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BG - 13

Verse

Bg. 15.12

यदादित्यगतं तेजो जगद्भ‍ासयतेऽखिलम् ।
यच्च‍न्द्रमसि यच्च‍ाग्न‍ौ तत्तेजो विद्धि मामकम् ॥ १२ ॥

yad āditya-gataṁ tejo
jagad bhāsayate ’khilam
yac candramasi yac cāgnau
tat tejo viddhi māmakam

Synonyms
yat — that which; āditya-gatam — in the sunshine; tejaḥ — splendor; jagat — the whole world; bhāsayate — illuminates; akhilam — entirely; yat — that which; candramasi — in the moon; yat — that which; ca — also; agnau — in fire; tat — that; tejaḥ — splendor; viddhi — understand; māmakam — from Me.

Translation
The splendor of the sun, which dissipates the darkness of this whole world, comes from Me. And the splendor of the moon and the splendor of fire are also from Me.

Bhajan

Song Name: Mama Mana Mandire

Author: Bhaktivinoda Thakura

https://kksongs.org/songs/m/mamamanamandire.html

Katha - Story of Syamantaka Jewel

You will need to tell this story in 3 sessions. It is a fascinating story with many key lessons. Sun is a part of the story, that is why we picked it.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/kb/56/

Juniors Learning

Krishna Packed Your Lunch!

Main Idea: Every calorie you eat started as sunlight. And in BG 15.12, Krishna tells us that sunlight comes from Him. So every meal is literally powered by Krishna.

Key Concept: The Sunlight Supply Chain — Krishna → Sun → Plant → Food → You

🎯 Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, children will:

  • Know that the sun's light and energy comes from Krishna (BG 15.12)
  • Understand that plants capture sunlight to make our food
  • Be able to trace any food backward: food → plant → sun → Krishna
  • Have a simple, heartfelt prayer to say before every meal
  • Take home a visual supply-chain drawing they made themselves

🛒 Materials Needed

For the teacher:

  • A piece of roti, fruit, or any whole food item to hold up
  • 5 large printed cards: ☀️ Krishna / 🌟 Sun / 🌿 Plant / 🍚 Food / 💪 You
  • One ball of golden/yellow yarn

For each child:

  • Worksheet A: Food Detective (page 5)
  • Worksheet B: My Plate Supply Chain (page 6)
  • Crayons / coloured pencils
  • Optional: sticker sheet with sun/leaf/heart stickers

Who Really Made Your Lunch?

Hold up the food item. Ask the class:

"Who made this food?"

Accept all answers with enthusiasm — Mummy, the shop, the farmer, the restaurant. Write them on the board. Then say:

Teacher script:

"Those are all good answers! But today we're going to go ALL the way back — way further than the shop, way further than the farmer — to find the REAL answer. Are you ready to be detectives? Because the answer is going to surprise you."

🧵 SEGMENT 2 — Main Activity

The Sunlight Chain Game

Setup: Distribute the five large chain cards to five children (or tape them around the room) in this order:

☀️ KRISHNA  →  🌟 THE SUN  →  🌿 THE PLANT  →  🍚 YOUR FOOD  →  💪 YOU!
sends His        light and        catches           stores the       run on His
splendor         warmth           the light         energy           energy

Instructions:

  1. The child holding the ☀️ KRISHNA card holds the end of the ball of yarn.
  2. They pass the ball to the child holding 🌟 THE SUN card, keeping hold of the yarn.
  3. The ball keeps passing — 🌿 PLANT → 🍚 FOOD → 💪 YOU — each child holding the yarn.
  4. The last child holds the yarn and can see the golden thread stretching all the way back to Krishna.

Teacher script:

"Look at this golden thread! That's the same as the energy in your food. It travelled all the way from Krishna, through the sun, into the plant, into the food — and right now it's inside YOU, keeping your heart beating."

"Can everyone say this together?"

Class response (repeat 3x):

"I am connected to Krishna through my food."

Repeat the game 2–3 times with different children holding the cards. Keep the energy playful.

