Sunday's Online Talk & Discussion
Nov. 29, 11am to 12noon
"Are You the Reflected Glory?"
w/ Br. Shankara
Join us online via Zoom at https://tinyurl.com/y7veshzt
November is a month for study of Raja Yoga, a spiritual path often called the yoga of meditation. As a raja yogi, you use ancient, proven spiritual techniques to quiet your mind and gain control of your attention.
Regular daily practice of Raja Yoga increases your ability to concentrate, and may lead to meditation. This can unite you with the Divine Presence, the source of your being, and liberate you from the cycle of rebirth and death. Raja yogis call this state of liberation kaivalya — independence.
Last week, toward the end of Sunday’s talk, this was read:
“It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race ... there is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.”
It is from a vision experienced by Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk.
In the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, toward the end of Chapter 40, we read:
MASTER: “… When (through realization) the world vanishes, only the jivas, that is to say, so many egos, remain.
Each ego may be likened to a pot. Suppose there are ten pots filled with water, and the sun is reflected in them. How many suns do you see?"
A DEVOTEE: "Ten reflections. Besides, there certainly exists the real Sun.” …
MASTER: "All right. Suppose you break nine pots. How many suns do you see now?"
DEVOTEE: "One reflected sun. But there certainly exists the real sun."
MASTER (to Girish Ghosh): "What remains when the last pot is broken?”
GIRISH: "That real sun, sir."
MASTER: "No. What remains cannot be described. What is remains. How will you know there is a real sun unless there is a reflected sun? …”
Swami Prabhavananda said, “The chosen ideal (that aspect of the Divine Being which attracts your heart) is you, yourself, no different. Learn to feel that living presence.”
Are you not therefore a reflection of that which “cannot be described?” What this may mean for you as a spiritual aspirant is what we will explore and discuss on Sunday.
William Blake wrote: “… it is a part of our duty to God and man to take due care of his Gifts and though we ought not think more highly of ourselves, yet we ought to think as highly of ourselves as immortals ought to think …”
