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Have a Question ?
If you have questions regarding spiritual life, Vedanta, Hinduism etc, you can email us at answers ATvedantaprov.org
Newsletter October 02, 2013
Upcoming Events
Long Meditation Session – Sat. Oct. 05
First Saturday of each month, there will be a 'Long Meditation Session' in the chapel from 11AM until 8:00PM. People wanting to participate, must come before 12:00 noon, when the entry will be closed. For evening Aarati, doors will open at 6:30PM.
Devotional Singing Concert – Sun. Oct. 06
Immediately following the 5PM – 6PM Sunday Service, Kalashree Prof. S. Mallanna will perform devotional songs in Kannada, Marathi and Hindi from 6:00PM – 7:30PM. Ravi Torvi will accompany on Harmonium and Nishikant Sonwalkar will accompany on Tabla. All are welcome. Donations are accepted.
Children’s Sunday ‘Spiritual-Arts & Storytelling’ Class – Sun. Oct. 06
First Sunday of each month, there will be a 'Spiritual-Arts & Storytelling’ class from 4PM – 6PM for children age 12 and under, under the direction of Prof Dorothy Abram. Please e-mail Dorothy.Abram AT jwu.edu for any questions.
Hatha Yoga ‘8-session’classes: Click here for the .pdf Flier
Hatha Yoga classes are beginning at Prov. Vedanta in the Lower Level (LL) beginning FRIDAY, September 20 from 5:30PM – 6:30PM & on Sunday mornings from September 22, from 10:00AM – 11:00AM.
Early-bird’ price special for eight (8) classes (Friday only or Sunday only or mixed) is $35.00; Drop-in rate is $5.00/per class. Registration and Liability forms are to be filled. Contact pat.blake8@ gmail.com
Salutations! – Sat. Oct. 04
On Friday, October 04, the birth anniversary of Swami Akhandananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, will be observed in the morning meditation with a chant, and biography reading in the evening after the Aarati.
Bhagavad Gita class at Middletown, CT – Sun. Oct. 06
Swami Yogatmananda will conduct the monthly Bhagavad Gita class (Ch.13 continued) at Sri Satyanarayana Temple (10 Training Hill Rd,Middletown, CT) from 10:30-11:30 AM. All are welcome.
Notice: Click here to read a post about 'Renunciation and Justice' on our blog.
Weekly Programs (in addition to Daily Programs given below)
| Friday, Oct. 04 |
5:30 PM – 6:30 PM: Hatha Yoga class 7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: study class to begin on ‘KARMA YOGA’ (by Swami Vivekananda) — taught by Swami Yogatmananda |
| Saturday, Oct. 05 | 8:30 – 10:30 AM: Karma yoga/cleaning 12noon - 8:00PM: LONG MEDITATION |
| Sunday, Oct. 06 |
10:00AM – 11:00AM - Hatha Yoga class 5:00 – 6:00 PM: A talk on ‘At War with Peace’ |
| Tuesday, Oct. 08 |
7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: study class on The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Ch. 45, pg 863 |
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 7:00 – 7:25AM – A short ritual worship/Puja. Open to all. |
| 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's visit to Washington DC – Fri. Sept. 27
Swami Yogatmananda participated in a White House program to honor 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. About two hundred people attended.
Salutations – Sat. Sept. 28
On Saturday, September 28, the birth anniversary of Swami Abhedananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, was observed in the morning meditation with a chant, and the singing of Sri Ramakrishna Parshada Vandanam as the introduction song for the day-long retreat.
Day-long Spiritual Retreat - Sat. Sept. 28, 9:00 AM - 7:00 PM
About fifty devotees participated in this forty-fifth day-long retreat. Swami Atmavidyananda, (Vedanta Society Southern CA, Hollywood) spoke on the theme: ‘Models of the Universe’ and conducted a Q/A session. Among other programs, there was devotional music, Yoga/Tai-chi, guided meditation and meals. The synopses of the three discourses are:
1) Physics of an apparitional Universe and how Spiritual Practices relate to this model: The first lecture is looking at the reality through the models of physical science. Various models were created (and later discarded) to explain the Universe around us. Very simple model got made initially. It was: our earth is like a flat, motionless plate surrounded by all the celestial bodies like sun, moon & stars which revolve around it. Earth is the center of the universe. This model could not fit many observed facts and so it had to be changed to Galileo’s model, and then to Newtonian, then to Einstein’s then to quantum-mechanics model. Each model has problems about explaining many facts. Then there is the idea that the universe is after all only apparitional and not real. The Self alone is really Real. Obviously, this Reality cannot be expressed in words except by telling ‘what it is not’. This is therefore the rout that the spiritual texts of various religions have taken.
