Motto: Reach - Vedanta Melbourne

started at 9 a.m. and concluded atabout 12 noon. It was conducted bySwami Chandrashekarananda.e) Meditation sessions were heldfrom 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. fromthe 25th to 27th of January and fromthe 18th to 21st of March 2011.f) Ramnavami was observed onSunday, the 17th of April at 5:30 p.m.Other Activities:On Sunday, the 10th of April a recital ofIndian classical music was rendered bytwo young disciples of Padma BhusanSmt. Girija Devi of Banaras Gharana— Debapriya Adhikari (vocalist)and Samanwaya Sarkar (Sitarist).They presented a duet in classicalmusic and then they presented tappa,tap-kheyal, thumri, dadra, chaiti,holi, kajri and jhula.PERTH CENTREDaily Activities:The Centre is located at 51 GolfView Street, Yokine W.A. 6060where vesper service is held daily at7 p.m. with arati, readings fromThe Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, andmeditation. The Centre maintains asmall bookstall and a library. Contacts:Mr. Unni Krishnan, Assistant Secretary- 0430 391 369, Mr. K.P. BasuMallick Secretary - 0422 370 066.Monthly Activities:Swami Sridharananda visited theCentre every month from Thursdayto Saturday on prescheduled weeksand conducted discourses on theBhagavad Gitā. About 50 devoteesattended the discourses. Monthlysatsang which includes the singingof Bhajans and readings from TheGospel of Sri Ramakrishna and otherinspiring books were conducted on thefirst Sunday of every month from 11 a.m.classes on the Bhagavad-Gitā everySunday morning from 9:30 a.m. to10:30 a.m. at the Centre. SwamiDamodarananda gave talks onspiritual subjects during the travelsof Swami Sridharananda.Celebrations:The birth anniversary of SwamiVivekananda and Sri Ramakrishnawere celebrated on the 29th ofFebruary and on the 6th of March2011 respectively.b) Classes on Bhagavad Gitāwere also conducted by SwamiSridharananda at 1 Edwin Street,Fairlight, Manly Beach on Tuesdaysfrom 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.SYDNEY CENTREDaily Activities:At the Centre at 2 Stewart Street,Ermington, chanting, daily worshipand meditation is held every morningfrom 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. Vesperservice is held the evening starting at7 p.m. includes devotional singingand a reading from The Gospelof Sri Ramakrishna. Counselling,interviews and discussions withdevotees are also conducted regularly.The library is available to devoteesfor reference and research. TheCentre maintains a bookstall which hasa range of books on the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, Vedanta, Yoga, andother spiritual literature. Devotionalsongs, discourses on BhagavadGita, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,Mundaka Upanisad, and other topicsare also available in various media.Weekly/ Monthly Activities:The Centre conducted the followingactivities in Sydney:a) Swami Sridharananda conductedBhagavad-Gita class at Perth CentreReachReachIssueIssueNo.No.198c) Some devotees availed spiritualcounselling and guidance. The Swamisalso visited the homes of devoteeswhen required.d) Swami Atmeshananda conductedclasses on Meditation and SpiritualLife for ladies on two Mondays ina month .e) Meditation sessions were heldon Sundays from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.f) Classes on Sanskrit languagewere held on Saturdays and Sundaysfor various levels of adult studentsin the morning and evening.g) Classes on Vivekachudamaniwere conducted on Sundays from 4p.m. to 4:45 p.m.h) Yogasana Classes for adultswere held every Saturday at theCentre from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.i) Bala Sangha Classes on moraland spiritual lessons, drama andmovement were conducted forchildren every Saturday from 4:30p.m. to 6:45 p.m. at the Centre.j) Classes on moral and spirituallessons were also conducted forA group photo at the Easter RetreatPage 4June 2011

