Kali Mandir Satsang

Short Reading: ”Claim Your Birthright Now” by Swami Sivananda Saraswati

A short exert from "Sadhana, a Textbook of the Psychology and Practice of the Techniques to Spiritual Perfection", pg 365-367 by His Holiness Gurudev Swami Sivananda Saraswati (1887-1963), read by Rev. Dr. Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati. 
 
"Why should you prolong your bondage unnecessarily? Why should you not claim your birthright right now? Do it now. Stand up. Gird your loins. Do rigorous and vigorous sadhana and attain freedom, immortality and eternal bliss. Make the lower nature the servant of the higher through discipline, tapas, self-restraint and meditation. This is the beginning of your freedom. Build your character. Purify the heart. Develop divine virtues. Eradicate evil traits. Conquer all that is base within you. Endeavor to attain all that is worthy and noble. Only when you have purified the heart, silenced the mind, stilled the thoughts and surging emotions, withdrawn the outgoing senses, thinned out the vasanas, can you behold the glorious Atman during deep meditation. Even a ray of inner light during meditation will lighten your path. It will give you you encouragement and inner strength. It will goad you to do more sadhana. You will experience this ray of light when the meditation becomes deeper and when you rise above body-consciousness. Meditation and worship are the means of evolving your potentialities and seeking a higher level of consciousness. Life is the unfolding of the latent capacities of the soul. Lead the divine life. Generate sublime divine thoughts through meditation, japa, kirtan and study of sacred scriptures. Bask the body in physical sunlight. Bask the soul in the sunlight of the Eternal. You will have good health and everlasting life. Sit down with a compose mind. Assert your mastery over body and mind. Plunge deep into the chambers of the heart and enter into the stupendous ocean of silence. Listen to the voice which is soundless. Build your spiritual life upon a sure foundation, upon the rock of divine grace and strength of character. Take refuge in the Lord and His law. There is no power in heaven or on earth that can bar your march now. Success in Self-realization is certain. There is light on your path. All is brilliant."

Devi Gita (Class 36):”Maya and Vimarśa in Kashmir Shaivism” with George Barselaar of the Lakshmanjoo Academy.

Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati is joined by special guest scholar George Barselaar, a disciple and attendant of the great master of Kashmiri Shaivism His Holiness Swami Lakshmanjoo, live from Swamiji's ashram in Srinagar, Kashmir. We are continuing the discussion we started last week on verse 2.10:
विमर्श इति तां प्राहुः शैवशास्त्रविशारदाः |
अविद्यामितरे प्राहुर्वेदतत्त्वार्थचिन्तकाः || १० ||
10. vimarśa iti tāṃ prāhuḥ śaiva-śāstra-viśāradāḥ |
avidyāmitare prāhur-veda-tattvārtha-cintakāḥ || 10 ||
"Those versed in Shaiva scriptures (Shaivites) declare Her to be vimarśa (reflective awareness), while those who contemplate the doctrines of the Vedas (Vedantins) declare Her to be powerful avidya (ignorance).”
 
 

Devi Gita (Class 35): ”The Many Views of Maya” by Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati

Scripture class by Rev. Dr. Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati on Devi Gita, chapter 2, verses 9 & 10 given to students of the Ramakrishna Seminary at Kali Mandir via Zoom on 14 June 2023.
केचित् तां तप इत्याहुस्तमः केचिज्जडं परे |ज्ञानं मायां प्रधानं च प्रकृतिं शक्तिमप्यजाम् || ९ ||kecit tāṃ tapa ityāhus-tamaḥ kecij-jaḍaṃ pare |jñānaṃ māyāṃ pradhānaṃ ca prakṛtiṃ śakti-mapyajām || 9 ||9. "Some call this Maya the power of austerity; others call it darkness; still others, dullness, or knowledge, illusion, matter, nature, energy, or the unborn."
विमर्श इति तां प्राहुः शैवशास्त्रविशारदाः |अविद्यामितरे प्राहुर्वेदतत्त्वार्थचिन्तकाः || १० ||vimarśa iti tāṃ prāhuḥ śaiva-śāstra-viśāradāḥ |avidyāmitare prāhur-veda-tattvārtha-cintakāḥ || 10 ||10. "Those versed in Shaiva works call it intelligence (vimarśa), while the Vedantins call it ignorance (avidya)."

