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. monthly
newsletter of Vedanta and Sanatan Dharma
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the
monthly ezine of Vedanta Mission, running
in its
12th
year
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Greetings
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Vedanta
Sandesh completes its eleven years of
publishing and sewa. Pl send your messages to the editor on the
occasion. |
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Poojya Guruji conveys his
Greetings and
Blessings to all his
disciples, devotees and
readers on the occasion of
Guru Poornima.
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On this pious day manifested one
of the greatest teachers of Sanatan Dharma, Sri Veda Vyasa, in whose
memory and honor this day is celebrated as a traditional 'Spiritual
Teachers Day'.
This year the Guru Poornima day is
on the 18th of July. |
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Index
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Vedanta
Section
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Body a City, and Atma the King
Swami Atmananda
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Our Body is like a City:
In the second valli of the second chapter of
Kathopanishad, the Brahmavidya Acharya, Dharmaraj, Lord Yama tells
Nachiketas, his devoted disciple, that know your body as a city wherein Atma
resides as the King (Katha Upa 2-2-1). With this simple and interesting example the
teacher not only reveals that all the activities of the body-mind complex
are ultimately for the pleasure of Atma, yet at the same time, this kingly
divinity is revealed by this very example, to be free from all the
limitations of the body-mind complex.
Creator is always different from the Creation:
City is made of inert matter, the bricks and
mortar, so also our physical body is made up of inert matter, the five
elements. The inert matter doesn't come together by itself. Every inert
object is created by some conscious and intelligent entity which is
obviously different from this conglomerate. Such a creator not only creates
the various parts but also puts them in right place so that they can
function properly. This entire complex is made by and also for this
conscious entity. The entire creation of this body is
unimaginably complex and beautiful. With all our wisdom and advances in
science and technology, we know that there is nothing like the original
parts of the body. We cannot come anywhere near the perfection of the
original. A self-growing, self-sustaining and self-perishing body is a dream
for any expert of technology. All working in unison and harmony for its
extremely intelligent and competent kingly master.
Body has eleven Gates:
The teacher says that just like in
old-time cities and palaces, there were various gates, which a person had to
cross over one by one, so also in this body there are eleven gates. These
the eleven pores in the body. Seven on the face (2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nose and
one mouth), three below (anus, reproductive organs, and navel) and one on
top of the head, a subtle pore called as Brahma-Randra (the place where the
choti is kept). Inside this fort is the palace of the king, our heart,
wherein resides the master, the King, the Atma, for whom this entire complex
is. Another beauty of this creation is that inspite of the eleven pores in
the body, the temperature inside is maintained very nicely. Even a one
degree change is experienced as a discomfort and a sign of some illness. We
indeed bow down to the creator by seeing this perfection and complexity.
This City has hierarchy of Officials:
Every gate has guards and there is a hierarchy
of the officials in this palace. We have devatas of each sense organs who
preside over their respective organs, and the boss of all these sense organs is the mind.
To the extent the mind pays attention to
that extent alone the sense organs function. Mind controls our Prana too. The different physiological activities of the body are managed by
our Prana, which are subsequently divided into five kinds depending upon the
functions they manage. Above the mind is the Intellect. The mind runs and
functions only in the direction in which the intellect has value. This
entire arrangement is just for the pleasure of the kingly Self.
The kingly Master is free and fulfilled:
This entire creation and arrangement not only reveals the
existence of a conscious creator, who is also its master, but it also
reveals him to be an embodiment of joy and fulfillment, because it is for
his joy and fulfillment alone that everything and everyone is. He is indeed
inferred to be of the nature of Sat, Chit and Ananda. As such a conscious
master is different from this complex, he should necessarily be free from
all the limitations of this body-mind complex. The birth, growth, decay and
death are of the physical body; hunger and thirst are the experiences of the
pranas; happiness and sorrow are known by the mind; while knowledge and
ignorance are experienced at the level of intellect. Even though none of
these can be experienced without this kingly master, yet it is obvious that
the master transcends all these, because he is different from them, yet he
alone blesses every faculty to exist and function. Not knowing these obvious
inferred truths about the master, we impose the limitations of these
faculties on the self, and it finally boils down to taking ourselves to be a
perishable entity who has ignorance and knowledge, who goes through the ups
and downs of happiness and sorrow etc. In short the master is taken as a
servant. Ignorance denies us a kingly and fulfilled existence, we
unnecessarily and baselessly suffer and endlessly seek and seek to no avail;
our seeking never fully ends because the seeker himself is the sought, and
is therefore never found in the field of our seeking. The very seeking is
the denial of the sought, and just by not seeking we do not awake to this
sought too. It is just by right knowledge given by some benevolent master
that we awake to this truth and freedom.
