Newsletter January 08, 2014

 

Newsletter Archives

 

Upcoming Events

Day-long Spiritual Retreat - Sat. Jan. 11, 10:00AM - 7:00PM

Sub:Towards a Jewish Vedanta: Theory and Practice

Speaker: Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Award-winning author of several books and Prof at Middle Tennessee State University

Prior registration required. Registration Fee - $20.00 per person; For online registration - $21.00 per person

Click here for more information and to register online. (Schedule subject to change)

 

Salutations! – Tues. Jan. 14
The birth anniversary of Swami Turiyananda, a direct disciple of Ramakrishna, will be observed on Tues. Jan. 14 in the morning with a chant and in the evening with a song & a biography reading.

 

A new post on our blog explores the Universal Archetypes applied to religion: http://vedantaprovidence.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-universal-archetypes-applied-to.html

 

Weekly Programs (in addition to Daily Programs given below)

Friday, Jan. 10	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Study Class on the book ‘Karma Yoga’ by Swami Vivekananda
Saturday, Jan. 11	10:00AM - 7:00PM : Day-long Spiritual Retreat; See details above.
Sunday, Jan. 12	5:00–6:00 PM: A talk on: 'Vivekananda and Spiritual Renaissance' by Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Adjunct Professor at Middle Tennessee State University 6:00 PM– 7:00 PM: Soup Supper; 7:00PM – 8:00 PM: Aarati (devotional singing, a reading and meditation)
Tuesday, Jan. 14	7:00 PM - 8:30 PM: : Vedanta Study Class on 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna', Ch. 45, pg 873

 

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 ‘SRI SARADA DEVI: the GREAT WONDER’ 7:15 – 8:00 PM: Meditation

 

Past Events

Long Meditation Session – Sat. Jan. 04, 11:00AM - 8:00PM
The monthly long meditation session began with 11:00 AM 'guided meditation/music hour'. Ten devotees attended.
Swami Yogatmananda to So. California – Fri. Jan. 03 - Mon. Jan. 06
On Saturday, Jan. 04, Swami conducted a retreat on 'Meditation' at Vedanta Society of So. California, Santa Barbara Center and delivered Vedanta talks on Sunday, Jan. 05 at the Hollywood Center.
Salutations! – Mon. Jan. 06
The birth anniversary of Swami Saradananda, a direct disciple of Shri Ramakrishna was observed with an evening song, a biography reading and prasad.
One Voice Interfaith Vigil – Wed. Jan. 08
From 3:00PM  – 4:00PM, Swami Yogatmananda, along with  clergy of various denominations and advocates, participated in the Sixth Annual ‘One-Voice Fighting Poverty with Faith’ at the State House Rotunda, Prov. RI. This ‘gathering with one voice’ calls upon all elected legislators and community leaders to utilize their legislative posts effectively to reduce poverty/homelessness in RI. The program began with a ‘One-Voice Fighting Poverty with Faith’ banner walk from Gloria del Rei Lutheran church to the State House, with participating clergy, speakers and advocates.  Swami offered Vedic chants & concluding remarks.

Click here to see photos.

 

Synopses of Last Week's Classes

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

 

KARMA YOGA Study Class was cancelled on Friday, Jan. 03

 

'Vedanta Looks at Science-Religion Conflict' - a talk by Srikanth Srigiriraju - Jan. 05, Sunday
Five aspects of arguments between science and religion were presented with ample quotations of Swami Vivekananda, Albert Einstein and Richard Feynman:

1. Veracity: The tools need to be appropriate for experimenting in religion that deals with mental or spiritual realms unlike science that deals with sense perceptions; there must be preparation on the part of the one who is experimenting in either field; and religion must also subject itself to intellectual analysis to remove superstitions.
2. Definiteness: What causes the variety in expression of religious goal; why there is a need for this variety in religious practices; and using reasoning, religion must guard itself against fanaticism amongst the plethora of different sects.
3. Historicity: The causes for vagueness in the biography of old religious luminaries; how religion can adopt the scientific attitude in recording its own history; why it should stop its focus on miracles; the need for science to acknowledge its inadequacy in explaining those miracles.
4. Utility: Why look at utility in any field; the greater advantages religion has over science at the individual and society level.
5. Role models: The role models of religion have a better life compared to those in science; the scientist’s life has a dichotomy between intellectual thought and actual awareness;

The way forward: Application of a scientific attitude in Religion is necessary. Two tools: Reasoning, to keep the mind channeled in the right direction towards the religious goal without any distractions and faith in oneself (or a higher power called God) that the goal can be reached, need to be used. We need to be a mystic or more scientific than scientist himself/herself who, unlike the mystic, could just be satisfied with mere intellectual reasoning with no awareness to commensurate that reasoning.

 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna class - Jan. 07, Tuesday

While studying the holy book - The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, we come across many songs filled with intense devotion. These songs pour out the devotional fervor and uplift the devotees from the mundane level to divine level.

Ramtaran is singing many such devotional songs in front of Master. The song describes how various philosophies try to describe the divine in their unique ways. Still they are not successful in fathoming the true nature of Divine Mother. Out of Her genuine love for the devotees, She makes herself perceivable by the devotees in the forms loved by them. Divine takes the form of Rama, Krishna or Kali for the sake of devotees. The forms do not belittle the Infinite Divine but they act as a bridge to reach to the formless. One tries to experience the Divine and builds a concrete connection. As this connection strengthens, and one gets into deep meditation, one loses the track of time.

All the songs manifest a loving connection between the devotee and the Divine. Devotion is more penetrative than knowledge. As Master used to say, God is easily approachable through Bhakti than Jnana. But this powerful tool of devotion comes with its own risk. Devotion can very easily be converted into emotional effervescence which can cause a big loss. Hence one has to undertake proper discernment and training while following the path of devotion.
There were many interesting questions discussed at the end.