Newsletter November 30, 2011

The New Chapel construction work is progressing well as per plans. Heating and Ventilation duct work, the electrical connections, plumbing is completed. Acoustic and Video system wiring is also done. The elevator installation is complete. The front porch construction is progressing as well. Almost all the windows have been placed. Inner walls are being put up now. Click here to see New Construction - Updates and Photos.

Weekly Classes

Bhagavad Gita class – Nov. 25, Friday

Chapter 12, Verses 4-7

The spiritual aspirant needs to take up the constitutionally suitable path. In Maya, all values become turned on their head. That which is real, permanent appears to be unreal, impermanent and vice-versa. Due to Maya, the constitutionally suitable path to love God in a suitable form does not appeal to us. Arjuna, deluded by Maya thus asks this question: “What is the superior path?” The Lord understands the hidden contention behind the question and tells Arjuna that those who worship Him with all their hearts and are always attached to Him are the best yogis. What about those who want to meditate on the formless aspect of God? Krishna explains that the aspirant must have three qualifications: 1) s/he must control the senses 2) must cultivate equanimity in all situations; and 3) must constantly engage in the welfare of all. Krishna reminds Arjuna that although it is possible to follow the path of formless devotion to God if one possesses these requisite qualifications, it is extremely difficult for a person identified strongly with body to take up the path of worshipping the Unmanifest. The spiritual aspirant should determine what is easy for him or her, what is constitutionally suitable, what is convenient and implement-able, and what is psychologically congenial. He or she should not bother about the path that somebody else is following. The aspirant should remember that the Lord is always ready to save the devotee from ocean of birth and death; one needs only to call upon His help.

Loving and Caring God by Swami Yogatmananda – Nov. 27, Sunday

Many people say that God is loving and caring. But how do we know that this is true, especially when there is so much imbalance, injustice, and deprivation in the world? Srimad Bhagavatam addresses the nature of God's love. The Gopis, feeling frustrated by Krishna's apparent disdain for them (because he is not acting in the way they want), ask him sarcastically: What kind of love do you have? Krishna describes 4 types of love and tells that his love is different from all of these types. Krishna says that instead, he gives suffering to those who love him, so that their longing for him will increase. He tells them that he goes away so that they will feel what they are missing and long to get it back; the intensity of searching makes them lose their pride and ego, thus bringing them closer to God. In this way, the Lord expresses mercy and caring for those who love him. In his Sermon "The Love of God," German mystic Meister Eckhart explains how the Lord's love and caring are expressed. God loves by removing suffering; this suffering is rooted in imperfection, which is manifest in desires; these desires are the voice of the "creature" in us. As Eckhart states, "Where the creature ends, there God begins." Thus, to help us move closer to Oneness, God will remove the imperfection by helping to kick out the desires through suffering. Verses 9 and 10 of the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita also express the nature of God's love and caring. Lord connects us to the knowledge that we are divine, thus removing all suffering. The lamp of knowledge is an ignorance-removing device. Lord lights the lamp, thus removing the darkness of delusion of I and world. With such illumination, we can see the ultimate Oneness and experience the bliss associated with it. Thus, the caring Lord removes the ego and consequent attractions to objects of the world.

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna class – Nov. 29, Tuesday

Sri Ramakrishna’s sleep was not like an ordinary man’s. An ordinary man gets disconnected from his awareness of body and mind during the sleep. Master had no body awareness. He was continuously merged with the divine awareness and hence there was no sleep for him as such. He spent the nights chanting the name of Lord or in Samadhi. The day was gradually breaking. Sri Ramakrishna was chanting the names of Rama, Krishna, Gauranga with intense love. Then he repeated ‘Alekh Niranjana’ which is also a name of God. Alekh means which cannot be pointed out or symbolized and Niranjana means spotless, sinless. God is omnipresent and it is difficult to localize His presence. A story of a saint seeing God everywhere was narrated. Our limited awareness is adulterated with many impurities and hence we feel the separation from divine. As soon as these impurities are removed, an individual can be one with the God. Mundaka upnishad says the Knower of Brahman becomes Brahman. Master, in the divine mood was completely unaware that he has no clothes on, sat with a few devotees. He had no idea of body at all and hence not of shame. He was engrossed in divine conversations. He said “One can see God when all Upaadhis disappear and reasoning stops”. Upaadhi is something that sticks on you but is not you. Name, form, profession, relationships even the body, all are upaadhis. The moment one realizes this s/he goes beyond all limitations, sees God and his reasoning stops. When highest knowledge is achieved there is no need for reasoning.