Vedanta Center of Atlanta: February events
Vedanta Center of Atlanta: February events
Times:
10:30am-11am: silent meditation in the Chapel before each Sunday’s talk.
11am-noon: talk and worship in the chapel.
noon-1:30pm: devotees and friends meet in the Monastery 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.
February is a month for study of Karma Yoga, a spiritual path leading to the abandonment of selfishness, and freedom form worry and care. As a karma yogi, you practice offering all your thoughts, actions, and perceptions to the Divine Presence.
Even before fully knowing this Presence, you hold firmly to the belief that the Presence is within each person or other living being that you interact with or serve. Working and abiding in this spirit, you are increasingly able to release attachment to your activities and their results. This yields the freedom promised by Karma Yoga.
Group Chanting: Devi Mahatmyam (Chandi)
Devi Mahatmyam (Chandi), a part of the Markendaya Purana, starts with the story of a king and a merchant. Filled with sorrow due to circumstances in their lives, both approach a Sage for a solution to the problems of being “drawn by attachment towards objects whose defects we know,” and “delusion due to lack of discrimination.” To be free of desire, fear and ignorance sages recommend meditation, japa, prayer and Sat Sangh (spiritual fellowship).
Please join us for prayer and Sat Sangh on Saturday, February 3rd 2018 from 9am to 10am as we seek Mother Durga’s love and transformative power. The practice of chanting verses from Chandi on Tuesday and Saturday has been encouraged by Swami Sarvadevanandaji.
All are welcome, and no prior experience is necessary.
Led by Rita Bhandarkar Mathew
“Sri Krishna and the Field of Action”
w/ Br. Shankara
In Chapter 13 of Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna tells his friend and disciple Arjuna:
“This body is called the Field, because a man sows seeds of action in it, and reaps their fruits. Wise men say the Knower of the Field is he who watches what takes place within this body.
Recognize me as the Knower of the Field in every body. I regard discrimination between the Field and the Knower as the highest kind of knowledge.”
Karma means action. Here, Sri Krishna defines the knowledge we must find within ourselves, to succeed as a karma yogi.
On Sunday morning, we will explore and discuss the Field and its Knower (Chapter 13). This can help us understand why, in Chapter 3, Sri Krishna makes this tremendous, reassuring promise: “Even a little practice of this (karma) yoga will save you form the terrible wheel of rebirth and death …”
NOTE: After each Sunday's 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!
Saturday, February 10, 10am-2pm - Seva Saturday
Seva means serving in the fellowship of volunteers or Karma Yogis.
Please join us for cleaning, organizing, office work, lunch, and lots of camaraderie. It’s not necessary for you to stay the entire time… come and join us as long as you can. We’ll be serving pizza from Mellow Mushroom for lunch. Yum!
Note: The Saturday morning “Realizing God” class will not meet so that class members who wish to may participate in Seva Saturday.
Sunday February 11, 11am-noon, “The Phenomenon of Sri Ramakrishna”
w/Br. Shankara
On Sunday, February 18th, we will joyously celebrate the birthday of Sri Ramakrishna. There is a direct link between that Great Master’s life and teachings and what you are reading just now. On the 11th, we will talk about that timeless connection.
Here is what Christopher Isherwood wrote about Sri Ramakrishna, as he starts his book Ramakrishna and His Disciples:
“This is the story of a phenomenon.
I will begin by calling him simply that, rather than `holy man’, `mystic’, `saint’, or `avatar’; all emotive words with mixed associations which may attract some readers, repel others. A phenomenon is often something extraordinary and mysterious.
Ramakrishna was extraordinary and mysterious; most of all to those who were best fitted to understand him …”
Two people who were best fitted to understand Sri Ramakrishna are Swami Vivekananda, his most famous disciple, and his wife, Sri Sarada Devi.
We will explore and discuss some of what Swamiji and Holy Mother wrote and said about Ramakrishna. As their knowledge of him is shared, the connection between the Master’s life and your presence in our Chapel may become clear.
February 18 - Sri Ramakrishna’s Birthday Celebration11am - Puja Worship with Dhruva, pujari
12:30pm - Prasad Potluck Lunch
February 25, 11am-noon
Talk: Why Should You Care About the 24 Cosmic Principles? w/Br. Shankara
Basic texts we study here — Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna — all refer to a system of belief called Samkhya. One of the six orthodox schools of Indian philosophy, Samkhya is a comprehensive cosmology that includes the 24 Cosmic Principles.
Sage Kapila wrote the Samkhya-sutras in the 6th or 7th Century BCE. Without some understanding of his unique description of how the universe came to be and how it works, it is hard to fully grasp what Sri Ramakrishna, Sage Patanjali, and Lord Krishna are trying to teach us.
On Sunday morning we will enumerate each of the 24 principles, and explore Kapila’s very rational explanation of who we are and what we experience. Texts from the books mentioned above will be used to illustrate the principles’ significance in your everyday spiritual practice.