children at Carlingford West PrimarySchool and Eastwood Public Schoolon Wednesdays from 9:15 a.m. to10:30 a.m. during the academic term.k) For the benefit of students theCentre provided English Languagetutoring on Tuesdays from 5:30 p.m.to 6:45 p.m. during the school term.Celebrations:a) The Birth anniversary of SwamiVivekananda was celebrated on the26th of January 2011. The programmestarted at 9 a.m. and concluded at about12:30 p.m. It included formal worship,havan, bhajans, floral offering followedby arati and prasad distribution. Theprogramme was attended by around120 devotees in the morning andabout 150 devotees in the evening.Swami Sridharananda delivered atalk on ‗The life and teachings ofSwami Vivekananda‘.b) Mahashivaratri was observedon the 3rd of March at the Ermingtoncentre. The solemn occasion wasmarked by worship, chanting fromthe Vedas and devotional singing.c) The birth anniversary of SriRamakrishna was celebrated on the6th of March at the Centre. Specialworship, chanting, devotional music,a talk by Swami Sridharananda anddistribution of Prasad were the maincomponents of the programme.Around 140 devotees participatedin this programme both in themorning and evening.d) Ramanavami was celebratedwith singing Ramanam Sankirtanaand bhajans.e) The birth anniversaries of SriShankaracharya and Buddha Devawere observed on the 17th of Mayfrom 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Reading andtalk on the life of Bhagavan Buddhawere included in the programme.Other Activities:a) A day long spiritual retreat washeld at the Ermington Ashrama onthe 29th of January 2011. Around 45devotees attended the programme.The theme of the retreat was entitled‗Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana’.Swamis Damodarananda andSridharananda conducted the classes.b) Swami Atmeshananda visitedTownsville from the 25th to 27th ofFebruary on invitation by the localVedanta group and held a class onthe Bhagavad Gita and conducted aSatsanga programme.c) On the 20th March 2011 twoyoung upcoming artistes from Kolkata,India - Debapriya Adhikari, a vocalartist and Samanwaya Sarkar, anexponent of the Sitar, performed aDuet from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at theCentre. This was highly appreciatedby those devotees who attendedthis programme.d) A meeting of the ManagingCommittee was held at 11 a.m. onthe 10th of April 2011.e) A three day Children’s DayCamp was organised from the 12thto 14th of April. About 42 childrentook part in it. Mantra-recitation,Yoga, clay modeling, craft andother activities were organized tostimulate the creativity of children.f) A spiritual retreat was organisedduring the Easter holidays from theafternoon of the 22nd of April tothe afternoon of the 25th of April at theSatyananda Yoga Retreat, MangroveCreek, about 100 k.m. north ofSydney. The programme includeddetailed discourses by SwamiSridharananda about variousaspects of meditation and practiceof it in our day to day lives, Vedicchanting, meditation, singing ofBhajans, video show on BelurMath and Sri Shankaracharya,bushwalking, Karma Yoga, YogaExercises and Yoga-Nidra. Thequestion and answer session wasvery lively. There were 46 participantsat the retreat.Overseas Visit:a) Swami Sridharananda visitedNew Zealand from the 2nd to 7th ofFebruary and again from the 31stMarch to 4 th of April 2011 forconducting classes on the BhagavadGita at the Auckland Centre.b) Swami Sridharananda visitedKuala Lumpur from the 23rd to the29th of March 2011. During his visitthere, he delivered the Convocationaddress at the Lincoln College anddelivered a talk at the local branchcentre of the Ramakrishna Ordernamed Persetuan RamakrishnaSarada.Visiting MonasticsSwami Tadananda from the RamakrishnaMission, Fiji visited Sydney fromthe 22nd to 27th of March en routeto China and India. He, along withSwamis Damodarananda andBirth anniversary celebration of Sri Ramakrishna at the Sydney CentreReachReachIssueIssueNo.No.198Page 5June 2011

Atmeshananda and other devotees,participated in a fund raisingprogramme on the 26th of March atthe North Rocks community Centreorganized by devotees of the Fiji centre.AUCKLAND CENTRE, NZDaily activities:Vesper service is held daily at theCentre at 27 Arawa Street, NewLynn, Auckland from 7 p.m. to 8p.m. It includes singing of hymns,readings from the text God Lived withThem followed by meditation.Monthly and annual activities:a) On the second Sunday of everymonth Satsang programmes, whichincludes singing of Bhajans,discourse on the Ramayana, readingand discussion about the directdisciples of Sri Ramakrishna andmeditation were conducted from 11a.m. to 1 p.m.b) On the last Sunday of everymonth reading and discussion onSrimad-Bhagavad Gita, the Gospelof Sri Ramakrishna, the life andteachings of Holy Mother and SwamiVivekananda were conducted inaddition to the above. Music andchanting classes were also held onthese days.c) Swami Sridharananda conductedBhagavad Gita classes from the 3rdto 