Newsletter May 01, 2013

 

Newsletter Archives

 

Upcoming Events

Indian Classical Vocal Concert on Sunday, May 05, 6:00-7:30 PM

Immediately after the Sunday Service, Smt. Shashwati Mandal Paul, a prominent vocalist of Hindustani Classical Music from India will perform. Accompanying her on Tabla- Pt. Ashis Sengupta & on Harmonium- Pt. Sanatan Goswami; No fee; Suggested Donation $15.

 

Spiritual Retreat on Saturday, Jun 01, 9:30 AM - 7:00 PM

Speaker: Swami Atmajnanananda, Resident Minister, Vedanta Center of Gr Washington DC

Subject: VIVEKANANDA’S Song on Samadhi

Prior registration required. Registration fee: $20.00 per person. (For online registration: $21 per person)

For more information and Online Registration:

http://www.vedantaprov.org/spiritualretreat.html

 

Weekly Programs (in addition to Daily Programs given below)

Friday, May 03	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: study class on Bhagavad-Gita Ch 18 cont.
Saturday, May 04	8:30 – 10:30 AM: Karma yoga/cleaning 11:00am – 12 noon: Guided meditation and singing 7:00PM – 8:00 PM: Aarati (devotional singing, a reading and meditation)
Sunday, May 05	5:00–6:00 PM: 'What is KUNDALINI AWAKENING?' by Swami Yogatmananda 6:00 PM–7:30 PM: Classical Hindustani Vocal Concert: see info above 7:30 PM: Aarati (devotional singing) and dinner
Tuesday, May 07	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Study class on The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - Ch. 45, p. 856

 

Daily Programs

Morning :	5:45 – 6:45 AM: Meditation 6:45 – 7:00 AM: Chanting followed by a short reading from The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol. 3
Evening :	7:00 – 7:15 PM: Aarti (devotional music), with a short reading from Swami Chetanananda's book: ‘Mahendra Nath Gupta ‘M’' 7:15 – 8:00 PM: Meditation

 

Past Events

Swami to Princeton, NJ – Sat. April 27

After the 11AM 'guided meditation' hour, Swami  traveled  to NJ to deliver a lecture on 'Swami Vivekananda' at Princeton University, NJ  Saturday afternoon. 

 

Bhagavad Gita class at Middletown, CT – Sun. Apr. 28
Swami Yogatmananda  conducted the monthly Bhagavad Gita class (Ch.13 continued) for thirty attending devotees at Sri Satyanarayana Temple (10 Training Hill Rd, Middletown, CT) from 10:30-11:30 AM.

 

Synopses of Last Week's Classes

(All classes given by Swami Yogatmananda, unless otherwise stated.)

 

Bhagavad Gita class - Apr. 26, Friday

Ch. 18, Verse 12-17: By connecting all of our actions to the ideal in life, we will progress towards our life’s goal, the realization of the Self. Giving up action is not possible so long as we are embodied beings. But giving up the craving for the results of these actions is possible and is necessary in order to free ourselves from the bondage that is incurred as a result of action. The all-pervading “eye” of God sees all of the actions we perform, and allots the results of karma accordingly. While those who perform actions with ego incur agreeable, disagreeable, and mixed results, those who are performing actions without any ego, are free from the bondage of the results. There are five factors involved in every action, which are necessary for its completion: the seat of action (our basic awareness of “I” and the world), the sensory & motor organs, the doer, the various instruments, and all the unknown factors, which are under God’s control. We should not claim the results of the action just because we feel that we are the doers.  Each of us is one factor in the performance of the action, but there are many other factors that are equally or more important. By removing our “doer-ship” from the action, a great relief will come to us and we will not be bound by the action’s results. Everything becomes completely different for the person who has taken the “I” out of every action. This is really the goal of each person.  We must perform the actions, but remove the ego; this will make us free. 

 

God in every Particle – Apr. 28, Sunday

Physicists have discovered a particle, dubbed the God particle,  that has no mass but provides mass, connectivity and unity to everything else. The discovery of this particle brings us closer to Einstein’s dream of a unified field theory. Swami Vivekananda said that when physics will come to an end when it discovers the One force. Without the God particle, everything would go at the speed of light and have no mass. Like the God particle, God is difficult to find and yet necessary to find, for giving meaning to everything else. The mind needs to be trained to go deeper and see subtler levels, just as we use a microscope or even an electron microscope to see smaller and smaller particles. The Self can be seen by everyone with the right instrument. Sri Ramakrishna said that God Is, God can be seen. If seeing God is important to us, we make the effort. Each of us sees the Self in us, and since we all see it, we can know it to be all-pervading. We need to make the mind and the senses quiet. We can read about a scientist’s experiment in a book, but even if Swami Vivekananda, Jesus, and the Buddha find peace inside, we need to experience it for ourselves. Religion is the most practical thing, because we are guaranteed to realize God, who is in every particle, in and through us. In Jnana Yoga, Swami Vivekananda encourages us to discover That which really is and which brings fulfillment and meaning to everything. What can be more practical than this? 

 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Class - Apr. 30, Tuesday

Sri Ramakrishna is speaking to the householders. We have to make God as the priority in life. Then we can develop detachment for the worldly things. Detachment here does not mean being unconcerned, disconnected or apathetic to the world. It means to develop unselfishness. In order to develop this detachment we must forget two things and remember two things. One must forget (1) What bad anybody did to us and (2) What good we did to others. And one must remember (1) Death is stalking us and (2) God alone is beyond death. Forgetting the 2 things prevent is from expecting anything from this world. Remembering death helps us in reinforcing God as our priority.

Sri Ramakrishna used to say that we should develop dispassion for the world and develop tremendous love for God. This can be done by practicing spiritual disciplines and going into solitude once in a while. Solitude helps in developing the steadfastness in our spiritual discipline and make spiritual progress. As we progress, we realize that God alone is our own. We develop reliance on God and lose our reliance on worldly things. This becomes a source of great strength within and removes all our fears. While the problems of life do not go away, they lose the sting as these other things become trivial in comparison to God, Who becomes our top priority. With discipline and determination, this progress is certain.