Annual General Meeting 2010

Held on May 30, 2010 at 6:00 PM

 

Minutes of the  Annual General Meeting 2010 Held on May 30, 10

  1. The name of George Parker, a senior member was proposed by Swami Yogatmananda as Chairman for this Annual General Meeting; Pamela Dee seconded the proposal and George Parker took the chair amidst applause.
  2. The meeting began with Prayers, seeking the blessings of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda by Swami Yogatmananda, who then welcomed everyone.
  3. The minutes of the last Annual General Meeting held on June 14, 2009 were read out by Joan Chadbourne, a member of the executive committee and were accepted by the attending members.
  4. Viswanatha, also an executive committee member, read out the extensive report of the activities of the Society during the year 2009.
  5. Chester Boncek, a newly appointed member of the executive committee and treasurer, read out the summery of the income-expenditure accounts for 2009.
  6. Swami gave the progress of the design of the new construction project and said that the drawings are now almost complete and the construction could begin in coming July. He then requested Richard Leheny, a long-standing devotee and a construction-expert to present the audience many salient features of the new construction, using the architectural drawings and answered the questions.
  7. Joan Chadbourne, who has been an important pillar of the Society for many decades, has decided to partially move to Colorado with her daughters. A farewell was arranged for her. Teresita Guerra, Richard Leheny, Sravani Bhattacharji, Ajit Ranade and Swami spoke about her loving, unselfish and untiring service to the Society, specially in managing the maintenance, garden, shrine, general upkeep and above all in heartily welcoming and serving the guests. Ann Gnys, the Secretary of the Society, gave her a present as a token of the love of the members and Dean and Lauri and some others also gave gifts to her. She thanked everyone for their love, co-operation and support.
  8. George Parker, the Chairman of today’s meeting alluded in his brief address to Swami Tyagananda’s praising remarks about Swami Yogatmananda before his arrival at the Society in early 2001 and said that he is very happy that ‘he perfectly fitted in the shoes’ and is carrying on the work at Vedanta Society very well.
  9. Swami concluded the meeting with thanks to all for the wonderful loving co-operation and expressed that we will be able to start a good Children’s activity at the center. He also mentioned that he was happy to find the spontaneously loving relationship of the devotees with the Society. He recited a prayer to end the meeting and requested everyone to join the soup-supper.

Report of Activities in the Year 2009

The Year 2009 began with the tradition of Vedanta Societies of Providence and Boston : devotees gathering together on January 1st to observe the ‘Wish-Fulfilling Tree Day (KALPUTARU DAY),. The gathering was held at the home of Himanshu and Sveta  Vakil in Norton MA. The program consisted of short talks by Swamis Tyagananda and Yogatmananda, on the significance of that day, devotional music/singing, meditation, and Prasad luncheon.

 

 

The 5:45AM – 7:00 AM morning meditation session continued, which ends with participatory chanting and a brief reading from The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. The 7:00 PM – 8:00PM evening Aarti and meditation have maintained  attendance level of last year.

 

The Saturday 11:00 AM – 12:00 noon Chapel Program of guided meditation, chants, music/singing, averaged an attendance of 12-17 devotees.

 

The birth anniversaries of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna were observed on the morning of their respective ‘birth-date’ with a chant, and in the evening with a devotional song, a short biographical reading and Prasad. Christmas Eve, Sri Rama-Navami, Krishna Janmashtami and Shiva-Ratri were observed with suitable programs.

 

Swami Yogatmananda conducted most Providence Sunday Service lectures (22 this year) and conducted the annual September ‘Universal Brotherhood Day’ and ‘Symposium” Days. Swami Tyagananda has continued to deliver Sunday Service lectures here once monthly (8 times in 2009). Father Paul Dupuis, Celtic Orthodox monk gave a Sun service talk on ‘RABIA: The Sufi Mystic’ on Nov 08.

 

Tuesday study-class on ‘Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’ (pp 717 thru 747 in 2009) continued to maintain an average 24-27 attendance; the Friday ‘Bhagavad- Gita’ study-class (Chapter 3 middle-- thru Chapter 5, verse 9 in 2009) has maintained an average attendance of approximately 35 this year. This is a slight drop from last year.

 

Swami Gautamananda, trustee of the Ramakrishna Math; president of Ramakrishna Math, Chennai India, delivered one Tuesday talk on Sept 22, 2009 on:’ The Message of Sri Ramakrishna for the Modern World’ to about 40 devotees.

