The Truth Of Ego (and Surrender) By Pujya Swami Dayananda

DEFINITION OF EGO Ego is that which owns up to any type of activity. For example, when I see I say, ‘This is my sight’. The one who owns up to the activity of seeing, the one who is the subject behind seeing, behind hearing, tasting, smelling, thinking, or doing anything, is what is meant by the kartā, or the ego, or ahaṅkāra. To say that one should surrender one's ego to the Lord is a very common statement that is much too simplistic in terms of understanding what is meant by surrender. First of all, I do not know who or what the Lord is. Further, why should I surrender the only ego that I have to this Lord? As it is I have only a few things and these things are owned by this ego. If I surrender it to the Lord what will I get in return? ‘Everything’, I am told. The question that would arise would be, ‘If the ego is already surrendered, who will get everything?’ Once I have surrendered my ego I become totally decimated. Then, who is there to get anything out of that surrender? Nobody. Therefore that type of surrender is useless.

Inside this Issue!Article by Pujya Swamiji!Article by Swaminiji!!Gurukulam News!One Week Atlanta Retreat !Upcoming CD Releases!Retreat in Detroit, MI!Gurupūrṇima 2014!July-August Atlanta Week Retreat!!Reflections!Photo Pages:!Peru!! ! Detroit!! ! Atlanta!! ! Sivananda Yoga Farm!The Many Forms of Goddess Mūkāmbikā!!Regular Features!Satsang with Swaminiji!Swaminiji’s Travel/Teaching Schedule

स"#ताSūktā

Arsha Vijnana Gurukulam

Autumn 2014

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The next question is, ‘Who is surrendering the ego?’ Somebody has to do the surrendering. It is the ego that has to surrender itself and that is not possible. If I am wearing a coat I can surrender the coat. I can hang it somewhere, or put it on someone’s shoulders. Also, when I am the owner of the coat it is easy to surrender it. If I am not the owner of the coat I can ask you to take it but I cannot surrender it because it does not belong to me. Similarly, I am told that the ahaṅkāra, the ego, belongs to the Lord and that I must surrender it. How can I surrender what does not belong to me? I can only surrender what belongs to me. And, if it belongs to the Lord how is it that I do not know this? In fact, I think that everything belongs to me, including the Lord. Why else would I address him as ‘My Lord’? To address the Lord I must be there; because I am here, there is the Lord. If I am not here, then where is the Lord? He is the Lord because I call him ‘Lord’! If there is a Lord, and this Lord includes everything, then I have nothing to surrender. I have only to know. Furthermore, if I have to surrender to a Lord who is separate from me, then I am the ego. Who then is to surrender this ego? The ego alone has to surrender. How can the ego surrender? The one who surrenders is the ego, and being the one who surrenders, the ego can only surrender what it owns. The owner cannot be surrendered. If the ego has to surrender to the Lord, something else must be there to surrender it, which can only be another ego, because whoever owns up

to the act of surrender is the ego. The ego requires an ego which requires yet another ego! Thus, we find ourselves in infinite regression. How then are we going to surrender our ego to the Lord? SURRENDER IS AN ATTITUDE Surrender is an attitude, a mature attitude. There is no other surrender than this. Surrender as such is not possible for the ego because it

cannot surrender itself. But, with an attitude of surrender I can deflate the ego. I can appreciate that there is nothing in this creation that is authored by me, that everything is given to me, including my physical body, mind, and senses. What is given to me is not mine. When I say, ‘I am just a trustee, O Lord, and you are the giver’, the ego is what tells me all this. Thus, surrender can be only in terms of attitude. Then how does one get rid of samsāra? Only by getting rid of the ego, the kartā. And, if surrender is not possible, how does one get rid of the ego? In the name of getting rid of everything else, the ego remains in one form or the other because it cannot get rid of itself. It remains to say things like, ‘I am the most charitable person around’.

Even a person who does not talk about his or her good actions, may think of himself or herself as a humble person and say, ‘I never mention all of the charities I have done. I don't boast about them. Ask anyone and they will tell you that this is so’; the ego knows very well how to sustain and perpetuate itself in so many ways.