Craft Activity

My Plate, Krishna's Energy

Hand out Worksheet B. Children draw their favourite meal on the plate and fill in the supply chain on the right side.

Teacher script:

"Draw the meal you love most on the plate. Then fill in the arrows. Every single food you draw — even if it's your favourite sweet or snack — traces back to a plant, to the sun, to Krishna. When you're done, you're going to have proof that Krishna is in your lunch."

Walk around and help younger children write the words. For children who finish early: ask them to trace a second food, or decorate the sun on their page.

💡 Tip for ages 5–7: Pre-fill the last two arrows (☀️ THE SUN and 🙏 KRISHNA) in pencil so younger children only need to fill in the food-specific steps.

🙏 SEGMENT 5 — Closing

Learning Our Mealtime Prayer

Gather children back together. Hold up a completed plate worksheet as a visual anchor.

Teacher script:

"You just proved — with your own drawing — that every meal is a gift from Krishna. So next time someone sits you down for dinner and says 'say a prayer first', you now know it's not just a rule. You're just telling the truth. You're saying: I know where this came from."

Teach the prayer line by line, children repeat after you:

🙏 Our Mealtime Prayer

Krishna, this food came from You. Your light fed the plants. The plants made my food. And now I eat it to serve You. Thank You. 

Practise together three times. Invite children to say it at home before their next meal and report back next week

📄 WORKSHEET A

Food Detective: Where Did It Come From?

For each food below, write what made it (one step back). The first one is done for you!

Food One step back And it got its energy from...
🍞 Bread Wheat plant ☀️ The SUN — whose light comes from KRISHNA (BG 15.12)
🌾 Rice    
🥛 Milk    
🍯 Honey    
🧈 Ghee    
🥭 Mango    
🍫 Chocolate    

🌟 BONUS: Can you think of any food that does NOT trace back to the sun? (Hint: You can't — every food chain begins with a plant, and every plant needs the sun! 🌿☀️)

📄 WORKSHEET B

My Plate, Krishna's Energy

Name: ________________________________ Date: __________________

🍽️ Draw your favourite meal in the box:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                         │
│                                         │
│                                         │
│                                         │
│                                         │
│                                         │
│                                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Now trace it back:

My meal: _______________

↑ It came from: _______________

↑ Which needed: _______________

↑ Which gets energy from: ☀️ THE SUN

↑ And the Sun's light comes from: 🙏 KRISHNA (BG 15.12)

🙏 Now write our mealtime prayer in the box below:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                         │
│                                         │
│                                         │
│                                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

"The splendor of the sun, which dissipates the darkness of this whole world, comes from Me." — BG 15.12

    Seniors Learning

    The Divine Supply Chain: Tracing Your Food Back to God

    Main Idea: The energy in every meal is mechanistically, chemically traceable back to sunlight. BG 15.12 identifies the sun's splendor as coming from Krishna. This is not a metaphor layered over science — it is a claim about the origin of a physical phenomenon. Eating with this awareness is what transforms food into prasadam.

    The Central Tension: A materialist scientist and a devotee can agree entirely on the biology. They diverge only on what follows from it. This lesson lives in that gap.

    🎯 Learning Objectives

    By the end of this lesson, students will:

    • Be able to explain the photosynthesis-to-cellular-energy chain accurately in their own words
    • Articulate why BG 15.12 is a mechanistic claim, not just a poetic one
    • Distinguish between food and prasadam — same molecules, different consciousness
    • Defend the rationality of mealtime gratitude to someone who calls it superstition
    • Have begun a one-week mealtime awareness practice
    🛒 Materials Needed
    • Whiteboard or large paper
    • Printed Scenario Cards (Worksheet A — one set per group of 3–4)
    • Printed Debate Prep Sheet (Worksheet B — one per student)
    • Printed Weekly Tracker (Worksheet C — one per student)
    • Optional: printed copy of the article "You're Eating Sunlight for Lunch" for reference

    ⚡ SEGMENT 1 — Opening Provocation

    The Statement That Shouldn't Be True

    Walk in and write on the board without saying anything:

    "You have never eaten anything except sunlight."

