Vedanta Society of Toronto ( Mission) 120 Emmett Ave. Toronto, ON M6M 2E6 CANADA Tel.: 416-240-7262; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.vedantatoronto.ca

Newsletter July 2019 Words to Inspire “It is very difficult to understand that God can be a finite human being and at the same time the all-pervading Soul of the universe. The Absolute and the Relative are His two aspects. How can we say emphatically with our small intelligence that God cannot assume a human form?” --- Sri Ramakrishna

Significance of Spiritual Initiation In the Bhagwad Gita it is said, 'This is never to be spoken by you from it. We should not forget that spiritual initiation is a very to one who is devoid of austerities or devotion, nor to one who significant event in life. So, it should be taken with all seriousness. does not render service, nor to one who cavils at Me.' (Ch.18 vs We should not forget that spiritual initiation is a very significant 67). Once the field is ready, one develops love for the name of event in life. Let not initiation be looked upon as a status symbol. God. This is to be remembered by both – those who are seeking Let us not forget that it is a means of God-realization only. That diksha and also those already initiated. Hence it is said in the the moment of initiation is a unique one, should be borne in mind. scriptures that one must be humble, inclined to serve, and must Suppose the guru is speaking something that requires close keep one's life as pure and stainless as possible. attention, but some are inattentive and are thinking of something Before being initiated, our hearts are to be purified to receive else. I mention it to drive home the point that one must have a initiation. Before installing the deity, the temple and its reverential attitude towards initiation. Another point that we want, surroundings must be cleaned well. Only then can we think of the the candidates must be familiar with the life and teachings of Sri installation ceremony. Receiving mantra signifies installation of Ramakrishna, the Holy Mother and . This God in one's life. All preparations are aimed only at this. Without helps the recipients to grasp our instructions easily. compliance to these conditions, or even being indifferent to them, The Upanishads declare: 'Knowledge gained from a teacher alone we cannot really install God in our heart. This must be especially becomes fruitful.' The idea behind it is that the guru not only gives borne in mind. the mantra but along with it he transmits some of the spiritual Our conduct should be in tune with our state of being initiated. I power that he possesses to the disciple. To kindle a soul, it is recommend following five codes of conduct at the time of initiation. necessary that there must be some soul that must have already There is nothing secret about it. Everybody should know it. Hence, been kindled. Without that sort of living link, transmission of I speak for everyone. No one can move towards God unless he is spiritual power is not possible. Another point comes to my mind in pure in conduct. To proceed towards God the conduct must be this connection. There are innumerable mantras. If they are all pure. placed before us, we will get confused as to which ones are to be The Sanskrit word diksha or initiation means to take the vow of accepted and which ones are to be rejected. To remove such a making a beginning. What is a mantra? A mantra is a spiritual or confusion the best principle would be to follow the dictates of a mystical formula, the repetition of which brings about liberation competent person who has direct knowledge of them. That person from bondage of ignorance, that is, liberation from the chain of is the guru. births and deaths. That is the purpose of mantra-diksha. A mantra From the book 'Spiritual Initiation-what it is' by Swami is to be preserved very carefully so that no change may occur in Bhuteshananda. its form and character. Nothing should be added or subtracted

KARMA YOGA ACTIVITIES It is a great opportunity to provide your services to the Vedanta Society of Toronto. We have started creating groups of volunteers to administer and take care of few operations - maintenance related work in the ashram. Kindly come forward and volunteer time towards maintaining and managing the facilities. If interested in volunteering, kindly send email or contact Abhijit Bhattacharya on 416-569-9401, indicating the Services that you are interested in and days you can be available for volunteering. THANK YOU!!

