Read the article on Om and finish the following for tomorrow, December 2
Wesley 4AP November 30, 2015 (Due beginning of class, Dec 2)
Wesley 4AP November 30, 2015 (Due beginning of class, Dec 2)
Read Siddhartha Chapters 7-8 pp. 75-100
Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Contextual Clues
Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read the sentence. Use any clues you can find in the sentence combined with your prior knowledge, and write what you think the underlined words mean on the lines provided.
1. Many of these [things he had learned from the Samanas] he had retained; others were submerged and covered with dust._________________________________________________________________
2. Slowly, like moisture entering the dying tree trunk, slowly filling and rotting it, so did the world and inertia creep into Siddhartha's soul; ...._________________________________________________________________
3. Siddhartha wandered along a strange, twisted path of this last and most base declivity through the game of dice._________________________________________________________________
4. Weariness was written on Kamala's beautiful face, ... weariness and incipient old age, and concealed and not yet mentioned, perhaps not yet conscious fear--fear of the autumn of life, fear of old age, fear of death.
_________________________________________________________________
5. Without knowing it, he had endeavored and longed all these years to be like all these other people, ... and yet his life had been much more wretched and poorer than theirs, for their aims were not his, not their sorrows his.
_________________________________________________________________
6. He was full of ennui, full of misery, full of death; there was nothing left in the world that could attract him, that could give him pleasure and solace.
_________________________________________________________________
7. "I know you, Govinda, from your father's house and from the Brahmins' school ...and from our sojourn with the Samanas and from that hour in the grove of Jetavana when you swore allegiance to the Illustrious One."
_________________________________________________________________
8. "Remember, my dear Govinda, the world of appearances is transitory, the style of our clothes and hair is extremely transitory."_________________________________________________________________
9. He had learned these three arts [fasting, waiting, and thinking] and nothing else during the diligent, assiduous years of his youth.
_________________________________________________________________
10. As a young man, I was attracted to expiation. I lived in the woods, suffered heat and cold. I learned to fast, I learned to conquer my body. _________________________________________________________________
Part II: Please asnswer the question and include an embedded quote with the corresponding page number.
1. What becomes of Siddhartha's "glorious, exalted awakening" that he had experienced in his youth?
2. When Siddhartha's soul goes to sleep, what becomes more awakened?
3. What are some of the things Siddhartha learns to do while living in the town after meeting Kamala and Kamaswami?
4. In what game does Siddhartha become increasingly involved?
5. What does Siddhartha dream when he becomes dissatisfied with his gambling life?
6. What discovery does Kamala make after the disappearance of Siddhartha?
7. For what does Siddhartha passionately wish when he leaves Kamala and the town?
8. What sound comes to Siddhartha that awakens his "slumbering soul"?
9. Who does Siddhartha see when he awakes from his long sleep?
10. What things does Siddhartha claim he has had to experience "just in order to become a
child again and begin anew"?
Read the following passage from Chapter Five of Siddhartha carefully before you choose your answers:
“When the day began, Siddhartha asked his host, the ferryman, to get him across the river. The ferryman got him across the river on his bamboo-raft while the wide water had a reddish sheen in the morning light.
“This is a beautiful river,” he said to his companion.
“Yes,” said the ferryman, “a very beautiful river, I love it more than anything. Often I have listened to it, often I have looked into its eyes, and always I have learned from it. One can learn much from a river.”
“I thank you, my benefactor,” spoke Siddhartha, disembarking on the other side of the river. “I have no gift I could give you for your hospitality, good sir, and also no payment for your work. I am a man without a home, a son of a Brahmin and a Samana.”
“I did see it,” spoke the ferryman, “and I expected no payment from you and no gift in exchange for hospitality. You will give me the gift another time.”
“Do you think so?” asked Siddhartha amusedly.
“Surely. This too, I have learned from the river: everything comes again! You too, Samana, will come again. Now farewell! Let your friendship be my reward. May you think of me when you make offerings to the gods.”
Smiling, they parted. Smiling, Siddhartha was happy about the friendship and the kindness of the ferryman. “He is like Govinda,” he thought with a smile,” all I meet on my path are like Govinda. All are thankful, though they are the ones who would have a right to receive thanks. They are all submissive; they all want to be friends, happily obeying and not thinking much. People are all like children.”
11. The ferryman’s statement of personification explicates
(A) the river.
(B) the hut.
(C) the bamboo raft.
(D) their future meeting.
(E) the path to perfection.
12. What future relationship between the two men is foreshadowed in the passage above?
(A) Siddhartha will bring the ferryman a gift.
(B) Siddhartha will return to learn from the river.
(C) Siddhartha will return to the Samanas.
(D) Siddhartha will return home.
(E) Siddhartha will be the ferryman’s mentor.
13. Siddhartha’s attitude toward the ferryman could best be described as
(A) distant.
(B) estranged.
(C) dismissive.
(D) blasé.
(E) sentimental.
14. Siddhartha states, “They are all submissive, they all want to be friends, happily obeying and not thinking much. People are all like children.” This passage contains an example of what type of figurative language?
(A) analogy
(B) simile
(C) metaphor
(D) hyperbole
(E) allusionA number of people need to take Siddhartha quiz ch 1-6 from last Tuesday, so we will have a quiet work day while they take their quiz and I work on grading essays.