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Because the ego, the kartā, is always there in one form or the other, it cannot be defeated — except by the one who undertakes an inquiry into ‘Who am I?’ A person can study every philosophy there is and the ego will remain saying, ‘I am a philosopher’. Only when the question, ‘Who am I?’ is asked is the ego in trouble. Why? The ego, the kartā, is really an impostor, a superimposition. There is no kartṛtva, no doership because it is mithyā, dependent on ātman. NEGATION BY KNOWLEDGE When the truth of oneself is recognised the ego does not go, strictly speaking. Rather, this recognition is what makes one see the ego as mithyā - that which has no independent reality of its own. The ‘going’ of the ego is purely in terms of negation, bādhā, or destruction, nāśa, by knowledge. The word ‘destruction’ is generally used in a physical sense, such as destroying an object so that it no longer exists in that form. Here, destruction of the ego is purely in terms of negation, bādhā. Negation by knowledge occurs when an object is there, but its reality is taken away. For example, you can enjoy the blue sky and, at the same time knowing that the sky is not really blue, dismiss its blueness. Or, enjoying a movie you can dismiss its reality. A child, on the other hand cannot dismiss the movie as unreal because for the child the elephants, tigers, and everything in the movie are real. The child may even cry, not knowing that the objects and situations in the movie are only appearances and, therefore, mithyā. Until the child knows the movie is

mithyā, the movie will remain real. This knowing comes by negation, bādhā, understanding an object or situation and removing the reality of it. Similarly, the ego is not removed but the fact that it has no independent existence is understood. And what does the ego that everyone has, depend upon? What is it that exists independently, without depending on the ego, upon which everything else depends? The ego depends for its existence on the self, which is not the ego. Therefore, the self is the truth of every ego. There is one truth for every ego and everything that is done by the ego, and that truth, satya, is called ātman or the self. The self is the very content of the ego, without which there is no ego. This one satya, ātman, is not the ego and is akartā. Then who is the kartā? The ego alone is the kartā. To be a kartā, you must have thought and this thought has its being in ‘I’ consciousness. Therefore, you say, ‘I am the doer’. Doership itself is a thought centred on ‘I’. What is to be understood here is that while thought is centred on ‘I’, ‘I’ itself is not centred on thought.

Recognition of this fact is not the elimination or removal of thought. It is understanding — understanding the truth of ‘I’. Om Tat Sat

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The word “medha” means intellect, and “sūkta” means “well said.” In the Veda, there is an abiding practice of naming prayers as “sūkta.” We have several kinds of sūkta —Puruṣa Sūkta, Devi Sūkta, Durgā Sūkta, Navagraha Sūkta, and so on. The Medha Sūktam is a praise chant for Goddess Medha, the presiding deity of the intellect. Blessed by the śakti of Goddess Medha, alone, the intellect functions in various ways, ranging from simple decisions in one’s everyday life to highly committed and f o c u s s e d p u r s u i t s , including the ultimate p u r s u i t o f mokṣa , liberation from samsāra. Medha śakti is grasping power and retention. Both these aspects are very important for the mind to function properly. Goddess Medha also bestows the power of making correct decisions --decisions that are in the flow of dharma, the universal matrix of norms that indicate what is right and appropriate. This flow of dharma is sensed easily in a mind blessed by Medha. Invoking Goddess Medha removes obstacles in the form of strong desires that exert pressure to go against dharma. In this praise chant, we pray to Goddess Medha to purify our intellect and to bless us with knowledge and learning. The author would like to acknowledge Sri Swami Tattvavidanandaji’s work on the Medha Sūktam, which helped immensely in producing an authentic translation.

