Newsletter June 18, 2008

Past Events

New York swamis visit Providence Vedanta - Thurs. June 12
Swami Tathagatananda, from Vedanta Society of New York (West) and Swami Paritustananda, recently assigned assistant minister of New York Vedanta Society, visited Providence Vedanta. Swami Paritustananda, who was a manager at Belur Math Headquarters for twenty-three years, spoke briefly about the structure and function(s) of Ramakrishna Math and of the training of the bramacharyaas. Swami Tathagananda spoke on 'Practice of Devotion': about the Life, Love and Light of the Presence of God that is within each of us and would be known to each of us if only we would, (with fearlessness, purity and astuteness) practice more devotion, pay more homage to, sing the glories of and express gratitude to the Compassion of God that is All-Where. Swami used St John of the Gospel, the Gita and Brother Lawrence as examples.

Satsang at Boston- Sun. June 15
Swami Yogatmananda conducted Sunday Satsang from 11:00 AM - 12:00 noon on 'Quantum Leap in Consciousness' at Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of MA, 58 Deerfield St, and also attended the Boston Vedanta Annual General Meeting.

Music Program - Sun. June 15
From 6:00 - 7:30 PM, in the chapel, following the Sun Service Lecture, was a a 'Soul-stirring Music' performance and audience participation program with Cathy Clasper-Torch and Steven Jobe, performing on Violin, viola, er-hu, hurdy-gurdy, and cello. About forty-five persons attended.

Synopsis of Last Week's Classes

Friday - BHAGAWAD-GITA - June 13

CH-2 (Verses 68-69): If the sense organs are dominant and the mind follows to the objects of these organs, the intellect (buddhi) then is dragged after it, giving up its function of deciding what is right and what is wrong. It becomes slave to the senses. Then what should a yogi do? Bring the senses organs under control. We have to be patient because it's a difficult process, but achievable through diligent practice. We feel a sense of joy when we attain some control over the senses.
Arjuna's question about how is an enlightened person different from an ordinary person could be summed up by saying the difference is like day and night. What a deluded, worldly person considers as important in life (viz. money, sense-pleasures, fame, power etc) are considered as useless, unimportant things by this person and what this person, established in wisdom, holds in high esteem, is not seen so by the worldly person. That is why the analogy of day and night is given to show their diametrically opposite consciousness.

Sunday - Quantum Leap in Consciousness - Swami Yogatmananda - June 15
Quantum leap means abrupt change. At the beginning of 20th century, the field of physical science had a big revolution. The laws of classical physics which were taking for granted some basic ideas of time, space, continuity etc were challenged in the light of new discoveries in physics and quantum mechanics. Very few scientists then could bravely take quantum leap to the new understanding of foundations of physics. In olden times, Greek philosopher Zeno's paradoxes challenged the conventional ideas of multiplicity and yet continuity in the domain of space and time.
To understand any higher truth, a leap from our current awareness is necessary. Absolute consciousness is an abstraction of particularizations of consciousness. Howsoever we make progress in external world, it is all on one horizontal plane. We need to go in vertical direction - turning gaze inside and searching for who am I really. The mystics of all religions have taken this leap and they arrived at a state called Samadhi, which assimilates everything and yet rejects all particularizations. Upanisads say that words are insufficient to describe this experience. Kathopanisad tells story of a boy, Nachiketa, who wants to know the truth and is ready to pay the price - giving up the attachment to this world of subject/object relationship. The Self is hidden in all beings and the sages have seen It through their pointed and subtle intellect. Through meditation and spiritual practices, one has to eliminate all the bondages and make oneself ready to take a quantum leap to see the truth face to face and make one's life fulfilled.

Tuesday - The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Class- June 17

God realization was once thought to be the domain of those born into a high caste. Atul, a sincere seeker of Ramakrishna brought a friend to the master who asked, "Can anyone but a Brahman achieve perfection"? There is no mention anywhere in scripture that this is so. God is the common Father and Mother of everyone, so caste has nothing to do with it. A person must just be a devotee. That means being humble, not conceited. Vivekananda believed in spiritual democracy: since we all are children of God, all have an equal chance to realize him.
Sri Ramakrishna went on to explain to Atul that what is needed is renunciation. To see the same God in everything. This is renunciation according to Vedanta. Running away from ones worldly duties is not renunciation, but rather giving up the notion of "I", "me", and "mine". The example is given of an unsheathed sword, ready to discriminate between the real and the unreal, prepared to strike down ignorance.