Newsletter October 22, 2014

 

Newsletter Archives

 

Upcoming Events

Swami to North Carolina - Sat. Oct. 25 - Sun. Oct. 26

Swami Yogatmananda will travel to Durham & Raleigh, NC, where he will conduct Vedanta classes on Saturday and Sunday. He will also perform Kali Puja on Saturday night. Swami will return late Sunday night.

 

Guest Lecture - Sun. Oct. 26, 5:00 PM

Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana, a Nun from Vivekananda Retreat, Ridgely, NY will conduct 5:00 pm Sunday Service on 'Why Mother Kali?’.

 

NOTICES:

1) Sunday Morning Hatha Yoga: 10AM – 11AM - $5.00 walk-in; Contact Pat: pat.blake8-AT-gmail.com
2) Tuesday evening Hatha Yoga: 6:00PM – 7:00PM - $5.00 walk-in; Contact Hannah: key2Lyfe-AT-gmail.com 

3) Bharathnatyam Dance Classes – Sundays, 3:30 – 5:00 PM; Contact Anuradha: 704-707-5430
4) Sitar and Tabla lessons – Sundays, 4:00 – 5:00 PM; Contact Koyel Ghoshal: koyelg-AT-yahoo.com

 

Check out our blog:

1) A participant shares his experience in Pravrajika Gitaprana's retreat on 'Patanjali's Way (Indian Psychology)' at Vedanta Society in Providence on Sat. October 11:
http://vedantaprovidence.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-working-hypothesis-from-retreat-on.html

2) A participant in Swami Yogatmananda's retreat on Kathopanishad in Rochester (August 2014) shares his/her experience in this new post on our blog:
http://vedantaprovidence.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-third-twin.html
Anyone can post in this blog. Please send your posts (within 500 words) to the email address given there.

 

Weekly Programs (in addition to Daily Programs given below)

Friday, Oct. 24	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Class #12 on ‘Bhakti Yoga’ (based on the book by Swami Vivekananda)
Saturday, Oct. 25	8:30 – 10:30 AM: Karma yoga/cleaning 11:00 AM – 12 noon: Guided meditation/chanting and singing 7:00PM - 8:00PM : Aarati (devotional singing, a reading and meditation)
Sunday, Oct. 26	5:00 – 6:00 PM: A talk - 'Why Mother Kali?' - by Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana, a Nun from Vivekananda Retreat, Ridgely, NY. 6:00PM – 7:00 PM: Soup Supper 7:00PM - 8:00PM : Aarati (devotional singing, a reading and meditation).
Tuesday, Oct. 28	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Study Class on 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna', Ch 47

 

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

 

Past Events

1) Along with other Swamis and Nuns from various Vedanta Centers, Swami Yogatmananda attended memorial Service of Swami Prabuddhananda in San Francisco, CA on Oct. 18. Swami Prabuddhananda was the head of the Vedanta Society of San Francisco for 44 years until his passing away in July 2014.

Click here to see the photos.
2) On Sat. Oct. 18, the monthly ‘Day-long Meditation Session' began at 12 noon and continued till 8:00 pm. About 10 devotees participated.

Synopses of Last Week's Classes

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

 

On Friday, Oct. 17, instead of regular Study Class 'Bhakti-Yoga', Sravani Bhattacharjee spoke about ‘YOGA as explained by Sri Ramakrishna’.

 

Why Do We Gossip? – Oct. 19, Sunday
Everybody claims that they do not gossip; but what it really means is, everyone abhors it. Yet we don’t always speak well about others. People like to tell stories. We often exaggerate unconsciously to make a story exciting.. Nigel Nicholson, Ph.D. wrote about gossip in Psychology Today. As social animals with a highly developed language, we need to network. We slant our stories to make ourselves look good and show our competitor at a disadvantage. We want to raise our social status and be superior to others. We all want power and to rule over others. In our daydreams we may be the ruler of the universe. We also need esteem so we want not to be called power hungry. A feature of gossip is to form alliances, creating a good and a bad party. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanisad, Prajapati is said to be the father of both the devas (gods) and asuras (demons). The evil ones are the elder ones. Shankara comments that, this is because evil tendencies are natural while good tendencies have to be cultivated. Gossip comes from the need to feel oneness, yet nothing distracts the mind from God more than gossip. We may observe silence but converse with ourselves.
The Vedantic solution to gossip is to talk only about God, thus touching the common inner core of every being. People like us presented Sri Ramakrishna with gossip, but he turned every conversation towards God. When people started talking about a circus show, he compared the skill of an acrobat in the circus to the skill needed to practice meditation. He compared a lion in the zoo to the vehicle of the Divine Mother.

 

Study Class 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' - Oct. 21, Tuesday
In the course of conversation, Master was emphasizing the idea that the world of duality, of relative existence is full of conflicts. On this plane, problems can't be alleviated completely. To experience the absolute peace, Sri Ramakrishna advises to go beyond the dualities, but it is very difficult due to the attachment of the body and mind. The attachment to the matter forces us to see the reality in the material world.

Sri Ramakrishna is advising one of His householder devotee - Shyam, to practice the spirituality while doing the duties in the world. This can be done by fixing the mind at the Lotus Feet of the Lord. One must not forget his/her true identity while playing various roles in the world. When the duties are performed in such a detached manner, there will be no pleasure or pain.

Shyam asked Master about His opinion about Theosophy. Master was not in favour of these theosophical practices and powers as they are not helpful in developing true love for God. Only true love for God can take one closer to God and not any miracle mongering. A true devotee does not pay attention to such unnecessary details. Master mentioned about the one pointed devotion of Hanuman, and how he did not pay heed to any other things. Similarly, one must try to cultivate such love for God.