Vedanta Center of Atlanta: June events
Vedanta Center of Atlanta: June 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.
June is a month for study of Karma Yoga, a spiritual path leading to the abandonment of selfishness. As a karma yogi, you practice offering 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 is the freedom promised by Karma Yoga.
Sun June 4, 2017: “Metaphors Be With Us!”
w/ Br. Shankara
On Monday we celebrated Memorial Day. Our national flag was on display just about everywhere we looked. The Stars & Stripes is a potent metaphor. We might have felt a meaningful connection to our country’s history, and a tug at our hearts, when we saw it — especially when it was “presented” in a ceremonial way.
So, this coming Sunday, it seems fitting to explore the idea of metaphor and how it affects the ways we think and act. As we know, our great spiritual teachers have often introduced us to life-transforming truths by telling what appear to be simple, allegorical stories and parables.
On Sunday morning we will explore and discuss metaphors left to us by five teachers that are at the heart of our spiritual lineage: the Sage Vasistha, Sri Krishna, Jesu Christ, Patanjali, and Sri Ramakrishna.
June 11 - “What Deserves Your Attention?”
w/ Br. Shankara
You start each day with the best of intentions, and often – by the end of that day – you can hardly say where the time went. What happened? The short answer is you got distracted: In the moment, something else seemed more important than what you intended; or, an incident occurred that left you feeling angry, dejected, worn out. Either way, the day is gone and you're not much closer to what you planned than you were in the morning.
Must this continue? Why are we so easily distracted, and why does what happens frustrate, confuse, even anger us? Here’s one explanation, from Swami Yogeshananda’s article, “A Closer Look Through the Looking-Glass”:
“In a lecture in which he clarifies the … doctrine of Maya, Swami Vivekananda says, ‘I may be dreaming all the time. I am dreaming that I am talking to you and that you are listening to me. No one can prove that it is not a dream. … We are walking in the midst of a dream, half-sleeping, half-waking, passing all our lives in a haze; this is the fate of every one of us… When we dream, the things we see all seem to be connected; during the dream we never think they are incongruous. It is only when we wake that we see the want of connection.
When we wake from this dream of the world and compare it with the Reality, it will be found all incongruous nonsense, a mass of incongruity passing before us, we do not know whence or whither, but we know it will end; and this is called Maya.’”
On Sunday morning we will look further into Swami Vivekananda’s definition of Maya, and discuss Sri Krishna’s explanation of how we can wake from Maya’s spell.
June 18 - Open Forum on Karma Yoga:
Br. Shankara will be away this Sunday morning. Cyndi Craven will read a short introduction on Karma Yoga, supplied by Br. Shankara, and then facilitate a discussion of practices and thoughts about karma yoga in our own lives. Please join us!
June 25 - “It’s All True!”
w/Swami Bodhananda (Head of the Sambodh Foundation)
Swami Bodhananda, Head of the Sambodh Foundation, with ashrams in the U.S., India, and elsewhere, very kindly takes time to visit our Center during his annual stay in Atlanta. This year we will welcome the Swami at 11am on Sunday, June 25, when he will speak to us on Karma Yoga.
Looking ahead...
July 4, 12-3pm (Wednesday) - July 4th Celebration
There will be a short talk on Swamiji (Swami Vivekananda) by Br. Shankara, and songs and readings by the congregation, followed by a potluck lunch on the sunporch and outdoors, or in the Fellowship Hall, depending on the weather. Please join us!
July 25 - August 1 (Tuesday to Tuesday) - Swami Sarvadevananda will visit with us for a week. Please contact Br. Shankara if you would like a private meeting with the Swami. FYI, initiations will be done on Wednesday July 26, in the early morning, followed by breakfast with the initiates.
August 4 - 6 (Friday to Sunday) - Swami Ishtananda, Minister of the Vedanta Center of St. Petersburg, Florida, will visit with us and offer a program (details TBA).
September (dates TBA) - Pr. Vidyaprana will be with us for a weekend in September to continue her talks on consciousness and Advaita Vedanta - dates and program TBA.
This Fall (dates TBA) - Swami Harinamananda is scheduling a long weekend with us for this Fall, dates and program TBA.
December 16 - 17 (Saturday & Sunday) - Swami Yogatmananda will be with us for the weekend (details TBA).
