Newsletter December 30, 2009

Past Events

1) Swami Yogatmananda spoke on 'JESUS: The Teacher of Renunciation' at 11:00 AM at the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of MA, 58 Deerfield St Boston.

2) On Thursday, December 24, from 7:00PM - 8:30PM, Christmas Eve was celebrated with a short worship of Jesus, readings from 'The Imitation of Christ', 'Sermon on the Mount' and 'The Life of Swami Vivekananda', interspersed with comments from Swami Yogatmananda, Christmas carol singing and Prasad for the twenty devotees who attended.
Click here to see photos.

3) The birth anniversary of Swami Turiyananda, direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, was observed on Wednesday, December 30 in the evening with a song, biography reading and Prasad.

Synopsis of last week's classes

Friday, Dec. 25 - CHRISTMAS DAY - NO BHAGAVAD GITA CLASS was held.

Sunday, Dec. 27 - Jesus: The Teacher of Renunciation - Swami Yogatmananda
Incarnations of God like Jesus come to teach mankind the goal of life and the way to attain it. Jesus' life reflects true renunciation, the real courage to stand up against worldly temptations for the sake of God. The Gospel of Mathew mentions how devil appeared to distract him from the spiritual path, but Jesus did not yield. 'Sermon on the Mount' is full of his teachings of renunciation. There he says that one cannot serve God and mammon together. Money (name, fame etc.), a big attraction takes our mind away from God and hence should be shunned if one wants to progress in spiritual life. His advice - 'love thy enemy', 'do not judge others', etc. means renounce long-standing habits and misconceptions so that one can transcend the limits of human life to become divine. He tells the secret of renunciation - 'The Kingdom of Heaven/God is within you', which is very much like the teachings of Upanisad - 'One who wants immortality, diverts the search inside.' He asks us to renounce fear because God takes care of everything. He says: 'Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.' The goal of life is not to bring betterment to the world but to seek God and one should serve the world as manifestation of God. Jesus advocates celibacy so that all energy can be used to uplift oneself to higher level of awareness. He transcends the biological relations and makes the universal connection when he says: 'Whoever does the will of my Heavenly Father is my mother, brother, sister…'

Tuesday, Dec. 29 - The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (Chapter 39)

We are born with the birth of the body. It changes from infant to teen, to adulthood, to old age, and ultimately dies. Through ignorance we think we are this body. Sri Ramakrishna teaches that we are in actuality the unchanging self, not this changing body or mind. We erroneously superimpose our desire for the unchanging onto the body.
By practicing sadhana or spiritual discipline one can learn to overcome these misconceptions. Sadhya is the goal to be achieved, while sadhaka is the individual seeking ultimate reality. Ramakrishna said of his student Purna, "In him I have reached the post". Purna was of the inner circle of the Master who, after having a great absorption of the spiritual wealth of the Master, could emanate or distribute it. A description of Mahabhava followed which is a most intense feeling where nothing else has importance in life except merging with God. It is literally translated as the Great Mood. All the effects of ignorance are washed away when this overwhelming feeling comes. The Gopi heard Lord Krishna's flute and dropped everything they were doing, awakening as if from a dream. It is likened to a huge elephant entering a small hut.

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