Additional presentations included a lunchtime talk by assistant teacher Annapurna titled “Women in Vedanta.” Attendees learned of the role Western women had in helping establish Vedanta in the West. Many inspiring examples of women who made great sacrifices to serve Swami Vivekananda in order to ensure that the precious truths of India spread in the West, were given. Instances of Western women who fully took to sadhana in order to gain realization in this life were also shown. Many felt inspired to learn of the power and inspiration that infused the lives of Swamiji’s friends and devotees upon hearing the Vedanta. A slideshow was produced for this talk, which was later shown in Portland, OR., as well.
Other events included open question and answer sessions with Babaji. A few students inquired further about the dharma teachings, and about meditation practice, especially with regard to how these relate to their own spiritual paths. The final main talk was a community education event that emphasized the universality of nondual Truth. The chart titled, “Mahavakyas of the World’s Avatars” provided a visual display of the advaitic sayings of the Divine Incarnations.
From start to finish, this was four days of heavy lifting. Later, Tadrupa shared the response received from a few students who attended Babaji’s talks, which is given below:
“The speaker had a very interesting view on life. I did like some of the things he said,but other times I was not a huge fan. I’m a strong Christian so some of the things he said and the way he said them were kind of insulting. It was also a little weird because in high school or any other schooling you weren’t allowed to talk about religion so it was kind of interesting to be able to explore that right of getting to do that.”
“I really enjoyed the speaker. He made me look at life in a different way. My religious friends were offended by the things he would say but I thought it was all very interesting, I went to one of his question and answer sessions and had lots of questions to ask. I feel like if I would look more into what he does, it is something I would be interested in practicing. I truly believe in meditation and have a very open mind when listening to what others have to say about their religion. I would definitely recommend someone to go and listen to this speaker because he can open doors to other people as well.”
“I am a strong Christian, but I approached the speaker with an open mind, and although he didn’t sway me in any way, I did find many of the things he talked about interesting. It is a bit mind blowing to me that educated people actually believe in reincarnation. That is one concept I am unable to wrap my mind around. I did think it was very interesting that he didn’t necessarily discount other religions but instead interpreted them to match his. It was overall very interesting, but to me a bit crazy.”