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Calender Events ofSeptember 2011

01 Thursday - Vinayaka Chaturthi (After Evening Arati)

08 Thursday - Ekadasi

22 Thursday - Swami Abhedananda Jayanti

23 Friday - Ekadasi

27 Tuesday - Mahalaya &Swami Akhandananda Jayanti

Calender Events ofAugust 2011

09 Tuesday - Ekadasi

13 Saturday -Swami Niranjananda Jayanti

21 Sunday - Sri Krishna Janmastami (After Evening Aarati)

25 Thursday - Ekadasi

28 Sunday -Swami Advaitananda Jayanti

Content Page No.

Calender Events and Contents 1

Sri Krishna Janmastami - A Report 2

Ganesh Chaturthi 3

Swami Abhedananda Jayanti 5

Swami Akhandananda Jayanti 7

Human Excellence Courses Schedule 9

11th Foundation Day Celebrations 10

Spoken English & Other LanguagesAdmission Details 12

Chronos of Ramakrishna Math, Hyd. 14

September 2011

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SRI KRISHNA JANMASTAMIA Report

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GANESH CHATURTHIOn Thursday 1st September

Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most popular of Hindu festivals. This is the birthday of LordGanesha. It is the day most sacred to Lord Ganesha. It falls on the 4th day of the brightfortnight of Bhadrapada (August-September). It is observed throughout India, as well as bydevoted Hindus in all parts of the world. Clay figures of the Deity are made and after beingworshipped for two days, or in some cases ten days, they are immersed into water.

Lord Ganesha is the elephant-headed God. He is worshipped and His names are repeatedbefore any auspicious work is begun. He is the Lord of power and wisdom. He is the eldestson of Lord Shiva and the elder brother of Skanda or Kartikeya.

The following story is narrated about His birth and how He came to have the head of anelephant:

Once upon a time, the Goddess Gauri (consort of Lord Shiva), while bathing, created Ganeshaas a pure white being out of the mud of Her Body and placed Him at the entrance of thehouse. She told Him not to allow anyone to enter while she went inside for a bath. Lord ShivaHimself was returning home quite thirsty and was stopped by Ganesha at the gate. Shivabecame angry and cut off Ganesha’s head as He thought Ganesha was an outsider. WhenGauri came to know of this she was sorely grieved. To console her, Shiva ordered Hisservants to cut off and bring to Him the head of any creature that might be sleeping with itshead facing north. The servants went on their mission and found only an elephant in thatposition. The sacrifice was thus made and the elephant’s head was brought before Shiva.The Lord then joined the elephant’s head onto the body of Ganesha.

Lord Shiva made His son worthy of worship at the beginning of all undertakings, marriages,expeditions, studies, etc. He ordained that the annual worship of Ganesha should take placeon the 4th day of the bright half of Bhadrapada.

Lord Ganesha represents Om or the Pranava, which is the chief Mantra among the Hindus.Nothing can be done without uttering it. This explains the practice of invoking Ganeshabefore beginning any rite or undertaking any project. His two feet represent the power ofknowledge and the power of action. The elephant head is significant in that it is the onlyfigure in nature that has the form of the symbol for Om. Lord Ganesha’s two powers are theKundalini and the Vallabha or power of love. The significance of riding on a mouse is thecomplete conquest over egoism. The holding of the ankusha represents His rulership of theworld. It is the emblem of divine Royalty.

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Ganesha is the first God. Riding on a mouse, one of nature’s smallest creatures and havingthe head of an elephant, the biggest of all animals, denotes that Ganesha is the creator of allcreatures. Elephants are very wise animals; this indicates that Lord Ganesha is an embodimentof wisdom. It also denotes the process of evolution—the mouse gradually evolves into anelephant and finally becomes a man. This is why Ganesha has a human body, an elephant’shead and a mouse as His vehicle. This is the symbolic philosophy of His form.

