Newsletter September 21, 2011

The New Chapel construction work is progressing well as per plans. The major outer wall-work is finished and internal walls are getting done now. This should be finished by September end. Click here to see New Construction - Updates and Photos.

Past Events

Monthly Bhagavad Gita class at Middletown, CT – Sun. Sep. 18

Swami Yogatmananda resumed the monthly Bhagavad-Gita class (Ch. 9), at Sri Satyanarayana Temple (11 Training Hill Rd, Middletown, CT) from 10:30 AM -11:30 AM to about eighteen devotees.

Weekly Classes

Bhagavad Gita class – Sep. 16, Friday

The Bhagavad Gita gives us the practical tools to deal with the challenges we encounter in everyday life. Lord Krishna advises us to release our attachment to what is fleeting and hold on to only that which is permanent, that is, to the Self. The Self alone is immortal and infinite, since it is not associated with the body and therefore is not bound by time or space. Yoga is the realization of this truth through practical application in our daily lives. To lead a spiritual life, we do not have to give up our work. We must make our work the vehicle through which we practice discrimination and dispassion. If we learn to work skillfully--that is, without becoming bound by the work--our work will liberate us from bondage. Firm concentration should be developed in order to fix our minds onto our higher thoughts and right intentions. We must also cultivate devotion (bhakti) by fixing our minds to God, as this is the most-suitable path for most of us. When our love of God is strengthened, we will see that the entire universe is but a manifestation of God’s glory. Once we have obtained knowledge of God, we will have obtained everything, for God is in everything and everything is in God. At the start of Chapter 11, Arjuna says that his delusion about the purpose of life and about the nature of reality is gone through the grace of the Lord and he is perceiving the all-pervading presence of God more and more. He requests Lord Krishna to reveal his divine form. In later verses we shall see how, through His grace, the Lord will manifest his true Self to his devotee.

Affirming the Truth by Swami Yogatmananda – Sep. 18, Sunday

Affirming the Truth means making truth firm, unwavering in one's own life. Some ideas are easy to set forth on paper but cannot withstand the pressure of situations that might push against them. A conscientious person sees how certain experiences are not attuned to Truth and identifies the gap between what should be and what is. The conscientious person wants no such gap. Such a gap is exemplified in the Katha Upanishad when Vajasrabasa has an intent to make a sacrifice in which he would give away everything. But then ultimately, he gives only those cows ‘who could drink no more water, eat no more grass, and give no more milk’. In other words, he disregards truth and lowers it to the level of what he perceives as being "practical." His son, Nachiketa, in contrast, acts in accordance with truth, which requires strength, firmness, and courage. Such action is grounded in Shraddha, which is faith that entails positive action. Affirming the Truth must be approached step-by-step. First, the conviction must be developed that God alone is Real, and then the life should change in accordance with that conviction. Then the person must develop strength to act on this resolve. The Buddha's eight-fold path expresses the means to eliminating the gap between experience and Truth; the eight folds include: (1) the right view (seeing things comprehensively), (2) right aspirations, (3) right speech (including the "speech" inside one's own head), (4) right action, (5) right livelihood, (6) right effort, (7) mindfulness, and (8) right concentration (concentration on Truth). By affirming Truth, illumination comes in one's life.

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna class – Sep. 13, Tuesday

Ramakrishna felt an intense longing and pain in his heart for the vision of the Divine Mother and similar longing for the coming of his devotees. This intense longing was an expression of the divine purpose of the extra-ordinary life of God-incarnation. Ramakrishna cautioned his devotees against emotional weakness masquerading as spirituality. If one carefully observes Ramakrishna’s life, one sees that there is nothing there for show, and that he constantly cautions spiritual aspirants about showiness in their spiritual lives. Ramakrishna reminds M about an earthquake in Calcutta, and exhorts him to remember that one finds mental peace and security in God alone; material pursuits cannot provide security since they ultimately come to naught. Although we are often tempted to see money as a more effective refuge than the Lord, it is God alone who provides the surest refuge since He alone is permanent and unchanging. God’s unchanging nature, or Nitya, is to be remembered while seeing the Lila, the changing aspect of reality. Although everything is ‘real’ in the relative sense and as such must be respected, it is the unchanging aspect of reality that is always there, and is therefore the surest refuge of the devotee. For the devotee, the changing aspects of life should not affect his or her awareness of Nitya. The devotee should be constantly aware of the inner, unchanging reality and remain unperturbed amongst the fluctuations of the play of Lila. By remaining aware of God’s incarnation as a manifestation of Nitya, the devotee witnesses the manifestation of Lila as a passing appearance, and thus remains unaffected.