Newsletter April 15, 2015

 

Newsletter Archives

 

Upcoming Events

Bhagavad Gita class, Middletown CT – Sun. Apr. 19, 10:30 - 11:30 AM
Swami Yogatmananda will conduct the monthly Bhagavad Gita (Ch.18 cont.) at Sri Satyanarayana Temple (10 Training Hill Rd, Middletown, CT). All are welcome.

Concert Cancelled – Sun. Apr. 19
The previously posted Sitar concert  from 6pm – 7:30pm with Chirag Katty has been cancelled.

Guest Lecture – Fri. Apr. 24
In place of the Kenopanisad class on Fri evening April 24,  Rabbi Rami Shapiro will deliver a talk on: Living as a Blessing: Spiritual Meaning of 'The Promised Land', from 7:30 – 8:30pm. All are welcome; No fee.

 

Weekly Programs (in addition to Daily Programs given below)

Friday, April 17	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Study Class by Swami Yogatmananda on 'Kenopnisad', a Vedanta Upanisad Text.
Saturday, April 18	8:30 – 10:30 AM: Karma yoga/cleaning 11:00 AM – 12 noon: Guided meditation/chanting and singing 7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation
Sunday, April 19	5:00 – 6:00 PM:A talk on - ‘Namaste’, by Swami Yogatmananda 6:00 – 7:00 PM: Soup Supper 7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation
Tuesday, April 21	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Study Class by Swami Yogatmananda on 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna', Ch 48, pp 924

 

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

Green Energy - Solar Panels Installation at the Vedanta Society: Click here to the photos.

 

Synopses of Last Week's Classes

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

 

Study Class - 'Kenopnisad' - Apr. 10, Friday

There is a distinction between Sankhya and Vedanta philosophies.  Sankhya philosophy assumes that there is a division between matter and consciousness, that they are separate.  It accepts that there are infinitely many beings.  Vedanta postulates that there is no such division.  Matter and consciousness are one and the same.  The Divine is the in-dwelling self of everything.  One can separate the operator and the machinery in the world, like a carpenter and his saw. But in the case of the 'operator of the machine of body-mind', there is NO SUCH SEPARATE OPERATOR. According to Vedanta, the subject-object division is fictitious; when we break through the sense of "I and mine," we will achieve liberation from bondage.  All knowledge, aside from spiritual knowledge is apara vidya, or lower knowledge, because it is shifting all the time; there is no certainty about it.  In the analogy of the movie playing on the screen, you are seeing the screen the whole time, as the characters and images flit across it. Therefore, you know the screen more than anything else.  The "screen" behind
everything in the world is the Divine.
The Divine is not something to be known, because "knowing" implies a subject-object relationship.  God, the Eternal Self is not the unknown, either, but is superior to the unknown.  If God cannot be known, how, then, can we progress spiritually? There is no way of the teacher showing and describing God to the student; God is not an object who can be shown or described to a subject.  Luckily for us, this wisdom of the nature of the Divine has been passed on from the great sages.  The sages had a direct perception of the Divine and formed a tradition of passing on their wisdom, which has seeped down from teacher to student through the generations.

 

What is 'Inside', What is 'Outside' - Apr. 12, Sunday
The sages say that if you know your Self you know everything. But where can we find the Self? The obvious answer is: 'In yourself'. Is the Self 'in' the heart? Or in the lungs? Is it in the body or not in the body?  The division of inside and outside is blocking the answer. God, our true Self, is everywhere. We need to learn to eliminate the lines of division. What is considered to be inside fluctuates depending on what we associate with the ego. The Dakshinamurthy Stotram is about adoring God as Guru. We can view God as Reality Itself, as One Who answers our prayers, or as One Who grants knowledge (as a Teacher). The Dakshinamurthy Stotram says that the whole universe is like a city seen in a mirror. We go on 'hitting' the world to get something like the sparrow that hits the mirror, thinking there is another bird there. Maya is the mirror. What we see in a dream as outside, when we wake up, we see as inside and the dream division between inside and outside disappears. Similarly, when we wake up to Reality, the dream of I and mine in the world is broken, and the distinctions are gone. This happens by the grace of the compassionate God. In the world, we are constantly scared of such things as terrorists and robbers. When we wake up from Maya, the fear disappears. We realize the Truth that there is no inside and no outside and no I and no you. We smile and become happy.  Saluting Dakshinamurthy (Lord Shiva), when we wake up, the Self alone manifests. When we attain spiritual wisdom and Self-knowledge, nothing remains to be known.

 

Study Class - 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' - Apr. 14, Tuesday

Sri Ramakrishna was at Shyampukur emanating the incessant flow of Divine bliss irrespective of his illness. He opened the mart of joy and was distributing the divine joy to everyone who was ready to give up the ignorance and accept the ultimate Truth.
In the intoxicated ecstatic state he put his foot on Dr. Sarkar. He mentioned that he alone can have peace in human life who has tasted the Divine Bliss. The human life is said to have four different purposes depending upon the human awareness. They are - Dharma - virtues of ethical and moral life, Artha - earning money to procure livelihood and means of enjoyment, while leading the ethical and moral life, Kama - draw enjoyment from the ethical life and Moksha - realizing the impermanence of the world and striving for the ultimate Truth. The true happiness can only be obtained from the last state.
Master was very easily transitioning between the ecstatic and the relative level. It is extremely difficult for a human being to attain this ecstatic state. If with intense efforts one is able to attain the same then he/she can't sustain the physical body for too long. Devotees were concerned about the repeated ecstasies which had an adverse impact on Master's health. They were trying to arrange for singing as per the Master's request, which would help him to remain on the relative plane.