Newsletter September 26, 2007

Swami Yogatmananda's Lecture at Boston Vedanta - Sun. Sept. 23

Swami conducted Sunday Satsang at Ramakrishna Vedanta Society, Boston, MA on Sept 23 from 11:00 AM - 12 noon on: 'Plotinus: The Greek Vedantist Philosopher.'

Synopsis of Last Week's Classes

Friday - BHAGAWAD-GITA - Sept. 21

Swami outlined the story of Mahabharata briefly. Each character is a message. Dhritarashtra is blind - cannot see the truth due to terrible attachment to his sons. He who does not want to 'see' is the blindest person. Arjuna chose Sri Krishna, who was not going to fight to be on his side, rejecting Sri Krishna's well-trained, well-equipped huge army. This is the deciding moment in the life of each person - what are we going to choose in the on-going battle of life to be on our side? God or the world? You cannot have both. This choice will decide ultimately whether you end up victorious or vanquished.

Sunday - Plotinus: The Greek Vedantist Philosopher - Swami Yogatmananda - Sept. 23
From time immemorial human beings have shown irresistible passion for knowledge which can be broadly classified as - 1) Knowledge of external world (Apara Vidya) which we get through sense organs. 2) Knowledge of the Self (Para Vidya) which is revealed only to the pure mind and it makes life full of peace and happiness. Plotinus, the Neo-Platonist Greek philosopher (CE 204 - 270) was one such God-like personality. He was born in Egypt and studied philosophy under the guidance of a great teacher, Ammonius in Alexandria. Plotinus was a saint-philosopher who acquired the highest spiritual illumination, what is called Samadhi in Vedanta. His disciple Porphyry collected, edited and published his writings in six volumes and are titled 'Ennead'. Plotinus was very kind hearted person. He abhorred the identification with body and so refused to observed his birthday, refused to have a portrait of his made and even did not like to speak of his parentage etc. He introduced the idea of 'Nous' which is very similar to the Vedantic idea of 'Maya', because of which that 'One Reality' appears as 'many'. This appearance branches in two directions: 1.Towards The One which liberates us and 2. Away from The One which binds us to this world.
Porphyry has described different angles of his master's personality. While speaking, Plotinus's face would light up as if knowledge is being poured. He never cared for flowery language. While writing, he used to compose everything in his mind fully and then without taking a pause, would jot it down. His writings deal with immense variety of subjects like Beauty and Aesthetics, Free Will, Eternity and Time, Dialectics, Virtue, Happiness, Reason Dismissal, Fate, Love, Contemplation etc. According to Bertrand Russell, Plotinus provided the philosophical background to the early Christian Theology. Plotinus believed in reincarnation saying that the embodied soul has to take different bodies to experience the results of past actions. At the time of death, his last words were: 'Strive to give back divine in you to divine in all'.

Tuesday - Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - Sept. 25

Vedanta does not talk of sin but of ignorance. The way-out is not to harp on sin or ignorance, but to think of knowledge, to meditate on the inner divinity. So Sri Ramakrishna rebuked Girish when he said 'I am a sinner'. The person who thinks that he/she is sinner, becomes that. Swami Vivekananda was never tired of warning against such self-condemnation. 'Ye are the children of Immortality, Ye are the Divinities on the Earth; it is sin call you sinners' - he thundered.
If one lights the lamp in a room, darkness goes away immediately even if might have been there for a thousand years.
Girish next asked that he has the desire to love God for the sake of that alone. In reply, Sri Ramakrishna told that it is not to be had by ordinary people. The point is we have to shake off this imbecile 'ordinariness' of sticking to the worldly pleasures.

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