VEDANTA SOCIETY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 2323 Vallejo Street (at Fillmore) San Francisco, CA 94123 Swami Tattwamayananda, Minister Ramakrishna Order of India JANUARY 2020 SUNDAY LECTURES: 11 A.M. January 12: “Swami Vivekananda’s Place in American History” Swami Tattwamayananda January 19: NO LECTURE January 26: NO LECTURE / Evening Program: Swami Brahmananda’s Birthday, 7:30 p.m. WEDNESDAY VESPERS: 7:30 P.M. Worship, Devotional Singing, and Meditation January 8, 15, 22, and 29. BHAGAVAD GITA FRIDAYS, 7:30 P.M. Old Temple The class will resume on January 24. Sri Sarada Devi’s Birthday & New Year’s Day Wednesday, January 1, 10 a.m. We will celebrate this special day with a worship, fire ceremony, readings, and an afternoon program of devotional singing. More information on the next page. WINTER RETREAT: JANUARY 4 – 5, 2020 “SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MINDFULNESS” By Swami Tattwamayananda Vivekananda Hall Please RSVP by December 28, 2019 at sfvedanta.org Swami Vivekananda’s Birthday Saturday, January 18, 10 a.m. The program will include worship, chanting, meditation, devotional singing, readings on the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda, flower offerings by devotees, and a prasad luncheon. Swami Brahmananda’s Birthday Sunday, January 26, 7:30 p.m. After the worship, there will be readings on the life and teachings of Swami Brahmananda, flower offerings by devotees, and refreshments.
Transcript
VEDANTA SOCIETY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 2323 Vallejo Street (at Fillmore) San Francisco, CA 94123
Swami Tattwamayananda, Minister Ramakrishna Order of India
JANUARY 2020SUNDAY LECTURES: 11 A.M. January 12: “Swami Vivekananda’s Place in
American History” Swami Tattwamayananda January 19: NO LECTURE January 26: NO LECTURE / Evening Program: Swami Brahmananda’s Birthday, 7:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY VESPERS: 7:30 P.M. Worship, Devotional Singing, and Meditation January 8, 15, 22, and 29.
BHAGAVAD GITA FRIDAYS, 7:30 P.M. Old Temple The class will resume on January 24.
Sri Sarada Devi’s Birthday & New Year’s Day Wednesday, January 1, 10 a.m.
We will celebrate this special day with a worship, fire ceremony, readings, and an afternoon program of devotional singing. More information on the next page.
WINTER RETREAT: JANUARY 4 – 5, 2020 “SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MINDFULNESS”
By Swami Tattwamayananda Vivekananda Hall
Please RSVP by December 28, 2019 at sfvedanta.org
Swami Vivekananda’s Birthday Saturday, January 18, 10 a.m. The program will include worship, chanting, meditation, devotional singing, readings on the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda, flower offerings by devotees, and a prasad luncheon.
Swami Brahmananda’s Birthday Sunday, January 26, 7:30 p.m. After the worship, there will be readings on the life and teachings of Swami Brahmananda, flower offerings by devotees, and refreshments.
Meditation will follow each morning session. Lunch will be provided on Saturday.
Please RSVP by Dec. 28: sfvedanta.org Or phone: 415-922-2323
Wednesday evenings: Vespers & Meditation
7:30 – 8:15 p.m. Devotional Singing, Worship, and Meditation
January 8, 15, 22, and 29
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
Saturday, January 18, 2020
10:00 a.m. Formal Worship
Swami Tattwamayananda 11:00 a.m.
Devotional Singing Led by Men’s and Women’s Choirs
11:45 a.m. Readings from the Life and Teachings of
Swami Vivekananda 12:30 p.m.
Flower Offerings by Devotees Prasad Luncheon
(Child care provided)
SWAMI BRAHMANANDA’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
Sunday • January 26 • 7:30 p.m. After the worship and meditation, there will be readings from the teachings of Swami Brahmananda, flower offerings by devotees, and refreshments.
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TEMPLE HOURS. The temple is open daily for meditation from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. On Tuesdays the temple is closed.
