Newsletter February 24, 2010

Past Events

1) On Thursday Feb. 18, Swami presented a power-point/discussion on basic Hinduism and Vedanta philosophy at a religion class of about twenty-seven students at Rhode Island College in late afternoon.
2) On Sunday Feb. 21, Swami Yogatmananda delivered the 11 AM - 12 Noon satsang on 'Visions of Sri Ramakrishna' at the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of MA, 58 Deerfield St Boston.
3) On Monday Feb. 22, Swami participated in an interfaith discussion-panel for one segment of a 'Diversity Program' conducted at Moses Brown High School, where about two hundred students attended.

Synopsis of last week's classes

Friday, Feb. 19 - Bhagavad Gita (Ch. 5, Verses 23)
After explaining in verse 21-22 that the person of Self-knowledge has no craving for contacts with the external objects; for s/he finds the inexhaustible min of happiness within, Lord Krishna tells that a spiritual aspirant must try to control the 'urges of attraction or aversion'. Urge is a desire that has become compulsive/automatic. It appears impossible not to succumb to it. Although some prominent Western psychologists, led by Freud, preach that one should just give free rein to the urges, lest their control may create many behavioral complexes and health issues, the Yoga psychology completely denies this view. Happiness and freedom is what all of us want and there is absolutely no way to get it without learning to control the propensities of attachment and resentment towards the external objects. Those who do it in this life, they alone have lived the life - for human life IS for that. Control is human; indulgence is animal. This control is Yoga and it results in gradual unfoldment of inner happiness. It may be impossible to control the urge when one is overtaken by it, but when the tide is over, one can (& must) build defenses against them. Holy company and discipline are such defenses.

Sunday, Feb. 21 - Sri Ramakrishna's Sadhana
Sadhana means the conscious efforts that a spiritual aspirant (Sadhaka) makes to achieve the ultimate goal of life (Sadhya). Sri Ramakrishna, --an incarnation of God, assumed human body out of compassion and performed sadhana to show the suffering humanity the goal of life and the way towards it. He is the only God-incarnation whose sadhana is well-recorded.
Sri Ramakrishna's sadhana, at conscious level began when he was a young boy of 16-17. He neither cared for the conventional life of earning money nor what other people would say about his overwhelming love for spiritual life. Thus he teaches us that one should not get bothered by people's criticism for pursuing spiritual life. One salient feature of his sadhana is tremendous longing for realizing the ideal. During his sadhana Sri Ramakrishna strictly avoided worldly people and mundane matters but eagerly sought the company of Holy. Thus he teaches us that a spiritual aspirant should keep his/her mind focused on the goal, refraining from all socialization. Sri Ramakrishna practiced discrimination between the permanent and impermanent and performed his sadhana with steadfast devotion. He used to see a young monk, resembling himself, coming from his body and guiding him on various spiritual matters; yet he did not hesitate to take the help from outside and exactly and sincerely followed the instructions from teachers Bharavi Brahmani, Totapuri and others. A spiritual aspirant should try to make one's conscience very robust to follow guru's instructions diligently. Sri Ramakrishna shows us to do sadhana by giving up prejudices, likes and dislikes. The nature of the Truth being simple, a spiritual aspirant should conform to this quality by becoming simple and straightforward. By studying Sri Ramakrishna's sadhana, the human aspect of his divine personality, we will certainly derive great benefits in our life.

Tuesday, Feb. 23 - Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

In last week's class, we learned some differences between an ordinary person and an Incarnation. An Incarnation has divine consciousness all through the life, right from the birth. S/he walks and talks like us, yet their awareness is that of the divine. Their inner structure is also markedly different from the spiritual aspirant, who after God-realization cannot survive in the body.
One devotee asked Sri Ramakrishna the best way to achieve realization. The answer the Master gave was: "You must cultivate intense dispassion. You must renounce immediately what you feel to be standing in your way". In other words, don't put it off until tomorrow, for tomorrow never comes. Some tendencies don't need cultivating such as our gravitating toward sense pleasures. That comes quite naturally. The art of cultivating dispassion is not welcome by most due to our strong attachments, so it is a difficult discipline, but one well worth the time and effort if one wishes to progress and ultimately realize God. Again Sri Ramakrishna cites lust and greed as prime obstructions and says, "The mind must be withdrawn from it." The tools are available for us: dispassion, prayer, meditation, holy company, scriptures. By dint of God's grace, we can achieve the highest state of being.

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