Available SoonIn the Kaṭhopaniṣad and the Bhagavad Gītā, the tree of samsāra is visualized as an ever-growing and self-perpetuating tree, with adventitious roots. The source of this tree is Brahman, the Lord, truth of the self and the universe, which is unseen and beyond objectification. This is the truth that is to be known. Yet, one gets embroiled in the world that is seen and heard, and thereby misses the truth of the self. In these selected verses, the Kaṭhopaniṣad expounds an easy way to understand the adored Bhagavān — b y connecting to various laws of Bhagavān that

are manifest in the jagat. The entire universe in the form of infallible laws bows to the will of the Lord. Although the Lord is the creator of the universe, the universe is non-separate from the Lord. This Bhagavān is to be understood as the truth of one’s own self. Felling the tree of samsāra, therefore, requires sharpening the axe of asaṅgatvam, the cultivation of vairāgya, non-involvement towards all things and pursuits that are finite and perishable. In this way, by committing oneself to the study of the Upaniṣads, and understanding the Lord as the truth of the self, one becomes free of samsāra, an endless quest to remove self-judgment and inadequacy.

Medha Suktamswamini svatmavidyananda

Devanāgarī text with transliteration and English translation

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es fr

om Kathopanishad

swamini svatmavidyananda

Devanāgarī text with transliteration and English translation

Felling the Tree of Samsāra

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Hastāmalakīyam is an extemporaneous c o m p o s i t i o n i n chaste Sanskrit by a young lad in his first meeting with Adi Śaṅkara . T h e  parents of this boy brought him to see the sage because they were concerned that he had not spoken a single word although he was twelve years old. Adi Śaṅkara asked the boy who he was, and the boy replied that he was the nature of l i m i t l e s s c o n s c i o u s n e s s , space-like and pure, ever untainted by the changes in the body-

mind-sense complex. Impressed by the depths of his knowledge, Adi Śaṅkara initiated him into sannyāsa and named him Hastāmalaka, the one whose grasp of the knowledge is as effortless as holding a gooseberry in the palm of the hand: haste āmalaka iva. This series of talks expound the text verse by verse, and is accompanied by a booklet with transliteration and translation for the listeners’ convenience.

Recently a request was sent out for help to save Sūkta. The newsletter, which started out as a compact volume of seven pages, has grown throughout the years, reaching close to 40 pages in some editions, but generally hovering around 30 pages.

Seeing the strong and committed responses that have so far been received, we are very pleased that Sūktā has a place in people’s lives and we are happy to inform you that Sūktā is going to continue. It is always a good idea to revisit the vision and mission statement for the Sūktā Newsletter, and digging through our archives, we found that we had originally envisaged the Sūktā newsletter to have a threefold purpose: 1. To offer the readers the best of the teachings of the Arsha lineage of Pujya Swami Dayanandaji, and Swamini Svatmavidyananda; 2. To function as a medium through which sādhakas in various places could communicate, be connected to, and celebrate Vedānta; and 3. To serve as a tool of dissemination of information of classes and activities of the various centers.

While the vision statement is very clear, we will be working towards honing the Sūktā newsletter to better serve its purpose. To this end, we invite feedback from all of you to let us know what kinds of things you have enjoyed reading in the newsletter, and what kinds of things you would like to see changed.

We wish the readers a very happy dīpavali. May the light of all lights, the truth of the self, triumph over the darkness of ajñānam. May there be abundance, joy, knowledge, and peace in all hearts. May all be happy.

Om tat sat

Swamini Svatmavidyananda and Janani

EditorialAvailable Soon

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In the vision of the Vedas, there is only one presence, one source, known as Brahman, which is limitless and all-pervasive, invoked as the creator and the truth of the self. We have never been preoccupied with this one-God-many-Gods business. For us, there is only God. The air we breathe, the light of the sun, oceans, rivers, mountains, and forests, seeds and plants- are all manifestations of Brahman, God. Therefore, every atom of this creation is sacred. Unlike certain theologies that tout human dominion over nature, over the “soulless” world of animals and plants, in the Hindu tradition, the relationship advocated between humans and the natural world is one of harmonic interdependence, whose guiding tenet is ahiṃsa, non-injury. The Vedas, which reveal the interconnectedness of everything, teach us to revere all life-forms by doing our part in preserving this creation. The Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita consider the need to care for one’s natural habitat as a moral imperative of one’s being, and a unique opportunity for one’s spiritual growth. Since everything in creation is interconnected, the well-being of our surroundings is inextricably connected to our own well-being. The Bhagavad Gītā says that anyone who refrains from participating in the sacred reciprocity of caring is to be considered as a thief who disrupts the cosmic equilibrium for the sake of his/her own pleasure and consumption, and whose life, therefore, is a burden on Mother Earth. These timeless and universal tenets of non-injury and reverence for all things are extremely pertinent for the contemporary world where diversity has been beheaded at the altar of homogenization, leading to the ascent of a dangerous monoculture that is fast eclipsing all aspects of life, from the diet we ingest to the deities we invoke. This has led to a growing disconnect

