Chinmaya-Tej www.chinmaya.org Chinmaya Mission San Jose Publication Vol.22, No.5 September/October 2011 Happy Diwaili MISSION STATEMENT To provide to individuals, from any background, the wisdom of Vedanta and practical means for spiritual growth and happiness, enabling them to become a positive contributor to the society. Religion is not for the unworthy, the unintelligent, and the abnormal. Religion is only for the most level- headed and balanced people — people who are sound spiritually, psychologically, and physically. Cowards cannot progress in spiritual life. Spiritual life is meant for the person who enjoys good health, who is alert in mind and intellect, and who has a deep “craving of the soul.” Only such a thirsty, full- blossomed human being, who has fully lived life, can come to vairgya, or dispassion. s Table of Contents s Volume 22, No.5 September/October 2011 From The Editors Desk ..................................... 2 Chinmaya Tej Editorial Staff ................................. 2 Groundbreaking Ceremony Invitation.......................... 3 Chinmaya-Tej ............................................ 4 Deepavali Jyoti ............................................ 5 The Great Reveling —The Mahabharata ....................... 8 The True Meaning of Deepavalli............................. 14 Ganesh Chaturthi Celebrations: 2011 ......................... 19 Balavihar Stories: Sahasranama — of 999 Names ................ 20 Bala Vihar Locations & Choir............................... 23 The Second Pearl ......................................... 24 BalViHar Magazine - Gita Chanting Classes for Children ........ 25 Bhakti Rasamrutam ....................................... 26 Scheme of Study for Chinmaya Study Groups .................. 27 Tapovan Prasad .......................................... 28 Community Outreach program .............................. 29 Vedanta Study Groups Adult Sessions......................... 30 Satsangs with Br. Prabodh Chaitanya ......................... 30 Prabodhji's Classes at Bala Vihar Locations .................... 31 Prabodhji's Classes at Sandeepany ............................ 31 Swami Tejomayananada’s Itinerary............................ 32 1 FROM THE EDITORS DESK Tej, is a bi-monthly publication of Chinmaya Mission San Jose. CMSJ is in the process of getting the necessary permits to build the New Facility. The City of San Jose is studying the building drawings and when they are approved we shall begin the construction of our New Building. We are happy to show you some elevation drawings of the projects. We invite you to visit the site when you can. News and events update via e-newsletter on CMSJ web-site is serving our timely announcements. Please keep us updated with your e-mail addresses and send them to “[email protected]” If you do not hear from us e-mail or Chinmaya Tej, please forward your address and e-mail to me indicated on this page. Chinmaya Tej is also available for viewing on our website. Chinmaya-Tej will be mailed to all Sponsors and Members of Chinmaya Mission San Jose. Send your subscription marked, Chinmaya-Tej, CMSJ, 1050 Park Ave., San Jose, CA 95126. CHINMAYA TEJ EDITORIAL STAFF Editor: Uma Jeyarasasingam ([email protected]) Co-editor: Rohini Joshi Electronic Editorial Advisor: Satish Joshi Contributors: Subbu Venkatkrishnan, Swami Chinmayananda, Swamini Saradhapriyananda, Swami Chidananda Saraswati Design & Layout: four waters / four waters media Printing: Bill Browning / PigMint Press, Redway, California Data Base: Kapil Vaish Mailing: Autozip, Ukiah, California Contact us: http://www.chinmaya.org • Phone: (650) 969-4389 Fax: (650)428-1795 2 Ground Breaking Ceremony Invitation from the CMSJ Board Hari Om! THE CMSJ BOARD OF DIRECTORS CORDIALLY REQUESTS THE HONOR OF YOUR PRESENCE along with family at the Ground-Breaking Ceremonies of the CMSJ New Building Facility. We are indeed blessed since these ceremonies will take place in the auspicious presence of the Head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide, our Beloved and Revered Param Pujya Guruji, Swami Tejomayanandaji, CMSJ Board of Directors President Swami Shantanandaji and our own Beloved Acharyas, Br. Prabodh Chaitanya and Smt. Uma Jeyarasasingam. This event is the culmination of efforts that began in 2006 to secure a new property for the future CMSJ Building. Though the ground breaking ceremonies are the culmination of one phase of the project, this in many regards is the beginning of much more work to be done. To ensure that the future work is completed with out too many obstacles, we invoke the Grace and Blessings of God and our entire Guru Parampara with Poojas and ceremonies. Ceremonies will be conducted by Panditji Ravichandran. As part of the ground breaking ceremonies, there will