Upcoming Events

Salutations to Swami Premananda! Thu Dec 05; Special Chant & worship in the morning; Birthday-song and bio-reading after the evening Arati.

Special Lecture by Swami Satyamayananda on MANY ASPECTS OF YOU – Sun Dec 08, 5:00-6:00 pm, followed by music concert 6:15-7:45 (Vinay Desai on Santoor accompanied by Rajesh Pai on Tabla)

Daylong Spiritual Retreat: Sat, Dec 07, 10 am to 7 pm. Topic: Songs of Divine Love from various traditions.
Registration necessary. Reg Fee: $30
Click here to register online.

Weekly Schedule (in addition to Daily Schedule given below)

Past Events

Swami Traveled to Atlanta and Augusta and Athens GA. Sat Nov 30-Mon Dec 02. He gave a day-long retreat on Sat on Meister Eckhart in Vedanta Center Atlanta; on Sun, he spoke there on Story of Prahlad; then went to give lectures at Augusta and on Monday to Athens. Returned on Tue afternoon.

Synopses of Past Classes
(All classes given by Swami Yogatmananda, unless otherwise stated)

Friday, Nov. 29 – Study Class on Svetasvatara Upanisad
Class 48 : Chapter 6, Verses 17-19:
As devotees, there must be a solid basis to our bhakti. Not all emotional upsurge is Bhakti. True bhakti proceeds from our awareness of the nature of the divine who pervades everything. As we cognize the nature of the divine, the sense of ego becomes destroyed. We know, we cannot protect ourselves. It is God who protects, controls, and guides everyone. Everything is minutely governed by THE ONE reality. God, who is imperishable and unchangeable, permeates all of reality and knows every single thing. We must strive to feel this. The Lord’s governorship is not extrinsic, as with a king or president; the Lord governs from within. Surrender results automatically from the realization that the Lord is the protector, governor, and creator who envelops all of reality. God alone is real. When we truly surrender, we offer salutations with our whole heart in it. Nothing is our own. Everything belongs to God. He is the supreme bridge to immortality. Our world is under the sway of death, but the Lord is immortal. By holding onto the Lord, we transcend the transitory world.

Sunday Service, Dec. 01 – Transcendentalism – a talk by Chester Boncek
Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement in New England in the late 1800’s, whose main proponents were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. We will see the similarities between Transcendentalism and Vedanta, and mystics in general. Emerson read the Gita and the Upanishads. The Vedantic view is that our three fundamental desires are for infinite knowledge, existence and bliss. They are the nature of God, and our own nature. All religions consist of mythology, philosophy, rituals, and direct experience. Vedanta accepts all religions. Emerson said: “Our faith comes in moments. Our vice is habitual…. [We] ascribe more reality to [those brief moments] than to all other experiences.” Dante Alighieri said that antagonistic events are resolved into unity. The astronaut Edgar Mitchell had a mystical experience in space and said that this experience is found in yoga. Swami Vivekananda said that there is a higher state than reason, that is differently interpreted through different customs. The Transcendentalists cast the oldest thoughts into the mold of new times. Emerson saw the need for solitude and meditation. Immanuel Kant called forms not from sense experience transcendental, from which the Transcendentalists got their name. The bhakhta gives the highest rank of importance to God. Emerson felt that we are the witness to the pantomime of society. Nisargadatta Maharaj said: “In my world, nothing ever goes wrong.” Swami Trigunatitananda felt that the world is full of misery, but we can transform it into bliss, because we are none other than the Divine Mother.

Tuesday, Dec. 03 – Study Class on Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play
As a Guru – Chapter 6 His Attitude Towards Mathur Page # 482-483:
A Divine Incarnation’s life is lived like a play, a drama. Sri Ramakrishna’s life was no different from an ordinary human being’s, at one level, but there was another perspective to his personality. Behind that human element, there was a divine energy propelling his life. Using that divine energy He helped human beings in a unique way. He was in the state of Bhavamukha – on the threshold of the relative and the absolute world. Sri Ramakrishna was playing the role of a human being but he was constantly aware of his divinity during that play. His teachership originated from this divine awareness. He could very easily understand the innermost things in the minds of people around him. He could transmit the knowledge without delivering any lectures. He could easily transform people’s minds by his mere presence.
One must remember that while traversing the spiritual path, everyone has his or her own path and pace. All people don’t follow the same trajectory. Sri Ramakrishna could see the path for each individual based on his/her mental state. It is very difficult to project anyone’s spiritual progress based on any external data. He could very easily see the path forward for his disciples. This can very well be understood by studying the life of Mathur Babu.
Mathur Babu was the practical owner of the temple garden. He was a very wealthy, hot tempered, intelligent and a devoted man. He shared a wonderful relationship with Sri Ramakrishna. He witnessed the Master’s Guru Bhaava in the very early stages. He and Rani Rasamani, knowingly or unknowingly, played an instrumental role in the divine play of Sri Ramakrishna.