between humans and nature, a separation that we can no longer afford to feed. In this regard, the desecration of the seed by agribusinesses such as Monsanto has become a metaphor for disrupting the most subtle and sacred of nature’s bounty - the gift of diversity. Manipulating the seed that represents biodiversity to conform to the profit demands of a reigning

monoculture has dire consequences for our ecosystem, which includes our bodies and minds. The seed represents the storehouse of

knowledge and diversity and contains the blueprint of life on Earth. Extreme genetic engineering, leading to “terminator seeds”, making them incapable of reproduction, is a rank example of self-sabotage. In sowing such seeds, we are sowing land mines that will one day erupt into a raging cacophony of dissonance, destroying everything in its wake, causing pathologies too deviant to reverse. When we violate ecological laws, we have to bear the brunt of the consequences of our actions. Before we become deaf-mute spectators to the inevitable chain of events that will seal the fate of the future generations of life as we know it, let us together heed the timeless call of the collective wisdom of ancient cultures that speak the common tongue of oneness and compassion, of diversity and mutual interdependence. In so doing, we participate in the

steady flow of a cosmic ecology of reciprocity and sacred exchange. Such a lifestyle expresses itself by celebrating

diversity at all levels-religious, cultural and biodiversity. This is the best defense against the tyrannical reign of monopolizing

cultures. Article reproduced from The Sacred Seed, published by The Golden Sufi Center

Publishing, 2014.

Cosmic Ecology and Diversity: Lessons from the Vedas by Swaminiji

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Swaminiji in Peru September 2014

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PURUSA SUKTA

Swamini Svatmavidyanandaji spent 5 hours in 3 sessions on the topic of Puruṣa Suktam, which is a hymn of Rig veda, dedicated to the Puruṣa – The “cosmic being”. The seer of this world is Ṛiṣi Nārāyana, and this sukta can evoke God in the seeker. Swamini Svatmavidyanandaji’s elucidation was erudite, crisp and clear. At the very outset she clarified certain important points, and gave a definition so that confusion could be avoided.

The 3 sessions were held at the residence of Prem & Urmilla Khilanani

followed by Q&A and Prasadam

A. MEANING OF PURUṢA SUKTAM:

SUKTAM comes from SU UKTAM, which means It cannot be said in any other way, revealed to the Ṛiṣis, is useful to us, not gained through any other way, for which there is no other substitute, should make sense

and which serves a function in our life, it reveals injunctions, prohibitions and the truth, like tat tvam asi.

B. FUNCTION:

Puruṣa Suktam serves several functions. It acts as a prayer or invocation, recharge or reiterate the connections between myself and the whole, serve as a legitimate channel for fulfillment of my desires, petition from the devotee from the alter of surrender to Bhagavān. a prayer from the most exalted Ṛiṣis to my lineage, raises my self-confidence and self-esteem, reveals the nature of Bhagavān and my connection to Bhagavān. Bhagavān is described not as infallible, but that which is infallible is Bhagavān.

C. PURUSA HAS 2 MEANINGS & DERIVATIONS:

1. “puruṣa” :

Which lives and sleeps in the citadel of nine gates, inaccessible and remote, always sleeping the sleep of ignorance, centered on I, slumbering to the fact that I am the most glorious thing there is, regardless of short-comings, connected to my body, mind, senses and desires, sleeping on the pillow of ignorance that “I am bad, short, tall, fair, dark, ignorant”, without knowing the real svarūpa, conducting transactions from the assumption that one is finite, has limited resources and capacity, takes for granted that these limited resources are a source of bother for oneself, living with a sense of bondage called samsara and feels problem is always with jagat and outside, but not within himself, blaming others, always worried. He is caught in the quicksand of rāgas and dveṣas, resulting in hopelessness, sorrow and trapped in the cycle of birth and death (birth and death are just bookends, and in between lies samsāra).

