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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. -
Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda Mrs Alice M Hansbrough (Continued from the Previous Issue)
Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda Mrs Alice M Hansbrough (Continued from the previous issue) o you remember any incidents in con- ‘No.’ nection with any of these meetings?’ ‘Well, it was clear aft erward that the group who the swami asked. had asked for this subject had done so in an attempt ‘D‘I remember that on one occasion when Swamiji to trap Swamiji into saying something that would was going to speak at the Green Hotel, Professor discredit him. We learned later that they belonged Baumgardt was talking with some other gentlemen to some group who had missionaries in India. Th e on the platform before the lecture began. One of questions they asked were along the line always them asked him, regarding Swamiji, “He is a Chris- taken by those trying to discredit India: the claim tianized Hindu, I suppose?” And Professor Baum- of abuse of Indian women, child marriages, early gardt replied, “No, he is an unconverted Hindu. motherhood, and so on. You will hear about Hinduism from a real Hindu.” ‘Swamiji answered several of the questions direct- ‘On another occasion, Swamiji was speaking in ly; then when he saw the direction the questioner some church. I do not remember now why, but he was taking, he said that the relationship between did not have a previously announced subject on the husband and wife in India, where the basis of that occasion. So when he came on the platform marriage was not physical enjoyment, was so entirely he asked the audience what they would like to have diff erent from that of a married couple in the West him speak on. -
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. -
Why I Became a Hindu
Why I became a Hindu Parama Karuna Devi published by Jagannatha Vallabha Vedic Research Center Copyright © 2018 Parama Karuna Devi All rights reserved Title ID: 8916295 ISBN-13: 978-1724611147 ISBN-10: 1724611143 published by: Jagannatha Vallabha Vedic Research Center Website: www.jagannathavallabha.com Anyone wishing to submit questions, observations, objections or further information, useful in improving the contents of this book, is welcome to contact the author: E-mail: [email protected] phone: +91 (India) 94373 00906 Please note: direct contact data such as email and phone numbers may change due to events of force majeure, so please keep an eye on the updated information on the website. Table of contents Preface 7 My work 9 My experience 12 Why Hinduism is better 18 Fundamental teachings of Hinduism 21 A definition of Hinduism 29 The problem of castes 31 The importance of Bhakti 34 The need for a Guru 39 Can someone become a Hindu? 43 Historical examples 45 Hinduism in the world 52 Conversions in modern times 56 Individuals who embraced Hindu beliefs 61 Hindu revival 68 Dayananda Saraswati and Arya Samaj 73 Shraddhananda Swami 75 Sarla Bedi 75 Pandurang Shastri Athavale 75 Chattampi Swamikal 76 Narayana Guru 77 Navajyothi Sree Karunakara Guru 78 Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha 79 Ramakrishna Paramahamsa 79 Sarada Devi 80 Golap Ma 81 Rama Tirtha Swami 81 Niranjanananda Swami 81 Vireshwarananda Swami 82 Rudrananda Swami 82 Swahananda Swami 82 Narayanananda Swami 83 Vivekananda Swami and Ramakrishna Math 83 Sister Nivedita -
Adelaide Colour, Like a White Cloth Fresh from the Wash
Reach Issue 52 January 2020 T h e G r e a t Reach Barrier Reef https:// cairnslanguagecentre.com.au/ Newsletter of the Vedanta Centres of Australia Sayings and Teachings IN THIS ISSUE Sri Ramakrishna on Mind 1. News from Australian The mind is everything. If the mind losses its liberty, you lose yours. If Centres the mind is free, you are free too. The mind may be dipped in any Adelaide colour, like a white cloth fresh from the wash. Brisbane Source: The Message of Sri Ramak rishna, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, p. 23 Canberra Melbourne Perth Sri Sarada Devi on Meditation Sydney Can one get everything merely by meditating for a few days? Nothing 2. Feature Articles will be of any avail unless Mahamaya clears the way. A. Daoism Source: The Message of Holy Mother, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, p. 21 B. Practical Religion: Breathing and Meditation Swami Vivekananda on Harmony of Religions The various religions that exist in the world, although they differ in the 3. Spiritual Bookstore form of worship they take, are really one. Source: Thoughts of Power by Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, p. 32. Lao Tzu: On Daoism Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. Source: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2622245.Lao_Tzu e welcome you all to the Vedanta Movement in Australia, as epitomized in the lives of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda, and invite you to involve yourselves and actively participate in the propagation of W the Universal Message of Vedanta. -
K.P. Aleaz, "The Gospel in the Advaitic Culture of India: the Case of Neo