Megan Mahats Niko
Michael
Isaac
Kim
I should be able to hand back 1984 papers tomorrow.
Read about the holy word om. It is significant in the reading of chapter 8.
Ommm. It's often the first and last sound in your ears in a yoga class. But what does it mean? Perhaps you've heard it defined as "the sound of the universe" -- but what does that really mean?
Turns out, a lot -- and yet, like many spiritual (and especially yogic) things, it's not so easy to define. "It's big. Om is nebulous, and it's vague. It can mean almost anything," says Yoganand Michael Carroll, dean of the Kripalu School of Yoga.
For starters, it's all about sacred threes. Most faiths have trinities in their roots and Hinduism, where om was born, is no different. Even though it's usually pronounced seamlessly so it rhymes with "home," om is made up of three syllables: A, U, and M, or, phonetically, "aaah," "oooh," and "mmm." Experts say these syllables can represent a slew of trios, including: the heavens, earth, and the underworld; the Hindu gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva (aka creator god, sustainer god, and destroyer god); and the waking, dreaming, and dreamless states -- "to represent all of consciousness," says Yoganand.
The sound appears to have first cropped up in the Upanishads, a collection of sacred texts that inform Hinduism. The Mandukya Upanishad, which is entirely devoted to om, begins like this: "Om is the imperishable word. Om is the universe, and this is the exposition of om. The past, the present, and the future, all that was, all that is, all that will be is om. Likewise, all else that may exist beyond the bounds of time, that too is om." That pretty much covers it; om is big indeed.
Om is also considered the mother of the bija, or "seed" mantras -- short, potent sounds that correlate to each chakra and fuel longer chants (like, say, Om Namah Shivaya). Depending on who you talk to, it relates to either the third eye or the crown chakra, connecting us to the Divine. No wonder its core to some Buddhist systems and other Indian religions. Some say it's even among the sounds recorded in deep space -- on NASA's website, Earth itself sounds a bit om-y.
Some scholars say that the shape of the visual om symbol embodies each of its syllables -- the three is the Sanskrit letter for "ahh," that same three with the mini S on it is "oooh," and the bindhi and half-moon at the top are the "mmm." Some say the symbol is connected to Ganesh, the Hindu half-elephant god who removes obstacles, because if you squint, you can see his rotund curves and graceful trunk represented.
Many layers of meaning are there for the delving, yet om has endured in popularity simply because of its vibration -- how we feel when we chant it. "The sound itself seems to calm the nervous system," says Stephen Cope, founder of Kripalu's Institute for Extraordinary Living, and author, most recently, of The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling. "Like all chants, it gathers and focuses the mind, and in that state it's not vulnerable to the rising of the odd thought that will create grasping or aversion. It shifts us out of our ordinary discursive mind and into a more contemplative mode."
It also unites us as a group. "When we sound om together, we're aligning body/mind/spirit; we're aligning with one another; we're aligning with the universe because it's the sound of the universe and we're referencing something real," saysBhavani Lorraine Nelson, who leads workshops around the world on the power of the voice and is the creator of the CD series Meditation Made Possible. "It's a very grounding and peaceful sound. One teacher said that if you simply go through life chanting om, the very air around you will sparkle."
That sense of infinity you feel as that final "mmm" gradually fades into nothing is enhanced by what many call the fourth syllable of om (sorry, trinity-lovers!): silence. "So often in my classes we will sound om, letting those three-voiced parts go very consciously through the cathedral of the mouth, and then sit for a moment in that silence after and simply observe what that feels like," Bhavani says.
Yoganand says that chanting om also creates a link with those who have practiced before us. "It's a sound that validates oneness and harmony," he says. "We chant it because yogis have for thousands of years. And when we chant it, we're connecting with those yogis in a ritual way, and drawing upon the support of the practices they've been doing for a long, long time."
Ommm.
Om 101
- For one tiny sound, om is deeply complex. Apply these simple mouth adjustments just as you would shift an asana to maximize its potency.
- For "ahh," relax the jaw. The sound rises from the belly, lips are parted, and the tongue doesn't touch the palate.
- In "oooh," the lips gently come together as the sound moves from the abdomen into the heart.
- During "mmm," the tongue floats to the roof of the mouth, and the lips come together to create a buzzing in the head. Some say this syllable goes on twice as long as the others.
- Silence -- or om's "fourth syllable" -- follows while the sound fades into nothing. Observe how you feel now.
Valerie Reiss is a writer, editor, speaker, consultant, and Kripalu Yoga instructor in Brooklyn, New York. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, the Huffington Post, Women's Health, Natural Health, Yoga Journal, Beliefnet, Vegetarian Times, and more. She keeps a gratitude blog, wrote Yoga Journal's NYC blog, Samadhi and the City, and has blogged for Lime.com and others. As Holistic Living & Blogs Editor at Beliefnet.com she also co-wrote the popular Fresh Living blog. She was previously Articles Editor at Breathe, a yoga-inspired lifestyle magazine. A native New Yorker, Valerie has an M.S. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. from Beloit College. She's also working on a book about yoga, cancer, and some of life's other humbling hilarities.
Follow Kripalu on Twitter: www.twitter.com/KripaluCenter