In the Ganapathi Upanishad, Ganesha is identified with the Supreme Self. The legends thatare connected with Lord Ganesha are recorded in the Ganesha Khanda of the BrahmaVivartha Purana. On the Ganesh Chaturthi day, meditate on the stories connected withLord Ganesha early in the morning, during the Brahmamuhurta period. Then, after taking abath, go to the temple and do the prayers of Lord Ganesha. Offer Him some coconut andsweet pudding. Pray with faith and devotion that He may remove all the obstacles that youexperience on the spiritual path. Have an image of Lord Ganesha in your house. Feel HisPresence in it.

Take fresh spiritual resolves and pray to Lord Ganesha for inner spiritual strength to attainsuccess in all your undertakings. May the blessings of Sri Ganesha be upon you all! May Heremove all the obstacles that stand in your spiritual path! May He bestow on you all Bhukti(material prosperity) as well as Mukti (liberation)!

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Swami Abhedananda, originally Kali Prasad Chandra, was a scholar in Sanskrit and hadstudied Western Philosophy. He was initially attracted towards Christianity but turned towardsHinduism after listening to the lectures of Brahmo leaders. Having become fascinated by theYoga Sutras of Patanjali, he was eager to find someone who could teach him to follow themethods of meditation they prescribe. Born in a fairly well-to-do family, Kali had a greateagerness to learn yoga from his boyhood. He gained a good grounding in Sanskrit andEnglish. At the age of 18, when he was studying for the school final examination, he went toDakshineswar and met Sri Ramakrishna. Under the guidance of the Master, Kali practicedmeditation and was soon blessed with several visions. Kali became a frequent visitor toDakshineswar. He served the Master during his last illness. After the Master’s passing away,he joined the Baranagar Math and underwent sannyasa ordination, assuming the name SwamiAbhedananda. At the Baranagar Math he used to shut himself up in a room and do intensemeditation or study. This earned him the sobriquet “Kali Tapasvi”. He spent several yearsvisiting places of pilgrimage on foot.

In 1896, Swami Vivekananda brought him to London for Vedanta work. From there he wenton to New York after a year and took charge of the Vedanta Society. He stayed in Americauntil 1921 teaching and lecturing. His profundity of scholarship, incisive intellect and oratoricalpower elicited widespread admiration, and people thronged to listen to him. He was also aprolific writer and his books on life after death, etc. are famous. He was the author of severalbooks: Reincarnation, How to be a Yogi, India and her People, Atmabikash, Vedantabani,Hindu Dharme Narir Sthan. He edited a monthly magazine Viswabani for nine years.

After his long and successful work in America, Swami Abhedananda returned to India in1923 and established his own Sri Ramakrishna Vedanta Society. On a visit to Darjeeling inMay 1923 he greatly benefitted by the beauty of the place and its invigorating climate. Thefollowing year he returned and bought a cottage on a piece of land and established RamakrishnaVedanta Ashram, with an attached primary school, a charitable dispensary and memorialbuilding in the name of Sister Nivedita, who had passed away there in 1911.

Though he set up a separate Vedanta Society, he maintained cordial relationship with hisbrother monks at Belur Math which he visited occasionally. He remained a trustee of theRamakrishna Math and Mission all through his life. He presided over the Parliament ofReligions at the Town Hal, Kolkata, as a part of the celebration of the Birth Centenary of SriRamakrishna. He introduced himself as “I stand here not as a delegate from any institutionnor as the president of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of Calcutta, but as a humble childof Sri Ramakrishna.”

SWAMI ABHEDANANDA (1866 – 1939)On September 22nd Thursday - Swami Abhedananda Jayanti

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He left the mortal frame on 8 September 1939. Towards the end of his life, this great austereVedantin told his disciples: “Tapasya or austerity enhances the willpower. Have faith inyourself. Think: I am a child of Immortal Bliss. The infinite power is playing within me. If youhave this conviction, you will conquer the world.”

Of all the contributions that Swami Abhedananda made to Ramakrishna Movement, the mostwidely appreciated and enduring one is his composition of sublime and beautiful hymns (inSanskrit) on Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Devi. His hymn to Holy Mother beginning withPrakritim paramam abhayam varadam, which is sung in many ashramas and homes, isunrivalled in the depth of conception and felicity of expression.