 

Vedanta Center and Groups during 2009 that Swami Yogatmananda delivered retreats and/or talks to included:

 Puerto Rico in January, Raleigh, North Carolina in February, Indianapolis Indiana in March, Huntsville, Alabama in Apri, Montreal and Toronto Canada in May, Vivekananda Monastery retreat, Ganges Michigan in June, Middletown Connecticut Vedanta group and Voorhees & Berlin New Jersey in July, Ridgeley Manor in Sept, Cherry Hill in Oct, Greenville &Durham, North Carolina and Washington DC in Nov, Cherry Hill in Dec 2009

 

  Swami also participated in and/or gave talks at:

1) RI State House Capitol Rotunda, Interfaith Coalition  (Jan 06) –Vedic prayer & statement to state congressmen about poverty/homeless situation 
2) First Unitarian Universalist Church (Feb 08)—participated in multi-faith inauguration of James Ishmael Ford as Minister
3) UMASS/Dartmouth(Feb 26)—Participated in Interfaith panel discussion on:  ‘Cross-cultural representation of Sustainability’
4) Mapleville RI     (March 24)—With other faith leaders, a discussion and   Q/A period with seniors at Home School (about 12 students)

5) Rhode Island College Religion class (April 02)—Powerpoint/discussion/Q&A on Vedanta and Hinduism to about 25 students

6) UMASS/Dartmouth Philosophy class (April 15)— Vedanta & Hinduism  

7) Universalist Unitarian Church, Fairhaven MA   (April 26)  on ‘Renunciation’

8) UMASS/Dartmouth: International Congress on Vedanta          (July16-18)—Swami delivered opening benedictory    address

9) New England Institute of Technology, Warwick RI (Aug 08)—general class talk on Vedanta/Hinduism

10) Concordia Center for Spiritual Living, Warwick, (Aug 15)—workshop on ‘ONE-ness’

11) Rhode Island College Religion class       (Sept 24)—on Hinduism     
12) Wheaton College, Norton MA, (Nov 05)—workshop on ‘Contemplation & Meditation’

13) Holy Family Church, Woonsocket RI, (Nov 22)—annual Thanksgiving Interfaith Observance

                                                                                                  

Four ‘day-long’ retreats were conducted at Providence Vedanta in 2009 as follows:

 

1) Saturday, April 18 th    Swami Shantarupananda, Vedanta Society Portland Oregon on: ‘Crest Jewel of Discrimination of  Sankaracharya’

2) Saturday, May 30th     Swami Sarvadevananda from Ved.Society, Southern CA, Hollywood on: ‘Narada’s Way’           

3) Saturday, Oct 24th       Swami Dayatmananda, Vedanta Centre, Bourne End ENGLAND on: ‘Yajnyavalkhya-Maitreyi Dialogue’

4) Saturday, Dec 06th     Swami Atmarupananda, Trabuco Monastery, CA on: ‘Mindfulness: Theory & Practice’

                                                                                                                                                             

The total attendance for all 4 retreats in 2009 was 278 participants, averaging 69 persons per retreat     

  

The Puja/Worship Days observed for Swami Vivekananda, Jan 18, Sri Ramakrishna March 01, and Sri Sarada Devi, Dec 13  with worship, prasad luncheon, video, music-hour, 3-speaker symposium, chanting, Aarti/meditation and prasad dinner. The worship for Sri Durga was conducted on Sun Sept 27  with same schedule as above, with Swami Yogatmananda conducting the Sunday Service lecture.                   

 

Well-attended Devotional Music Concert programs conducted in the Providence Vedanta Chapel in 2009 were as follows:

 

1)Sat. April 19 from 6PM -7:30PM  -- SABAD/SIKH Devotional Music with Amritpal Singh Tabla with Sukhwinder Singh,  Flute with Siva  (about 50/55 attended)

2) Sun.May 17 from 6PM – 7:30 PM  -- SITAR concert with Anupama Bhagawat; Tabla with Chris Periji (about 50-55 attended)

3) Sun May 31 from 6PM – 7PM  -- Devotional Music with Suchita Rao; Tabla with Chris Pereji  Harmonium with Ravi Torvi  (about 70 attended)

4) Sun. June 21 from 6PM – 7:30PM  -- Electro Acoustic Meditative Music with Laurie, Dean & Mark (wind controlled synthesizer / hammered dulcimer / electric guitar)

5) Sun. Oct 11 from 6PM – 7:00PM  -- Classical Vocal Concert with KumKum Sanyal; Tabla with Nitin Mitta,  Harmonium with Ravi Torvi (about 125 attended)

6) Sun Oct 18  from 6PM – 7:30 PM  -- Bengali Bhajans for Mother Kali with Swapna and Rahul Ray (about 45 attended)
7) Sun Oct 25 from 6PM – 7:30 PM  -- Classical Vocal Concert with Shubra Dinesh Jain (Shiralkar)   Tabla with Amritpal Singh (approx. 50 attended)