The Gospel in the Advaitic Culture of India : The Case ofNeo-Vedantic Christologies K.P.ALEAZ * Advaita Vedanta is a religiqus experience which has taken birth in the soil of our motherland. One important feature of this culmination of Vedic thought (Vedanta) is that it cannot be tied down to the narrow boundaries of any one particular religion. Advaita Vedanta stands for unity and universality in the midst of diversities.1 As a result it can very well function as a symbol of Indian composite culture. Advaita has "an enduring influence on the clutural life of India enabling people to hold together diversities in languages, races, ethnic groups, religions, and more recently different political ideologies as well. " 2 It was its cultural unity based on religion that held India together historically as one. The survival of the political unity of India is based on its cultural · unity within which there persists a 'core' of religion to which the senseofAdvaitaor'not-twoism'makesanenduringcontribution.3 Advaita represents a grand vision of unity that encompasses nature, humanity and God.4 Sociological and social anthropological studies have shown that in Indian religious tradition the sacred is not external to the secular; it is the inherent potency ofthe secualr. There is a secular-sacred continuum. There is a continuum between the gods and the humans, a continuum of advaita, and this is to be found even among the primitive substratum of Indian population. 5 So the point is, such a unitive vision of Advaita is very relevant for an Indian understanding of the gospel manifested in Jesus. -
Spiritual Practice
SPIRITUAL PRACTICE ITS CONDITIONS AND PRELIMINARIES by SWAMI ASHOKANANDA Table of Contents INTRODUCTION..............................................................3 IN THE OUTER COURT.......................................................4 SANDHYÂ-VANDANÂ AND KIRTANÂ........................................11 PRÂNÂYÂMA.................................................................16 INTELLECTUALISM VERSUS SPIRITUALITY...............................21 ON THE THRESHOLD.......................................................27 WHEN SHALL WE RENOUNCE?.............................................32 IS RENUNCIATION NECESSARY?............................................39 EXTERNAL RENUNCIATION.................................................44 IS HUMAN LOVE A HELP?...................................................50 THE CASE OF THE UNMARRIED...........................................55 THE CASE OF THE MARRIED...............................................61 KARMA-YOGÂ...............................................................66 BRAHMACHARYA............................................................71 THE QUESTION OF FOOD..................................................77 THE NECESSITY OF THE GURU............................................83 SIGNS OF A TRUE GURU....................................................88 CONCLUSION................................................................93 Advaita Ashrama Calcutta Swami Ashokananda (1893-1969) a much-venerated monk of the Ramakrishna Order was ordained into Sannyâsa by Swami Shivananda, -
VII. the Swami Swahananda Era (1976-2012)
Ramakrishna-Vedanta in Southern California: From Swami Vivekananda to the Present VII. The Swami Swahananda Era (1976-2012) 1. Swami Swahananda’s Background 2. Swami Swahananda’s Major Objectives 3. Swami Swahananda at the Vedanta Society of Southern California 4. The Assistant Swamis 5. Functional Departments of the Vedanta Society 6. Charitable Organizations 7. Santa Barbara Temple and Convent 8. Ramakrishna Monastery, Trabuco Canyon 9. Vivekananda House, South Pasadena (1955-2012) 1. Swami Swahananda’s Background* fter Swami Prabhavananda passed away on July 4, 1976, Swami Chetanananda was assigned the position of head of the A Vedanta Society of Southern California (VSSC). Swamis Vireswarananda and Bhuteshananda, President and Vice- President of the Ramakrishna Order, urged Swami Swahananda to take over the VSSC. They realized that a man with his talents and capabilities should be in charge of a large center. Swahananda agreed to leave the quiet life of Berkeley for the more challenging work in the Southland. Having previously been in charge of the large New Delhi Center in the capital of India, he was up to the task and assumed leadership of the VSSC on December 15, 1976. He was enthusiastically welcomed, and soon became well established in the life of the Society. Swami Swahananda was born on June 29, 1921 in Habiganj, Sylhet in Bengal (now in Bangladesh). His father had been a government official and an initiated disciple of Holy Mother. He had wanted to renounce the world and become a monk, but Holy Mother reportedly had told him, “No, my child, but from your family two shall come.” (As well as Swahananda, a nephew also later joined the Ramakrishna Order). -
Spiritual Conversations with Swami Shankarananda Swami Tejasananda English Translation by Swami Satyapriyananda (Continued from the Previous Issue)
2 THE ROAD TO WISDOM Swami Vivekananda on Significance of Symbols—III n the heart of all these ritualisms, there Istands one idea prominent above all the rest—the worship of a name. Those of you who have studied the older forms of Christianity, those of you who have studied the other religions of the world, perhaps have marked that there is this idea with them all, the worship of a name. A name is said to be very sacred. In the Bible we read that the holy name of God was considered sacred beyond compare, holy consciously or unconsciously, man found beyond everything. It was the holiest of all the glory of names. names, and it was thought that this very Again, we find that in many different Word was God. This is quite true. What is religions, holy personages have been this universe but name and form? Can you worshipped. They worship Krishna, they think without words? Word and thought worship Buddha, they worship Jesus, and so are inseparable. Try if anyone of you can forth. Then, there is the worship of saints; separate them. Whenever you think, you hundreds of them have been worshipped all are doing so through word forms. The one over the world, and why not? The vibration brings the other; thought brings the word, of light is everywhere. The owl sees it in the and the word brings the thought. Thus the dark. That shows it is there, though man whole universe is, as it were, the external cannot see it. To man, that vibration is only symbol of God, and behind that stands visible in the lamp, in the sun, in the moon, His grand name. -
