Newsletter December 14, 2011

Weekly Classes

Bhagavad Gita class – Dec. 09, Friday

Ch. 12 - Verses 5-10: Spiritual aspirants are like points on the circumference of a circle.  Although we have the same center, or goal (God realization), our paths towards this goal are unique.  What is the constitutionally-suitable path for you may not be suitable for me, and vice versa.  In the Gita, Sri Krishna has laid out two distinct paths: the path of devotion (bhakti) and that of knowledge (jnana). Lord tells that the path of knowledge is very difficult and requires great control over the sense organs; because most of us are tremendously identified with the body, this path is not well-suited to us.  Rather, for 99% of aspirants, bhakti, in which the aspirant enters into a loving relationship with God, is the better spiritual practice. 
What does a devotee of God pray for?   Those who pray to God for money and comforts are attached to the world and do not really want to be released from its bondage, for they are under the false assumption that the world holds happiness and peace.  The true devotee knows that the only way to really find peace is to come out of the cycle of birth and death, and so he prays earnestly to God for liberation.  Through prayer we begin to form a loving connection to God.  Just as a crane can lift a heavy item only if a strong connection is there, God is undoubtedly capable of lifting us out of the world, but we must first form a strong connection with Him.  To create the required strong connection, But how should we tie the mind to God when it so often seems out of our control? Sri Krishna acknowledges and understands that controlling the faculties is extremely difficult, but He assures us that our concentration will improve with practice. We must be diligent and regular with our meditation in order to strengthen our connection to God. 

Stories of Holy Mother - Swami Yogatmananda - Dec. 11, Sunday

The life and teachings of Sri Sarada Devi, Holy Mother, are easy to feel and difficult to describe; they are simultaneously obvious and complex. Through associations with Holy Mother, as one becomes purer, one also becomes happier and more like a Divine Being. As we start feeling God as our true nature, the sense of differences automatically starts to reduce.  Holy Mother expressed this quality in how she regarded and treated all individual devotees as equals, regardless of caste. As a group of devotees gathered to receive prasad (blessed food), some objected to taking food from the same plate as those of a lower caste.  Holy Mother admonished them that there is no caste for devotees, no "higher" or "lower." Any hierarchy destroys the spirit of Oneness. Once Holy Mother told a brahmachari to buy some clothes for her nieces.  The brahmachari, wanting to express allegiance to India through boycotting British-made products, refused to buy British clothes; thus he returned with coarse India-made cloth.  Holy Mother then directed him to go buy the finer British cloth that her nieces desired, telling him that ‘They (the British) are also my children. All are her children, regardless of where they live, all are equally loved.  Holy Mother also emphasized the importance of Holy Company, which can point to the uselessness of mundane concerns and preoccupations.  Once Holy Mother told some women to go to Belur Math to be in the holy presence of the shrines and monks there.  Yet, upon their return, as Holy Mother asked about their experience, what had impressed them most were the cows. The women were distracted away from the sacredness of the place by their mundane interests.  While Holy Mother loves all, she would sometimes seem to treat devotees differently, as when she was once preparing two sets of betel rolls -- some special and some ordinary: The special ones are to bring some of the more distant devotees closer, while all that are needed are ordinary ones for those who are already close to God.

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna class – Dec. 13, Tuesday

Perfect knowledge and perfect devotion are one and the same. Attaining knowledge is the process of negating unreal till one realizes what is Real. After attaining that state reasoning stops. Everything is seen as ONE. On a relative plane, it is the tendency of the mind to grade various things around us as high or low on the basis of our own preferences. On the Absolute plane, the idea of high and low disappears. At mundane level such a realized soul sees everything very clearly and even behaves accordingly, but at an absolute level the differences become non-existent.
The principle of negation can be applied to our body and everything that is connected with the body. This process is compared with peeling an onion. Try to transcend each layer till one reaches the Absolute. Some can do so at once while others may take a long time. Transcendence does not come easily to them who are terribly attached to this body consciousness. Path of Bhakti is suitable for them. One can look upon oneself as servant of God or part of God. The highest state is as God Himself. As long as the ego persists one should have an attitude of Bhakta. It is not good to say ‘I am He’ out of ego. That feeling comes naturally when ego vanishes. Nothing but God is seen everywhere. Devotion is a powerful tool for surrender of false ego. That helps in molding our lower tendencies and shifting the mind from unreal to the REAL.