2) Consciousness All-Pervading- How consciousness can be seen as the basis of the universe: The universe is actually what we become conscious of. In this understanding of the universe, it is manifestation of consciousness. Today being Abhedananda’s birth anniversary let us look at his words about the God dwelling in everything, in every living being. It is impossible to say anything except it sums up all contradictions. It is one and many, finite and infinite, known and unknown, changing and unchanging. All mystic disciplines – whatever religion they may belong to, say this same truth. The One gave rise to this universe – the duality of subject -object. It is like a ‘tangled hierarchy’. Descartes and other psychologists tried to explain the dichotomy but did not get much success. But one has to look upon consciousness as a spectrum. So the physicists say that the consciousness is the biggest mystery of universe. Expanding our consciousness and feel the Oneness of the universe is the way.
3) The vibrational Universe- From Mantras to Music: Let us see the universe as vibrational or musical. Everything that gets created from this Oneness, is in pairs of opposite. So they have a vibrational aspect. Sound is a marvelous symbol for that. All the music is created out of One note. One gets whole octave from one note and also all octaves. Through OM, all sound gets created. In Latin OM means all. Many symbols like Shivalingam, Krishna’s flute, Saraswati;s Veena indicate how, through all music is created from the divine origin. Brahmas, the German composer mentioned that all his musical compositions arise from the meditations on the all-pervading consciousness.
Students visit Vedanta – Sept 30
Fourteen High School students, accompanied by their teacher from Moses Brown School's religion class, visited Providence Vedanta to learn about basic Hinduism and Vedanta from Swami.
Click here to see the photos.
Synopses of Last Week's Classes
(All classes given by Swami Yogatmananda, unless otherwise stated)
KARMA YOGA (based on the book by Swami Vivekananda) class - Sept. 27, Friday
Knowledge is the goal of mankind. Pleasures and pains come and go, knowledge alone remains. Where shall we acquire knowledge from? All knowledge exists within us, but it is covered by ignorance. The external world provides the help needed to uncover the knowledge that is already present in the mind. One may ask, “If knowledge does not come from the outside, what is the purpose of taking external help in our quest for knowledge?” Even though all knowledge exists within us, it doesn’t become useful until we know that it’s there and it becomes active in our lives. Our interactions with the world are the blows that make us aware of knowledge’s presence and bring out the fire of knowledge within us. All of these blows taken together are what is known as Karma, in this context. Swami Vivekananda emphasizes that the small actions we perform play a pivotal role in the formation of character and often show a person’s true character better than big, grand actions do. Therefore, each and every action we perform should be considered significant and should be undertaken with utmost care. Look at the example of a car: There are so many things that are working together to create the movement of the car. The bolts that hold the wheels on are just one small factor, but, if they’re missing, who knows what calamity might ensue? By handling all karmas properly, we can wonderfully mold our characters. In the next class, we shall examine how karma yoga helps us to cultivate greater willpower.
Oratorio on Swami Vivekananda – Music and Commentary by Swami Atmavidyananda – Sept. 29, Sunday
Writing the Oratorio was like a meditation for Swami Atmavidyananda because of the intense focus he had on it. Swami Vivekananda’s words are the basis of the Oratorio. The model used is western classical music. Emphasis is on Swami Vivekananda’s interfaith teachings and the four Yogas. The Oratorio depicts Jnana Yoga, pointing out that Brahman covers Himself with a veil of Maya. It depicts Karma Yoga, pointing out that renunciation is greater than the fruits of any action. Also the famous quote from Swamiji: “Arise, Awake! Stop not ‘til the goal is reached!” was presented very beautifully. The culminating piece was the story of the lion, who was raised by the sheep and was under the delusion that it is a sheep, was made aware of its true identity by another lion. The message of the story is that we are divine but have forgotten this true identity; the spiritual realization is becoming aware of it.
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna class - Oct. 1, Tuesday
Often people think that they are intelligent and that they need to read books to realize God. But, Sri Ramakrishna says that it is not necessary nor enough to read books and comprehend God intellectually. He says that He Himself did not read books but chanted the name of God and prayed to Divine Mother to realize God. Most “intelligent” people do not practice discrimination in a practical sense. They seek happiness in the world and despite multiple disappointments, they continue to run after worldly things in the hope of finding happiness. A truly discriminating person would quickly conclude that there is no happiness in the world. Realizing that things of the world are temporary, the person would seek what is unchanging to acquire lasting happiness. Such persons do not attach themselves to the world and take an attitude of onlookers towards the world. This practice of detachment is essential for God realization. The Master also recited a song about being ‘really awake’. It also mentions ‘meeting a man from a land where there is no night’ – which means meeting the Guru.