ADVAITA VEDANTA: a SURVEY of the ROOTS and the FRUIT of a MOVEMENT by Bill Honsberger, Haven Ministry
ADVAITA VEDANTA: A SURVEY OF THE ROOTS AND THE FRUIT OF A MOVEMENT By Bill Honsberger, Haven Ministry http://havenministry.com/home.html This paper will look at the origins and development of the particular Hindu school of thought known as Advaita Vedanta. I will first look at the medieval roots of Vedanta as founded by Sankara and later critiqued by Ramanuja. I will then show how Vedanta was transformed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by interaction with colonial and nationalist ideas and by interaction with the world at large. “I believe in Advaita; I believe in the essential unity of man and for that matter, for all that lives. Therefore, I believe that if one man gains spiritually, the whole world gains with him and if one man fails, the whole world fall to that extent…”(1) With these words the Father of modern India, Mahatma Gandhi, revealed the thoughts that were a major influence on him in 1924. However, the ideas he mentioned date back hundreds of years to the thoughts of an influential thinker named Sankara, and they also reflect the ideas of more modern Indian scholars who were shaping and adapting ancient ideas to a contemporary present. The terms Advaita, which means non-dualistic, and Vedanta, which literally means the end of the Vedas, together refer to a series of thinkers and ideas that go back to the eighth century C.E. The most notable scholar who is usually seen as the originator and systemizer of Advaita is Sankara (788 – 820 C.E.). The school of Advaita is described by some as theology and by others as a philosophy. -
Taking Our Temperature
Editorial Taking Our Temperature In the current issue of American Vedantist, we present different perspectives on the Vedanta movement in the West, from Swami Vivekananda’s pioneering work to new models for the future. These perspectives offer a variety of views about the role of Vedanta in the West: how it was presented in the beginning, how it is being lived out in most of our centers at present, and what are our hopes for it in the future. Is Vedanta a universal philosophy independent of any particular religion? Or is it a sophisticated form of Hinduism? How has Vedanta in the West changed since Swami Vivekananda’s original presentation? Do Vedanta Centers in the West have social responsibilities with regard to the surrounding society? Should they undertake social service activities as the Ramakrishna Mission does in India? Have the centers become Hindu temples and cultural centers for a mostly Indian immigrant population? Does it matter? How should they serve what is now an American minority of members? Do native- born Americans, including the children of Indian immigrants, have different needs from the immigrants themselves? Is Indian culture an obstacle to prospective new Western Vedantists? We encourage you, our readers, to send us your opinions on these questions. From its inception, one of AV’s main objectives has been to foster a sense of community among Vedantists in the West through the sharing of views and experiences. Such sharing can encourage us to reexamine our own lives, and can also contribute to strengthening our combined efforts. We have inherited a legacy of high spiritual idealism. -
Four Basic Principles of Advaita Vedanta
Four Basic Principles of Advaita Vedanta by Swami Bhajanananda (The author is Assistant Secretary, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission.) Source: Prabuddha Bharata -- Jan/Feb 2010 Table of Contents Preliminary Considerations..............................................................2 The Illusoriness of Individuality.........................................................4 A Two-level Reality........................................................................5 Unreality of the World ·..................................................................8 The Non-duality of Knowledge........................................................11 Ātma-jñāna, Self-knowledge ..........................................................11 Viṣ aya-jñāna, Objective Knowledge .................................................12 * * * * Advaita Vedanta is the dominant and most well-known school of Indian philosophy. In Indian culture darśana is the word which corresponds to the Western idea of ‘philosophy’. Darśana literally means vision or insight. There are six darśanas, each of which provides a particular view of, or insight into, Reality. From the standpoint of the principle of harmony taught by Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, the six darśanas may be regarded as forming a six-tiered pyramid, the tiers providing higher and higher views of Reality, with Vedanta as the topmost tier. Vedanta itself consists of several schools. These schools of Vedanta may also be visualized as forming a pyramid with Advaita occupying its pinnacle. Vedanta,