    Underneath it, write: TRUE or FALSE?

    Give students 60 seconds to silently decide. Then ask for a show of hands — True? False? Not sure?

    Don't reveal the answer yet. Just say:

    Teacher script:

    "By the end of today, every single one of you is going to be able to prove that statement is true. Not just accept it — prove it. And then we're going to ask what follows from that. Because the Bhagavad Gita has a very specific answer, and it's not what most people expect."

    🔬 SEGMENT 2 — The Science

    From Photon to Heartbeat

    Work through the chain on the board as you explain. Draw each link visually as you go — don't just talk, build it.

    Step 1: What is photosynthesis, actually?

    Most students have memorized the equation. The goal here is to make them feel what it means.

    Write on board:

    6CO₂  +  6H₂O  +  sunlight  →  C₆H₁₂O₆  +  6O₂

    Ask: "What is the plant actually doing here?"

    Guide toward: a plant is taking carbon dioxide — a gas in the air — and water from the soil, and using the energy in sunlight to rearrange those atoms into glucose. Glucose is not just "sugar." Glucose is stored solar energy in chemical form. The plant has literally bottled sunlight.

    💡 Key phrase to land: "Photosynthesis is not a biological process that uses sunlight. It is a solar energy storage process that happens to occur in living cells."

    Step 2: What happens when you eat?

    When you chew that roti and your body digests it, your cells break apart those glucose molecules in a process called cellular respiration. The chemical bonds that the plant spent energy building — using sunlight — your body now breaks, releasing that energy back out.

    Write on board:

    C₆H₁₂O₆  +  6O₂  →  6CO₂  +  6H₂O  +  ATP (energy)

    ATP is the energy currency your cells run on. Every muscle contraction, every nerve signal, every heartbeat — ATP. And every ATP molecule in your body right now traces back to a glucose molecule. Which traces back to a plant. Which traces back to sunlight.

    💡 Key phrase to land: "Your heartbeat is a solar-powered event."

    Step 3: Close every escape route

    Ask students to try to name a food that doesn't trace back to photosynthesis. Work through each attempt:

    Student suggestion Teacher response
    Milk / dairy The cow ate grass. Grass is photosynthesis.
    Meat / chicken The animal ate plants, or ate something that ate plants.
    Honey Bees visited flowers. Flowers are photosynthesis.
    Ghee Made from milk. See above.
    Mushrooms / fungi Fungi decompose organic matter — which was once a living organism that traced back to photosynthesis.
    Salt / water Not a calorie. You cannot run your cells on salt or water alone. Every calorie traces back.

    Conclude: "There are no exceptions. Every food chain on Earth begins with a plant capturing sunlight. This is not philosophy — it is biology."

    Step 4: Where does the sunlight come from?

    Having established the chain completely, now introduce the verse.

    Write on board:

    yad āditya-gataṁ tejo jagad bhāsayate 'khilam yat candramasi yac cāgnau tat tejo viddhi māmakam

    "The splendor that is in the sun, which illuminates the whole world — know that splendor to be Mine." — BG 15.12

    Say:

    Teacher script:

    "We just built the entire chain from your food back to the sun. Every step was biology, chemistry, physics — no faith required. Now Krishna steps into the chain at exactly one point: the sun. He doesn't claim to be the plant, or the food, or the farmer. He says: that splendor — the specific energy output of the sun — comes from Me.

    That's a very precise, very testable-sounding claim. And it changes everything that follows."

    🧠 SEGMENT 3 — Philosophical Bridge

    What Follows from the Science?

    This is where the lesson pivots from information to inquiry. The goal is not to lecture — it is to let students discover the implications themselves.

    Write on board: "Same molecules. Different consciousness."

    Ask:

    "If a scientist and a devotee eat the exact same plate of rice — same carbohydrates, same glucose, same ATP — what's the difference between them?"

