Taking Our Temperature
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January-December - 2012
JANUARY-DECEMBER - 2012 January 2012 AVOID CONFUSION This world appearance is a confusion as the blue sky is an optical illusion. It is better not to let the mind dwell on it. Neither freedom from sorrow nor realization of one’s real nature is possible as long as the conviction does not arise in us that the world-appearance is unreal. The objective world is a confusion of the real with the unreal. – Yoga Vasishta THE MIND: It is complex. It is logical and illogical, rational and irrational, good and bad, loving and hating, giving and grabbing, full of hope and help, while also filled with hopelessness and helplessness. Mind is a paradox, unpredictable with its own ways of functioning. It is volatile and restless; yet, it constantly seeks peace, stillness and stability. To be with the mind means to live our lives like a roller- coaster ride. The stability and stillness that we seek, the rest and relaxation that we crave for, the peace and calmness that we desperately need, are not to be found in the arena of mind. That is available only when we link to our Higher Self, which is very much with us. But we have to work for it. – P.V. Vaidyanathan LOOK AT THE BRIGHT SIDE: Not everyone will see the greatness we see in ourselves. Our reactions to situations that don’t fit our illusions cause us to suffer. Much of the negative self-talk is based upon reactions to a reality that does not conform to our illusory expectations. We have much to celebrate about, which we forget. -
Conversations with Swami Turiyananda
CONVERSATIONS WITH SWAMI TURIYANANDA Recorded by Swami Raghavananda and translated by Swami Prabhavananda (This month's reading is from the Jan.-Feb., 1957 issue of Vedanta and the West.) The spiritual talks published below took place at Almora in the Himalayas during the summer of 1915 in the ashrama which Swami Turiyananda had established in cooperation with his brother-disciple, Swami Shivananda. During the course of these conversations, Swami Turiyananda describes the early days at Dakshineswar with his master, Sri Ramakrishna, leaving a fascinating record of the training of an illumined soul by this God-man of India. His memories of life with his brother-disciples at Baranagore, under Swami Vivekananda’s leadership, give a glimpse of the disciplines and struggles that formed the basis of the young Ramakrishna Order. Above all, Swami Turiyananada’s teachings in the pages that follow contain practical counsel on many aspects of religious life of interest to every spiritual seeker. Swami Turiyananda spent most of his life in austere spiritual practices. In 1899, he came to the United States where he taught Vedanta for three years, first in New York, later on the West Coast. By the example of his spirituality he greatly influenced the lives of many spiritual aspirants both in America and India. He was regarded by Sri Ramakrishna as the perfect embodiment of that renunciation which is taught in the Bhagavad Gita Swami Shivananda, some of whose talks are included below, was also a man of the highest spiritual realizations. He later became the second President of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. -
Sri Ramakrishna, Modern Spirit, and Religion
SWAMI PRABHAVANANDA RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY Sri Ramakrishna, Modern Spirit, and Religion SWAMI PRABHAVANANDA mongst the students of religion who men alive. Yet the state of samàdhi still are acquainted with the life of Sri remained to him an abnormality. ARamakrishna, perhaps only a few In this connection one may also mention regard his life in all its phases as historically Professor Max Muller, and Romain Rolland, true. To these few, what appears to the rest biographers of Ramakrishna, and two of the as belonging to the class of legend and greatest thinkers of our age. They were mythology becomes living spiritual truth. To attracted to and admired the superior spiritual them even the lives of Krishna, Buddha, or genius of the man Ramakrishna, yet viewed Christ which seem lost in the mist of myth many of the incidents of his life as legendary, and legend become true and living in the and some of his spiritual experiences as light of the life of Ramakrishna. But apart delusions, or mental aberrations. from these few, however, to most people Let us, therefore, analyse why there is who have drunk deep of the modern spirit, this contradiction in the estimation of who refuse to accept anything as true which Ramakrishna; why he is accepted as a is beyond the realm of their personal spiritual genius by those very people who at discoveries and thus are circumscribed by the same time reject some of the most their own limitations, much that is told of Sri important experiences of his life— Ramakrishna’s life appears as legendary, experiences which made him what he was. -
THE SERMON on the MOUNT According to VEDANTA Other MENTOR Titles of Related Interest
