Newsletter June 03, 2009

Past Events

Day-long Retreat - Sat. May 30
Swami Sarvadevananda, from Vedanta Society Hollywood CA, provided three lectures and an hour long question-answer session on: 'DEVOTION: Narada's Way' for the sixty attendees of the twenty-sixth retreat conducted at Vedanta Society of Providence. The program also consisted of guided meditation, devotional music/singing, meals/snacks and concluded with singing of Aarti, Sri Sarada Naama Samkirtanam (108 chants to Sarada Devi), meditation and dinner.

In Discourse I, Swami Sarvadevananda gave a descriptive explanation of Bhaki: the categories and their sub-divisions and a succinct breakdown of the eighty-four aphorisms of Narada Bhakti Sutras: 'What is the process of (developing) pure devotion; moral rules and behaviors of aspirants to develop one-pointed love for Supreme/God; how vaidhi (formal)-bhakti gets transformed into para (supreme)-bhakti/prema-bhakti. Sri Ramakrishna said that in this 'Iron Age' Bhakti-Yoga is the easiest path to follow.
In Discourse II and Discourse III, Swami Sarvadevananda went through the remaining aphorisms, explaining the the stages from satisfaction to blissful satiation to divine intoxication to silent and complete universal-unification; selfless, ego-less, dispassionate love of service; detaching from one's gripping tight-hold of all wrong/unreal support systems in this unreal world by learning to depend only upon the Lord with one-pointedness. Unending peace, unceasing joy and ever-eternal Love of the Lord is a bhakta's Realization.
An intensive question and answer session concluded the formal retreat day.

Devotional Music - Sun. May 31
An audience of about seventy persons attended the devotional music performance from 6:15 - 8:00 PM that followed the Sunday Lecture. Three young students of Shuchita Rao began the program with bhajans. Shuchita Rao, currently teaching at RASA Institute of Music as well as at Learn-quest Academy of Music, MA, sang with exquisite voice, clarity and devotion, giving a short synopsis of the ragas performed. Chris Pereji accompanied on tabla and Ravi Torvi on harmonium. Dinner was then offered to all.

Click to see photos of above events.

Synopsis of Last Week's Classes

Friday - Bhagwad Gita - May 29

Ch. 4 Verses 16-18: In Verse 16, Sri Krishna says that even the wise are confused about what is action and what is inaction (so we need not feel depressed about it). It is very important to remove this confusion. and Lord will show us which actions will lead to liberation. In Verse 17 he refers to "prescribed actions" and "prohibited actions:" Prescribed actions (right action) are those which lead to our freedom from bondage, and prohibited actions take us away from this goal. The outer form of the action (i.e. running, killing, etc.) is neither good nor bad. The moral content resides in the intention behind the action. In Verse 18, Sri Krishna tells Arjuna that a true yogi is one who can see action in inaction, and inaction in action. In apparent movement one should see the non-movement of the Self, and in apparent stillness/inaction, one should perceive that the ego is still there and every perception involving the subject perceiving an object means motion. We will continue to discuss this very important verse in the next class.

Sunday - How to Overcome Fear - Swami Sarvadevananda - May 31
Fear comes when we want to hold onto external objects which come and go. Death frightens us because we limit our existence to this body and mind. We dwell too much on past and future forgetting what we need to do at the present moment. The result is mental stress and anxiety. Buddha says, desire - fulfilled or unfulfilled - is the root cause of suffering. The secret of existence is: have no fear and depend on no one.
The intensity of fear reduces when we analyze it and take refuge in our divine nature. Fearlessness is our real nature and it starts manifesting when we assert the unchanging aspect of life rather than changing aspects. The saint-poet Bhartrihari in his 'One-hundred Verses on Renunciation' says that everything in this world is fraught with fear; renunciation alone makes the person fearless. Fear can be conquered by acquiring self-mastery, that is to say by leading a spiritual life. The path of devotion (Bhakti-yoga) tells us to surrender to the all powerful God who has created this huge cosmos; S/He is controlling everything and is ever watchful towards our welfare. In path of Raja-yoga, controlling mind through physical and mental disciplines is emphasized. Infinite joy comes when mind becomes peaceful. In path of Jnana-yoga, the spiritual aspirant negates the limited 'I' bound by body and mind and identifies oneself with the universal 'I'. Karma-yoga tells us to perform duties with detachment. Learn to say 'let go' when necessary.

Tuesday - Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - June 02

Sri Ramakrishna always emphasizes that God or The Truth must be experienced. Ramanuja's idea of qualified non-dualism or Sankara's theory of non-dualism are really both valid and true as means to that experience. The theories are aimed at going beyond the ego and ultimately to God. Narendra was having trouble meditating on Mother Kali, stating he had been trying for 3 or 4 days, but nothing came of it. Sri Ramakrishna tenderly said to him, "All in good time, my child". There's a lesson here for us all, who perhaps like or expect immediate results. Patience and perseverance is the key. A dhyana-siddha (= perfected in meditation) like Narendra also needs time to get the ultimate realization of Kali. The Master goes on to explain that Kali is the same as Brahman. The changeless aspect is Brahman and the changing, manifesting aspect of the divine is Kali. Also thought of as the Primordial Power. To see that comprehensive nature of struth, one must accept both the aspects - the unchanging & the changing, the Brahman and The Kali. In every experience of ours, both the unchanging & the changing are inseparably included.

There was a question about perception of past, present and future and also one on time regarding concentrating on the moment.