    Let students discuss briefly. Guide toward:

    The molecules are identical. The awareness of origin is different. One person eats a product of agriculture. The other eats an expression of Krishna's energy that has passed through a plant, a farmer, a kitchen, and a prayer — and arrived at their plate as an act of grace.

    Ask:

    "Is that difference real, or is it just a feeling?"

    This is the crux. Push students to think carefully:

    • If the origin of a thing is part of what it is — then knowing the origin changes your relationship to it. A letter from a stranger and a letter from your mother may have identical ink, identical paper, identical words. The origin changes everything.
    • Prasadam is not food with a ritual performed over it. It is food seen accurately — as energy that originated with Krishna, passed through His creation, and arrived as His gift.

    💡 Key phrase to land: "Prasadam consciousness is not adding something spiritual to a material act. It is removing the illusion that the act was ever purely material."

    👥 SEGMENT 4 — Small Group Scenario Discussion

    Scenario Cards

    Divide into groups of 3–4. Each group receives all three scenario cards but works through one in depth, then shares with the class.

    Allow 10 minutes for group discussion, 5 minutes for sharing.

    SCENARIO CARD 1

    "I Earned This Meal"

    Your friend Rohan says: "I don't pray before food. My parents worked hard to earn money. The farmer worked hard to grow it. The cook worked hard to make it. This food exists because of human effort. Why would I give credit to Krishna?"

    Discussion questions:

    1. Is Rohan wrong about the human effort? (He isn't — acknowledge it fully.)
    2. But what did the farmer, the cook, and Rohan's parents all depend on that none of them created? (Sunlight. The carbon cycle. The laws of chemistry that make photosynthesis possible.)
    3. Is gratitude to Krishna incompatible with gratitude to the farmer? Or are they gratitude at different levels of the same chain?
    4. How would you respond to Rohan — not to win, but to genuinely help him see something?
    SCENARIO CARD 2

    "It's Just a Metaphor"

    Your classmate Priya says: "I think when the Gita says the sun's splendor comes from Krishna, it's poetic. Like how we say 'the hand of God' in a painting or a sunset. It's beautiful language, not a literal claim."

    Discussion questions:

    1. What is the difference between a metaphor and a mechanistic claim? (A metaphor says A is like B. A mechanistic claim says A comes from B as a matter of causal fact.)
    2. How does Krishna phrase it in BG 15.12? Does He say "think of Me when you see the sun" — or does He say "that splendor is Mine"?
    3. If it is only a metaphor — does that affect how you eat? Does it affect whether prasadam consciousness makes sense?
    4. Which interpretation asks more of you intellectually? Which asks more of you personally?
    SCENARIO CARD 3

    "Science Has Explained All of This"

    Your cousin Aditya says: "We don't need Krishna to explain where sunlight comes from. Nuclear fusion in the sun's core — hydrogen atoms fusing into helium, releasing photons. Physics explains it completely. There's no gap left for God."

    Discussion questions:

    1. Is Aditya right about the physics? (Yes — nuclear fusion is the correct scientific account of solar energy production.)
    2. Does that explanation replace BG 15.12, or does it describe the mechanism by which Krishna's splendor is expressed?
    3. Consider: science describes how. Philosophy and theology ask why this how, and not some other how? Are these the same question?
    4. The laws of physics that govern nuclear fusion — where do they come from? Are they brute facts, or do they require an explanation?
    5. Is there a version of Aditya's position that is actually compatible with BG 15.12?
    🎤 SEGMENT 5 — Class Debrief

    The Three Positions

    After groups share, draw out three positions on the board and ask students which is most defensible:

    POSITION A           POSITION B              POSITION C
"The science         "The Gita is           "The science
explains it.         poetry layered         describes the
Krishna is           over science.          mechanism.
not needed."         Both are valid."       Krishna is the
                                            origin."

    Teacher script:

    "Notice that Positions A and B both share an assumption: that science and the Gita are in the same domain, competing for the same explanation. Position C rejects that assumption. It says they're answering different questions entirely.