\" < 'y \ A MENTOR BOOK 1 ,wami \ « r a m A |a fascinating Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Public.Resource.Org https://archive.org/details/sermononmountaccOOprab 66Like Krishna and Buddha, Christ did not preach a mere ethical or social gos¬ pel hut an uncompromisingly spiritual one. He declared that God can be seen, that divine perfection can be achieved. In order that men might attain this su¬ preme goal of existence, he taught the renunciation of worldliness, the con¬ templation of God, and the purification of the heart through the love of God. These simple and profound truths, stated repeatedly in the Sermon on the Mount, constitute its underlying theme9 as I shall try to show in the pages to followr —from the Introduction by Swami Prabhavananda THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT according to VEDANTA Other MENTOR Titles of Related Interest □ SHAN KARA'S CREST-JEWEL OF DISCRIMINA¬ TION translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Ssherwood. The philosophy of the great Indian philosopher and saint, Shankara. Its implications for the man of today are sought out in the Introduction, (#MY1054—$1.25) □ THE SONG OF GOD: RHAGAVAD-GITA translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isher- wood. A distinguished translation of the Gospel of Hinduism, one of the great religious classics of the world. Introduction by Aldous Huxley. Appen¬ dices. (#MY1425—$1.25) □ THE UPAN5SHAD8: BREATH OF THE ETERNAL translated by Swam! Prabhavananda and Freder¬ ick Manchester. Here is the wisdom of the Hindu mystics in principal texts selected and translated from the original Sanskrit. (#MY1424—$1.25) □ HOW TO KNOW GOD: THE YOGA APHORISMS OF PATANJALI translated with Commentary by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isher- wood. -
Recent Biographies of Ramakrishna – a Study
RECENT BIOGRAPHIES OF RAMAKRISHNA – A STUDY RUCHIRA MITRA Research Scholar, PP ENG 0054 Rayalaseema University, Andhra Pradesh (INDIA) [Ex HOD, English, Shadan Degree College for Boys, Hyderabad Ex Lecturer, Post Graduate College, OU, Secunderabad] (AP), INDIA. The spiritual giants are the most tangible form of divinity through which people find solace in difficult times. Their biographies perpetuate their memory as well as promote devoutness and spirituality. Biography of saints is again becoming popular nowadays. It also throws light on the problems in writing a biography of a saint because most of the drama of a saint’s life is lived within; and charting the inner dimensions of a saint has always been a challenging task. Such studies are often inspired by veneration instead of deep understanding. On the other hand, there may be a biography written by a detractor in which sublime ideals and transcendental thoughts are trivialized. This becomes evident if we do critical appreciation of some famous biographies. Ramakrishna, who, more than a century after his death continues to dominate secular Hindu consciousness, was a key figure in what is considered to be the Hindu Renaissance of the 19th century. His biographies will be used to show the wide range of perspectives - from abjectly critical to totally objective to rank idolatry - – taken up by the authors. A big problem in interpreting a person’s character arises when the biographer belongs to a different culture. Two foreign interpreters of Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita Malcolm McLean and Jeffrey Kripal fall under this category. In Kali’s Child Kripal takes to the hermeneutic of suspicion as he claims to reveal the secret that has been hidden for over a century: that Ramakrishna was a conflicted, unwilling homoerotic Tantric. -
Introduction to the 'Message of the Upanishads'
Swami Ranganathananda Introduction to The Message of the Upanishads THE CHARM AND POWER OF THE UPANI$ADS Table of Contents The Principal Upanisads...................................2 From Obscurity to Prominence...........................5 What the Upaniads Contain..............................7 Satyasya Satyam............................................8 Inquiry into the 'Within' of Nature.....................10 Science and Religion.....................................11 Sruti versus Smrti.........................................14 The Message of the Upanisads [Published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai] is a study, verse by verse, of three of the principal Upanisads, namely, Isha, Kena, and Katha. The first contains eighteen, the second thirty-five, and the third one hundred and nineteen verses. Though constituting a small portion of the total Upanisadic literature, they yet con- tain a lucid exposition of all the essential ideas of this im- mortal literature. Scholars are divided as to the date of the composition of the Upanisads. Many of them are agreed, however, that most of the principal Upanisads belong to the period prior to the advent of Buddha in the seventh century before Christ. There are over two hundred Upanisads, many of them sectarian in character and palpably post-Buddhistic and even post-Sank- aracarya. The Message of the Upanishads – Swami Ranganathananda The Principal Upanisads The principal Upanisads are accepted to be those which Shankaracarya (A.D. 788-820) chose to comment upon; they are ten in number and are enumerated in the Indian tradition as follows: Isha, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, MandUkya, Taittirlya, Aitareya, Chandogya, and Brhaddranyaka. According to some scholars, Sankara also commented on an eleventh Upanisad, the Svetashvatara. In his commentary on the Brahma-Sutra, he refers to four more, namely, Kausi- taki, Jabala, Mahanarayana, and Paingala. -
