Class Notes January – April 15, 2014 MeditationFormless meditation, maintaining one-pointedness for a long time (tailadhara dhyan), neither negates nor destroys God with form or the meaningfulness of Avatar’s Lila; it simply brings those two eternal principles inward and gives them consummate meaning. Knowledge is now vast, infinite, and when one returns to form one has this infinite wealth to …
Children’s Easter Puja
SRV Kid’s Focus in Hawaii
Over the Easter Weekend a Children’s puja for Jesus Christ was held with our one little student. Together we prepared the garland (lei), polished the vessels, and made cookies. These activities are fun and interesting for children and provide a perfect opportunity to practice concentration on the Deity in the midst of action. It also provides experience in making one’s actions an offering to God. One of the ways we maintained our focus was by chanting the name of Christ in Sanskrit in a traditional kirtan melody. Om namah Ishaya Chaitanya (Om, Salutations to Jesus the Christ).
A few of Jesus’ teachings were selected for study over the next few weeks (and for all of one’s life!)
Teachings of Love & Wisdom from Jesus Christ
Wisdom Teachings
Wisdom Teachings show us the difference between what is Eternal and what is always changing. They teach us about God, about the birthless, deathless Soul, and the oneness of God and our Soul. People suffer and are unhappy because their attention is on changing things instead of our oneness with God, who never changes. The Incarnations of God (like Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Ramakrishna, and more) and other illumined beings want us to realize God within us so that we will be free from fear, full of peace and bliss, and able to see and serve God in everyone and everything.
Jesus Taught:
❖ The Kingdom of God is within.
To know God, we must “tuck” our senses back into the mind, then train our mind to look inside very quietly and patiently. The Kingdom of God is not matter, energy, or thought. It is Existence, Awareness, and Bliss.
Antaranga – Swami Yogananda
Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi has stated that with the advent of Sri Ramakrishna, a new golden age has commenced. In this incarnation He came accompanied by extraordinary souls. This inner circle is commonly known as the sixteen direct disciples. Among these sixteen, Sri Ramakrishna declared that six of his disciples were ishvarakotis – souls that are eternally free and …
Clay Connections
Children’s Class in Winter 2014
The most recent visit to our SRV San Francisco center commenced the first in a series of classes intent on cultivating the children’s awareness on the connection between consciousness, mind, senses, and elements. This establishes a solid foundation for teachings concerning discrimination between the Self and the nonSelf, the real nature of objects, and eventually the knowledge that the universe is a manifestation of mind at individual, collective and cosmic levels. This sounds like a tremendously high goal, yet it can all start in a children’s class with a block of clay and creative conversations.
We began with our tradition of practicing the meditation posture:
• seated on the floor in “tripod” position, cross-legged with hips level
• small of the back flat, not arched, and the pelvis straight, not tilted forward
• comfortably straight backs balanced over pelvis, not leaning forward or back
• chin slightly tucked to straighten and lengthen the neck.
Autumn Retreat 2014
Navaratri Retreat on Lakshmi Puja Prana and the Illusion of DeathOctober 9-13th, Stevenson, Washington The 2014 Fall retreat offered by SRV Associations occurs over the auspicious Navaratri period and its worship of the Divine Mother of the Universe, with one of its days falling on Lakshmi Puja. Select teachings from the Chandhi and the Srimad Devi Bhagavatam will highlight the …
Summer Retreat 2014
SRV American River Retreat over Independence Day The Life and Teachings of Swami VivekanandaJuly 3 – 9, Forest Hill, California For the forthcoming 2014 summer retreat, with its profound subject of The Life and Teachings of Swami Vivekananda, the accent will be placed upon the great swami’s relationship and observances of the Western culture and its people after he arrived …
A Look Ahead in 2014
Download & Print Form Here
Spiritual Director’s Message
Transmuting Poison to Nectar Aloha to all friends, members, students, initiates, and devotees of SRV: As we settle into the bardo called 2014, our first opportunity to congregate this year as a truth-seeking sangha is also upon us. I will attend on the West Coast ashrams from mid-February to mid-March, and I come bearing gifts. We have three new ripe …
Autumn/Winter 2013
Transmission of True Knowledge Many of us have the opportunity to sit in classes with Babaji at the SRV Ashrams. We are grateful for access to his classes online via Livestream technology when he is at the other centers, but it is not a replacement for receiving the undiluted transmission in his presence and cultivating that special bonding between student …
In Memoriam: John Dobson
The world of Vedanta and cosmology lost a good friend in January. John Dobson was a devoted student and proponent of Advaita Vedanta. John spent twenty three years living in the Hollywood Vedanta Center as a monk in the Ramakrishna Order. He left the order in 1967 but remained closely aligned, returning for frequent lectures. He spent the last several …