    Position A says: once we have the mechanism, we don't need the source. Position C says: knowing the mechanism in detail makes the source more remarkable, not less.

    That's not a scientific question. That's a philosophical one. And it's the one this verse invites you to sit with."

    Ask: "Which position requires the most intellectual courage? Which is the easiest to hold without examining?"

    📝 SEGMENT 6 — The Practice

    One Week, One Pause

    Teacher script:

    "Here's the thing about what we just discussed: it's possible to find it intellectually interesting and do nothing with it. And then next week you'll have forgotten it.

    Or you can run an experiment. One week. Before every meal — doesn't have to be a long prayer, doesn't have to be in front of anyone — you pause for ten seconds and you trace it: this food, this plant, this sun, BG 15.12. And you notice what shifts.

    Scientists run experiments. We're asking you to run one on yourself."

    Hand out Worksheet C (Weekly Tracker). Students write one sentence each day about what, if anything, they notice.

    The only rule: you cannot write "nothing happened." Even noticing that nothing happened is an observation. Write that.

    📄 WORKSHEET A — Scenario Cards

    Print and cut. One set per group.

    (These are reproduced from the lesson flow above for easy printing.)

    SCENARIO CARD 1 — "I Earned This Meal"

    Rohan says: "My parents worked hard to earn money. The farmer worked hard to grow the food. Why give credit to Krishna?"

    1. Is Rohan wrong about the human effort?
    2. What did everyone in that chain depend on that none of them created?
    3. Is gratitude to Krishna incompatible with gratitude to the farmer?
    4. How would you respond to Rohan — not to win, but to help him see something?

    SCENARIO CARD 2 — "It's Just a Metaphor"

    Priya says: "When the Gita says the sun's splendor comes from Krishna, it's poetic language — like 'the hand of God.' Beautiful, but not a literal claim."

    1. What is the difference between a metaphor and a mechanistic claim?
    2. How does Krishna actually phrase it in BG 15.12?
    3. If it's only a metaphor — does prasadam consciousness still make sense?
    4. Which interpretation asks more of you intellectually? Personally?

    SCENARIO CARD 3 — "Science Has Explained All of This"

    Aditya says: "Nuclear fusion in the sun's core explains sunlight completely. Physics closes the gap. There's no room left for God."

    1. Is Aditya right about the physics?
    2. Does that explanation replace BG 15.12, or describe the mechanism by which Krishna's splendor is expressed?
    3. Science describes how. Does it also answer why this how, and not some other?
    4. Where do the laws of physics that govern fusion come from?
    5. Is there a version of Aditya's view compatible with BG 15.12?
    📄 WORKSHEET B — Debate Prep Sheet

    Where Do You Stand?

    Name: ________________________________ Date: __________________

    The three positions:

    A. The science explains it. Once we have the mechanism, Krishna is not needed as an explanation.

    B. The Gita is poetry layered over science. Both are valid — in different domains, for different purposes.

    C. The science describes the mechanism. Krishna is the origin of the mechanism itself. These are not competing — they are different levels of the same question.

    Question 1: Which position do you find most intellectually honest right now? Why?

    Question 2: What is the strongest objection to the position you just chose?

    Question 3: BG 15.12 says the sun's splendor "comes from" Krishna. Write one sentence explaining what you think that claim actually means — not what you're supposed to think, what you think.

    Question 4: If you were explaining prasadam consciousness to a skeptical friend who respects science, what would you say?

    📄 WORKSHEET C — One-Week Mealtime Tracker

    The Experiment

    Name: ________________________________

    The practice: Before every meal this week, pause for 10 seconds. Trace: this food → plant → sun → BG 15.12. Then eat.

    The only rule: You cannot write "nothing happened." Even noticing that nothing happened is data. Write that.

    Day Meal One honest sentence about what you noticed
    Day 1    
    Day 2    
    Day 3    
    Day 4    
    Day 5    
    Day 6    
    Day 7    

    After seven days, answer this:

    Did anything shift — even slightly — in how the meal felt, or how you felt during it? Not what you think should have shifted. What actually did.


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