Newsletter June 04, 2014

 

Newsletter Archives

 

Upcoming Events

Swami Yogatmananda's Travel Program:

1) Swami will be in San-Francisco, California from Monday, June 02,  and will return on Friday June 06.

2) Swami wil be traveling to Pittusberg, PA from Sat. June 07 - Mon. June 09, to conduct Vedanta Classes.

 

Guest Lectures:
1) Swami Nikhilatmananda, senior monk of Ramakrishna Order, India, will speak on 'Hanuman: Embodiment of Surrender to God' based on Ramcharit Manas with a recitation of some of the verses, from 7:30 – 8:30 PM on Friday, June 06, in place of the weekly Bhakti Yoga class. All are encouraged to attend.
2) on Sun. June 08, Pamela Dee will conduct the Sunday Service  5PM – 6PM Lecture on ‘Goddess Saraswati’, which will also be accompanied by a classical dance by Shivali Gupta.
All are welcome for above lectures.

 

Long Meditation Session – Sat. June 07, 11:00AM - 8:00PM
On Sat., June 07, there will be 'Long Meditation Session' in the chapel, beginning with 11:00 AM 'guided meditation/music hour'.  People wanting to participate must come before 12:00 noon, when the entry will be closed. Doors will open at 6:30PM for 7:00 – 8:00 PM Aarati (singing, a reading & meditation.)

 

Children’s Sunday ‘Spiritual-Arts & Storytelling’ Class – Sun. June 08
From 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM under the guidance of Prof Dorothy Abram.

 

Devotional Music Concert – Sun. June 15
Dattatreya Velankar will sing classical devotional music on Sunday June 15, immediately following the 5-6PM Sunday Lecture, from 6:00PM – 7:30PM,in the Lower Level(LL).

 

Day-Long Spiritual Retreat - Sat. June 14, 9:30am - 7:00pm

Sub: Living Spiritually

Speaker: Swami Prasannatmananda, Vedanta Society of Berkeley, CA

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.)

 

Dates for Summer Programs:

1) Young Adult Retreat - July 25 - 27

2) Silent Meditation Retreat - August 1 - 3

3) Children Camp - August 12 - 16

 

Ongoing Weekly Classes

1) 'Walk- in' Hatha Yoga Classes

Saturdays, 5:00 – 6:00 PM: Instructor: Hannah Ressenger; for details: 401-473-4372, key2lyfe-AT-gmail.com

Please note: No class on Sat. June 07 & June 14

Sundays, 10 – 11 AM: Instructor: Pat Blake; for details: Pat.Blake8-AT-gmail.com

2) Sanskrit Class – Sundays, 3:00 – 4:00 PM

Sanskrit grammar lessons will continue to be held on Sundays, 3:00 - 4:00 PM. Deepro Chakraborty, a Sanskrit-Studies PhD student from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and a Sankrit instructor at St Stephens College, New Delhi, conducts the lessons remotely (but students gather in the Vedanta Society premises). Interested students who are willing to join the classes must have some prior exposure in Sanskrit (these are not beginning level lessons). Contact only Abhijit (a_sarcar-AT-yahoo.com) for specific details.
3) Bharathnatyam Dance Class – Sundays, 3:30 – 5:00 PM

On ‘hold’ for family emergency these next couple weeks.
Contact Anuradha at 704-707-5430 for complete information.

4) Sitar and Tabla lessons – Sundays, 4:00 – 5:00 PM
Contact Koyel Ghoshal: koyelg-AT-yahoo.com

 

Weekly Programs (in addition to Daily Programs given below)

