Day-Long Meditation – Sat. June 10
This is a continual long meditation session, starting with guided meditation at 11:00 AM. Must be IN bldg by 12 noon. Luncheon/snacks provided. No Cell phones; electronic devices allowed. 
*
Front door opens at 6:30 for (public entry)  for the singing of 7PM Aarati & then continued meditation till 8:00pm.
Swami to CT Vedanta Group  – Sun. June 1110:30AM – 12:30PM
Swami Yogatmananda will go to Vedanta Society Connecticut, 100 Cherry Brook Rd Canton CT to teach ‘Work to Transcend Work’  (based on B’Gita). All are welcome

 

Annual General Meeting of the Society – Sun. June 11, 6:15PM – 7:00PM
Immediately after the Sunday Service. All are welcome.

 

Hatha Yoga Classes – Every Tuesday 5:30-6:30 PM from May 02
Fee: $40 — PREPAID For 2 Month Course, $10/Per Class
Contact Vedanta Society by phone or email or contact Roshni Darnal at 401-226-5421

Weekly Programs (in addition to Daily Programs given below)

Friday,
June 09
7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation
7:30 – 8:30 PM: Study Class by Swami Yogatmananda on Jnana Yoga (based on the book of Swami Vivekananda)
Saturday,
June 10
8:30 AM – 10:30 AM: Karma Yoga/Cleaning

11:00 AM – 12 noon: Guided meditation and chanting/singing
12:00noon –6:30PMDAY-LONG MEDITATION (See info above)

7:00 PM – Aarati (devotional music) & Meditation

Sunday, 
June 11
5:00 – 6:00 PM:Lecture: ‘Unflinching Devotion Sans Bigotry’ by Swami Yogatmananda
6:00 –6:15 PM: Aarati
6:15 – 6:45 PM – ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 
6: 457:15 PM – Soup Supper
Tuesday, 
June 13
7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation

7:15 – 8:30 PM: Study Class by Swami Yogatmananda on ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’, Ch 52, pp 995

 

Daily Programs

Morning : 5:45  6:45 AM: Meditation
6:45 
 7:00 AM: Chanting followed by a short reading from ‘The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol. 7’
7:00 – 7:25AM – A short ritual worship/Puja. Open to all.
Evening : 7:00  7:15 PM: Aarti (devotional music), with a short reading from THE STORY OF AN EPOCH: Swami Virajananda and his Times’, by Swami Shraddhananda
7:15 
 8:00 PM: Meditation. Open to all.

Past Events

Attleboro Interfaith Group Monthly Meeting – Thu. June 1
Swami participated the monthly meeting with 8 others at the 2nd Congregational Church in Attleboro. The topic of discussion was: ‘How does the Spirit connect with (interact, inform, inspire) your community of faith?’

Day-long Retreat – Sat. June 03
There were (64) participants in this (57th) Day-long Spiritual Retreat from 9:30am –7:00pm.  ‘Loving God’ was the theme, of which here were two discourses: ‘Why to Love God? and ‘How to Love God?’ delivered by Swami Kripamayananda (Toronto Canada Vedanta). Also included was a guided meditation session led by Swami Yogatmananda; a Hatha-Yoga/Tai-Chi session ( led by Pat B. & Sarah P.); devotional music/singing;  Discussion Groups with Presentations; a one-and-half-hour (1 ½) Q/A session with both Swami Kripamayananda and Swami Yogatmananda; refreshment breaks and meals. Chant-singing (108 names) Shyam-nam-Sankirtanam concluded the retreat.

Children’s Program – Sun. June 044PM – 6PM
One child attended, with activities including: chanting  of Gayatri Mantra and doing an acrylic painting called: ‘Two Hearts in the Morning Glow’- guided/led by Chet B.
Note: The next ‘Just Kids!’ session will meet at end Sept or beginning Oct. 

SABAD Concert – Sun. June 04
, 6:15PM – 7:30PM
About thirty-five music enthusiasts listened to SABAD devotional singing by Amritpal Singh, accompanied on Tabla by Jasprit Singh from 6:30pm – 8:00pm, conducted  immediately after the 5-6PM Sun. Lecture.

 

Click here to see photos of above events.