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Life

‘I do not covet earthly kingdom, or heaven, or even salvation. The only thing I desire is theremoval of the miseries of the afflicted!’ If these words of Prahlada, the great devotee, couldbe found truly reflected in anyone’s life, it was in the life of Swami Akhandananda, the thirdPresident of the Ramakrishna Order. The Swami, known as Gangadhar Ghatak beforeordination into Sannyasa, was born on the 30th September 1864 in Calcutta. Even in hisboyhood days Gangadhar was deeply religious and orthodox to the point of being dubbedas ‘oldish’ even by Sri Ramakrishna himself! As a corrective measure Sri Ramakrishnaintroduced him to Narendranath (Swami Vivekananda) who was, for all outward appearancesvery heterodox, but inside him he had nothing but God. This acquaintance matured into adeep and lifelong friendship between them.

After the demise of the Master, Gangadhar, who took monastic orders and became ‘SwamiAkhandananda’, led the unfettered life of a wandering monk. For three years he roamed inthe Himalayas and visited Tibet also three times. Because of his experience in the Himalayas,Swami Vivekananda took him as his guide in his sojourn there.

Swami Vivekananda’s burning words to do something for the poor and illiterate masses,inspired Swami Akhandananda to do some good work for the education of poor childrenboth in Khetri and in Udaipur. Finally he started an orphanage at the village of Sargacchi inthe Murshidabad district of Bengal where he had gone to conduct famine relief work. He andthe institution grew up with each other.

On the death of Swami Shivananda, Swami Akhandananda was elected as the third Presidentof the Ramakrishna Order.

The Swami had a flair for learning languages, which brought him into intimate contact withthe people wherever he went. His childlike simplicity endeared him to one and all. His austerityand scholarship were a source of inspiration for many. He breathed his last on February 7,1937.

A few years before passing away, the swami told a monk his life’s philosophy: “The Masterhas still kept me alive for his work. Distribute your Self among others and bring other soulswithin yourself. You will see how much joy you will get from it. On the other hand if you arealways busy about yourself, you will be entangled within yourself, you will kill your Self andyou will die. The more you disseminate yourself among the people, the more you will attainbliss and that will lead you to Self-realisation.”

SWAMI AKHANDANANDA (1864 – 1937)On September 27th Tuesday - Swami Akhandananda Jayanti

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Teachings

The spiritual path for the present age lies through the harmony of all paths of earlier ages—harmony of knowledge, devotion and selfless work. We must have knowledge, devotion andservice. It won’t do to have only one.

In this age of Kali, one thing that counts is the Lord’s name. Go on repeating His name, thatwill bear fruit in time.

No work should be considered degrading. All works are His. Swamiji himself scourged thevessels. When you sweep the floor or dress vegetables, think that you are doing His work.

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Vivekananda Institute of LanguagesNew Admissions - Spoken English

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New Admissions - Other Languages

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* Universal Temple of Sri Ramakrishna : (open to all, except for children below sevenyears) 5.00 a.m to 12 noon & 4 p.m to8.15 p.m; 5 a.m - Mangal Arati 9.30 a.m - Puja, 6.45 p.m Arati and bhajans (After evening Arati,there will be Ramanamam Sankirtana on Ekadasidays, and Special Bhajans Programme on Satur-day, Sunday and other festival days.)

* Basement Hall of the temple : Telugu weekly discourse & MeditationSaturday (5.45 p.m to 6.45 p.m)

* Vivekananda Auditorium : English weekly discourse Sunday (5.45 p.mto 6.45 p.m)

* Office : 8.30 to 12.00PM - 4.30 to 7.30PM

* Book Stall : 9.00 a.m to 1.00 p.m & 4.00 p.m to 8.00p.m(Book Stall adjacent to Gita DarshanBuilding is open on all days from 9.00 a.m to8.00p.m)

Chronos