Newsletter March 27, 2013

 

Newsletter Archives

 

Upcoming Events

Day-long Retreat – Sat. Mar. 30 : Click here for more details.

 

Salutations! – Sat. March 30
The birth anniversary of Swami Yogananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, will be observed on Saturday morning with a chant, and later during the retreat day with a song, a biography reading and prasad.

 

Bhagavad Gita class at Middletown, CT – Sunday, March 31
Swami Yogatmananda will conduct the monthly Bhagavad Gita class (Ch.13 continued) at Sri Satyanarayana Temple (Middletown, CT) from 10:30-11:30 AM. All are welcome.

 

Classical Violin Concert – Sun. March 31
Pundit Praveen Sheolikar, violin maestro of Classical Indian Music, will perform from 6PM – 7:30PM, immediately after the Sunday Easter Service/Lecture, at Vedanta Society. Amit Kavthekar will accompany on Tabla.
Open to All. No Entry Fee. Suggested Donation $15.00/person.

 

Special Lecture - Wed. Apr. 17, 7:15 - 8:30 PM

As part of the 150th Birth Anniversary Celebration of Swami Vivekananda, Philip Goldberg, the Celebrated Author of 'American Veda' will speak on - 'What Does Vivekananda Mean to America'

Author will sign the books at the end of the lecture. ALL ARE INVITED

Click here to see the poster of this event.

 

Two new posts on our blog this week: on religious values and catching glimpses of the Self. You can find our blog at http://vedantaprovidence.blogspot.com/

Weekly Programs (in addition to Daily Programs given below)

Friday, March 29	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: : Bhagavad Gita class, Ch. 18 begins
Saturday, March 30	9:30Am – 7:00PM - DAY-RETREAT; Click here for more details. Open to registrants only. 6:00PM – Aarati, a short reading and meditation. -Open to All
Sunday, March 31	5:00–6:00 PM: 'The Parting Message of Jesus’, by Swami Yogatmananda 6:00PM – 7:30PM: Violin Concer; See details above.
Tuesday, April 02	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Study class on The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - Ch. 45, p. 853

 

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
Evening :	7:00 – 7:15 PM: Aarti (devotional music), with a short reading from Swami Chetanananda's book: ‘Mahendra Nath Gupta ‘M’' 7:15 – 8:15 PM: Meditation

 

Past Events

Swami to Washington DC – Mar. 23 - 24

Swami Yogatmananda conducted  a weekend retreat on some lectures of Swami Vivekananda at the Vedanta Society of Washington DC in Silver Spring MD to about forty devotees. Swami returned to Providence late Sunday night.

 

High School Students visit Vedanta – Wed. Mar. 27
A dozen Moses Brown High School ‘religion-class’ students and their teacher visited Vedanta chapel  in the morning to learn about basic Hinduism and Vedanta from Swami Yogatmananda.

 

Synopses of Last Week's Classes

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

 

Bhagavad Gita class – March 22, Friday

Ch. 18: Verses 1-5: This final chapter of the Gita condenses the whole sum and substance of the previous seventeen chapters, while also presenting some new insights.  Again, this chapter begins with Arjuna’s persistent question: How should one perform one’s duties?  The chapter begins with Arjuna expressing interest in learning more about monasticism as a way to give up attachment to the world.  Like Arjuna, it is easy for us to assume that a sanyasi’s path means a release from worldly duties, but this path is far from a “quick fix!”  While a monk is free from obligations of family, home, accumulation of wealth, etc., he is completely obligated to realize the truth that, “I belong to God.”  He does this by  severing all connections to the world.  If we who are “in the world” perform our duties without attachment and dedicate the fruits of our work to God, we are, in essence, monastics.  Sri Krishna, ever the gifted psychologist, encourages Arjuna to not give up doing his work, but rather to appropriate a mindset which does not crave the results of work.  In particular, he encourages Arjuna to perform actions which are ethically good (sacrifices, austerities, giving gifts); these types of action have a sanctifying effect on a person and should never be given up.  Performing sacrifices, giving to others, and practicing austerities free us from desire and mentally purify us. 

 

The Cloud of Unknowing (Part 2) –Bishop Paul, Celtic Orthodox Church – Mar 24, Sunday

Mystical knowledge is intuitive, and avoids meandering in an intellectual labyrinth. Knowledge of the heart goes directly to God. Knowledge can deceive us but love cannot. Jesus said: “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” Knowledge, feeling and experience are still not knowledge of God since they involve duality. Mystics may even be put to death because people do not realize that they have lost their individuality when they speak in the name of God. The only necessity is to will God. The will is love, like a mother who ignores her discomfort to get up at 3 a.m. and feed her baby. Sister Teresa said she would spend eternity doing her will; for she willed only what God wills. We have to meditate, meditate, meditate, to discipline our mind. Sin is not the obstacle, but rather the ignorance that causes it. God keeps knocking at the door of our heart no matter how sinful we’ve been. The Cloud of Unknowing says that touching of the soul by God can happen in an atom of time. Contemplative prayer is striving. Spiritual giants are the same as us, but more disciplined. We need to silence the chatter of our minds. A prayer need only consist of one word, just as we cry “Fire!” when the house in on fire, and do not give a philosophical discourse on why the fireman should come. When we taste the divine, we lose the taste for common and trivial things. It is not austerities alone that bring us to union with God, because the impulse to sin can still be present. Once we have God, we have everything. Our love must be universal and nonjudgmental.

 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna – March 26, Tuesday

‘What is this “ego”… is God playing tricks on us?’ Dr Sarkar asks the Master. When one does not find any rational justification to one’s stand and yet does not want to give it up either, the person brings in God; that is what Dr Sarkar is doing, as was done by Einstein when he could not scientifically counter the quantum mechanics. ‘How do you know that God is not playing tricks on us?’ Girish asked him. Dr had no answer to this. Master clarifies that our ego and all that goes on in the world is the play or lila of God. God alone is real; the play comes and goes. Then he explains that one can understand all these things and can go beyond all doubts by approaching God prayerfully. A Guru can show only the direction; we have to pray to God ourselves for the ultimate knowledge and realization. Master is guiding the doctor to go deeper in heart, where the Atman can be realized.

There were a couple of interesting questions asked and discussed.