6th of February and from the 1stto 3rd of April 2011 at the Centre.Celebrations:a) Kalpataru day was celebrated atthe Centre on the 1st of January2011 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noonwith Kirtana and reading from theGospel of Sri Ramakrishna.b) The birth anniversary of SwamiVivekananda was celebrated onthe 26th of January 2011. Theprogramme was conducted after theevening Arati till 9 p.m. Swamiji‘slife and message were presented tothe devotees by VivekanandaYouth Group and prasad was distributed.c) Mahashivaratri was celebratedon the 3 rd of March 2011. Theprogramme started with bhajans at8 p.m. after the Arati and ended at9 p.m. The members of VivekanandaYouth Group participated in theprogramme.d) The birth anniversary of SriRamakrishna was celebrated onthe 6th of February 2011 at theCentre. The dawn program startedat 4:30 a.m. with the singing of SriRamakrishna Suprabhatam followedby Sri Ramakrishna AshtottrasataNamavali and bhajans. The morningprogramme ended at 5:30 a.m. Theday programme started at 10 a.m.which included Bhajans, readingfrom Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna,and, talks on the life and teachingsof Sri Ramakrishna. Programmeended at 1 p.m. with the floraloffering (Pushpanjali) and distributionof prasad.e) The birth anniversary of SriShankaracharya was celebratedon the 8th of May 2011 from 8 p.m.to 9 p.m. with bhajans, readingfrom the life of Shankaracharya andthe message of Vivekachudamani bythe Vivekananda youth Group.f) The birth anniversary of BhagavanBuddha was celebrated on the 17thof May from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Atalk on the life of Bhagavan Buddhaand related reading were includedin the programme.Birth anniversary celebration of Sri Ramakrishna in AucklandReachReachIssueIssueNo.No.198Page 6THE LONG ROAD HOMEFor a seeker of truthLife is no fun.Having spent my lifeOut of the sun.A Catholic born and bredBut only fed a life based on sinAnd suffering which seemed out of lineWith love to questions I asked camehollow repliesWhy would I ask ―Who am I?‖A wife, a mother, a yogi, a friend,A daughter, a sister,There seemed no end to who am I.But my heart yearned for moreknowledge,High mountains have I climbed,Many streams have I forgedTrying to discern the truth of my Being.The Yoga SutrasOpened the door to clarity.Persevering practice and detachmentbecame the normAs I fought my way out of egoist storms.During my battles God took pity Andheard my cry.She showed me the Gita as a means to fly.But She withheld the teacher.She kept me waiting many years,Testing my mettleBut at last She showed mercy andIntroduced me to Swami.Before him I sat, -no longer a sinnerBut a beginnerIn the school of Vedanta.The idea of God‘s ‗Is-ness‘ and ‗Amness‘Saturated my mind,Challenging and channelling my actionsTo perceive the Unity in Diversity.Yet the clouds of samskarasStill threaten my daysFor maya still conjures Her spell.But now it is the Divine PlayIn which I actTrying to remember my lines“As you think so you become,God and I are one.”— Mrs. Robyn McCarthy, a devoteeand a Yoga Teacher, Melbourne.Audience at the Bhagavad-Gita classJune 2011

Feature Article:Discourses on Four Paths of Yoga by Swami VivekanandaOur main problem is to be free. It is evident then that until we realise ourselves as the Absolute, we cannot attain todeliverance. Yet there are various ways of attaining to this realisation. These methods have the generic name of Yoga(to join - to join ourselves to our Reality). These Yogas, though divided into various groups, can principally beclassed into four and as each is only a method leading indirectly to the realisation of the Absolute, they are suited todifferent temperaments. It is not that the assumed man becomes the Real Man or Absolute. There is no becoming ofthe Absolute. It is ever free, ever perfect; but the ignorance that has covered Its real nature for a period of time is tobe removed. Therefore, the whole scope of all systems of Yoga (each religion represents one) is to clear up this ignoranceand allow the Atman to restore Its own nature. The chief helps in this liberation are Abhyasa and Vairagya.Vairagya is non-attachment to life, because it is the will to enjoy that brings all this bondage in its train; andAbhyasa is constant practice of any one of the Yogas.Karma-YogaKarma-Yoga is purifying the mindby means of work. Now if any workis done, good or bad, it must