Vedanta Center of Atlanta: September events

9/29/2019 10:30 AM

Vedanta Center of Atlanta: September 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.

Note: 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.
Spiritual talks and classes are open to the public and free of charge.

September 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.

Sunday, September 1, 11am to 12noon
Talk: That Thou Art w/Br. Shankara

The Upanishads … Sage Vasishta … Bhagavad Gita … Lord Jesus Christ … Adi Shakaracharya … Devi Mahatmyam … Sri Ramakrishna, and Vivekananda
Each of these sacred scriptures and great teachers tells us: Your essential, original nature is the Divine Presence itself. As we start our talks and classes again after the summer break, this will be our recurring, underlying theme: Tat Tvam Asi — That Thou Art!
On Sunday morning we will take a close look at that Mahavakya (Great Saying), and explore how it is offered to us by each of the sources above.

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Sept. 7, 9am (Sat)
Chanting of the Chandi Hymns in Sanskrit,
led by Rita Bhandarkar Mathew

Sept. 7, 10am-2pm (Sat)
Seva Saturday
Join us as you are able, to care for and improve your Center.
Vegetarian lunch served at 12:30pm.

Sunday, September 8, 11am to 12noon

“Nonviolent Communication” w/Clarice L. Belcher

Clarice_L_Belcher_ On Sunday, September 8, Clarice L. Belcher will introduce the basic ideas in Nonviolent Communication and explore how it can be applied to our daily lives.

For those who resonate with this, Clarice will offer a three-hour workshop on Saturday, September 14, from 10am to 1pm for deeper exploration. Materials will be supplied. There will be no charge for either session. Starting next week there will be a link, so that you can RSVP for her workshop. Clarice needs to know how many are coming, so there will be enough materials.

Here’s a summary of her Sunday talk:

In these challenging times, when individuals feel frustrations at work and at home, communication can feel alienating and angering, and we risk feeling stuck in an endless loop of dialogues that are less than satisfying and certainly not peaceful. Some individuals will shut down as a result and disappear while others will increase their presence by bringing in loud and noisy language.

book_cover In his seminal work, Nonviolent Communication, Marshall Rosenberg shares how we can bring our best selves to the table, how we can stay connected to what is alive in us and in others, and how we can invoke connection in dialogue rather than dissension. Nonviolent Communication explores the ways in which we are violent in our conversations with others and offers a better way — a middle way — of expressing what is alive in us and in others.

Through Marshall’s unique approach to effective communication, we see how to:

Create an environment where differences can be safely expressed.
Address tensions without making anyone wrong.
Hear the real issue beneath an angry remark.
Generate meaningful dialogue where everyone feels heard and understood.
Hear the yes behind the no.
Cultivate a practice that keeps us connected to the best in ourselves.

Clarice’s experience with Nonviolent Communication began in 2001. In 2003 and in 2005, Marshall Rosenberg came to Atlanta, offering, respectively, a five-day workshop and a 10-day international intensive, both of which Clarice attended. Since then, Clarice has been practicing the principles of nonviolent communication, offering workshops and practice groups for others interested in the work.

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Sept. 14, 9am (Sat)
Chandi Hymns recited in English w/ Br. Shankara

Sept. 14, 10am-1pm (Sat)
Workshop on Nonviolent Communication
w/Clarice L. Belcher
RSVP required ... See our website for details!

Sept. 15 @ 11am
Talk: Vedic Astrology: the Charts of Sri Ramakrishna
and other Great Teachers
w/ Ryan NeuCollins

VCA Board of Trustees member Ryan NeuCollins has been practicing Jyotish, or Vedic Astrology, for seven years. This Sunday, she’ll discuss differences and similarities between the charts of spiritual leaders from three major faith traditions: St. Francis of Assisi, the Dalai Lama, and Ramakrishna. Within the talk, she’ll present a brief biography on each leader, then focus on four features within Vedic charts that reveal spiritual advancement.

Although Jyotish is a very complicated subject, this presentation will be simple enough for beginners to follow, and by its end, audience members will understand the basics of chart analysis.

