Newsletter September 17, 2008

Past Events

1) Swami delivered talks on Vedanta in New Jersey on Saturday, August 30 and returned on Sunday, August 31.
2) About 100 people attended the memorial service held for Joe Dwyer at the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of MA (Boston Vedanta) on Sunday, August 31. Fellow musician-devotees performed and sang songs they had 'performed with Joe before"; his niece, devotees, and friends spoke words of reminiscent thoughts. Swami Tyagananda and Swami Yogatmananda spoke of Joe's service to others and his dedication to the ideal.
3) Swami and a few devotees traveled to Toronto (Canada) on Thursday, September 04, where Swami participated in a seminar on 'Communicating Vedanta'. They returned on Monday, September 08.
5) Religious studies students from Brown University came to Vedanta Society of Providence on Wednesday, September 16 to learn basics about Hinduism/Vedanta from Swami and to have their questions answered. Click here to see photos.

Bhagavad Gita class - Middletown CT - Sun. Sept. 14
Swami Yogatmananda conducted the monthly class on Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 6) from 10:30 - 11:30 AM at the Sri Satyanarayana Temple located at 10 Training Hill Rd, Middletown CT.

Synopsis of Last Week's Classes

Sunday - Universal Brotherhood day - Symposium on 'My Approach to Vedanta' - Sept. 14
The annual symposium on 'Universal Brotherhood Day', with the theme 'My approach to Vedanta' was addressed by Father St Godard (Holy Family Church, Woonsocket RI); Pravrajika Gitaprana (Vivekananda Retreat, Ridgely Manor NY); and Prof. Dorothy Abram (Johnson and Wales University, Providence RI). The symposium was presided by Swami Tyagananda (Ramakrishna Vedanta Society, Boston) and it was attended by about 100 people.

Prof. Dorothy Abram presented a talk beginning with questions 'Why am I here?; Where are you?' reflected in the Hebrew Bible, and wove her thoughts around how one tries to find a connection between the tradition one is born in and the tradition in which one finds some kind of resonance. She used a phrase - "Harmonious metaphysical correspondence" - to describe her own experience of finding a connection between Judaism and Vedanta. Dorothy also added that the emphasis on 'Brahman' in Vedanta, which is parallel to the idea of 'the One' in Judaism, drew her to Vedanta.

Father St. Godard spoke about how the close bond that he developed with Swami Sarvargatananda, whom he described as his father figure, attracted him to Vedanta. He said that he learnt to be open to all sages and saints heeding to the advice of Swami Sarvagatananda. Father St. Godard stated that as many as 25% of people change their faith to show that how people feel it is important to find a path for one's spiritual growth even if it is outside the tradition in whcih they were born. He also quoted the saying from Upansihad: "Truth is One, sages call it by various names" to point to the fact that there is no real difference between the Truth (goal) of all religions.

Pravrajika Gitaprana recalled her childhood rebellious attitude towards organized religion including Vedanta - a sentiment echoed by Father St. Godard about today's youth in general in his talk. She acknowledged that this rebellious attitude slowly paved way for a rational thinking leading to the culmination of her becoming a nun. Pravrajika Gitaprana alluded to the popular allegory of 'rope-and-snake' in Vedanta (where the ignorance of the Reality is presented as akin to a rope mistakenly seen as a snake in darkness) and she referred to this ignorance as a 'mis-take' of the Reality.

Swami Tyagananda summarized the talks of all the speakers.

Multicultural music was also part of the program.
Click here to see photos of this event.

Tuesday - The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Class - Sept. 16

Sri Ramakrishna is an incarnation of God. How can the unlimited, infinite God can be limited in a human body? The devotees answer this question by saying that the 'unlimited God' cannot be limited by this inability. Being unlimited, God is beyond the limitations of logic on which the question is based.
In Sri Ramakrishna's uttering, we see the unveiling of ultimate reality. His words are the door of his life. His life is a play. He asked Girish, 'whose is this theater?' and was pleased to receive the answer as 'ours' instead of 'mine'. 'I & mine' is the bondage; 'mine' to 'ours' is a sign of progress. We have to transcend 'I and mine' to climb the spiritual ladder.
Listening to the playing of shehanai, Sri Ramakrishna went to Samadhi; A sadhu said this is a sign of the knowledge of Brahman. With the knowledge of Brahman, Brahman alone is seen as real. It is immediate, direct experience, independent of the sense organs.