produceas a result a good or bad effect; nopower can stay it, once the cause ispresent. Therefore good actionproducing good Karma, and badaction, bad Karma, the soul will goon in eternal bondage without everhoping for deliverance. Now Karmabelongs only to the body or themind, never to the Atman (Self);only it can cast a veil before theAtman. The veil cast by bad Karmais ignorance. Good Karma has thepower to strengthen the moralpowers. And thus it creates nonattachment; it destroys the tendencytowards bad Karma and therebypurifies the mind. But if the work isdone with the intention of enjoyment,it then produces only that veryenjoyment and does not purify themind or Chitta. Therefore all workshould be done without any desireto enjoy the fruits thereof. All fearand all desire to enjoy here orhereafter must be banished foreverby the Karma-Yogi. Moreover, thisKarma without the desire of returnwill destroy selfishness, which is theroot of all bondage.The watchword of the Karma-Yogiis ―not I, but Thou‖, and no amountof self-sacrifice is too much for him.But he does this without any desireto go to heaven, or gain name orfame or any other benefit in thisworld. Although the explanationand rationale of this unselfish workis only in Jnana-Yoga, yet the naturaldivinity of man makes him love allsacrifice simply for the good ofothers, without any ulterior motive,ReachReachIssueIssueNo.No.198whatever his creed or opinion.Again, with many the bondage ofwealth is very great; and KarmaYoga is absolutely necessary forthem as breaking the crystallisationthat has gathered round their loveof money.Bhakti-YogaBhakti or worship or love in someform or other is the easiest, themost pleasant, and most naturalway of man. The natural state ofthis universe is attraction; and thatis surely followed by an ultimatedisunion. Even so, love is the naturalimpetus of union in the humanheart; and though itself a greatcause of misery when properlydirected towards the proper object,it brings deliverance. The object ofBhakti is God. Love cannot bewithout a subject and an object.The object of love again must be atfirst a being who can reciprocateour love. Therefore the God of lovemust be in some sense a humanGod. He must be a God of love.Aside from the question whethersuch a God exists or not, it is a factthat to those who have love in theirheart this Absolute appears as aGod of love, as personal.all fear. A mother with her babywill face a tiger to save her child.The second angle is that love neverasks, never begs. The third or theapex is that love loves for the sakeof love itself. Even the idea of theobject vanishes. Love is the onlyform in which love is loved. This isthe highest abstraction and thesame as the Absolute.Raja-YogaThis Yoga fits in with every one ofthese Yogas. It fits inquirers of allclasses with or without any belief,and it is the real instrument ofreligious inquiry. As each science hasits particular method of investigation,so is this Raja-Yoga the methodof religion. This science also isvariously applied according to variousconstitutions. The chief parts arethe Pranayama, concentration andmeditation. For those who believein God, a symbolic name, such asOm or other sacred words receivedfrom a Guru, will be very helpful.Om is the greatest, meaning theAbsolute. Meditating on the meaningof these holy names while repeatingthem, is the chief practice.Jnana-YogaThe lower forms of worship, whichembody the idea of God as a judgeor punisher or someone to beobeyed through fear, do not deserveto be called love, although they areforms of worship gradually expandinginto higher forms. We now pass onto the consideration of love itself.We will illustrate love by a triangle,of which the first angle at the baseis fearlessness. So long as there isfear, it is not love. Love banishesThis is divided into three parts.First: hearing the truth – that theAtman is the only reality and thateverything else is Maya (relativity).Second: reasoning upon thisphilosophy from all points of view.Third: giving up all furtherargumentation and realising theTruth. This realisation comes fromfirstly, being certain that Brahmanis real and everything else is unreal;secondly, giving up all desire forenjoyment; thirdly, controlling ourPage 7June 2011

