Newsletter October 29, 2008

Past Events

1) On Sunday Oct. 26th, Swami Yogatmananda spoke in Hindi (language) at the Ramakrishna Math, Mumbai, India on: 'Mother Kali and Sri Ramakrishna'.
2) On Monday Oct 27th, Swami spoke in Marathi (language) on: 'Shankaracharya and Swami Vivekananda' at Ramakrishna Vivekananda Center in Dadar, Mumbai, India.

Synopsis of Last Week's Classes

Friday - Video Show - 'Yoga Unveiled- evolution & essence of a spiritual tradition' Part 1 - Oct 24
Produced by Gita and Mukesh Desai, two parts of this four-part DVD (a brief Intro, then 'Branches of Yoga' and 'Passage from East to West') was shown to about twenty-three attendees. Featured takes with BKS Iyengar, Rodney Yee, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Georg Feurstein, Swami Tyagananda and others discussed eight branches and Swami Vivekananada's journey to Chicago, a brief history of the development of the Parliament of Religions, Swami's opening speech, and its impact.

Sunday - Is Science a Religion? - Dr. Ram Murty - Oct 26
Religion in general is said to be based on faith and belief and consists only of different sets of theories and that is the reason why different religions quarrel with each other. Although science is based on experimental facts and mathematical reasoning, a vast portion of scientific knowledge is mere theory. At one time in history, many scientists were persecuted for their discoveries were against religious beliefs. In early 1900, science gained supremacy and the logic of science was considered to be infallible. God and universal laws of structure became one and the same. But with the progress of scientific knowledge (for example, Gödel's incompleteness theorem, Alan Turing's theorem etc.) uncertainty began to emerge and deification of science was crumbled to pieces. Just as we should be cautious against religious fundamentalism, so also we should be cautious against scientific fundamentalism. From etymological roots of the words science and religion, science can be viewed as a method of analysis, and religion, as synthesis. Knowledge is a simultaneous perception of unity and its parts and hence through analysis and synthesis we can understand the external physical world and internal (mind) world. Science is very much a religion from the perspective that through experiments and mathematical theories, science tries to explain the external phenomenon, first by studying its component parts and then unifying it under a single mathematical principle. On social level, science is not bound to any particular nation, race, book or individual. Pointing to this aspect of science, Swami Vivekananda emphasized scientific approach to religion. True religion investigates the internal universe of mind not by abandoning reason but by refining it. Reason embodied in scientific spirit will then take us into the higher realms of mind. This is essential spirit of Vedanta. Swami Ranganathananda stressed the science of human possibilities based on introspection, self-discipline and self-improvement. Following this path we must examine and transcend the ropes of conditioning that are keeping us down. The progress in science and religion are nothing but attempts to go beyond nature. Thus science is a religion and religion is a science. Human mind needs both - scientific attitude of analysis and religious feeling of synthesis to ultimately realize the divine Self.

Tuesday - Oct 28

No class was held as Kali Puja was being conducted at Boston Vedanta Society.
Regular Aarati/meditation was conducted, concluding with poem reading of 'And Let Shyama Dance There' and 'Kali the Mother' from Swami Vivekananda's book: 'In Search of God and other Poems'.