Synopses of Past Classes

(All classes given by Swami Yogatmananda, unless otherwise stated)

Study Class on ‘Jnana Yoga’ – June 02, Friday
Class #65: (Chapter – The Freedom of The Soul)
Step by step Swami Vivekananda explains how to achieve the freedom of the soul. The soul wants to be free, but how does this freedom come to us? According to our perception of bondage, our perception of freedom is formed. We are bound by our own tendencies. Because of this terrible bondage, we start thinking we need to bring about some kind of radical change in our understanding because what assume is going to give us happiness does not bring about the desired end. Gradually we understand that what needs to be done is to purify our understanding. Purification of our understanding for the purpose of transcending bondage is the origin of religion and explains how it evolves. As we think of bondage, we think of God who is beyond the bondage. The older Upanishads give us the course of evolution of the final religious thought. With political democracy, we do not want to be ruled by anyone else and long for equality. In the same way that higher and higher democratic ideas of physical liberty evolved within the West, the Indian metaphysics evolved in which the multiplicity of Gods gave way first to this idea of monotheism, and finally led to the rebellion against this one God and the embrace of an all-pervading God, immanent in every being. “Thou Art That.” We are not the body. We are not the mind. We are not limited by time and space, which are just programs of the brain. We are everywhere. We have no limitations. Here one attains the true freedom, the awareness that God is our true Self.
Sunday Talk – ‘Hurry for HARI’ by Swami Kripamayananda (Toronto Canada) – June 04
Hari is a name of God. Hurry means an urgency, in this case, to reach God. Even if we die before we attain God-realization, we start off in the next lifetime where we left off. If we have a lot of money, and we do not have God in our life, we are poor. One who wants to realize God should be like someone whose hair is on fire, and is trying to get to a lake. If we fail a class, we have to repeat it, and the same goes for our life. The Buddha sat under a tree and resolved not to get up until he realized the Truth. Sri Ramakrishna said that the only way to have God-realization is through longing for God. He felt that without God-realization, life was not worth living. People with many duties say they will do spiritual practice when they retire, but then, caring for children and grandchildren, and having physical ailments, get in the way. It is never too early or too late to make efforts to realize God. In the Ramayana, a woman prepared to meet Lord Rama every day for many years, and she was emancipated when He finally came. Sri Ramakrishna told a story of a teacher who held his student’s head under water, teaching him that if he had the urgency for God that he had for a breath of air, then he would get God-realization. We could die any day, so we must constantly think of God. If we have five or ten minutes of good meditation each day, then we will have peace all day. Swami Vivekananda tried all kinds of spiritual practices, and finally found that it is love that connects us to God. Lord Krishna said: Remembering Me, fight the battle of life.

 

Study Class – The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna – June 06, Tuesday
Sunday, May 8, 1887 Pg 994-5
Shashi’s father blamed Sri Ramakrishna and Narendra because Shashi had decided to renounce the world and become a monk. When someone chooses to not earn money and not to beget children, we call them “going astray”. Our pursuit of sense pleasures makes us think that running after worldly things is the right thing to do. But, from spiritual perspective, it is right to renounce as long as you have the ability to do so. Running after sense pleasures is like trying to catch the horizon, you never succeed in getting it. Once you realize that it is an illusion you cannot run after it. Popular, socially acceptable religion is  praying for health, prosperity, celebration of festivals etc. Even the holy places are qualified on the basis of worldly results that they deliver. A good holy place is the one that can satisfy one’s worldly desires. Shashi’s father had similar ideas despite being a spiritual “saadhaka”. This is due to tremendous attachment that one has for one’s progeny. It is said that even Vyasa ran after Sukadeva as he was running away from worldly attachments as soon as he came out of his mother’s womb.

The word “saadhaka” means a person who wants to achieve something, the “saadhya”. It is goal oriented methodical and disciplined action that connects the ‘sadhaka’ to ‘sadhya’ and is called ‘sadhana’. God realization is the only goal of human life. In order to realize this goal one must detach oneself from the world – just as one must remove the anchor of a boat if one wants to make progress in the journey. Saadhana is a similar journey for God realization. One must give up worldly attachments to make progress. In fact, the only thing we have to do is to give up the attachment. Then the boat automatically starts moving towards God. Because God is that, which attracts. The practice of yoga therefore is in disjointing from the world. We make a significant error in retaining our attachments, inserting a bit of religion into practice and call it pursuit for God realization. This is merely labeling something as saadhana, this does not make it saadhana. One needs true restlessness for God.