Reflections at the Intersection of Science, Religion, and Development
The Lab, the Temple, and the Market This page intentionally left blank THE LAB, THE TEMPLE, AND THE MARKET Reflections at the Intersection of Science, Religion, and Development Edited by Sharon Harper KUMARIAN PRESS © International Development Research Centre 2000 Published in Canada by the International Development Research Centre po Box 8500, Ottawa, on, Canada K1G 3H9 http://www.idrc.ca/books/ Published in Europe and the United States of America by Kumarian Press Inc. 1294 Blue Hills Avenue, Bloomfield, ct 06002, usa http://www.kpbooks.com/ All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. All paper used in this book is recycled as well as recyclable. All inks and coatings are vegetable-based products. Canadian Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: The lab, the temple and the market : reflections at the intersection of science, religion and development / edited by Sharon Harper isbn 0-88936-920-8 ccg cat. no. E97-7/2000E 1. Economic development — Religious aspects. 2. Technology — Religious aspects. 3. Religion and science. I. Harper, Sharon, 1965- . II. International Development Research Centre (Canada) HD75.L33 2000 338.9 C00-901336-9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The lab, the temple, and the market : reflections at the intersection of science, religion, and development / edited by Sharon Harper. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. isbn 1-56549-116-5 (alk. paper) 1. Economic development—Religious aspects. 2. Technology—Religious aspects. -
Christian and Hindu Swami Ranganathananda Moulding Our
358 MARCH - APRIL 2011 Monastic Spirituality: Christian and Hindu Swami Ranganathananda Moulding Our Lives with Sri Ramakrishna’s Teachings Swami Bhuteshananda Divine Wisdom MASTER: "Once a teacher was explaining to a disciple: God alone, and no one else, is your own.' The disciple said: 'But, revered sir, my mother, my wife, and my other relatives take very good care of me. They see nothing but darkness when I am not present. How much they love me!' The teacher said: 'There you are mistaken. I shall show you presently that nobody is your own. Take these few pills with you. When you go home, swallow them and lie down in bed. People will think you are dead, but you will remain conscious of the outside world and will see and hear everything. Then I shall visit your home. "The disciple followed the instructions. He swallowed the pills and lay as if unconscious in his bed. His mother, wife, and other relatives began to cry. Just then the teacher came in, in the guise of a physician, and asked the cause of their grief. When they had told him everything, he said to them: 'Here is a medicine for him. It will bring him back to life. But I must tell you one thing. This medicine must first be taken by one of his relatives and then given to him. But the relative who takes it first will die. I see his mother, his wife, and others here. Certainly one of you will volunteer to take the medicine. Then the young man will come back to life.' "The disciple heard all this. -
Phenomenological Materiality in Introspection, with a Reference to Advaita Vedanta
Open Theology 2017; 3: 257–273 Phenomenology of Religious Experience Open Access Olga Louchakova-Schwartz* Qualia of God: Phenomenological Materiality in Introspection, with a Reference to Advaita Vedanta DOI 10.1515/opth-2017-0021 Received March 14, 2017; accepted April 26, 2017 Abstract: Applying Michel Henry’s philosophical framework to the phenomenological analysis of religious experience, the author introduces a concept of material introspection and a new theory of the constitution of religious experience in phenomenologically material interiority. As opposed to ordinary mental self-scrutiny, material introspection happens when the usual outgoing attention is reverted onto embodied self-awareness in search of mystical self-knowledge or union with God. Such reversal posits the internal field of consciousness with the self-disclosure of phenomenological materiality. As shown by the example of Vedantic self-inquiry, material introspection is conditioned on the attitude ‘I “see” myself’ and employs reductions which relieve phenomenological materiality from the structuring influence of intentionality; the telos of material introspection is expressed by the inward self-transcendence of intentional consciousness into purified phenomenological materiality. Experience in material introspection is constituted by the self-affection and self-luminosity of phenomenological materiality; experience is recognized as religious due to such essential properties as the capacity of being self- fulfilled, and specific qualitative “what it’s like”(s). -
