Vedanta Society of Toronto (Ramakrishna Mission) 120 Emmett Ave. Toronto, ON CANADA M6M 2E6 Tel: 416-240-7262 Email: society@vedantatoronto.ca Website: www.vedantatoronto.ca Newsletter October 2014 Words to Inspire "The natural tendency of this (his own) mind is upward (towards the nirvikalpa plane). When it is in samadhi, it does not want to come down. I force it down for all of you." SRI RAMAKRISHNA SRI RAMAKRISHNA AND HIS DIVINE PLAY Surendra Nath Mitra, whom the Master sometimes called Suresh Mitra, arranged Durga Puja that year in his residence at Simla. Previously his family had celebrated this worship every year, but it had been discontinued after an unfortunate incident occured. After that mishap no brother of the household dared to perform the worship; if anyone tried, the others would dissuade him. But because Surendra was a staunch devotee who drew strength from his faith in the Master, he was not afraid of any misfortune. And once he resolved to do something, he paid no heed to anyone's pleas or objections. That year all the members of the household tried in many ways to stop him from performing the worship, but failed. Surendra received the Master's approval, bought an image of Mother Durga, and arranged for Her worship at his own expense. On this joyful occasion, however, Surendra was sad because the Master's illness prevented him from attending the celebration. A few days before the worship, a couple of Surendra's relatives fell ill and Surendra was held responsible. The whole family was displeased with him. Unperturbed, Surendra began the worship of the Divine Mother with great devotion and invited all his brother disciples. The first day of worship, the saptami puja, had passed. On ashtami, the auspicious second day of worship, many devotees gathered around the Master at the Shyampukur house and were enjoying spiritual conversation and devotional singing. Dr. Sarkar arrived at 4:00 p.m., and after a while Narendra (Swami Vivekananda) began to sing devotional songs. All were enchanted as they listened to his sweet, heavenly voice. In a low voice, the Master explained the import of the song to the doctor seated nearby, and sometimes he went into ecstasy for eshort periods. The spiritual atmosphere caused some devotees to lose outer consciousness. The whole room was vibrating with an intense current of bliss. It was 7:30 p.m., when the doctor at last realized the lateness of the hour. He embraced Narendra like an affectionate father, then stood to take leave of the Master. The Master also got up, smiling, and suddenly went into deep samadhi. The devotees began whispering: "This is the auspicious time of sandhi-puja. That is why the Master has gone into samadhi. It is amazing that the Master has become absorbed in divine ecstasy at this auspicious moment, without knowing the time of sandhi-puja!" About half an hour later the Master's samadhi ended, and the doctor left. The Master then told the devotees what he had seen in samadhi: "A luminous path opened from this place to Surendra's house. I saw the presence of the Divine Mother in the image; She had been evoked by Surendra's devotion. A ray of light beamed forth from Her third eye! Rows of lamps were lit before the goddess in the worship hall. In the courtyard Surendra was crying piteously 'Mother, Mother!' All of you, go to his house right now. When he sees you he will regain his peace of mind." Narendra and some others bowed down to the Master, then left for Surendra's house. When they asked him, they learned that rows of lamps had in fact been lit in the worship hall as described by the Master. And when the Master had been in samadhi, Surendra was indeed seated in the courtyard facing the image, loudly crying "Mother, Mother," like a boy, for about an hour. The amazed devotees were thrilled with joy when they found that the Master's vision during samadhi was consistent with external events. Ch: First four years of Sadhana