8) Sun Nov 01 from 6PM – 7:30PM  -- Flute concert with Jay Ghandhi  Tabla with Chris Pereji  (about 75 attended)

9) Sun Nov 29 from 9AM -11AM -- Morning Raagas  with Dattatreya Velankar Tabla with Akshay Navaladi    Harmonium with Ravi Torvi. (about 50 attended) 

10) Sun Dec 06 from 6PM -7:30 PM -- Sitar Performance with Koyel Ghosal Tabla with Akshay Navaladi   Also, Bengali Bhajans sung by Neeta Taluqdar

 

Devotional Events/Satsangs conducted in a Devotees home or other site in 2009 after Kalputaru Day were:

1) Fri July 04   Independence Day at Jhaveri home, Framingham, MA (55 attended )                                                                     

2) Sun July 12             Bhakta Samagam , T. K. Roy’s home W.Wareham MA        (15 attended)

3) Sun Aug 09—10     Thousand Island Park            

4) Sat Oct 31 Annual Autumn Satsang  Jhaveri  home Framingham MA (50 attended)

 

Providence Vedanta was represented by devotees at the following venues:

1) Chanting of Vedic Hymns. Roger Williams Park RI Interfaith Coalition to Fight Poverty & Homelessness  - Wed May 06. Rana Basu, Vrishali Pal, Ca-ron Perry participated.

2) Burnside Park/Kennedy Plaza  Annual United nations International Peace Day. Sun Sept 20.  Kuhlbhusan Choudhury did a peace chant and participated in walk. 

3) Women & Infants Hospital Interfaith Chapel Inauguration Mon Nov 16 - Vrishali Pal & Pamela Dee did the chanting.

 

In January 2009, Vedanta Society hosted the four-year old ‘Attleboro-based Interfaith Group’ of ministers and parishioners, which meets monthly at a different faith-based location and discusses varied topics. Two devotees attend regularly. Swami attended when possible;

      

The annual Middletown CT group retreat was held in the home of Tapas and Ratna Mukerjee, Shelton CT on July 18 on: ‘Aligning the Wheels of Life’ . Fifty-plus devotees attended. This is the seventh year of monthly Bhagavad-Gita class (currently Ch 7) at the Sri Satya-narayana Temple in Middletown CT with a steady attendance there.

  

The Theme for Universal Brotherhood Day observed on Sunday Sept 13t, 2009 was ‘The Common Foundation of Religions’.  Speakers were:

Father John P Sullivan, La Salette Shrine Attleboro MA

Rev. James Ishmael Ford, Unitarian Universalist Church, Providence RI

Father Edward St Godard from Holy Family Church Woonsocket RI;

Also, a short talk by Zohar Atkins, rabbinical student Brown University,

Swami Yogatmananda conducted the meeting and Swami Tyagananda gave concluding remarks. ‘The Mission’ was the opening song and the speaker’s talks were interspersed with Sufi chants (Nancy & Joseph Barta-Norton), Bengali song (Arunim Roy), music/singing by Peter Travisano and Swapna & Rahul Ray, Vivekananda ‘rap’ chanted by Hannah Resenger, a poem recitation of Swami Vivekananda’s by Sheela Krishnan, a reading from Chicago addresses by Luke Leheney, and a Hebrew folk-song from Fr St Godard;  and dinner (provided by volunteers from India Museum family) for the approximately 100-110 who attended.

 

Student/adult groups who visited Providence Vedanta Chapel to learn about Hinduism/Vedanta from Swami include:

1)Prov Country Day School East Prov, Wed Feb 25…..6th grade students, with teachers & parents.

2)Moses Brown High School religion class…..Wed March 11                                      

4) Unitarian Universalist Sun School…………..Sun March 29….junior, senior level learning interfaith awareness

5) Girl Scout Troop (#1)…………………Mon Oct 05.about 8 scouts and leader

 

Although daily programs and Sun and Fri classes were not held in summer recess of Jul and Aug, an eight-talk series  on ‘The SUFIS’ was offered by Swami Yogatmananda on most Tuesdays, from 7:30 -8:30 PM.. Attendance ranged from high of 50 to mostly about 30 per class.

  

Society also conducted  two weekend residential retreats in summer recess - one from Friday, July 10th at 6 PM through Sunday July 12th at 2 PM  with the main topic “Towards the Goal Supreme’ with 21 devotees attending,  and another from Friday Aug 28th through Sunday Aug 30th with the topic “Work and Worship”, with 28 devotees attending.  These retreats consisted of: guided meditation, lectures; chanting; videos; readings; karma-yoga assignments; walking meditation & writing exercises, etc.