INTERVIEWS with Swami Tattwamayananda may be scheduled by those who wish to know more about Vedanta. Specific instruction and guidance are given by the swami to anyone who earnestly desires to undertake spiritual practice. Those wishing to make appointments with the swami may do so by speaking with him after the services, by telephoning 415-922-2323, or by e-mailing: [email protected].
THE SRI SARADA LIBRARY will reopen on Sunday, January 13, and will be open on Sundays from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., following the lecture, and at other times by appointment.
BOOKSHOP HOURS: Mondays: 2 ‒ 5 p.m. Tuesdays: CLOSED Wednesdays ‒ Fridays: 2 ‒ 5 p.m. Saturdays: 11 a.m. ‒ 5 p.m. Sundays: 1 ‒ 5 p.m. The bookshop carries translations of principal Vedantic scriptures, books on Vedanta and other world religions, and children’s books. A large selection of books, incense, photos, etc., may be ordered online at sfvedanta. Orders may also be placed by phone or fax. E-mail: [email protected].
To view or listen to lectures, classes, and retreats, please visit:
2963 Webster Street Auditorium Entrance on Filbert St.
CLASS on Vedantic scriptures is conducted on Fridays by Swami Tattwamayananda at 7:30 p.m. at the Old Temple. The text for study is: the Bhagavad Gita. Class will resume on January 24 at the Old Temple.
SUNDAY SCHOOL. Classes are held on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 12 noon for children in first grade through high school to give them a general knowledge of Vedanta, to acquaint them with the basic teachings of the major living religions, and to inspire reverence for the great religious teachers of the world. Parents wishing to enroll their children are invited to speak to the secretary of the Society. Classes resume on January 12.
Vedanta Retreat Olema, Marin County
The Society’s retreat provides an opportunity to spiritual seekers of all faiths to meditate and study in a secluded area of meadows and forests away from the disturbances of urban life. The retreat is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, please visit our website: sfvedanta.org.
ABOVE IS THE EMBLEM of the Ramakrishna Order depicting the union of the four paths by which the Supreme Being may be realized. The waves are symbolic of unselfish action; the lotus, love of God; the rising sun, knowledge; the serpent, awakening of spiritual power; and the swan, the Supreme Self.
TO HOLY MOTHER, SRI SARADA DEVI A Letter by Sister Nivedita
Cambridge, Mss. [Mass.]
11th December 1910
Beloved Mother, This morning, early, I went to church—to pray for Sara [Mrs. Ole Bull]. All the people there were thinking of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and suddenly I thought of you. Your dear face, and your loving look, and your white sari and your bracelets. It was all there. And it seemed to me that yours was the Presence that was to soothe and bless poor S. Sara’s sick room. And—do you know?—I thought I had been very foolish to sit in your room, at the evening service to Sri Ramakrishna, trying to meditate—why did I not understand that it was quite enough to be a little child at your dear feet? Dear Mother! You are full of love! And it is not a flushed and violent love, like ours, and like the world’s, but a gentle peace that brings good to everyone and wishes ill to none. It is a golden radiance, full of play. What a blessed Sunday that was, a few months ago, when I ran into you, the last thing before I went on the Ganges, and ran back to you for a moment, as soon as I came back! I felt such a wonderful freedom in the blessing you gave me, and in your welcome home! Dearest Mother—I wish we could send you a wonderful hymn, or a prayer. But somehow even that would seem too loud, too full of noise! Surely you are the most wonderful thing of God—Sri Ramakrishna’s own chalice of His Love for the world—a token left with His children, in these lonely days, and we should be very still and quiet before you—except indeed for a little fun! Surely the ‘wonderful things of God’ are all quiet—stealing unnoticed into our lives—the air and sunlight and the sweetness of gardens and of the Ganges, these are the silent things that are like you! Do send poor S. Sara the mantle of your peace. Isn’t your thought, now and then, of the high calm that neither loves nor hates? Isn’t that the sweet benediction that trembles in God, like the dew-drop on the lotus leaf, and touches not the world?
Ever, my darling Mother, your foolish Khooki [child], Nivedita
