Upcoming Events

Swami Travels to Livingston, NJ, Sat Jun 22. After finishing the guided meditation-prayers, the Swami and some devotees will travel Livingston NJ to a devotees home. Swami will give a talk on Vedanta topics and there will be devotional music too.

Annual General Meeting – Sunday , June 23, after the regular Sun service.

THE SOCIETY REMAINS CLOSED FOR THE REGULAR PROGRAMS TILL SEPT 08. DETAILED SUMMER SCHEDULE WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON. SEE SOME OF THE EVENTS MENTIONED BELOW.

SCHEDULE FOR THE SUMMER PROGRAMS (Jun 28- Sept 02)

• Fri-Sun -June 28-30 – Retreat at Vedanta Pittsburg
• Thu, Jul 4, 11a to 1p – Independence Day Celebration
• Fri-Sun Jul 5-7 Silent Meditation Retreat (ATTENDANCE ONLY BY PERMISSION FROM THE MINISTER)
• Sat Jul 13, 10:30a-noon- ‘M’s Birthday Celebration at Tridib Roy’s Home. 216, Blackmore Pond Rd, W. Wareham, MA 02576, RSVP 508-748-9797
• Sun Jul 14, 11 am to 4pm Guru Poornima
• Fri-Sun Jul 19-21 Swami goes to Ottawa & Toronto Canada
• Fri-Sun Jul 26-28 Young Adult Retreat
• Thu-Sun Aug 1-4 Rochester Retreat
• Tue-Sat Aug 6-10 Children Summer Camp (Details TBA soon)
• Sun Aug 11 10:00 am to 5:00 pm– Retreat at Tushar-Mukta’s Place NJ
• Sat Aug 17, 10:00 am to 4:30 pm – Vedanta Connecticut Retreat. Topic: ‘Surrender according to Vedanta’
• Sat Aug 24, 11 am to 4pm – Krishna Festival
• Sun Aug 25 – Special Service commemorating Vivekanananda’s Lecture at Annisquam Village Church. Annisquam, MA 10 :00 am to Noon More details will be announced later
• SPECIAL TUESDAY CLASSES: TUE JUL 09 TO AUG 20. TOPIC: Meister Eckhart – The Christian Vedantin
• Sat-Sun Aug 31-Sept 1 Labor Day Retreat at Ridgely on ‘Hafiz’s Poems of Divine Love’.

Weekly Schedule (in addition to Daily Schedule given below)

Past Events

Spiritual Retreat by SWAMI KRIPAMAYANANDA, Vedanta Society, Toronto, Canada: Sat, June 15, 9:30 am to 7:00 pm on Harmonizing our Faculties.  Went off well with 47 devotees attending. There were two lectures by the visiting Swami on harmonizing our intellectual, emotional and physical aspects for bringing purpose and peace to our life as a whole.
There were question-answers, guided meditation, Hatha Yoga, devotional music sessions too.

Sarod-Tabla Concert: Sun, June 16, 6:15 to 7:45pm by Indrayuddh Majumder and Nitin Mitta – the performance was attended by over 40 music lovers who liked it a lot.

Click here to view photos.

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

Friday, June 14  – Study Class on Svetasvatara Upanisad
Class 35 Verses  Ch 4, # 13-17:
Everything in the universe is governed by the Divine. The Divine is “subtler than the subtlest” and brings order in the midst of chaos. This is the One who is to be prayed for. Becoming prayerful will quickly make us calmer. It is the ego which makes us agitated; prayer subdues the ego.  Our oneness with and in God is the truth, there is not the least doubt about it. We must hold on to God, who is our very self.  If we say, “I am so-and-so,” who is this “I,” really? The “I” is so fine, it’s impossible to figure out where it is, yet the “I” is undeniably a part of each of us. We must go to the source and find that God is in everything, controls everything.  We should propitiate that divine being through our prayers. We ARE divine, we are infinite. We feel finitized by the mind because the mind, intellect, and body are actually finite. If we remove our identification with these, we will realize we are everywhere, one with everything.

Sunday. Jun 09 – Purification through Work – a talk by Swami Kripamayananda
Desires pull the mind in different directions. We focus on the Divine through prayer and meditation. Actions leave impressions in the mind. We are responsible for our karma, so we cannot blame anyone else. It is in our own hands to become better. The sage Narada helped a robber to become a saint, through meditation. When we purify the heart, we become wise. Karma binds us to samsara. We need to be able to control our desires if we want liberation. If work is done for selfish reasons it is binding, but if it is done for the benefit of others, it leads to liberation. We should have no thought of praise or blame, and no attachment to the fruits of action. Impurities of the mind include everything that leads to more desires. Making the mind pure is difficult. In the Gita, Arjuna wanted to live on alms and not fight the battle. Lord Krishna told him that his inner disposition wouldn’t allow him to do that, and he needed to perform karma yoga. Swami Vivekananda told Rockefeller that he was a trustee of his money, so he should use it for the good of others. It is not what we do that matters, but why and how we do it. When we serve God through our work, work becomes sweet, and we find God in the person facing us.

Tuesday, June 11 – Study Class on Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play
Sri Ramkrishna as a Guru Page 457-458
The teacher-ship changes the life of an aspirant. Ordinarily, we seek the pleasures of the world. But, we eventually realize that these sense pleasures are not conducive to our well-being. Yet, we continue to seek these pleasures. This is because of the force of habit – due to our past impressions. These impressions lead to seeking more worldly pleasures which in turn create more impressions. These impressions grow exponentially and soon we lose all our freedom and are bound by the actions from these past impressions. At this point we wonder how to get out of this situation. At this point, we approach an expert who can help – a Guru. We should identify Gurus by the peacefulness and happiness in their lives. We want similar happiness and seek its source. A real Guru does not charge fees but offers wisdom out of compassion for the disciples. The Guru understands their suffering and wants to help them come out of it. Guru provides instructions specific to the disciple. A disciple needs to have faith and devotion in Guru’s words and the divine source of the Guru. In spiritual life, this reverence is very important as it becomes a channel through which we receive wisdom from the Guru. Our ego is an obstacle that blocks the flow of this wisdom. A chosen ideal is a symbol that becomes a source of this wisdom for us. Just like in algebra we assume certain variables for unknown quantities, chosen ideal is our way to realize God. The word “chosen” is misleading. The ideal is not chosen but is an outcome of our natural disposition to a certain deity. A spiritual Guru understands this disposition and selects the ideal, the corresponding mantra and instructions for spiritual practice for the disciple. This defines the path for the disciple.
In all paths we need to turn our minds to God. As the mind becomes pure, it becomes a Guru and guides a disciple from within. We first need to clear our minds of worldly clutter, then our minds will become pure and it automatically speeds towards God. A spiritual Guru does not rest till the aspirant is united with God. The Guru accompanies the disciple in the higher and higher realms. When the aspirant gets to the chosen ideal the Guru points the aspirant to the ideal. A disciple emotionally attached to the Guru asks at this stage, “where will my Guru go then?”. The Guru merges in the chosen ideal. The chosen ideal, Guru and the disciple become one.