Newsletter January 14, 2009

Past Events

Synopsis of Last Week's Classes

Friday - Bhagwad Gita - Jan. 09
Ch. 3- Verses 19-20: Bhagavad Gita combines both theory and practice. If our goal is Supreme Oneness, then we must go to its source--the Self, where we are one. We have been habituated to look outside for joy and knowledge, yet all that comes from within. One must perform only the actions which must be done (=duty). Performing actions because they will bring pleasure will create bondage. Duties must always be performed without attachment, and they should be performed to perfection. Then Krishna cites King Janaka as an example of a man who, though fully immersed in the challenging work of administration, was able to realize Perfection through detached action.
We have to train ourselves to become less and less attached to our actions, while at the same time putting our heart and soul into the work.
Krishna then points out to Arjuna to think of the impact of his refusal to fight! It would not set a good example for his fellow soldiers. As members of the human race, we must think of ourselves as role models and consider what impact our actions will have on others around us.

Sunday - Karma and Equality (Karma Yoga #5) - Swami Tyagananda - Jan. 11
The ideas of morality and duty vary from one society to another and in the same society, duties are different for different states of life. Our first duty is to have faith in ourselves. Practice of forgiveness and non-violence become virtues when the person has full strength to strike back and yet restrains oneself from doing so. Until we reach the state of perfect calmness, each one of us should be active in a selfless way. Karma yoga teaches us how to use actions to free ourselves rather than get bound by them. Hypocrisy and Karma yoga cannot go together. If one's mind hankers after the worldly things, it is better to have them and realize that they are little things to run after; then will come true renunciation and self-surrender.
The beauty and strength of Vedanta is that it does not define any specific ideal for any one of us but asks us to look deeply and find out what you lack. Our wants will determine the goal of our life. All people in the society do not have same mind and same power to do things and hence they must have different duties and ideals. In a society each one of us is important in one's own place and it will be an abuse of the social structure to consider one group in a society more privileged than the other. Our greatness is not determined by what duties we have but how we perform them. What hampers equality is our greed and desire to control other people. We should perform our duties fearlessly and selflessly and then will come peace and fulfillment in life.

Tuesday - Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - Jan. 13

From time to time the Divine incarnates in a human body in order to help humanity see the Truth. People want both the worldly things and the God. Due to ignorance, what is actually sweet, tastes bitter. The practice of realization is equated with bitter or unpleasant. Sri Ramakrishna was telling of a vision of his to the intimate devotees; he saw sat-chit-ananda come out of its sheath (that is his body & the world around). He knows that the body is merely a covering. The sheath is ignorance. He went to say: "I kept quiet and watched". He kept the sheath because he has a role to perform, - 'worshiping Sakti' Sakti =Power of Brahman which makes The One, while remaining One manifest as many. It refers to his state as the Teacher of mankind. The other such teachers, according to the need of their times, did it by combining rajas & tamas with sattva; but in Sri Ramakrishna, the manifestation is pure sattva.