Hints to Seekers of God-Self Enquiry Sri Ramana Maharshi Question: How is one to think of the Self? would discover that just as it is the first thought to appear, so it is the last to disappear. This is a matter which can Maharshi: The Self is self-luminous without darkness and be experienced. light and is the reality which is self-manifest. Therefore, one should not think of it as this or that. The very thought Q: You mean that it is possible to conduct such a mental of thinking will end in bondage. The purport of meditation investigation into oneself? on the Self is to make the mind take the form of the Self. M: Certainly. It is possible to go inwards until the last In the middle of the heart-cave the pure Brahman is thought, 'I', gradually vanishes. directly manifest as the Self in the form "I... I... I... I." Q: What is then left? Will a man then become quite Question: What exactly is this Self of which you speak? unconscious or will he become an idiot? If what you say is true, there must be another self in man. M: No. On the contrary, he will attain that consciousness Maharshi: Can a man be possessed of two identities, two which is immortal, and he will become truly wise when he selves? To understand this matter it is first necessary for has awakened to his true Self, which is the real nature of a man to analyse himself. Because it has long been his man. habit to think as others think, he has never faced his 'I' in the true manner. He has not a correct picture of himself, Q: But sure the sense of 'I' must also pertain to that? he has too long identified himself with the body and the M: The sense of 'I" pertains to the person, the body and brain. Therefore I tell you to pursue this enquiry 'who am brain. When a man knows his true Self for the first time I?' You ask me to describe this true Self to you. What can something else arises from the depths of his being and be said? It is That out of which the sense of the personal takes possession of him. That something is behind the 'I' arises and into which it will have to disappear. mind; it is infinite, eternal, divine.... When this happens, Q: Disappear? How can one lose one's sense of a man has not really lost himself; rather, he has found personality? himself. Unless and until a man embarks on this quest of the true Self, doubt and uncertainty will follow his M: The first and foremost of all thoughts, the primeval footsteps through life. The greatest kings and statesmen thought in the mind of every man, is the 'I' thought. It is try to rule others when in their heart of hearts they know only after the birth of this thought that any other thought that they cannot rule themselves.... What is the use of can rise at all. It is only after the first personal pronoun 'I' knowing about everything else when you do not yet know has arisen in the mind that the second personal pronoun who you are? People avoid this enquiry into the true Self, 'you' can make its appearance. If you could mentally but what else is there so worthy to be undertaken? follow the 'I' thread until it led you back to its source, you

The Need for a Guru Every soul is destined to be perfect, and every being, in the end, will attain the state of perfection. Whatever we are now is the result of our acts and thoughts in the past; and whatever we shall be in the future will be the result of what we think and do now. The soul can only receive impulses from another soul, and from nothing else. The person from whose soul such impulse comes is called the Guru — the teacher; and the person to whose soul the impulse is conveyed is called the Shishya — the student. To convey such an impulse to any soul, in the first place, the soul from which it proceeds must possess the power of transmitting it, as it were, to another; and in the second place, the soul to which it is transmitted must be fit to receive it. The seed must be a living seed, and the field must be ready ploughed; and when both these conditions are fulfilled, a wonderful growth of genuine religion takes place. Such alone are the real teachers, and such alone are also the real students, the real aspirants. All others are only playing with spirituality. They have just a little curiosity awakened, just a little intellectual aspiration kindled in them, but are merely standing on the outward fringe of the horizon of religion. There is no doubt some value even in that, as it may in course of time result in the awakening of a real thirst for religion; and it is a mysterious law of nature that as soon as the field is ready, the seed must and does come; as soon as the soul earnestly desires to have religion, the transmitter of the religious force must and does appear to help that soul. When the power that attracts the light of religion in the receiving soul is full and strong, the power which answers to that attraction and sends in light does come as a matter of course. Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda…Vol 3..Bhakti Yoga