 

Out of Rhode Island, Residential retreats that Swami Yogatmananda conducted or co-conducted, include:

1)- Vivekananda Monastery, Ganges Michigan  from Fri June 26 – Sun morning June 28, on: ‘Story of Prahlada’ Swami also delivered Sunday Service on: ‘Yours Truly, Truly Yours’

2)- Hindu Heritage Camp, Macedon NY (Rochester NY) from Wed Aug 05 thru Sun Aug 09, with Swami Kripamayananda from Ved Society Toronto Canada.  The topic was ‘Kena-Upanishad’. About 37-40 devotees from US and Canada attended. The retreat included early morning mediation; devotional music/singing; guest music groups; silent walking times; Q/A sessions, etc.

3) Green Acre, Maine  This weekend residential retreat on Fri Aug 21 thru Sun Aug 23, 2009 (20  Providence and Boston devotees attended)  was conducted by Swami Yogatmananda and Swami Tyagananda. On Saturday, Swami Tyagananda spoke on ‘Pages from Swamiji’s “Inspired Talks”’ and Swami Yogatmananda spoke on ‘Akurara’s Pilgrimage to Vraja’. On Sunday, both swamis spoke on: The Message of Sri Krishna’.

 

There were no regular meetings with the  UMASS/Dartmouth students in 2009.

Swami met with the Brown University Hindu student group once a week and guided the worship and other programs. Swami regularly attended the Brown Chaplain’s Affiliates Meetings with other Brown campus ministry.

MEMORIALS:
1) Shankari (Violet) Eaton, aged 90, a long time Vedanta devotee initiated by Swami Prabhavananda in 1960’s, passed away Sat March 14, 2009. She used to regularly attend the classes and services till May 2008. The health problems after that prevented her from physically attending these programs but she was particular to get the recordings and listen. The present construction-plans owe a lot to her generous donations and encouragement. She was instrumental in contributing to many Vedanta Centers in USA.  

2) Swami Sarvagatananda, senior swami in the United States, initiated by Swami Akhandananda,  passed away early Sunday morning, May 03rd, 2009 at the age of 96.  Viewing services was Monday, May 04 from 6PM -9PM at J.S.Waterman and Sons, Boston MA.  A special worship in his honor was conducted on May 15, at Vedanta Society of Providence .A memorial service, from 9:30 AM – 12:00  noon, with fifteen swamis, four nuns, and almost three hundred devotees and well-wishers attending, was conducted at La Salette Shrine: Welcome Center, Attleboro MA  Much appreciation to Father John Sullivan and Father Pat  of La Salette Shrine in offering the use La Salette Shrine & buildings.

 

Swami Tyagananda’s active co-operation in conducting all the various activities at Providence Vedanta receives heartfelt appreciation.

NEW CONSTRUCTION - BLDG ADDITION DEVELOPMENT 2009
The plan to expand the present facilities to conduct the activities better and reduce the hardship for devotees has been going on since 2007. The first drawings were rejected by the Providence Preservation Society and the neighborhood association in 2008. Later the plan, as prepared by the Kite Architects was approved by the Providence Preservation Society and the College Hill Neighborhood Association in 2009 spring. The construction-drawings were accordingly prepared by the architects and were reviewed by many devotees and experts who gave valuable suggestions. The drawings incorporating all the structural, mechanical, plumbing and other details are almost ready now and all indications point out that we can start the construction in coming July. We request the members and devotees to wholeheartedly come forward to help complete the project.

Category-summery of Revenue Income and Expenditure 2009

01-01 Through 31-12-2009

 

 

 

Category

Total

 

 

Income Categories

 

Book Store (sales)

5,661.75

Collection

13,625.00

Dividends & Interest

105,806.44

Donation

135,145.75

Donation New Construction

44,575.00

 

 

Total Income Categories

304,813.94

 

 

Expense Categories

 

Advertisement

645.44

Book Store (Purchase)

1,848.85

Bulk Mail

885.00

Charity

400.00

Flowers

102.00

Furniture & Equip

151.98

Healthcar for Swami Sarvagatananda

67,034.20

Household

4,954.00

Housekeeping

8,748.27

Insurance

6,351.00

Investment transfer

84,980.00

Medical

3,718.80

Memorial Service

12,578.39

Miscellaneous

316.76

New Construction

29,162.07

Repairs & Improvements

9,169.70

Stationary, Printing, Postage

1,860.19

Taxes

306.91

Travel and Honorarium

2,716.30

Utilities

19,838.34

Vehicle Maintainance

3,369.51

Total Expense Categories

259,137.71

 

 

Grand Total

45,676.23