Sri Ramakrishna & His Disciples in Orissa
Preface Pilgrimage places like Varanasi, Prayag, Haridwar and Vrindavan have always got prominent place in any pilgrimage of the devotees and its importance is well known. Many mythological stories are associated to these places. Though Orissa had many temples, historical places and natural scenic beauty spot, but it did not get so much prominence. This may be due to the lack of connectivity. Buddhism and Jainism flourished there followed by Shaivaism and Vainavism. After reading the lives of Sri Chaitanya, Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and direct disciples we come to know the importance and spiritual significance of these places. Holy Mother and many disciples of Sri Ramakrishna had great time in Orissa. Many are blessed here by the vision of Lord Jagannath or the Master. The lives of these great souls had shown us a way to visit these places with spiritual consciousness and devotion. Unless we read the life of Sri Chaitanya we will not understand the life of Sri Ramakrishna properly. Similarly unless we study the chapter in the lives of these great souls in Orissa we will not be able to understand and appreciate the significance of these places. If we go on pilgrimage to Orissa with same spirit and devotion as shown by these great souls, we are sure to be benefited spiritually. This collection will put the light on the Orissa chapter in the lives of these great souls and will inspire the devotees to read more about their lives in details. This will also help the devotees to go to pilgrimage in Orissa and strengthen their devotion. -
Arsha Vidya Pitham Programs 3 & Special Events 2020
2 Message from Pujya Sri Swamiji 2020 2 Message from Pujya Sri Swamiji 2020 Swami Dayananda Saraswati 1930-2015 “Accommodation is a beautiful and saintly quality. Among all the qualities, ahiṁsā and kṣamā constitute the qualities of a saint. The minimum qualifications for a saint are these two qualities. One need not have wisdom, one need not have scriptural learning to be a saint, but one must have these two values. A saint is a person who never consciously hurts another person by action, word, or thought, and who accepts people – good or bad – just as they are. A saint is he who has an endless capacity to be accommodative, forgiving, and merciful.” -Pujya Sri Swami Dayananda Arsha Vidya Pitham Programs 3 & Special Events 2020 AVG Events Calendar ......................................................................................................... 0 Spring Vedānta Programs ................................................................................................... 0 Summer Vedānta Programs ................................................................................................ 0 Children’s Programs ............................................................................................................ 0 Fall Vedānta Programs ........................................................................................................ 0 Special Vedānta Programs .................................................................................................. 0 Vedānta Teaching Centers ................................................................................................. -
March - April 2019
406 MARCH - APRIL 2019 Search for Truth Swami Siddheshwarananda Levels of Consciousness Swami Shraddhananda Divine Wisdom Illustrated Tales and Parables of Sri Ramakrishna - 4 THE PLUNDERERS WHO GO ABOUT AS RELIGIOUS THERE was a goldsmith who kept a jewellery shop. He looked like a great devotee, a true Vaishnava, with beads round his neck, rosary in his hand, and the holy marks on his forehead. Naturally people trusted him and came to his shop on business. They thought that, being such a pious man, he would never cheat them. Whenever a party of customers entered the shop, they would hear one of his craftsmen say, 'Kesava! Kesava!' Another would say after a while, 'Gopal! Gopal!' Then a third would mutter, 'Hari! Continued on the inside back cover 406 MARCH - APRIL 2019 Contents 49 Editorial Swami Vivekananda’s Moral Ideas and Ideals - 2 55 Search for Truth Swami Siddheshwarananda 64 Levels of Consciousness Swami Shraddhananda 71 Meditation on the New Year - 2 Swami Chetanananda 76 The Dynamic Power of Vedanta Swami Gnaneswarananda 87 Exploring Swami Vivekananda’s Perspectives on Knowledge V. Srinivas 94 Programme ISSN 1355 - 6436 Swami Vivekananda’s Moral Ideas and Ideals – 2 Ethical and moral theology in major non-Hindu religious traditions Though ethics developed as branch of philosophy independent of religious tradition in the west, yet it cannot be denied that religious traditions have considerably influenced and are still continuing to influence human moral behaviour, consciously or unconsciously, down the ages. Judeo-Christian ethics The basis of Judeo-Christian morality is the Jewish idea of morality as the contract between God and man.