Real Freedom is just by Knowledge:
The teacher specifically indicates in this mantra that one
who was always free discovers himself to be free. Liberation is not
something to be attained but is discovered to have been always an existing
fact. Mukti does not require any action but only knowledge. Action has a
place only when we need to attain, create or change something, and none of
this is relevant here. The kingly Atma is just to be known as it is by the
declarations of these mantras of the Upanishads, which are accepted as a
valid and independent means of knowledge. It is the proper study and deep
reflection of these Upanishads which helps us attain that which we were
always seeking. The study of these divine texts is indeed a matter of
greatest pleasure, privilege and honor.
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Vedanta Mission Web Site News
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Web Site News
New Home Page of
Vedanta Mission Site have been
made, giving it a whole new new look.
A new section of
Downloads had been added. It
has sections for downloading Talks, Chants and PDF documents of general
interest.
Editor
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Quote
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"Never seem more learned than
the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it
hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you
are asked."
Lord Chesterfield
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Story
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The carpenter I hired to help me restore an
old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire
made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and now his ancient
pickup truck refused to start. While I drove him home, he sat in stony
silence.
On arriving, he invited me in to meet his
family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small
tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the
door he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in
smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.
Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed
the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had
seen him do earlier.
"Oh, that's my Trouble Tree," he replied." I
know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure,
troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just
hang them on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I
pick them up again."
He paused. "Funny thing is," he smiled, "when
I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there ain't nearly as many as I
remember hanging up the night before."
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Quote
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"The secret of being boring is
to say everything."
Voltaire
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Letter Section
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Hari om,
Well, those who walk alone stumble, so dont worry too
much about some occasional obstacles, and the inevitable ups & downs.
All these are to be dealt with, with your clear thinking and insight.
While it is a fact that your inner vacillations are an indication of
your aspiration to reach out to something higher & better, yet in this
statement alone lies the seed of the problem as well as its solution.
While every self-centered desire does ultimately bring pain & grief,
but this is not initially experienced as such, but only at a later
stage. The majority around have all accepted this as a natural state
of existence and affairs and therefore, this self-centricity, the
desire for belonging etc is not seen by anyone as a problem by itself.
To perceive it by itself as a problem is itself indicative of your
different values & vision. A part of your mind aspires to be free of
these kind of desires, and that is why the pain is experienced. Well,
its very clear and logical that freedom from self-centricity is
certainly a healthy & peaceful state, and any kind of seeking is by
itself an unnatural and uncomfortable state, however, it is important
to see this fact that we dont directly put our brakes on these
manifestations, but approach the issue differently. Suppressing an
effect never effaces the cause, so let it manifest, in fact see
manifestations of effects as a blessings, because they alone help us
to know what all lies deep within the recesses of the mind. So let
there be no reactions when these things surface, there is nothing
strange in their manifestation if some appropriate cause does exist
deep within. You just observe these effects to 'identify and know' the
deeper cause. Even when you diagnose the existence of some specific
negative cause, still dont react, just take it as a fact. Retain your
equipoise and continue to go still deeper, even that cause stands on
some particular ignorance and baseless presumption. You need to get
the joy of such a reaction less observation and analysis.
This is the way and path of knowledge, and not trying
to do something, which is just a response after some conclusion.
Knowledge is all about having a re-look at the existing conclusions
behind every positive or negative response. What I see happening right
now is a reaction to the mere existence of some desire or aspiration.
You can dilute this pain drastically just by not bothering too much
about effects but aiming to go into the cause. Try.
Love & om,
SA
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Quote
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"We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust
the sails."
Bertha Calloway
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Mission
News
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Earlier Programs
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Sadhana Camp, Rishikesh : |
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Poojya Guruji Sri Swami Atmanandaji and Poojya Swamini Amitanandaji conducted a Sadhana Camp at Arsha
Vidya Peetha, Rishikesh, from 18th to 24th June 2008. The subject matter was the
second section of the second chapter of Kathopanishad and the 7th
chapter of Gita.