Holy Mother-Her role in bringing about an evolved culture in the modern age Part 1 A talk by Pravarajika Satchitprana Mataji at the Vedanta Society of Toronto in June 2014 Sister Nivedita had a wonderful insight into reading the mind and heart of Holy Mother, although she was new to the traditional culture of India, its religious and spiritual traditions and also to Holy Mother. Nivedita writes, To me it has always adhered that She (Holy Mother) is Sri Ramakrishna s final word to the ideals of Indian womanhood. But is she the last of an old order or the beginning of a new era? This applies to both men and women, since Holy Mother represents the motherhood in a woman. After Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda was the next great soul to recognize the divinity of Holy Mother. When Swamiji was in USA, he observed how the Shakti was worshipped there in terms of granting equality with men in every walk of life. Due to this a wonderful energy in terms of material progress was vividly present in the society. He had written a letter to his brother disciple Swami Shivananda, Mahapurush Maharaj, about this Shakti. He mentioned that without the regeneration of this Shakti, there cannot be any regeneration of this world. He saw Holy Mother as that Shakti or the divine power which has come to this world to revive its glory. We can clearly see that the advent of the Holy Mother, has led to the greater progress of womanhood, more and more woman are now participating and achieving success in Science, Update on Building Project economics, politics, etc.. Later swami Shivananda also wrote Holy Mother came to awaken the entire womanhood of the world. Let us now see the difference between civilization and culture. Due to the conquest of this external world by us, we are led to tremendous material development, progress and prosperity, which in turn, leads to the development of civilization. Great civilizations have come and then diminished from this earth. But this external conquest may not bring out the best of human nature. Best example will be of King Ravana, had accumulated tremendous wealth and power. But he was demoniac in nature, and had kidnapped Sita, the wife of Lord Rama. Due to this nature, the civilization established by Ravana did not last forever. Any progress without spiritual background will never last forever. So for any civilization to last, the people of that civilization, has to know how to get mastery over their inner nature. The mastery over our inner nature is called Culture. When we say that there is an evolution of the culture, it is a conquest of the inner nature, an expansion of the inner nature. To be continued As you are aware, the building project already discussed consists of three main goals: 1) Proper accommodation for Swamiji 2) Improvement and expansion of Main Hall 3) Dedicated space for Vidya Mandir Our first attempt produced a project cost in excess of $3 million and this was deemed to be beyond our budget. We are now, therefore, looking at a phased approach in which the first phase would consist of renovations and upgrades to the existing building, and the second phase would consist of new construction. With the first phase, we will be able to achieve the first two of the above stated goals, as well as improvements the efficiency of the building (thereby, reducing utilities and other recurring costs). It is anticipated that work on the first phase (which is currently in design) will begin in May 2015 and be completed before the start of the Fall 2015 season. Thus, there should be minimal disruption to the Society s activities. The second phase will be more expensive and we have therefore to wait until we are able to collect sufficient funds for this. This phase will house the Institute for Vivekananda Studies and have both space for Vidya Mandir as well as a better library and meeting rooms.
Vedanta Society of Toronto FREE DAY-RETREAT 2014 REGISTRATION FORM Interactive Free-Day-Retreat with Rev. Swami Yogatmanandaji will be held on, Saturday 29 th November, 2014, at 11:00am to 4:00 pm including lunch and afternoon tea. It's free but donations are accepted to meet the expenses. Subject: 'One Soul Many Bodies, Many Souls One Body'. It will be a very interesting Retreat on what the scriptures say about the transmigration of soul. You may ask questions and clear all your doubts through this erudite senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order, who is the Head of the Vedanta Society of Providence, RI, USA. Name(s): Address: Telephone: Email: Number of Participants: Signature 1. Please return the above form no later than November 15, 2014. Capacity is limited and all forms will be processed on first-come first-served basis. 2. If you have any questions regarding your registration or for any other information, please contact the Society at 416-240-7262.
