Newsletter May 19, 2010

Past Events

From Friday May 14 to Monday May 17th, Swami Yogatmananda traveled to Montreal, Ottowa and Toronto, Canada. He gave an informal talk at Montreal to about twenty devotees and gave the Sunday Service talk at Vedanta Society, Toronto on 'Over the Rainbow' to about 120 devotees.

Synopsis of last week's classes

Friday, May 14 - Symposium on Bhagavad Gita, Chapters 4-6

Chapter 4: Vrishali Pal, reporting for Jitendra Pal, spoke about how Lord Krishna is unborn and changeless, yet manifests for establishing dharma. Many have achieved liberation by becoming free from attachment, fear, and anger, and we can too, with a qualified teacher.

Chapter 5: Joan Chadbourne noted the excellent commentary on the Gita of Swami Ranganathananda. She said that non-duality is the message of the Gita, and that knowing the truth leads to equanimity.

Chapter 6: Algavadi Vishwanatha emphasized the importance of this chapter, as noted by Swami Sarvagatananda, because of the stress on practice. It is difficult to control the mind, but it can be done with constant practice, along with celibacy and moderation in life.

Sunday, May 16 - Renunciation Myths - Swami Tyagananda
According to Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, the most important teaching of Sri Ramakrishna is 'renunciation' (tyaga). According to Swami Vivekananda, renunciation is the stepping stone, the real culture and the real heart of spiritual life. Yet, for most of us, the idea of renunciation seems forbidding. Following are the myths about renunciation which are NOT TRUE.
1. Renunciation is only for monks and nuns and others are not expected to practice it. - Not true. There are two kinds of renunciation: a) inner & outer b) inner; so renunciation is primarily an attitude of mind and as a spiritual aspirant (whether monk or householder), renunciation must be practiced. In Gita, Sri Krishna tells Arjuna to practice renunciation while carrying out one's duties.
2. Renunciation means giving up and hence it is painful. - Not true. Renunciation means giving up lower ideals for the sake of higher ideals. One has to have shraddha (immense faith) in the higher ideals; then renunciation (getting rid of the useless things) becomes the most joyful experience.
3. Renunciation is the result of hatred and dislike. - Not true. Hatred is also an attachment, the baggage that one carries in the mind. To get rid of worldly attachment and hatred, substitute it with the love of God or spiritual ideal.
4. Renunciation is unnatural. - Not true. According to Vedanta, our real nature is divine - immortal, blissful, pure, perfect. So it is the most unnatural thing to cling onto this world and behave like a mortal, limited being and suffer.
5. Renunciation is a form of escapism; life is full of challenges and one should face them. - Not true. Spiritual life is a life of greater, much tougher challenges. Hence the Upanisad says, spiritual life is not for the weak but for the courageous and brave people.
Whether knowingly or unknowingly we all practice renunciation for higher values such as renouncing comfort for carrying out parental duties, renouncing entertainment for the sake of studies, etc. For a spiritual aspirant, things related to spiritual life or for the love of God, are of greater importance. Renunciation means giving up sense of possession and carrying out one's duties as God's trustee. Then will come real joy, peace and contentment.

Tuesday, May 18 - The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Whatever we love, our lives get centered in the object of our love. It could be a wife, husband, child, money, etc. One thing to note is that the object of our love is constantly shifting. Therefore, our commitments change right along with it. This is not real love. What we are really seeking is something that doesn't change and will give us ultimate fulfillment, namely the God. God is our true love. Sri Ramakrishna was asked by Girish what is meant by ekangi prema. The Master explained that this was a one sided love. The water doesn't need the duck, it is the duck needing the water. There is a second more noble type of love where two people wish each other to be happy. There is yet another type love where one cares not for their own happiness at all. This is the highest type of love and is possible only with God. Radha had this feeling whenever she was with Krishna. All she craved was his happiness and well being. It is a question of surrendering the individual ego and merge it into the ultimate reality. One had to lose the self in order to find the true SELF.
The Master then, while replying to the question by Mahimacharan, explained that only the God-incarnations and Iswarakotis can retain bodies after Samadhi. They retain the 'ego of knowledge', which looks like ego but is really not.
There was interesting Q/A-s at the end.

Top