Devotees from Lucknow, Dehradun,
Indore, Ahmedabad, Jodhpur, and Secunderabad attended the
Camp. Due to rail blockades in some parts of the country
various devotees could not attend too.
Detailed Photo Album of the Camp can be seen
HERE. |
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Ganga Pujan, Rishikesh : |
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This year the advent of monsoons has been
early, so Gangaji was full to the brim. It was a great site of the divine
mother. During one of the days the campers performed a brief puja and the
Aarti of Gangaji. Later everyone offered the Deep-Daan.
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Cultural Program, Rishikesh : |
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During the Camp the campers presented a
special Cultural Program. It was planned and executed under the guidance of
P. Swamini Amitanandaji. Poojya Swami Nischalanandaji of Kailash Ashram, was
the Chief Guest.
Two children presented a short play of Yamraj
and Nachiketas, a group presented a qawalli style bhajan, then there was
some humor presented by Manohar Agarwal, thought-provoking poems by SN
Pandeyji and Col Ramkishenji, and finally there was a short aashirvachan by
Sw Nischalji and Poojya Guruji.
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Guru Pujan, Rishikesh : |
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On the last day of the camp, Col Ramkishenji
from Dehradun represented everyone to conduct the Guru Pujan. Elaborate and
beautiful arrangements were done under the guidance of Poojya Swamini
Amitanandaji.
Later all the delegates shared their
enlightening experiences of the camp.
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Vishnu Sahasranama Archana, Wellingborough : |
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Poojya Swamini Samatanandaji conducted a nicely attended Vishnu
Sahasranama Archana Program at Hindu Temple, Wellingborough on 14th
June.
More pics of the program can be seen
HERE.
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Hanuman Chalisa Gyana Yagna, Wellingborough : |
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A Gyana Yagna on Hanuman Chalisa was conducted at Hindu Temple,
Wellingborough from 21st June onwards for a week by Poojya Swamini
Samatanandaji.
Before the Yagna devotees respectfully took Ramayana and Hanuman
Chalisa granths on their head in a procession from the place
Swaminiji is staying to the temple. It was nicely attended and in
the end there was chanting of Hanuman Chalisa.
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Imp Dates
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Important Dates in July 2008
Hindu Festival Calender |
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3 |
Thu |
Amavasya - Asadhi |
| 13 |
Sun |
Ekadashi – Dev Shayani |
| 18 |
Fri |
Guru Poornima |
| 28 |
Mon |
Ekadashi - Kamika |
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Forthcoming Programs
VMission Programs Calender
Guru Poornima Camp, Indore :
A five days Sadhana Camp is being organized at Vedanta Ashram just prior to
Guru Poornima. The camp will be from 13th to 17th July. The subject
matter of the discourses will be Guru-Stotram and Guru Gita.
Guru Poornima, Indore :
This year Guru Poornima is on the 18th July. Guru Pujan will be conducted in
the morning, and Poojya Guruji will be available at the ashram for meeting
and blessing the disciples.
Gita Gyana Yagna, Jaipur :
A Gita Gyana Yagna is being organized at Jaipur from 22nd to 27th July. It
will be conducted by Poojya Guruji and he will conduct discourses on the
12th chapter of Bhagwad Gita.
Janmashtami Camp, Indore :
A five days Janmashtami Camp will be organized at Vedanta Ashram from 18th
to 22nd Aug. The subject matter of the discourses will be both portions of
Gita and Bhagwat.
Janmashtami Celebration, Indore :
This year Sri Krishna Janmashtami will be celebrated at the Ashram on 23rd
Aug. As earlier special decorations will be there, chanting of Gita, puja,
bhajans and some cultural activities like breaking of the makti etc.
Programs in UK :
Poojya Swamini Samatanandaji is right now in the UK, and has been pretty
busy for the last one month. For the coming month also she has various
programs fixed up in different places. Details of these programs can be seen in Poojya Swaminijis
UK-Trip08 Calender.
She has been regularly posting the details of
her various programs in her blog, which can be accessed by clicking
HERE. |
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Contact
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. Om Tat Sat .
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