between 54 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit (12 and 15 degrees Celsius) • In the bedroom: What kind of light bulb is the most energy efficient? • Incandescent (Regular) light bulb • Compact fluorescent light bulb • Fluorescent tube lights Source: EcoKids

18. Quiz: How Energy Efficient Are YOU? Concrete Energy: • In the winter, what temperature should you keep your thermostat for central heating set at? • 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) • 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius) • 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) • In the car: while waiting on someone, you should: • Turn the car off • Keep the car running • Drive around the block Source: EcoKids

19. Answers: How Energy Efficient Are YOU? Concrete Energy: • In the living room: What color should a room be painted to save energy? (A) White walls reflect 80% of the light in a room. Therefore it will take less energy to light up a room painted in a light bright color, like yellow. Dark walls absorb light. • In the kitchen: What temperature should your refrigerator be set at? (B) Between 35 and 36 degrees Fahrenheit (2 and 5 degrees Celsius). Fahrenheit is the ideal temperature for your fridge. These temperatures are safe for storing food. It the temperature is set any colder, energy is being wasted. • In the bedroom: What kind of light bulb is the most energy efficient? (B) Compact fluorescent light uses one-quarter of the energy that a regular incandescent light uses and it will last up to 10 times longer Source: EcoKids

20. Answers: How Energy Efficient Are YOU? Concrete Energy: • In the winter, what temperature should you keep your thermostat for central heating set at? (C) 20 degrees Celsius is the ideal temperature to set your thermostat during winter. For every degree above 20 C, you pay 5% more on your household energy bill. At night, you can turn your thermostat down by 1 to 3 degrees. For every 1 degree decrease, you will save 2% on your utility bill. • In the car: while waiting on someone, you should: (A) Turn the car off while waiting for someone. Sitting in a car with an idle engine for more than 10 seconds uses more gasoline than just restarting the car. Source: EcoKids

21. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Case Scenario/Activity 1: The image below is a breakdown of your water and sewage utility bill. Your goal is to cut down your total costs by 15%. Discuss three (3) ways you can trim your cost.

22. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Case Scenario/Activity 2: For many days you seem to be low in energy. You start the day by waking up feeling tired. You almost always skip breakfast. During the day also you appear to not have much energy to work or study. By the time you come home you are physically and mentally drained. What are some ways (besides caffeine!) you can start the day on a more positive note and continue to stay energized during the day?

23. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Energy Conclusion & Take-aways a) What is one thing related to energy you can take from this study circle and implement in your daily life? b) If the energy field you radiate out to your environment was represented by a color, what color(s) would you want your energy field to be and why?c) If applicable, come up with an action plan for you to practice COD-energy and other COD topics as a group

24. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Time Closing Prayers

25. Zone 1 Sai Young Adults- Ceiling on Desires: Time