Newsletter October 31, 2012

Newsletter Archives

 

Upcoming Events

Swami to Raleigh-Durham area, North Carolina – Nov. 03 & 04

Swami Yogatmananda will visit the Raleigh-Durham area, North Carolina to deliver Vedanta lectures. He will return Monday afternoon. Swami Tyagananda, Vedanta Society, Boston will deliver Sunday lecture on 'Where am I?'.

 

Classical Vocal Concert – Sun. Nov. 11

from 6PM – 7:30PM, (immediately after the 5PM Sunday lecture), Suchita Rao will perform classical vocal renditions in the lower level (LL) . Rajesh Pai will accompany on Tabla.

 

Weekly Programs

Friday, Nov. 02	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Study Class on Bhagavad Gita, Ch. 15
Saturday, Nov. 03	8:30-10:30AM: Karma Yoga (cleaning & other works) 11:00AM - 12.00 noon: Guided Meditation and Prayer-music 7:00 – 8:00PM: Aarati (devotional singing), a short reading from Sri Sarada Devi The Great Wonder and meditation
Sunday, Nov. 04	5:00PM – 6:00PM: Swami Tyagananda Vedanta Society, Boston will speak on ‘Where am I?’ 6:00PM – 7:00PM- Soup Supper 7:00 – 8:00PM – Aarati (singing, a reading and meditation)
Tuesday, Nov. 06	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna class, Ch. 44 (Pg 841)

 

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

Spiritual Retreat - Sat. Oct. 27, 9:30 am - 7:00 pm

Fifty-six devotees participated in this day long retreat. The day’s programs contained two discourses on ‘Dealing with Ego’ by Swami Ishtananda (Vedanta Society, St. Petersburg, Florida) and an hour-long question-answer session, guided meditation, devotional music, a yoga/tai-chi stretch break, meals etc. The program concluded with Aarati and chanting of Shyamnaam Sankirtanam.

Click here to see photos.

Synopsis of Last Week's Classes

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

Bhagavad Gita - Oct. 26, Friday

Ch. 15 Verses 10-11: Spiritual aspirants must bear in mind that the body is not our true Self, but a place that we dwell in. Each human being possesses the intrinsic desire to directly perceive our true Self. In order to obtain this perception, the proper instrument of perception has to be cultivated. By dis-identifying ourselves from the body, and by practicing deep, meditative, and yogic practices methodically for a long time, the instrument is cultivated whereby we can get a different vision, a vision in which we can see the body’s indweller, the Self. One may occasionally stumble upon this perception, but if the perception has not been cultivated methodically, the spiritual aspirant is left feeling afraid and tremendously confused. The Lord implores spiritual aspirants to cultivate the deep seated awareness that they are not the physical body, so that they will be able to perceive the indwelling, true Self without fear and anxiousness. Once this awareness is cultivated in each of us, we will experience an abundance of freedom and bliss in life: Since we are not confined to the body, we don’t have to worry about all of the gender-related, sex-related, and age-related issues that bind us so much. In the state of ignorance, the little pleasures we get are percolated through the filthy and coarse physical body. When we develop the jnana caksu, the “eye of knowledge,” all of our ignorance and the products of ignorance disappear. We need to be courageous and make concerted efforts in order to develop the instrument of perception that will enable us to directly perceive the indwelling Self. We must strive systematically and control the propensities for physical pleasures, so that our efforts will yield their proper results. Spiritual practices become practically useful only if a controlled and disciplined life is led. The Lord reminds us that everything we see in this world is His expression. Although we falsely think that by going towards God we will lose everything nice in the world, in fact all we will lose is our ignorance; what will remain is the perception of God as the one Reality.

 

Thou Art That – Swami Ishtananda, St. Petersburg, FL – Oct. 28, Sunday

The Chandogya Upanishad tells about Svetaketu, who, as a young boy went to Guru to be educated, for 12 years. When he came back, he was puffed up, egotistic but without knowledge of the Brahman. When his father Uddalaka asked him about it, Svetaketu expressed ignorance and requested father to teach. Father gave various analogies, such as putting salt in water gets dissolved, is not ‘seen’ anymore but is actually permeating the water. Likewise Brahman permeates everything. Thou Art That is the highest truth of the Upanishads. It can also be said as: I am Brahman; Consciousness is Brahman; and The Atman is Brahman. Brahman cannot be understood with a sharp intellect or with much talk. It must be experienced. Every religion has started with the knowledge of Brahman, but this has gotten diluted as time went by. Sri Ramakrishna brought it back in our age. He said that he could see God as he sees people, but even more intensely. The dualistic view is that God is our Beloved, as experienced by many saints. The qualified non-dualistic view is that we are a part of the supreme or the whole. In the non-dualistic view, there is no subject/object relationship.  Jesus expounded all three views, in viewing God as Father; God as the Vine and people as the branches; and the Kingdom of Heaven as being within you. The three views are not contradictory but the Truth seen from various planes. We do not become the Creator when we attain Brahman, but transcend the creation. We have the illusion of being embodied due to Maya. Maya has created the experience of the entire universe. When Maya drops away, the drop merges with the ocean. There is this experience of Tat Tvam Asi - Thou art That.

 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna class – Oct. 30, Tuesday

The essential requirements of God realization are earnestness for it, which will bring a corresponding inner change. If one sincerely feels that God realization is the goal of life then all actions tune to it automatically. This is called Nivritti (to return to the center) in scriptures One starts to turn inward. The outer manifestation of this change will not be seen immediately. Sometimes even the typical external norms of a devotee can't be seen in such a person. The example of such a person is Girishchandra Ghosh. He was the father of Bengali stage and a brilliant, learned person; but was involved in many bad habits. Nevertheless, he was a great devotee with tremendous sincerity.
When Sri Ramakrishna was busy in the conversation with the Vaishnava scholar, GC Ghosh arrived there weeping and drunk. He prostrated in front of Sri Ramakrishna and proclaimed - "You alone are the Perfect Brahman." This idea of Brahman manifesting through the human body is difficult to comprehend.  However, Girish had this strong conviction that Master will shower grace upon him. He was completely dependent upon Him for his spiritual welfare. He used to say that there is no sin on the earth that he has not committed but even then was assured that Master will take care of him as he has taken refuge in Him.
We depend upon all kinds of worldly supports like relatives, society, money etc but not upon God. As we depend upon these imperfect, ever changing things we get bound. Giving up all the worldly support and depending solely on God is the sign of devotion. Single pointed devotion to Lord, who is Perfect, can liberate us from the bondage. Our duty is to constantly observe and discriminate the nature of the world and learn a lesson from the blows we get from this world. If we truly understand what is Real, then automatically all our efforts will be directed towards realizing the Real leaving behind what is unreal.