Newsletter January 21, 2015

 

Newsletter Archives

 

Upcoming Events

Salutations! – Thurs. Jan. 22 & Fri. Jan. 23
The birth anniversaries of Swamis Brahmananda & Trigunatitananda, direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, will be observed on Thurs. Jan. 22 & Fri. Jan. 23 respectively, in the morning with a chant and in the evening with a song & a biography reading.

 

NOTICES:

1) Swami Yogatmananda will be traveling to India from Jan. 14 - Feb. 23.

Click here to see his travel itinerary in India.

During this period, Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana, a nun from the Vedanta Society of So. California will be conducting weekly classes.

2) Bharathanatyam Dance Classes – Sundays, 3:30 – 5:00 PM; Contact Anuradha: 704-707-5430

 

Weekly Programs (in addition to Daily Programs given below)

Friday, Jan. 23	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Study Class by Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana on the book 'For the Seekers of God' (Teachings of Swami Shivananda),
Saturday, Jan. 24	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, Jan. 25	5:00 – 6:00 PM: A talk 'Bhakti and Jnana' by Srikanth Srigiriraju 6:00PM – 7:00 PM: Soup Supper 7:00PM - 8:00PM : Aarati (devotional singing, a reading and meditation)
Tuesday, Jan. 27	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM:Study Class by Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana on the book 'Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play'

 

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. 5' 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

Monthly Attleboro Interfaith Meet - Thurs. Jan. 08

This was held at the Christian Science Church in Attleboro and was hosted by Cheryl Brooks. Tom McElroy was the speaker. One devotee from Vedanta Society and 12 others including ministers and lay members attended.

 

Synopses of Last Week's Classes

(All classes given by Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana, unless otherwise stated)

 

Study Class - 'For Seekers of God' - Jan. 16, Friday
Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana spoke about 'For Seekers of God', a text based upon conversations of Swami Shivananda with monks and devotees. In Swami Shivananda’s early years he possessed a strong desire to learn about samadhi. After expressing this desire to a friend, the friend suggested he pay a visit to Sri Ramakrishna. The first time the young Swami Shivananda saw Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna was in a state of samadhi. Swami Shivananda took this to be a very auspicious sign. He yearned to renounce the world, and Sri Ramakrishna blessed him saying that he would, indeed, become a monk.  Swami Shivananda performed austerities at Kankurgachi. After the passing of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Shivananda joined his brother disciples at the Baranagore Math. When Swami Vivekananda returned from the west and founded Belur Math, Swami Shivananda stayed there. After the passings of Swami Premananda and Swami Brahmananda, Swami Shivananda became the president of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. Many monks and devotees referred to Swami Shivananda as “Mahapurush Maharaj”, meaning 'the great soul'. A monk came to Mahapurush Maharaj and confessed that he was practicing mediation but not finding joy in it. Mahapurush Maharaj explained that the only way to peace of mind is through spiritual practices, but it is not very easy to obtain. One must exert great effort to make progress in the realm of spirit. Spiritual practices (such as meditation and japa) should be performed regularly with great devotion. Then the mind will be purified and the spiritual aspirant will taste spiritual joy.

 

'Narendranath to Vivekananda – A Journey' – Jan. 18, Sunday

Swami Vivekananda’s goals were to restore people’s faith in religion and to make religion easy. When the young Narendra came to Sri Ramakrishna, he firmly believed that the Indian views were full of superstition. Sri Ramakrishna did not try to convince Narendra of anything. Sri Ramakrishna saw in the state of 'bhava-mukha' that Narendra would be the main propagator of his mission, and that he would go to the west. Sri Ramakrishna’s mind was united with the cosmic mind so his teachings were from the subtle realms. But he needed a voice to make these teachings manifest. Swamiji’s one mission was to awaken the divinity in everyone. Sister Nivedita said that Swamiji would seem to be forgotten until the west was transformed by his ideas. Returning to India, Swamiji encouraged his disciples to serve people as worship, and not just as social work. When it was suggested that Sri Ramakrishna could have renounced mentally (and thus that service is unnecessary), Swami Saradananda asked: How many people can renounce mentally without external disciplines? Two of Swamiji’s disciples in Varanasi went out looking for the sick and afflicted, forming a Poor Man’s Relief Association. In Kankhal, a disciple started a hospital for sick monks (who usually just died without any treatment), which became a general hospital. Swami Sarvagatananda commented on this that the temple with its fruits and flowers, and the hospital with its medications are both spiritual acts leading to the same goal. Since then, many more relief efforts have sprung up, both in the Ramakrishna movement, and beyond. Swamiji said that it is easier to realize God with the help of service, but that the ordinary person shows compassion out of egotism, feeling superior. As a result of Swamiji’s efforts, for the first time, spiritual seeds have been planted over the whole world.

Study Class - 'Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play' - Jan. 20, Tuesday
We read from the book – “Divine Play” – which is a biography of Sri Ramakrishna. For a spiritual aspirant, it is a manual for spiritual practices. Spiritual practices of Sri Ramakrishna are guidelines for us and carve out many paths on which we can walk. His realizations are goals for us. Even though we may not be able to entirely replicate what He did, He sets an ideal for us and we should make every effort to achieve the ideal instead of lowering the ideal to suit our convenience.

Because of past habits of several births, we have developed immense attachment to the gross body. The mind wakes up in the body and remains in the body at all times creating such an attachment that we cannot think beyond names and forms. What we really need, is severe discipline to remove these attachments. As we practice these, the mind slowly learns the new lesson and turns towards God. If we practice with the spirit of true researcher, we are sure to achieve the results.

Two paths of spiritual discipline have been identified – a negative path, that of neti-neti and a positive path of iti-iti. In the negative path, the aspirant knows the goal from the beginning and practices spiritual disciplines with this goal in mind at all times. In this path, the aspirant becomes introspective, recognizes that Brahman is within and realizes that what’s the essence of the aspirant is also the essence of every being. Aspirant on the positive path may not be aware of the goal right in the beginning. The aspirant establishes a relationship with his chosen ideal. As this relationship deepens, the aspirant is led to higher experiences of God. The aspirant initially concentrates only on part of the form of the chosen deity, progressively seeing the complete form and finally seeing the chosen deity as alive, smiling and talking to the aspirant. As the aspirant gets such intimate experiences of the deity the attachment to the world weakens to the point that it appears as the projection of the mind.