2. “PURUṢA” :

Sthūla sūkṣma kāraṇa sarīrād vyatiriktaḥ, Paṅca koṣātitah sannavastha traya sakṣi, Saccidānanda svarūpa san yastiṣthati sa ātmā.

The one who is distinct from gross, subtle and causal bodies, who is beyond the five levels of experience, being the witness of the three

RETREAT IN DETROIT MICHIGAN by Prem Khilanani

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states of experience, that which remains in the form of existence, consciousness, and fullness, He is the self.

D. PRAYER:

Puruṣa Suktam is a prayer through sur render and supp l ica t ion , and establishes a relationship with the source.

Prayer is an action which creates dṛṣṭa and adṛṣṭa phala resulting in puṇya and pāpa. Puṇya produces antibodies which neutralizes or mitigates pāpa.

Prayer is a vaccination against forces inimical to one self. The goal is how to repatriate this “I” and how to get rid of samsāra addiction, and relocate “I”.

E. PURUṢA HAS TWO LAKṢANAS :

1. Transcendental or svarūpa:

Sat-cit-ānanda, that which cannot be negated, without a second, same always in three periods of time, in the form of knowledge preceding knower and the known, a limitless, conscious knowing being.

2. Taṭastha or Immanent:

Manifesting as this occupied jagat, everything in the universe comprises of five things: asti, bhāti, priyam, nāma and rūpa.

The self-shining beings called devas decided to understand the truth of one self, and to know this Puruṣa, they perform a yajña.

A. YAJÑA :

Yajña became a metaphor for hard work, self discipline, focus, commitment with the object to know Puruṣa. Abadhnan puruṣam paśum: Not tying up the puruṣa to the yūpa, but fixing our mind on Puruṣa. The spring, the summer, all other elements of the universe participated in this glorious yajña which is called jñāna yajña. In this commitment to know the Puruṣa , even the universe bends backwards to make this event successful.

Puruṣa was sacrified, means the nāma, rūpa, the identification with nāma and rūpa that is a ahaṅkāra, along with rāga, dveṣa was surrendered, and finally the essential glorious nature of Puruṣa was known. The imminent cosmic self.

B. DEVAS :

The devas go back to the drawing board and reconstruct and reconcile the universal jigsaw puzzle to the cosmic body of Immanent Puruṣa. Every part is thus deified. This is a poetic, allegoric or metaphoric way of relating the whole creation to the Immanent Puruṣa. Hence, the immensity of Puruṣa is visualized as a great splendor and appreciated. The goal of vedānta is to cross the tamasic waters of ignorance, and reach the other side where resides the sat-cit-ānanda.

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Retreat in Detroit, MI June 2014

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The words that lay in the texts that we study, only come alive and penetrate the heart and mind of the student when handled by a qualified teacher who studied at the feet of her teacher who studied at the feet of his teacher until the knowledge was completely transmitted and assimilated. It is a process that begins with complete trust in the heart for the one who is extremely blessed to find that teacher. The teacher takes the student with love and compassion, without any condition and then it is up to the student to cultivate the śraddha required for the journey. It can be a bumpy road at times but the teacher is always there, no matter what. Such a rare teacher blesses us here in Eugene, and others who come to her from all over the world, by giving us everything that she has received from her own teacher with ultimate humility and honesty; our teacher, Sr i Swamini Svatmavidyanandaji. There are times when we don’t always know the ways to serve the teacher, how to express our love and gratitude in a special way but this past summer we had an opportunity given to us at Arsha Vijnana Gurukulam on the day of Gurupūrṇima. Swaminiji’s students gathered at the gurukulam on the morning of July 12, 2014. It was a teaching day and so we had our Muṇḍakopaniṣad Bhāśya class in the morning. After the class Swaminiji retired to her kutir briefly, during which time the preparations were completed. When Swaminiji returned we greeted her traditionally with a pūrṇakumbha and ārati. Swaminiji blessed us by letting us perform pada pūja, while chanting in her honor. An altar was set for Pujya Swami Dayanandaji in the same room and it was absolutely beautiful to watch Sri Swaminiji do ārati for Pujya Swamiji after chanting his 108 names that she herself had composed for her teacher. The reverence expressing itself in words, thoughts and