The God of Love is his own proof When I think of myself as comprehending the Universal, there can surely be no selfishness in me; but when I, by mistake, think that I am a little something, my love becomes particularized and narrowed. The mistake consists in making the sphere of love narrow and contracted. All things in the universe are of divine origin and deserve to be loved; it has, however, to be borne in mind that the love of the whole includes the love of the parts. This whole is the God of the Bhaktas, and all the other Gods, Fathers in Heaven, or Rulers, or Creators, and all theories and doctrines and books have no purpose and no meaning for them, seeing that they have through their supreme love and devotion risen above those things altogether. When the heart is purified and cleansed and filled to the brim with the divine nectar of love, all other ideas of God become simply puerile and are rejected as being inadequate or unworthy. Such is indeed the power of Para-Bhakti or Supreme Love; and the perfected Bhakta no more goes to see God in temples and churches; he knows no place where he will not find Him. He finds Him in the temple as well as out of the temple, he finds Him in the saint's saintliness as well as in the wicked man's wickedness, because he has Him already seated in glory in his own heart as the one Almighty inextinguishable Light of Love which is ever shining and eternally present. Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda..Vol 3

Faith in Guru and Mantra Saturday, December 10, 1881 A DEVOTEE: "What is the way for a householder?"

MASTER: "Faith in the guru's words. You should depend on his instruction. Do your duties in the world, holding fast to his words, like a person whirling round and holding fast to a pillar.

"One must not look on one's guru as a mere human being: it is Satchidananda Himself who appears as the guru. When the disciple has the vision of the Ishta, through the guru's grace, he finds the guru merging in Him. "What can one not achieve through simple faith! Once there was an annaprasana ceremony in a guru's house. His disciples volunteered, according to their powers, to supply the different articles of food. He had one disciple, a very poor widow, who owned a cow. She milked it and brought the guru a jar of milk. He had thought she would take charge of all the milk and curd for the festival. Angry at her poor offering, he threw the milk away and said to her, 'Go and drown yourself.' The widow accepted this as his command and went to the river to drown herself. But God was pleased with her guileless faith and, appearing before her, said: 'Take this pot of curd. You will never be able to empty it. The more curd you pour out, the more will come from the pot. This will satisfy your teacher.' The guru was speechless with amazement when the pot was given to him. After hearing from the widow the story of the pot, he went to the river, saying to her, 'I shall drown myself if you cannot show God to me.' God appeared then and there, but the guru could not see Him. Addressing God, the widow said, 'If my teacher gives up his body because Thou dost not reveal Thyself to him, then I too shall die.' So God appeare d to the guru — but only once.

"Now you see, because of faith in her guru the disciple herself had the vision of God and also showed Him to her teacher. Therefore I say, 'Even though my guru frequents a grog-shop, still to me he is the embodiment of Eternal Bliss.'

"All want to be the guru, but very few indeed want to be the disciple. But you know that rain-water doesn't collect on a high mound; it collects in low land, in a hollow.

"One should have faith in the holy name given by the guru and with it practise spiritual discipline. It is said that the pearl oyster makes itself ready for the rain that falls when the star Svati is in the ascendant. Taking a drop of that rain, it dives into the fathomless depths of the ocean and remains there until the pearl is formed." From Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Appendix A – With Keshab at Dakshineshwar

Vedanta Society of Toronto 2019 Annual Summer Retreat REGISTRATION FORM

This year, the Vedanta Society will hold its Annual Summer Retreat on Saturday, July 27 and Sunday, July 28 at the Vedanta Society of Toronto, 120 Emmett Avenue, Toronto. The Retreat will be conducted by Rev. Swami Harinamananda of the Ramakrishna Monastery, San Diego, USA. The theme of this year’s Retreat is the ‘Decoding the Chandi: The Glory of the Divine Mother and its relevance to our spiritual practice’. The Retreat will be organized to encourage the active participation of all attendees, and to help them move forward in their spiritual life by discussing ideas and practices that will be of lasting value.

The program begins with morning meditation at 6:00 am on both Saturday and Sunday. Each day it will finish at 5 pm. The two days will be spent in discussing spiritual topics along with chanting and devotional singing.

