Newsletter May 27, 2009

Past Events

Swami Yogatmananda and some devotees traveled to Montreal and Toronto, Canada from May 22nd -25th, where swami gave lectures on 'Vedanta and Democracy' and various Vedanta topics. He returned Tuesday before the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna class.

Synopsis of Last Week's Classes

Friday - Bhagwad Gita - May 22

A Video CD of a lecture on the Bhagavad-Gita by Swami Ranganathananda, was shown.

Sunday - Practice of Karma Yoga (Karma Yoga #9) - Swami Tyagananda - May 24
Karma binds us visibly to the body/mind complex through creating anxiety and stress and invisibly ties us through the cycle of birth and death. Work is unavoidable; as a Karma Yogi one has to do it in a way that will not only eliminate stress but also will not bind the doer to the cause and effect relationship. Karma yoga teaches us to recognize that all work is really being done by body and mind; the Self within is just an observer. Law of Karma is an empowering law that gives us control over our own life. Swami Vivekananda mentions two ways of practicing Karma Yoga: 1) Work for work's sake - Every moment of life must be lived mindfully, our motives and impulses must be constantly examined and consciously working to root out selfishness. 2) Working through love for God - Every work then becomes an act of worship.
Swami Vivekananda gives us few tips to practice Karma Yoga:
1. We have to bear in mind that we are debtors to the world and the world does not owe us anything.
2. There is divine presence working eternally in the universe;
3. The world is a mixture of good and evil and will remain so. Hence we should not hate anyone. Our duty is to sympathize with the weak and love even the wrong-doers.
4. We should not be fanatics of any kind because fanaticism is opposed to love.
5. We should consciously try to be calm and peaceful because less disturbed our nerves are, the more shall we love and better will our work be; the work that will free us from all bondages and limitations.

Tuesday - Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - May 26

Our conclusions are based on different types of evidence. We use sense perception, reasoning, and we gather other evidence from what people have told us or from what we have read. IMMEDIATE perception is the highest form of experience. The immediate experience of "I am" overrides all other evidences, even that of reasoning. Sri Ramakrishna has seen God become everything. Whatever theory or belief system one employs, the important thing is to awaken one's inner consciousness, referring to removing the ego. The Master also said the inner self is awakened by the grace of God. So what do we do? We clean our house, keeping it holy, do meditation and prayer, thus paving the way for grace to enter. He speaks of samadhi where one often forgets s/he has a body. Sri Ramakrishna then told about the three types of knowledge: first by reading books, second by meditation and lastly when God reveals himself.
There was a question about samadhi and grace at the end of the class.