Annual Seminar was held on Saturday, Sep 13, 2014. The programme included panel discussion and meditation. Lunch and tea with snacks were also served. Sri Sri Durga puja will be celebrated on the following days: Thursday Oct-2, 2014 Maha Ashtami: Puja begins 6:30pm 1st Pushpanjali : around 7:30 pm; 2nd Pushpanjali : around 8:30 pm. SUMMARY OF PAST EVENT Volunteers Appreciation Day was held on Sunday Sep 21 at 11 am. Puppet Show on Swami Vivekananda at SVBF Auditorium on Friday Sep 26 at 7:30 pm SPECIAL EVENTS DURING THE MONTH KALI PUJA will be held on Thursday 23 rd October 2014 at 6:30 pm. The programme will include bhajans, reading, puja, flower offering and prasad distribution. Friday Oct-3, 2014 Maha Navami: Puja begins 6:30pm 1st Pushpanjali : around 7:45 pm. Homa begins 7:50pm; 2nd Pushpanjali : around 8:30 pm. Saturday Oct-4, 2014 Vijaya Dashami: Puja begins 11:00 am, Shantijal: 12:30 pm. UPCOMING EVENTS REGULAR PROGRAMMES SCRIPTURE CLASS: Every Friday at 7:30 pm, following the regular evening prayer at 6:00 pm. VIGIL: A vigil consisting of japa and meditation is observed from 6:00am to 6:00pm. For the date of this month s vigil, please see the Calendar of Events on the next page. To participate, please call the Centre. RAM NAM: For the date and time of the monthly Ramnam, please see the Calendar of Events on the next page. INTERVIEWS/INSTRUCTION: Swami Kripamayananda will be happy to give interviews to those interested in knowing more about Vedanta and meditation. Individual interviews are also given for spiritual instruction. Appointments for interviews should be made in advance with the Swami at 416-240-7262. DAILY MEDITATION: Meditation is observed at the Centre every morning from 6:00 am to 7:00 am. Devotional singing and meditation is held in the evenings from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The 2014 Annual General Meeting will be held on Sunday 16 th November 2014 at 11 am. Please fill in and send the attached Proxy Form, if you are unable to attend in person on that day. DAILY BREAD FOOD BANK: Many less fortunate families are dependent on the food bank for their daily nutrition. Please help us by contributing nonperishable food items that we may pass along to the Daily Bread Food Bank. SOUP KITCHEN: The Soup is cooked at the Vedanta Society and offered serving meals at Syme Woolner Neighbourhood & Family Centre, 2468 Eglinton Ave W, Unit 3, Toronto, ON, M6M 5E2. Please contact the Centre, if you are interested in participating. Donations for the will be highly appreciated BOOK STORE: The Book Store is open after Sunday Services and special programmes, and arrangements can be made by phone for weekday and Saturday visits. We carry selected titles from the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature, as well as other Vedantic materials. IMPORTANT NOTICE Parking on the road beside the Vedanta Society which is a Fire Route and which belongs to the West Park Hospital, is strictly prohibited. West Park Hospital have informed that they are going to give tickets @ $250.00 for illegal parking on the road as well as in their property other than the designated parking area.
Vedanta Society of Toronto Minister and Teacher - Swami Kripamayananda, Ramakrishna Order of India CALENDAR OF EVENTS October 2014 Sunday Mon Tue Wed Thursday Friday Saturday 5 11am GUIDED MEDITATION ON DIVINE MOTHER VVM 1:30 pm 12 11am Lecture: Self-Knowledge Ram Nam: 5 pm 19 11am SENIORS Appreciation Day (No Lecture) 6 7 9:30am 13 14 9:30am 20 21 9:30am 1 2 6:30PM DURGA PUJA MAHA ASHTAMI 8 9 9:30am 15 16 9:30am 3 6:30PM DURGA PUJA MAHA NAVAMI 10 7:30pm Vivekachudamani 17 7:30pm Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna 22 23 24 7:30pm Vivekachudamani 4 11:00AM DURGA PUJA VIJAYA DASHAMI 11 9:30am 6am-6pm VIGIL 18 9:30am 25 9:30am VVM 1:30 pm 26 11am Lecture: Worshipping God 27 28 9:30am 29 30 9:30am 31 7:30pm Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna VVM 1:30 pm ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2014 The Vedanta Society of Toronto s Annual General Meeting will be held on Sunday, November 16, 2014 at 11:00 am. Any member wishing to nominate an active and willing member of the Vedanta Society for the Executive Committee may do so by writing to the Society. All nominations must be received by November 10, 2013 and be duly proposed and seconded, and approved by Swami Kripamayananda. All our members and friends are requested to attend the meeting. If you are unable to attend, please fill in the proxy form included in October 2014 Newsletter and send it so that it reaches us before November 9, 2014.