The registration fee is $40 for each day; and for both days it is $75. The fee for each day includes breakfast, tea at breaks, lunch, evening tea/snacks. Please fill out the following form and mail it with your remittance to the Vedanta Society of Toronto, 120 Emmett Avenue, Toronto, ON, M6M 2E6. ------Name(s): ______

Address: ______

______

Telephone: ______Email: ______

Number of Participants: Day 1: Saturday ______x $40.00 = $______Or Day 2: Sunday ______x $40.00 = $______Or Both days: (Saturday & Sunday) ______x $75.00 = $______

Attached is a cheque made out to the “Vedanta Society of Toronto” towards the full amount of the Annual Retreat 2019.

Signature ______------1. Please return the above form no later than July 20, 2019. 2. If you have any questions regarding your registration or for any other information, please contact the Society at [email protected] or 416-240-7262 or 647-990-1418.

UPCOMING EVENTS – MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Events Date & Time Guru Purnima July 16 6.30pm Talk by Swami Yogatmananda - Vedanta Society of Providence July 21 'Freeing the Imprisoned Splendour' 7.00pm Annual Retreat – 'Decoding the Chandi' July 27 & 28 Conducted by Swami Harinamananda – Vedanta Society of Southern California (San Diego) 6am to 5pm Janmashtami Aug 24 11.00am Talk by Swami Sarvapriyananda – Vedanta Society of New York Aug 14 'Vedantic Meditation' 7pm

REGULAR PROGRAMMES SCRIPTURE CLASS: Friday Scripture Classes DAILY BREAD FOOD BANK: Daily Bread Food begin at 7:30 pm, following the regular evening prayer Bank has actively started. We would like to encourage at 6:00 pm. The class, held at the centre, is open to all people to donate. interested persons. For details, please see the INTERVIEWS/INSTRUCTION: ‘Calendar of Events’ on the next page. Swami Kripamayananda will be happy to give VIGIL: A vigil consisting of japa and meditation will Interviews to those interested in knowing more about be observed, from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm, for date kindly Vedanta and meditation. Individual interviews are also see ‘Calendar of Events’, on next page. To participate, given for Spiritual instructions. Appointments for please call the centre @416-240-7262. interviews should be made in advance with the Swami RAM NAM: For the date and time of the monthly at 416-240-7262. Ramnam, please see the ‘Calendar of Events’ on the DAILY MEDITATION: Meditation is done at the next page. Centre every morning from 6:00 am to 7:00 am. BOOK STORE: The Book Store has re-opened and Devotional singing and meditation time in the books are available for purchase. evenings is from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. SOUP KITCHEN: Soup Kitchen has now started at the Vedanta Society, please see the ‘Calendar of Events’ on the next page for details.

Spiritual Regulation of the Life Force Youth is a very exciting time. Many people want, if possible, to stay young and vigorous all their life. It requires a considerable amount of stupidity to go in for eternal youth. They become the most pitiable of creatures who, though their youth is gone, want to give the impression that they are blossoms of early morning. They have somehow missed the dignity and purpose of life. It is not in the scheme of nature that anyone should remain always young. At a particular age the skin wrinkles, and the nerves grow weak and this is nothing to be ashamed of or worried about. Every part of the day has its own value, purpose and beauty. The evening is not necessarily less beautiful than the morning. But those who have not received any religious training in their early youth, and who consider that the well-being of the body alone is the be-all and end-all of life, for them the declining age is dreary. They do not know how to live a forward- looking life because the body offers to them no promise of a future. Undoubtedly, youth has a beauty of its own. It is the beauty of growth in mind and spirit which is far superior to the beauty of mere flesh. Those who have been nurtured in spirituality from childhood, manifest with advancing age a power and a glow which is hardly ever seen in youth. Through spiritual discipline they experience in the depths of their being, an awareness of the ineffable. Spiritual joy far outweighs the loss of physical pleasure. The real man is not the body or the mind. He is the all-pervading Atman. With this plenary experience one becomes a liberated soul. Such a soul radiates peace, light and sweetness. While tenanting an impermanent body, he who does not acquire moral and spiritual experience by austere discipline of mind and body, out of his foolishness, shall have to regret his fate when he passes out of the body. The inclination to vice is not a freak of chance, it is the effect of man's intellectual eminence, physical charm, muscular strength, shining heroism, enjoyable wealth and happy progeny, they are certainly derived from their previous good deeds. It is a spiritual fact that religion not only helps us from the womb to the tomb but also beyond death. From the book, 'True Religion always helps', by Swami Budhananda

