Newsletter September 9, 2015

Newsletter Archives

 

Notice:

The daily morning and evening meditation programs; the Tuesday and Friday evening classes and Saturday guided mediation hour (karma yoga/volunteer works) all begin from this Saturday, September 12 onward.

Vedanta Study classes -

Tuesdays - 7:15 – 8:30PM on: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Fridays - 7:15 – 8:30PM on: Jnana Yoga (book by Swami Vivekananda)

 

Upcoming Events

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD DAY  – SUNDAY SEP. 13  from  5PM – 7:30PM 

Theme:     ‘Service to Man is Service to God’
Speakers: Pastor Jeffrey Williams, King’s Cathedral Prov. RI
                Lama Migmar Tseten, Buddhist Chaplain, Harvard Univ.
                Pravrajika Vrajaprana (nun), Vedanta Convent, Santa Barbara CA
                Swami Tyagananda, Vedanta Society, MA.
The program also includes Multi-faith music, and dinner after the program. All are welcome. No entry fee.

 

Outreach: Sat. Sept 12, 3:30 - 5:30PM
Vedanta  Society of CT outreach meeting, with worship, music, reflections on 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' and refreshments, at 660 Prospect st, Hartford CT.  Open to all.

Saluations! – Sat. Sept 12
Birth anniversary of Swami Advaitananda, direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, will be observed in the morning with a chant, and in the evening with a song, a biography reading and prasad.

 

DAY-LONG RETREAT - Sat. Oct. 03, 9:30AM –7:00PM
Topic: ‘Spiritualizing Our Relationships’ by Swami Arupeshananda, Ramakrishna Monastery, Trabuco Canyon, CA. Prior registration require. Fee: $20/person.

 

Hatha Yoga classes:

1) ‘Walk-in’ ($5.00) Hatha Yoga class will resume on Tues. evenings from 6:00pm – 7:00pm with Hannah Resseger, beginning: Tues.15.  Contact Hannah only AT: key2life-AT-gmail.com
2) New 6-Weeks Hatha Yoga Course - Sept. 30 - Nov. 04
Beginning Wednesday, Sept. 30, a six-week ‘Mindful Flow’ Hatha Yoga class will be conducted at the Vedanta Society under the teaching of Ellen Schaefer of One Yoga Center, RI. The 6-week course will be $30.00 Pre-paid; and $10.00 per class walk-in. Contact Ellen at 401-368-9647.

 

Past Events

 

Guru Poornima – Sat. August 01, 11:00 AM –4:00 PM

From 11:00 AM –1:30 PM, about fifty-five devotees participated in observing ‘Guru-Poornima'. There was ritual worship, Singing, Readings, Talk, Prasad-lunch.
From 200 - 4:00 PM, about forty devotees attended the Devotional Music Program with Suchita Rao and Nittin Mitta on Tabla.

 

Rochester Vedanta Retreat – Wed. Aug. 5 - Sun. Aug. 9
Main Topic NARADA BHAKTI-SUTRA (NARADA'S APHORISMS ON DEVOTION).
Teachers: Swamis Yogatmananda & Kripamayananda
About twenty-two devotees from USA & Canada attended.

 

Children’s Day Camp – Tue. August 11 - Sat. August 15
About fifteen children attended the day-long (8:30am – 4:00pm) Vedanta camp, conducted under the guidance of Prof. Dorothy Abram and assisted by two primary school teachers. The camp was from Tuesday, August 11 through Saturday, August 15.  Theme of the camp: LOTUS & LIGHT. There was creative arts, storytelling, yoga (taught by Chet Boncek), drama arts, readings /writings, etc. Vegetarian luncheon & snacks were provided.  There was a final performance on Sat. with - a fashion-walk (of shirts they tie-dyed); reading of individual poems; a skit-play and song.
 
Washington DC Retreat – Sat. Aug 22 - Sun. Aug. 23
Swami Yogatmananda conducted a  retreat on ‘Narayan Suktam’ to about fifty-five devotees  at the Vedanta Society of Greater WA/DC. Swami spoke at the morning Sunday Service on: ‘Platform 93/4’ to about one hundred (100) attendees. Swami returned to Prov. Late that night.

Sri Krishna Festival – Sat. Sept. 05
About  one hundred (100) devotees attended the Sri Krishna Program which consisted of:  food and flower offerings, a short talk on: ‘Lord Krishna as a Great Yoga Teacher’ by Chet Boncek; devotional music; three classical Krishna Dance performances by  students of Prafulla’s Dance academy; and prasad luncheon.

Also on this day was held the General Annual Meeting which highlighted 2014 Financial Report, happenings & Blog/Facebook/Livestream statistics; powerpoint presentations of past group events (retreats, music concerts etc);  This was followed by a two-hour (2 hr) singing-kirtan performance by Chinmaya Swaranjali of Andover, MA.

About fifty (50) devotees attended these programs. 

 

Ridgeley Retreat – Sun. Sept. 06 & Mon. Sept. 07
Swami Yogatmananda and devotees went to Vivekananda Retreat, Ridgeley NY, where Swami conducted a retreat on : 'Near-Death Experience' to about fifty devotees.

Click here to see the photos of above events.

 

Synopsis

Cloud of Unknowing classes on Tuesdays

On Tuesdays, Aug 4, 11,18 and 25 evenings the classes on ‘THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING’ continued, after Arati-singing and a short meditation. The author says ‘This (experiencing God) is the SIMPLEST WORK, as it does not require any external instruments or efforts. We need to remember that whatever we do – mentally or physically – falls in this ‘Cloud of Unknowing’. To be able to pierce this Cloud, we need to insert a ‘cloud of forgetting’ beneath, between us and the created beings. We must use every moment available for this work and must be patient, while seeking God and God ALONE. There must be the ‘naked intent’ that I want God and nothing else. To help us in developing this one-pointed naked intent, repeating a ‘mantra’ is the most useful thing.
(The 8 classes on ‘THE CLOUD…’ could touch upon only 8, of a total of 75 chapters.)