actions on this day is something I carry in my heart on each and every breath for my teacher knowing that it is exactly what she carries for her own teacher. It is a blessing beyond measure to see the paramparā live here in Eugene starting with the presence of Lord Dakṣināmūrti coming all the way down to Swaminiji through Pujya Swamiji, passing from her to Jananisri, and to all of her students ultimately. I fall out of words to express the sacredness of what is granted to us in this life. Today, as I was thinking of how to express such things, I heard the following portion of a shabad at the Sikh Gurudwara, coming from the mouth of Guru Ram Das. My heart filled with the presence of my teacher as I listened to the shabad. I hope you allow me to share the words of the shabad with my prayers for all beings to

meet such a teacher one day. !Raag Soohee, Ashtapadees, Fourth Mehl, Second House: jhakharr jhaagee meehu varasai bhee gur dhaekhan jaaee |13| Even in violent storms and torrential rain, I go out to catch a glimpse of my Guru. ||13|| samundh saagar hovai bahu khaaraa gurasikh langh gur pehi jaaee |14| Even though the oceans and the salty seas are very vast, the GurSikh will cross over it to get to his Guru. ||14|| jio praanee jal bin hai marathaa thio sikh gur bin mar jaaee |15| Just as the mortal dies without water, so does the Sikh die without the Guru. ||15||

jio dharathee sobh karae jal barasai thio sikh gur mil bigasaaee |16| Just as the earth looks beautiful when the rain falls, so does the Sikh blossom forth meeting the Guru. ||16|| saevak kaa hoe saevak varathaa kar kar bino bulaaee |17| I long to be the servant of Your servants; I call upon You reverently in prayer. ||17|| naanak kee baenanthee har pehi gur mil gur sukh paaee |18| Nanak offers this prayer to the Lord, that he may meet the Guru, and find peace. ||18||

GURUPURṆIMA 2014 by Harinder Khalsa

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GURUPŪRṆIMA 2014

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In the July/August Atlanta week-long retreat Swaminiji took Puruṣa Sūktam. This sūkta is well known and oft quoted in various vedas. It unfolds the vision of Vedānta, first explaining the nature of the puruṣa - all pervasive, in whom time and space exist and who itself is not subject to space and time. There follows a discussion on the manifest of the universe and how it comes into being, which helps quell the mind that is not yet ready to accept the mithya nature of the world. Karmas that help prepare one for the knowledge, that are inherent in the traditional Vedic way of life are described, giving one a roadmap, so to speak, for how one can go about preparing the mind for the knowledge. The whole sūkta lends itself well to meditation and contemplation using beautiful metaphors that help one focus the attention. From Monday through Friday evening we listened as Swaminiji gave all the background knowledge necessary to understand the sūkta, and in the process unfolding the whole vision of Vedānta. In fact, several times she commented that people might be worried that she would not get to the verses, so much time was being spent on the ‘introduction’. True as ever to her words, however, Swaminiji covered all the verses. The ‘introduction‘ providing a solid foundation on which one could not but help understand the purport of each śloka. You could see how the time spent on the introduction gave the background necessary, allowing you to understand even verses that have oft been taken out of context. Such is the indicator of a great teacher. Swaminiji continued with, and finished. the Śiva-aparādha-kṣamāpana stotram during the morning classes. Another beautiful text this one, which is attributed to Adi Śhaṅkara, is a prayer that asks that all the

actions, or lack of actions that have resulted in ignore the truth of oneself, and therefore ignoring Iśvara, not be an impediment to gaining the knowledge. Studying with Swaminiji in Atlanta always gives one an opportunity to immerse in the teachings. This committed community of students gather regularly for pūja and festival activities. There is not a week that goes by when there is not some special event or festival. Their ability to organize and publicize these events is to be admired. In between Swaminiji’s visits to the area they attend Gita Home Study groups, give Sanskrit classes and Pūrṇa Vidyā classes. It is always a blessing to be able to study with them !