Vedanta Society of Toronto

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Minister and Teacher- Swami Kripamayananda, of India July 2019

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 9.30am 9.30am 9.30am 7:30pm Soup Kitchen Soup Soup Scripture class: Kitchen Kitchen ‘Vivekachudama ni

7 11:00am 8 9 10 11 12 13 9.30am Lecture: 'Vidya & Avidya' 9.30am 9.30am 7:30pm Soup Kitchen Soup Soup Scripture class: Kitchen Kitchen ‘Gospel of Sri 6am to 6pm Ramakrishna’ Vigil 14 11:00am 15 16 17 18 19 20 Lecture: 'Sri Ramakrishna- 6.30pm 9.30am NO 9.30am the Mother's Child' Guru Soup SCRIPTURE Soup Kitchen Kitchen CLASS 5:00pm Purnima RAMNAM 21 SUNDAY SERVICE 22 23 24 25 26 27 6am to 5pm at 7:00 pm 9.30am 9.30am NO Annual 'Freeing the Soup Soup SCRIPTURE Retreat Day 1 Kitchen Kitchen CLASS Imprisoned Splendor' 'Decoding the A Talk by Chandi'

Swami Yogatmananda by Swami Vedanta Society of Providence Harinamananda 28 6am to 5pm 29 30 31 Annual Retreat Day 2 9.30am ‘Decoding the Chandi' Soup by Swami Harinamananda Kitchen 3.00pm Public Lecture: Open to all ‘Understanding the Living Photos of Sri Ramakrishna’ by Swami Harinamananda

AN APPEAL FOR DONATION Vedanta Society appeals to the devotees and well-wishers to kindly come forward and donate generously, so that we can pay-off all loans and build up funds to secure ourselves for our regular operations. Donations are required for ongoing maintenance of Ashram, facilities and functions, as well as repayment of interest free loans from our members in coming years. For those who wish to donate full or part of the loan amount to receive donation tax receipt for Year 2019 may do so by sending email to the Swami with cc to Anupam .

Vedanta Society of Toronto

List of Celebrations 2019 - 2020 Buddha Jayanti Sunday, May 19, 2019 @ 11am Guru Purnima Tuesday, July 16, 2019 @ 6.30pm Annual Retreat Sat & Sun July 27 & 28, 2019 – 6am to 5pm Janmashtami Saturday, August 24, 2019 @ 11am Annual Seminar Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 9 am Mahalaya Musical Programme Saturday, September 21, 2019 @ 7pm Vivekananda Public Speaking Competition Sunday, September 22, 2019 @ 11am Durga Puja Maha Ashtami Sunday, October 6, 2019 @ 11am Durga Puja Maha Navami Monday, October 7, 2019 @ 6.30pm Durga Puja Vijaya Dashami Tuesday, October 8, 2019 @ 6.30pm Seniors Day Sunday, October 20, 2019 @ 11am Kali Puja Sunday, October 27, 2019 @ 6.30pm Holy Mother birthday celebration Sunday, December 22, 2019 @ 11am Christmas Eve Tuesday December 24, 2019 @ 5.30pm Kalpataru Day Wednesday, January 1, 2020 @ 12pm Swami Vivekananda birthday celebration Sunday, January 12, 2020 @ 11am Saraswati Puja celebration Sunday, February 2, 2020 @ 11 am Maha Shivaratri Friday, February 21, 2020 @ 6.30pm Sri Ramakrishna birthday celebration Sunday, March 1, 2020 @ 11am Ram Navami celebration Sunday April 5, 2020 @ 11am Bhakta Milan Saturday April 18, 2020