Vedanta Center of Atlanta: August events
Vedanta Center of Atlanta: August events
Time: There is silent meditation in the Chapel from 10:30-11am, before each Sunday’s talk. After the talk, devotees and friends meet in the Monastery from noon to 1:30pm, for tea, coffee, snacks and a continuation of our spiritual fellowship. Please join us! PS: Please be on time. The service starts promptly at 11AM.
Venue: 2331 Brockett Rd, Tucker, GA 30084
Contact: (770) 938-6673 ; http://vedantaatlanta.org, http://vedantaatlanta.org/calendar-of-activities-events/
See Calendar for details about any particular Sunday.
August 1, 7:30-9pm (Mon) - RECEPTION & POTLUCK SUPPER for Swami Sarvadevanandaji. We'll meet in the Monastery Fellowship hall following arati. All are welcome.
August 2, 8-9pm (Tue) - CLASS: Swami Sarvadevanandaji will lead our "Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna" class in the Chapel.
August 1, 11am (Sun) “Contentment and Forbearance”
w/ Br. Shankara
August is a month for study of Jnana Yoga (AdvaitaVedanta). Jnana Yoga is an approach to self-realization through discrimination and reason. The goal is freedom. All our miseries in life are caused by seeing inaccurately; the jnana yogi may finally break through this delusion and see only the Divine Presence everywhere and in everyone.Sri Sarada Devi (Holy Mother) said, “There is no wealth equal to contentment, and no virtue equal to forbearance.” These attributes, along with humility, are known to be the hallmarks of an earnest aspirant on the jnana path.
On Sunday morning, Br. Shankara will define these attributes, and explore what Adi Shankaracharya, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, and Swami Vivekananda said about why they are a foundation for progress in spiritual life.
August 13, 10am-2pm (Sat) - SEVA SATURDAY for August.
August 14, 11am-12pm (Sun) - TALK: “What Is the ‘Mirror of the Heart?’” w/ Br. Shankara
August is a month for study of Jnana Yoga (Advaita Vedanta). Jnana Yoga is an approach to self-realization through discrimination and reason. The goal is freedom from all limitation. Wisdom tells us our miseries in life are caused by seeing inaccurately. As a jnana yogi, you may finally break through this delusion and see only the Divine Presence everywhere and in everyone.
Jesus Christ
Mathew 5:8
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
(Ch. 32, Oct 19, 1884)
Master: “… You see the reflection of the sun in clear water. In the mirror of his ‘I-consciousness’ the devotee sees the form of the Primal Energy, Brahman with attributes. But the mirror must be wiped clean. One does not see the right reflection if there is any dirt on the mirror.
“As long as a man must see the Sun in the water of his ‘I-consciousness’ and has no other means of seeing It, as long as he has no means of seeing the real Sun except through Its reflection, so long is the reflected sun alone one hundred per cent real to him. As long as the ‘I’ is real, so long is the reflected sun real — one hundred per cent real. That reflected sun is nothing but the Primal Energy.”
Jnana Yoga says your reality, your everyday experience of the world, is a construction of your mind. Though enabled by the Primal Energy, it is not that Energy itself — it is a reflection in what is often called “the mirror of the heart.” On Sunday morning the quotes above, and other definitions of that mirror, will be explored and discussed.
August 21, 11am-12pm (Sun) - TALK: “Setting Aside the Mirror” w/ Br. Shankara
August is a month for study of Jnana Yoga (Advaita Vedanta). Jnana Yoga is an approach to self-realization through discrimination and reason. The goal is freedom from all limitation. Wisdom tells us our miseries in life are caused by seeing inaccurately. As a jnana yogi, you may finally break through this delusion and see only the Divine Presence everywhere and in everyone.
Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
(Ch. 32, Oct 19, 1884)
Master: “… In the mirror of his 'I-consciousness' the devotee sees the form of the Primal Energy, Brahman with attributes … he has no means of seeing the real (Brahman) except through Its reflection … As long as the 'I' is real, so long is the (reflection) real — one hundred per cent real …”
Through a spiritual practice called “neti, neti (not this, not that),” the jnana yogi methodically excludes every aspect of that reflection — both waking and dreaming experiences — from his or her definition of Absolute Reality (Brahman). Finally, I-consciousness itself (the mirror of the heart or mind) is set aside, and the yogi abides in the knowledge of Brahman. On Sunday morning these ideas, and other methods taught by masters of the jnana path, will be explored and discussed.
August 28, 11am-12pm (Sun) - TALK: “Bhagavad Gita: The Highest Wisdom” w/ Bhagirath Majmudar (Dr. Maj)
True wisdom can neither be quantified nor defined. It has a dynamism beyond words, and books. It has no encapsulation of Religion, Region, and Time. It is a perception necessitating clean and colorless lens. What is reflected in Indian scriptures like Upanishads is also distilled by Bhagavad Geeta in a simple digestible form. The same principles are also propounded by The Wisemen of the Western Hemisphere and Western Religions. I was happy to see this synchronicity of similar thoughts springing from diverse sources and different Time periods, but I was not surprised by it. Wisdom is Knowledge but not knowledge. I will like to share these thoughts this coming Sunday.
– Dr. Maj
