Newsletter October 01, 2008

Past Events

1) Swami and two devotees attended the monthly interfaith group session (after July/August break) on Sept. 04 which this time was conducted at Temple Agudas Achim in North Attleborough MA. The topic centered on developing some concept of a mission statement for the group.

2) Swami Yogatmananda spoke on 'Fear of Death' at the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society, Boston from 11:00 - 12 noon on Sunday, Sept 28.

3) On Saturday afternoon, Sept. 27, teachers/students from ONE-Center for Yoga and Wellness in Foster RI visited the Vedanta chapel, where swami discussed Vedanta in general and in relation to their yoga classes and answered questions. Click here to see photo.

4) The birth anniversary of Swami Akhandananda, direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, was observed on Monday, Sept 29, with a morning chant and in the evening, with a song, a biography reading and Prasad.

Synopsis of Last Week's Classes

Friday - Bhagwad Gita - Sept. 19

CH. 3 Verses 1-2: The tendency of avoiding the necessary duty was very strong in Arjuna and when, towards the end of the 2nd chapter, he hears the Lord glorifying the state of being established in wisdom, he feels confused. His understanding is that this high state means you have to give up all the activity; for the activity necessarily means being ignorant & bound. He wants the Lord, his Guru to give him the clear, unambiguous advice, rather than such mixed, confusing message. 'Either action or knowledge; tell me that one, which will bring the ultimate good.'
This question indicates two aspects of Arjuna: his sincere desire to put into practice the teachings of the Lord and that he perceives the work as contradictory to knowledge. A question like 'should I stand or should I fight' is foolish; one can do both: stand and fight. There would not be any need for Arjuna, in that case, to ask for only one.
Lord Krishna has no such confusion; he sees that the way to ultimate wisdom goes through properly doing the actions. This science of conducting one's duties properly is called 'Karma Yoga.' Lord Krishna will elaborate it gradually.

Sunday - Fear of Death - Swami Yogatmananda- Sept 28
Fear of death is neither a phobia, (for death is not imagination but reality) nor it is a justifiable, rational fear (as it is inevitable and it is common to all). We want to cling onto life not acknowledging the fact that living is a march towards death. According to Patanjali, we are bound by five afflictions: ignorance (Avidya), a sense of 'I' the enjoyer and 'world' to be enjoyed (Asmita), Likes and dislikes (Raga and Dvesa), Clinging to life (Abhinivesa) or fear of death. This fear is sustained by its own force - the force of past impressions. Every one of us has experienced the trauma of birth and death many times in previous incarnations and those memories give rise to this fear. These memories are generally not on the conscious plane, but are subconscious.
Human beings have the opportunity to get rid of this fear by living in such a way that after death there will not be any re-birth. Then one gets the eternal life as Jesus promises. Kathopanisad portrays death as a spiritual teacher and says that freedom from death is only possible when one knows the truth -the Self which is beyond all senses and which does not change. Meditate on that eternal Self. Dis-identification with body will make us immortal. Childish people run after sense enjoyments and get into the wide-spread jaws of death. Knowing this the intelligent ones do not seek sense pleasures. Many a time's people try to shun the thoughts about death. In fact, if we remember that death is near at hand, the priorities of life change. To realize the Truth in this very life will become the priority. In the hymn 'Bhaja Govindam', Sankarachrya emphasizes that when death comes, name of God will alone help and nothing else. When our consciousness expands to feel that 'as long as some being in the universe is breathing, I am breathing', then fear of death will vanish altogether.

Tuesday - The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Class - Sept. 30

Devendra Babu didn't show up at the Star Theater. He was dejected and down and sees himself filled with nothing substantial. Such moods of depression come to all spiritual aspirants from time to time, with varying degree/frequency till the mind becomes steadily fixed in the ideal. The Master is surprised and replies, "He never said so before". Jatin got irritated when he sees Sri Ramakrishna asking Narendra alone to eat. "Are the rest of us fools"? - he shouts. The Master's abundant love was given to each devotee according to how much the disciple could hold. Narendra was like a rock and could withstand the Niagara Falls of the Master's love. Another disciple would be crushed underneath.
Girish had bad habits and although he had become a sincere devotee, habits die hard. So the master had remarked that the smell of garlic remains in a cup if it had garlic in it originally, in spite of washing. Girsh was offended and asked if indeed you can remove the odor. The answer was a resounding yes. "All smell disappears when a blazing fire is lighted". This is the fire of knowledge in our hearts.