be a three day discourse series on the Shiva Mahimna Stotram given by Swami Shantanandaji. Discourses begin on July 22nd from 7:30pm-9:00pm, July 23rd and July 24th from 8:30am to Noon. Further details available at www.chinmaya-sanjose.org. It goes without saying that we would not have reached this stage of the CMSJ New Building Project without the tireless and unwavering support of the entire CMSJ community. For this, we are ever grateful. We humbly seek your presence at these ceremonies. Please join us. Thank You and Warm Regards, CMSJ Board of Directors 3 Chinmaya ~ Tej Thank you for asking about Chinmaya Tej. Pujya Gurudev initiated and launched the CMSJ Newsletter in 1988. Later, finding the CMSJ Newsletter to be, in his words, “like a catalog”, i.e., woefully inadequate for the purposes he had in mind, he gave detailed guidelines to transform it into a formal, informative, useful, and high-quality publication. Thus Chinmaya-Tej was born. The manifold purposes of Tej, as laid out by Gurudev, are as follows: 1. It is the voice of CMSJ. 2. Gurudev wanted CMSJ’s publication to be of high quality and comparable to CMW’s Mananam and other Chinmaya Mission Publications. 3. It is the official publication of CMSJ. When CMSJ was first registered as Non-Profit Organization, there were queries from various government agencies as to whether CMSJ had an official publication, from which they could learn about CMSJ, our history, mission, and values. Tej served that purpose. 4. Tej is CMSJ’s mode of outreach and communication to spiritual seekers beyond those who are able to attend CMSJ’s discourses in person. Extra copies of each issue of Tej are printed so as to be available for new seekers. 5. Gurudev also instructed us to cover Vedanta topics in the Tej. Accordingly, Tej has articles on Vedanta topics for beginners as well as advanced readers. Other Details about Tej: 1. The annual cost to produce 6 issues of Chinmaya Tej is $21,000. It is paid for by CMSJ’s Annual Membership contributions, Bala Vihar revenues, and general donations. 2. Chinmaya Tej is also available online. Hard copies of Chinmaya Tej are distributed only to members of CMSJ who reside in California. 4 Deepavali Jyoti Swami Chinmayananda In honour of the victorious return of Lord Krishna, after destroying the enemies, the joyous populace illumined the entire city once upon a time, on the banks of the Jamuna. The glorious day of victory over the enemies was called Diwali, which is the colloquial form of Deepavali, meaning ‘the array of lights.’ In Hinduism, the great saints and sages taught the subjective philosophy of true living in the form of stories in order to entertain the average man who, otherwise, would not be able to follow the exhaustive and deeply learned arguments of the Master. Philosophy expounds the ultimate Reality and the Higher Consciousness. Such significant stories, which are in themselves complete and attractive, when they also signify something nobler and diviner, are called mystic stories. 5 Destroying the political enemies of a nation is not in itself an assurance of prosperity, peace and joy. No doubt, a nation must destroy its enemies and keep constant, alert vigilance to defend its freedom, and economic well-being and they must be trained and educated to live harmoniously, striving enthusiastically in all fields of productivity. This programme of prosperity in the political field is very well understood by the average man, and thus becomes a striking metaphor to indicate the spiritual unfoldment that must be subjectively gained by every seeker in his or her own inner personality. The mighty divine individual in each one of us must, by constant effort and watchfulness, endeavour to destroy all the negative tendencies of lust, greed, selfishness, egoism, vanity etc., by the cultivation of the positive qualities of love, kindness, cheerfulness, understanding, mercy, compassion and other spiritual virtues. When the individual destroys in himself or herself all subjective enemies and cultivates the inner riches, then that personality becomes enriched and turns into a noble example that lights the path for others to travel through this world. On this sacred day of Deepavali, all over India, at dusk, when darkness intensifies, homes are illuminated by lights in tiny mud-lamps with oil and wick. Although government houses and public buildings would be illuminated by flood lights and electric bulbs, private houses of even the wealthy would by decorated, from the gateway onwards, along the porches and even upon the roof, with these littles flames of hope and joy. This indicates a society wherein each member is a little lamp of piety, goodness, love and mutual understanding; in such a society alone does true goodwill and enduring prosperity come