St_Francis Ramakrishna_

HHDL

Sept. 22 @ 11am
Talk: Feeling the Living Presence
w/ Swami Bodhananda Saraswati,
Founder, Sambodh Society

Swami Bodhananda Saraswati is an Indian spiritual leader and teacher of meditation, Yoga and Vedanta. He is the Spiritual Founder and Chairman of The Sambodh Foundation in India, The Sambodh Society Inc. USA, and other organizations.

About the Swami and Sambodh Society Inc. USA:
http://sambodh.us/SS/abtSB/abtSB.html

Sept. 24 - 26 (Tues - Thurs)

Swami Sarvadevanandaji will visit!
Tuesday, 9/24, 7-8pm, Talk, topic tba.
8-9pm: Reception and potluck supper for the Swami,
followed by satsang in the monastery Library.

Wednesday, 9/25, 8-9pm: Swami will lead Jnana Yoga class.

If you want to take part in this year's Navaratri Chanting, from September 28th to October 8th, you can email your pledge to info@vedantaatlanta.org. Please note that we’ll also have a sign-up sheet in the Center’s Monastery, starting this coming Tuesday.

Here is a letter from Swami Sarvadevanandaji regarding this year’s Navaratri Chanting:

Dear All,

My loving greetings and best wishes for you all.

Divine Mother is here always within us but this is the time of the year when we celebrate Her special manifestation of Mother Durga both within and without. Her Puja is right around the corner (Sunday, October 6th).

September 28th is Mahalaya, the day Durga Puja season begins.

I invite and encourage the devotees everywhere to pledge for extra "Jai Sri Durga" Japam during this coming auspicious Navaratri to Vijaya Dashami (28th September to 8th October) of this year 2019.

When all of us repeat either “Jai Sri Durga” or our own mantra an extra number of times each day during the sacred Durga Puja season, it brings at least two benefits:

1) It helps us to stretch ourselves to have a greater capacity for spiritual practice that brings spiritual benefit to us as individual.

2) The spiritual energy produced and the merit that it brings for each 100,000 repetitions is equal to one Grand Durga Puja performance that produces welfare to the humanity as a whole.

Revered Swami Swahanandaji inaugurated this practice of chanting Jai Sri Durga (or your own mantra) during this time, and he used to say that every 100,000 repetitions of Jai Sri Durga (or our own mantra) is equal to the spiritual benefits of performing an entire Durga Puja (which is a serious amount of auspiciousness!).

Though it is best to be as consistent to do japa everyday, as far as possible, yet if one gets behind the number pledged one day, one can make up that difference the next day.

Counting may be done by using a Mala (Rosary) or by tally counter or simply by observing how long it takes to do one thousand (thereby one does not have to focus on the counting but can know the number by watching the time only).

Mother's blessings,

Sarvadevananda

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Note from Br. Shankara: Please do take part in this year’s Navaratri chanting (“Jai Sri Durga”) (9-28 to 10-8-19). If this practice is new to you and you would like to discuss its benefits, see me after a class or after next Sunday’s talk.

May you be well and in bright spirits — Jai Ma Durga!

Sept. 29 @ 11am-noon
Talk: Serenity
w/ Br. Shankara

It is hard to believe that a lake, whipped into waves by a storm, can return to a state of serenity, where its surface reflects like a perfect mirror. Yet, it surely does. Serenity means the state of being calm and peaceful.

Your mind, even when agitated by strong winds of anger, passion or desire, also can return to serenity. Happiness and serenity are your natural condition — but they are hidden from you by a stubborn, inborn ignorance.

The goal of spiritual practice is to dispel this ignorance and calm your mind. In that serene state, joy spontaneously arises and your true original nature — a spiritual being born of divine love — may be revealed to you.

This coming Sunday morning Br. Shankara will offer four specific steps that can lead you to greater truth about your Self and greater serenity.
This talk is offered as a tribute to Pop Taylor, the minister who led the Grace Methodist Church in Riverside, California, during the 1940s and 1950s. Rev. Taylor was an inspiration and spiritual guide to the nine-year-old boy who later became Br. Shankara.

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