Why is consciousness one? Why can’t it be many? Consciousness is one because if there were many consciousnesses, mokṣa would not a possibility. Despite "hard evidence" that each thing is different from another, everyone desires oneness and wants to become one with something or another. The researcher in every field wishes to discover this underlying oneness and frequently does so whenever he or she finds a pattern. The existence of a pattern means that there is predictability, that the same laws that apply in all situations. This shows that oneness is yearned for and sensed by all. The upaniṣads tells that this consciousness is one intelligent presence that is ultimate truth of the self. This understanding is not a scientific derivation, but based on śraddha in the upaniṣad. For the upaniṣad to bless, one has to look upon the upaniṣads and the teachings in general with love, devotion, and trust --that it has something to impart that is comforting, that wards off samsāra, and that is in keeping with one's deepest desires of of never being alone, of wanting freedom from sorrow and fear, all of which are not possible if oneness is not one’s nature.

Satsang with Swaminiji

Week-Long Atlanta Retreat: July-August 2014 by Janani

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Atlanta August 2014

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Shivananda Yoga Farm, Grass Valley CA 2014

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During eighth day of Navaratri, after I finished decorating the deities at the Mukambika shrine, I looked for matchbox or a lighter to light the candle and incense, but could not find even a single matchstick. Since Faith's car was not there, I felt very helpless and went to few neighbors' homes. But no luck! So I decided to walk to the store... on the way, I saw a woman (who seemed to be pregnant) walking toward me on the street and she holding a cigarette. So, I asked her if she had a lighter or matches. She was very happy to let me use her lighter but it wouldn't hold the flame for me, so she had to do it for me. It was very

kind of her. One never knows how Goddess can appear in front of you in any form-- even in the form of a pregnant woman smoking a cigarette to help her children. My frustrations turned in to a real blessing. This is the first time in my life that I asked a stranger for a matchstick! The next day, we had loads of matchboxes at the shrine. I think perhaps the reason the matches disappeared was because she wanted to test me to see if I'll take any extra efforts to light the candles and incense or just finish the puja without that step. !Jai Ma!

The Many Forms of Goddess Mukambika by Bidyut Prava Das

Fall Schedule from October 21st to December 14th All Times are PST

Every Tuesday 6-7 PM Svetasvatara Upanishad Every Wednesday 6-7 PM Kathopanishad Vedanta Dindima Class will meet from 9:30-Noon on Nov 2nd and Dec 7th Mundaka Bhasya Classes will meet from 7:30-9 am on the following dates: Oct 25 & 26th; Nov 1, 15, 16, 22 & 23rd; Dec 6, 13 & 14th Kathopanishad Bhashya Class will meet on Wednesdays from 3:00-4:30 pm Bhagavad Gita Class will meet on Saturdays from 4-5:30 pm Please Note: There will be no classes from 4th to 10th of November 2014 Nov 4-9: Interfaith Conference in Charleston, SC, organized by the Contemplative Alliance of the GPIW. Nov 5th: 6-7:30 pm Talk on “Harmonious Living: Lessons from the Bhagavad Gita” at the Charleston Hindu Temple.

Classes are simultaneously streamed via live stream and adobe connect. The links are reproduced below. Click on either of the links to access the classroom:

http://www.livestream.com/advaita_swaminisvatmavidyanandaji/ 

https://avmtemple.adobeconnect.com/_a725965367/gita/

Thanksgiving Weekend RetreatThere will be a Thanksgiving Weekend Retreat in Eugene from 27-30 November. The Topic is Resolving Alienation in One’s Life: Teachings from the Bhagavad Gita.  Registration is open. Please write to janani_c_or@yahoo.com Christmas Camp with Swaminiji: Arsha Vidya Gurukulam Saylorsburg, PASwamini Svatmavidyananda will be teaching at the residential Christmas and New year camp at the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in Saylorsburg, PA. (www.arshavidya.org) Please contact vimala.sadasivam@gmail.com for more information and to book your stay.

Swaminiji’s Teaching and Travel Schedule

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