senses and the mind; fourthly,intense desire to be free. Meditatingon this reality always and remindingthe soul of its real nature are theonly ways in this Yoga. It is thehighest, but most difficult. Manypersons get an intellectual grasp ofit, but very few attain realisation.Discourses on Jnana-YogaOm Tat Sat! To know the Om is toknow the secret of the universe. Theobject of Jnana-Yoga is the same asthat of Bhakti and Raja Yogas, butthe method is different. This is theYoga for the strong, for those whoare neither mystical nor devotional,but rational. As the Bhakti-Yogiworks his way to complete onenesswith the Supreme through love anddevotion, so the Jnana-Yogi forceshis way to the realisation of God bythe power of pure reason. He mustbe prepared to throw away all oldidols, all old beliefs and superstitions,all desire for this world or another,and be determined only to find freedom.Without Jnana (knowledge) liberationcannot be ours. It consists in knowingwhat we really are, that we arebeyond fear, beyond birth, beyonddeath. The highest good is the realisationof the Self. It is beyond sense, beyondthought. The real ―I‖ cannot begrasped. It is the eternal subject andcan never become the object ofknowledge, because knowledge isonly of the related, not of the Absolute.All sense-knowledge is limitation, itis an endless chain of cause andeffect. This world is a relativeworld, a shadow of the real; still,being the plane of equipoise wherehappiness and misery are aboutevenly balanced, it is the only planewhere man can realise his true Selfand know that he is Brahman.This world is ―the evolution ofnature and the manifestation ofGod.‖ It is our interpretation ofBrahman or the Absolute, seenthrough the veil of Maya or appearance.The world is not zero, it has a certainreality; it only appears becauseBrahman is.How shall we know the knower?The Vedanta says, ‗We are It, butwe can never know It, because Itcan never become the object of ourReachReachIssueIssueNo.No.198knowledge.‖ Modern science alsosays that It cannot be known. Wecan, however, have glimpses of Itfrom time to time. When the delusionof this world is once broken, it willcome back to us, but no longer willit hold any reality for us. We shallknow it as a mirage. To reachbehind the mirage is the aim of allreligions. That man and God areone is the constant teaching of theVedas, but only few are able topenetrate behind the veil and reachthe realisation of this truth.The first thing to be got rid of byhim who would be a Jnani is fear.Fear is one of our worst enemies.Next, believe in nothing until youknow it. Constantly tell yourself, ―Iam not the body, I am not the mind,I am not thought, I am not evenconsciousness; I am the Atman.‖When you can throw away all, onlythe true Self will remain. TheJnani‘s meditation is of two sorts:firstly, to deny and think awayeverything we are not; secondly, toinsist upon what we really are – theAtman, the One Self—Existence,Knowledge, and Bliss. The truerationalist must go on and fearlesslyfollow his reason to its farthest limits.It will not answer to stop anywhereon the road. When we begin to deny,all must go until we reach whatcannot be thrown away or denied,which is the real ―I‖. That ‗I‖ is thewitness of the universe, it isunchangeable, eternal, infinite.Now, layer after layer of ignorancecovers it from our eyes, but itremains ever the same.Two birds sat on one tree. The birdat the top was calm, majestic, beautiful,perfect. The lower bird was alwayshopping from twig to twig, noweating sweet fruits and being happy,now eating bitter fruits and beingmiserable. One day, when he hadeaten a fruit more bitter than usual,he glanced up at the calm majesticupper bird and thought, ―How Iwould like to be like him!‖ and hehopped up a little way towards him.Soon he forgot all about his desireto be like the upper bird, and wenton as before, eating sweet and bitterfruits and being happy and miserable.Page 8Again, he looked up, again he wentup a little nearer to the calm andmajestic upper bird. Many timeswas this repeated until at last hedrew very near the upper bird; thebrilliancy of his plumage dazzledhim, seemed to absorb him, andfinally, to his wonder and surprise,he found there was only one bird –he was the upper bird all the timeand had but just found i

c) A Group study on Bhagavad Gita ontinued every alternate Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. d) Group study through viewing of the ‗Bhagavad-Gita’ lecture series on Video were held every Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Celebrations: a) The birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda