Upcoming Events

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION: SUN FEB 07, 11AM-1:00 PM
In-person attendance will need prior registration which begins from JAN 24.

Wed, Jan 27 –Birthday of Swami Turiyananda. A special chant in the morning and evening; birthday Bio-reading in the evening after Arati.

All lectures/classes will continue to be available LIVE and stored on our Youtube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFof5116HcBYIpUFvKet1Uw) too.

Entrance door remains open for limited times as follows:

• Tue & Fri lectures:   6:45 – 7:35 pm
• Sun services:  4:45 – 5:05 pm
• Morning meditation :   5:45 – 5:55 am
• Evening meditation:  6:45 – 7:15 pm

Weekly Schedule (in addition to Daily Schedule given below)

Past Events

Tue Jan 19 – Birthday of Swami Saradananda. A special chant in the morning and evening; birthday Bio-reading in the evening after Arati.

Synopses of Past Classes
(All classes given by Swami Yogatmananda)

Friday, Jan 15 – Stories from Srimad Bhagavatam
Class 39: Secondary Creation
The Srimad Bhagavatam is a meditation on the Truth, on The Oneness of God. The Lord manifests as the multifarious creation without in reality undergoing any change.  Wherefrom the creation originated and how does it evolve? What is the nature of time? What happens to the universe during the state of dissolution? And many other such questions pertaining to creation. For the sages, it is enough to know that God alone is REAL and that creation is imagination.  The sages know that through one-pointed devotion to God all our questions are resolved. Nonetheless, the sage Vidura, with our benefit in mind, asks Maitreya to explain these things. Maitreya explains the different stages of creation and the six aspects of creation, which include plants, animals, and human beings. Each aspect has its unique characteristics (e.g. motion or non-motion, sentience or insentience, etc.). Human beings are characterized by their predominance of rajas (the guna associated with activity). Human beings possess specific desires and can establish plans in order to pursue those desires. Maitreya continues by explaining the nature of space and time. Like modern quantum physics, Maitreya asserts that space, time, and matter are aspects of the same phenomenon. Furthermore, space and time have quanta, that is to say they are incapable of having an infinitely small time-unit.

Sunday, Jan 17 – Getting the Vaccine
A vaccine is prevention, not a cure. Mental disorders are often jumbled together, like guilt, anxiety, depression, and a loss of confidence. We can deal with anxiety by knowing that whatever is going to happen, is going to happen. Many people cannot imagine a city without a mayor, but they think that the universe has no Governor. Spiritual remedies work whether we believe in them or not. Psychic disorders come from impressions, from this life or past lives. They are like seeds that sprout. We can develop good impressions by reading stories of God-incarnations and by inculcating moral habits. Spiritually, we know that if we hurt somebody, we hurt ourselves. Sri Ramakrishna could not utter a false word. Truthfulness is a great vaccine against mental and spiritual disorders. The virtue of forgiveness brings down anger. Many prisoners are in prison due to a moment of uncontrolled anger. Children may not understand prayers and chants that they memorize, but that chanting/memorization creates a vaccinating impression. The power of memorization is strongest in children. When their intellectual capability is enhanced, they learn the meaning. A spiritual disorder encouraged by society is excessive desires. The vaccine for this is knowing that all fulfillment is within us. Attachment to impermanent things is a spiritual problem. The vaccine for this is knowing that everything with a form is sure to go away, so we need to hold onto the Eternal. When we have a loss of identity, nothing has meaning. The vaccine for this is knowing that we are Divine.

A devotee made a useful comment that repetition of Mantra is a great vaccine.

Tuesday, Jan 19 – Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play
Volume 4, Chapter 2, Page #581-583 : Sri Ramakrishna as a Guru, and Sadhus of Various Orders
Each soul is potentially divine and looking to manifest its Divinity. Sri Ramakrishna was God incarnate in human form, to reach us how to reach God. So, while He is God, He acts like a man. He lived on the threshold of the Absolute and the relative and could therefore guide us. Our life is caught in the fulfillment of desires that never get fulfilled. Sri Ramakrishna had no desires. His life is full of Bliss within. Nothing external could change His happiness because it was within Him.
Several mendicants of the Ramayat sect were visiting Dakshineshwar. They were the followers of spiritual aspect of Sri Rama. One of their songs states that God can be realized by practicing truthfulness, obedience and absence of covetousness. Sri Ramakrishna says that true obedience comes from the humility. It helps us to destroy the ego, which is the obstacle in manifesting the God in us. Some of these mendicants used to take intoxicants for their spiritual practices. They invited Sri Ramakrishna to join them. Sri Ramakrishna could not consume wine as His mind used to merge into Oneness with smallest hint of the Divine. He noticed that very few mendicants were sincerely undertaking spiritual practices with the aid of intoxicants. Most of them got too drunk and got addicted. He, therefore, prohibited others from taking intoxicants. Sri Ramakrishna could see the Divine in everything. We too can have this same experience because we are all potentially Divine. We just need to move in the right direction. The physical eyes are not capable of seeing this Oneness. We need to develop the right understanding and knowledge to be able to experience this Oneness. Sri Ramakrishna used to lose His outer consciousness in this Divine absorption and could barely walk when He was in Divine ecstasy.