Friday, June 06	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Swami Nikhilatmananda, senior monk of Ramakrishna Order, India, will speak on 'Hanuman: Embodiment of Surrender to God'
Saturday, June 07	8:30 – 10:30 AM: Karma yoga/cleaning 11:00 AM – 12 noon: Guided meditation and singing 12 noon - 8:00 PM: Long Meditation Session 7:00PM – 8:00PM : Aarati (devotional singing, a reading and meditation) - open to all
Sunday, June 08	5:00 – 6:00 PM: A talk - 'Goddess Saraswati' by Pamela Dee, accompanied by a classical dance by Shivali Gupta 6:00PM – 7:00 PM: Soup Supper 7:00 – 8:00PM Aarati (singing two devotional songs, a short reading and meditation)
Tuesday, June 10	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Study Class on 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna'

 

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. 4' 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 Brahmananda: As We Saw Him: Reminiscences of Monastic & Lay Disciples' (compiled/edited by Swami Atmashraddhananda) 7:15 – 8:00 PM: Meditation

 

Synopses of Last Week's Classes

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

Study Class 'Bhakti-Yoga' - #5 - (based on the book by Swami Vivekananda)  - May 30, Friday 
Following the path of bhakti yoga requires that we turn all our love toward God.  God is the only true object of love.  When we direct our love toward the objects of the world, we dissipate our energies and experience pain and suffering.  Scriptures present us with two paths by which to approach the divine: the impersonal God and the personal God.  It is this personal God toward whom the bhakta channels his love.  The personal God is seen as the source of all--creation, preservation, dissolution. We can connect to Him/Her.  The bhakta thinks, “(The personal) God is my very own, He/She hears my prayers, can love and be loved, can reward or punish.”  Because the personal God is the bhakta’s very own, it is possible, even, to argue with God or to question His/Her judgement or will.  Even this argument with or critique of God shows that the bhakta accepts the existence of God.  

Conscience: Intrinsic & Acquired – June 01, Sunday
Conscience has been defined as that which makes us behave when no one is watching. All religions ask us to strengthen conscience . The presence of that which determines what is true and what is not true, is intrinsic. When we act according to the truth, what we do is right. Like animals, we eat, sleep, and procreate. The special feature of human beings is religion. Religion is the tendency to act according to what is right and avoid wrongful actions. If our actions match our conscience, we feel good. If not, we feel guilt. The conscience should not lead to brooding. Yama tempted Nachiketa with temporary pleasures, buthe stood firm in asking for ultimate truth. People kill in the name of God and say they are following their conscience, but this is the conscience based on false personality. The acquired conscience isbased on changing circumstances such as customs and traditions.The Bhagavad Gita lists three stages of soul or purusha: the continuously changing, the relatively unchanging, and the supreme or absolute being. The body and mind are continuously changing, but the individual I is relatively unchanging. There is conscience based on our physical upbringing, and conscience based on truth and untruth. The latter allows us to understand others who are not exactly like us. Freud found psychological problems that are rooted in guilt. Our compulsions drag us into doing what we don’t want to do. The superego suppresses the compulsions. The proper use of conscience is to do things differently and overcome guilt. We live among people so we need relative standards. Conscience based on the relatively unchanging is proof of God in us, since it is not given to us by anybody. The Mahabharata defines what is moral as what we do with the idea of helping someone, and immoral as what we do with the idea of hurting someone.

 

‘Sri Ramakrishna at the Cossipore Garden’ - a talk by Sravani Bhattacharjee – June 03, Tuesday

In Cossipore Garden House Sri Ramakrishna lived the last 8 months of his life and during this time we observe the wonderful phenomenon of his mortal limits merging into his infinite vastness. Even though terminally ill, here he had been bestowing spiritual wisdom and grace to all who came. By discussing various incidents from those days, we see the transformation of Narendra to future Swami Vivekananda, monastic initiation of young disciples by the Master and thus foundation of the Ramakrishna order, Sri Sarada Devi’s revelation as the universal mother, spiritual guide and refuge to all. Sri Ramakrishna here openly revealed his Godhood many times, especially on January 1st 1886 what is known as “Kalpataru Day”. On August 16th in course of his divine play Master stepped into the realm beyond time, space and causation and as such became equally present for every one of us, everywhere and at every moment.

Some sights of the Garden house were shown in a slideshow. A Q&A session followed.