Newsletter December 09, 2009

Past Events

1) Attleboro-based Interfaith Meet - Thurs. Dec 03
Swami Yogatmananda, along with Swami Atmarupananda and two devotees attended the Attleboro-based Interfaith meeting with about twenty other faith leaders and parishioners, including special guest Episcopal Bishop (Roy) Cedarholm of MA and a visiting minister from Ohio, on Thursday Dec 03 at La Salette Shrine, Attleboro MA to discuss the topic: 'How can I serve God and humanity?; How can I do more/be more for God?

2) Day Long Retreat - Sat. Dec. 05
Swami Atmarupananda (Trabuco Monastery, Vedanta Society, Hollywood CA) presented two discourses and provided answers in the hour long Q & A session for the seventy-nine retreat attendees in this twenty-eighth day long retreat on: 'MINDFULNESS: Theory & Practice'. Guided meditation, devotional music/singing, 'Vedantic tale' segment by Swami Yogatmananda, Shyam Nam Samkirtanam(108 Names to Krishna), Aarti & meditation, meals and snack/break times were part of the program.

In Discourse I Swami discussed skills of overcoming forgetfulness, distraction and sleepiness in mindfulness-meditation practice; the 'be here now' rather than to 'be there then' attitude; to 'consciously maintain a field of alert awareness'; to note changes in sensorial surroundings without reaction, judgment or commentary (worry, anxiety, gloating or anticipation); and to gain clarity of insight without intention to attain or to get something in return from the practice. He discussed three ways of meditation: object-oriented, subject-oriented and process-oriented mindfulness. With continual openly-aware mindfulness one eventually becomes free from the 'kleshas' (ego, desire, attraction, aversion, fear). Swami briefed upon both Buddhist and Christian variances of prayer and worship.
Discourse 2 continued with explanations more within the Vedanta framework of mindfulness: to be aware and beware; the attentiveness of 'arise, awake!' quote of Swami Vivekananda; to pay attention to the means of one's practice as much as the end; that inattentiveness is a death form; non-identification of minds' moods; to learn the beauty of doing, seeing, thinking completely and intensely each moment (not multi-tasking);to practice complete 'I am-ness' or to hold onto total 'Is-ness' of existence; to be prudent, non-wasteful as much as possible. Jesus also taught 'to watch and pray and be vigilant'.
In Vedantic Tales, Swami Yogatmananda spoke on Rama's going to fourteen-year forest-dwelling and the decision, practice, process and intent of his step-brother Bharata's maintenance of the throne until Rama's return.

3) Bhagavad Gita Class at Middletown CT - Sun. Dec. 06
Swami conducted the monthly Bhagavad Gita class(concluding chapter 6) at the Sri Satyanarayana Temple in Middletown CT from 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM.
4) Music Offering - Sun. Dec. 06
Following the 5:00-6:00 PM Sunday Lecture by Swami Atmarupananda, there was a music concert featuring Akshay Navaladi (Tabla), Koyel Ghosal (Sitar) and Devotional Bengali bhajans by Neeta Taluqdar; a light supper followed for the approximately forty persons who attended.

Click here to see the photos.

Synopsis of last week's classes

Friday, Dec. 04 - Bhagavad Gita - Ch. 5 (Verses 1-3)
The knowledge of the all-pervading, One without a second Reality removes the delusion 'I am the doer' and thus 'doing' too has no meaning. But, to get to this knowledge, it is necessary to do the works in the spirit of Yoga. So, while praising the knowledge and the renunciation of actions, Lord has told Arjuna to practice the Karma-Yoga. Arjuna has still the strong but hidden disinclination to perform the duties. So, he tells the Lord to prescribe 'one of the two', definitely; that one which will be the right one for him. Secretly, Arjuna is hoping that Lord will say that renunciation is better and thus he will not have to fight. Lord, clearly sees through the question and gives a psychologically most appropriate answer that although both lead to ultimate good, the Karma-Yoga is better than renunciation of action; in fact if one is performing the duties without hatred or attachment then such a person is considered an 'ever-renouncer'.

Sunday, Dec. 06 - Holy Mother: Who She Was, Is and Will Be - Swami Atmarupananda
Three different temporal aspects of manifestation of the Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi were discussed. Who was she? - Born and brought up as a village girl, she was the embodiment of purity, simplicity, modesty, spirituality, divine motherhood, unconditional love. She was a great exemplar of Karma-Yoga and duly discharged her duties as an ideal daughter, sister, wife, spiritual teacher, etc. Each period of her life set a human-ideal for us to strive for.
Who is she? - She is the mother-heart of the universe; the universe which apparently looks like working on some impersonal, random, heartless principles. She is within the heart of each one of us working as an inner controller (Antaryamini). She is the divine Mother herself, the infinite reality. Let us feel her presence within us and all around us. Thus she is the constant source of solace, guidance and inspiration.
Who she will be? - Holy Mother's life is like falling of a dew, quiet, subtle and yet powerful. Her life of extraordinary love, compassion, spirituality will have tremendous consequences on human society in next few centuries. If we follow the great human-ideals set by her, our ordinary life will surely transform into divine realization. It will take about a thousand years before the potential power of her personality gets fully manifested before the world.

Tuesday, Dec. 08 - The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (Chapter 39)

Sri Ramakrishna spoke at great length of the powers of concentration. Through meditation, we achieve one pointed-ness and, as the Mundak Upanisad describes it, become one with the Supreme Goal. Ramakrishna explained how the doors of his senses would become locked, so much so that he actually hear a click when they did so. Holy Mother said one must stick to the spiritual practices. There's always time in the day. The mind just makes excuses not to, being a pesky type. By repetition of japam, one can eventually realize the Highest. Only concentration but no ethical/spiritual grounding can be extremely dangerous. We, obviously, should always try to calm down and seek peace. That way, there will be one less potential problem in the world. The Master relates more of his experiences to his disciples. When in deep meditation and the senses are inward, you will not even be aware of a snake crawling over you; and even the snake will not be aware that it was crawling over a live human being. He saw a vision of two women as if looking through a glass and just saw entrails and filth. He wished nothing but the lotus feet of the supreme, not the temptation. When one sees the all pervading truth, one sees the Unchanging in everything.

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