Upcoming Events

Day-Long Retreat – Sat. April 28,  9:30AM –6:30PM
Topic: Vedantic Meditation ( 2 discourses)
Speaker: Swami Sarvapriyananda (Vedanta Society New York)
Fee: $30.00 per person; $20.00 if paid BY APRIL 18
Registration available in the Bookstore before/after classes, OR send us check by Mail.
Click here for more information and online registration.

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME! – Sat. March 10
Turn clocks FORWARD 1 Hour late SAT night/ early SUN morn.

Swami visits Indianapolis IN – March 10 -11
Swami Yogatmananda will travel to Indianapolis IN early Sat. March 10 to deliver lectures. He will return late Sun evening.

Hatha Yoga Class – Fri. Mar 09 from 5:30—6:30pm with Roshni

Weekly Schedule (in addition to Daily Schedule given below)

Friday, Mar. 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, Mar. 10 8:30 – 10:30 AM: Karma Yoga/Cleaning
11:00 AM – 12 noon: Guided meditation and singing
7:00 – 8:30 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & Meditation
Sunday, Mar. 11 5:00 – 6:00 PM: A talk – ‘Arise, Awake!’ by Tushar Puranik followed by Vesper Service (Aarati) & soup supper. All are welcome.
7:00 – 8:00 PM: Meditation
Tuesday, Mar. 13 7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation
7:30 – 8:30 PM:  Study Class – Swami Saradananda’s book – ‘SRI RAMAKRISHNA & HIS DIVINE PLAY’ (Tr. Swami Chetanananda) 

Daily Schedule

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
7:00 – 7:25 AM: A short ritual worship/Puja. Open to all.
Evening 7:00 – 7:15 PM: Aarti (devotional music), with a short reading from ‘Towards the Goal Supreme’ by Swami Virajananda 
7:15 – 8:00 PM: Meditation. Open to all.

Past Events

The birth anniversary of Swami Yogananda, direct disciple of Ramakrishna, was observed in the morning with a chant and in the evening with a song and short biography reading.

Day-long Meditation – Sat. March 03, 12:00noon – 8:00PM
Fifteen devotees participated.

Just Kids! Children’s Double-Hour – Sun. March 04, 4 – 6PM
Four children participated. Activities: Yoga (30 minutes), reading (30 minutes) and cooking.
Nine of 27 pages of “The Story of Hari” were read aloud and discussed.
The story follows the life of a lion cub born and raised within with a flock of sheep.
Reading and discussing this story from Sister Gargi’s Vedantic Tales will continue next meeting.

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

Study class – Jnana Yoga (a book by Swami Vivekananda)  – Fri. March 02
Class #86:  Atman – Its Bondage and Freedom (Ch 15)
The goal of Vedanta is to become what we are. According to this philosophy, there is only one real thing in the universe, which is called Brahman. Everything else is unreal, manifested and manufactured out of Brahman by the power of Maya. The term Maya signifies the inherent and unresolvable contradictions in the state of our knowledge and desires. Maya is not an explanation or theory; rather it is a statement of fact. The world is “unreal” because it is impermanent: It comes, goes, and passes away like a magician’s magic. That wherefrom all of creation comes, wherein it stays, and where it returns is the real existence, the source referred to as Brahman. We are, each of us, that Brahman, the reality, plus Maya, that confusion, because of which we are not properly able to perceive the underlying reality of existence. Our happiness consists solely in realizing this true underlying nature of ours. Soon one realizes that Maya is making us move in a circle.  Even though we want peace in life, we get involved with so many things that cause us inner turmoil. We go to get happiness from the various objects of the senses, but these become the cause of misery in life. In order to realize our true nature, we need to dis-identify ourselves from the idea that we are this particular body and mind. The process dis-identification is the method of knowledge described by Jnana Yoga.

Sunday Talk – Spiritual Alchemy – Sun. March 04
The word ‘Chemistry’ originally came from alchemy. Alchemy is considered popularly as attempt to turn baser metals into gold, and to find an elixir of immortality. Al-Ghazali was a Sufi scholar who wrote The Alchemy of Happiness, where he treats as spiritual discipline. He states that happiness comes from discipline, faith, and prayer. Vedanta says that when we discover what does not change, we are immortal. Carl Jung defined alchemy as the science of psychological purification. He sought access to the collective unconscious, which is similar to what Vedanta calls the super-conscious. Happiness is its own goal, while all other goals are for the sake of happiness. Harold Roth translated the Inward Training (Nei-yeh), a foundational Taoist text. Education gives us an intellectual understanding, while training helps us to practically implement it. Harmony is our natural state, which is disturbed by such things as anger and death. There is nothing else to seek but harmony. Kathopanisad gives a meditation: think of the true Self in our heart, the size of a thumb. The true Self is always with us, and is always awake. Then, we take the true Self out of the body carefully, like taking out an inner stem of grass from the outer stem. We need to control the body and mind, and not destroy or torture them. Kundalini, which symbolizes all the power that is potentially in us, goes from dead matter, to eating and procreation, to education and politics, to asking the question Who am I? to knowing that I am the unchanging Essence, to almost arriving at realization, and finally to the ultimate bliss and immortality, which cannot be described.

Study Class – Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play – Tue. March 06
Page # 410 ( Ch 2 begins) :  To understand the life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna one must understand the concepts of Bhava, Samadhi and Darshana. Due to the limitations of the language the Author has preferred to use the original Sanskrit words.
Bhava –The Existence. Our capacity is very limited to understand any existence in its totality. We perceive everything with the limited sense organs and assume that limited perception to be the whole. Sri Ramakrishna had the ability to understand everything inside out about an individual or a thing with a mere look. He could advise people and help them by exactly knowing their mental and spiritual state.
Samadhi – It is the superconscious state where the distinction between the names and the forms starts to disappear due to perception of the One reality beneath. One who has attained Samadhi gets a concrete perception of Oneness despite the apparent distinction of names and forms. He/She perceives the universe in its subtle form, as a manifestation of many ideas.
Darshana – It means seeing with a mental eye or a subtle vision. The subtle vision is developed with regular spiritual practices. With that inner vision, one gets a completely different view of the world. But one must not confuse between the inner vision obtained by the purified understanding and the hallucinations which are the result of a weak mind.
Sri Ramakrishna was a king of these traits and we witness that from time to time while studying his life.