Short Readings: ”God’s Name is the Path” by Swami Ramdas

A short selection from "Ramdas Speaks, Vol. V", page 142-143 by His Holiness Papa Swami Ramdas (1884-1963), read by Rev. Dr. Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati
 
"The easiest way to attain this beatific vision, Ramdas can tell you, is the repetition of God's holy name. Ramdas has read in the teachings of all the great sages and saints of India, about the glory of the Divine Name. Sri Ramakrishna and the Holy Mother also have been telling us to repeat God's name and do japa, because it is so very easy. We need not have any paraphernalia to repeat God's name. We can utter it all all times and at all places. After practicing various types of discipline, Sri Ramakrishna found the repetition of God's name most efficacious and suitable. Saint Tulsidas says that God's name is like a light that you keep on the doorstep. You can get light inside as well as outside. So if you have the name on your tongue, you will have the divine light within you and also everywhere about you. Such is the power of the Divine Name. He who has uttered the Divine Name  constantly can alone know its sweetness and power. Ramdas can vouch for the power of the Name, but you should repeat it without desiring anything from God. As soon as you repeat the Name, you start getting bliss. It is not that anything can be attained after repeating the Name for some time. The attainment is immediate. This is what Ramdas felt. The sweetness of the Name is such that it will not leave you. Ramdas went on drinking the sweetness of the Name until the drink and Ramdas became one. After that, the repetition automatically stopped and he was filled with ecstasy. There is nothing but joy and this joy has been with him for the last thirty years. He has been going about telling everybody to repeat the name of God constantly.
"All the names of God are equally powerful. You may repeat the name Shiva, Rama, Krishna or any other Name you like with full faith and devotion, and you will see that the Name will purify you and free you from all desires and attachments. When you sit for meditation, you find the mind wandering here and there. This is because the mind is not pure. Purity comes only when you repeat God's name constantly. When the min d is restless and agitated, you cannot know who you are. You think you are only a bundle of flesh and bones. But when your mind has been purified and made still by the practice of meditation you come to realize that you are the immortal Spirit. 
"Now you have all been singing God's name. The vibrations created thereby were merging our mind in them. By hearing the sound of the Name, the mind gets absorbed in it. It forgets to run about because it is imbued or intoxicated with the sweetness of the Name. All the vasanas and desires within us are uprooted, and so the mind becomes calm. For progress on the spiritual path, satsang or contact of great souls is an important thing. You must see them, hear their nectarian words, follow their advice and take God's name. This will liberate us from all desires, elevate us and give us the joy of the Eternal. This is possible only by contact of saints, and by taking God's holy name. If these two things are done, you are saved. The object of all sadhanas is only to keep God's name continuously on our lips. No sadhana can itself take us to God. It is only a means so that we may repeat the Name continuously and have unbroken remembrance of God. When remembrance leaves us, the ego-sense takes hold of us and the mind becomes restless. As soon as there is remembrance the ego-sense disappears and we are in tune with God. 
"Ramdas will stop this talk by invoking Sri Ramakrishna's blessings to help you all attain this supreme goal. May he grant you continuous remembrance of God and may he bless you with the supreme vision, experience, and realization!"
 

Devi Gita (Class 34): ”The Cosmic Seed” by Swami Bhajanananda Saraswatiss

Scripture class by Rev. Dr. Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati on Devi Gita, chapter 2, verses 7 & 8 given to students of the Ramakrishna Seminary at Kali Mandir via Zoom on 7 June 2023.
स्वाशक्तेश्च समायोगादहं बीजात्मतां गता |स्वाधारावरणात् तस्या दोषत्वं च समागतम् || ७ ||svāśakteśca samā-yogād-ahaṃ bījātmatāṃ gatā |svādhārā-varaṇāt tasyā doṣatvaṃ ca samāgatam || 7 ||7. "By uniting with this inherent power of mine, I become the cosmic seed. By obscuring Me, its own basis, this power is prone to defects."
चैतन्यस्य समायोगान्निमित्तत्वं च कथ्यते |प्रपञ्चपरिणामाच्च समवायित्वमुच्यते || ८ ||caitanyasya samāyogān-nimittatvaṃ ca kathyate |prapañca-pariṇāmāc-ca sama-vāyitvam-ucyate || 8 ||8. "Through its association with consciousness, Maya is called the efficient cause of the world. Through its evolution into the visible realm, it is said to be the material cause."

Kali Mandir’s 30th Annivesary Celebration (part 2) featuring Trevor Hall

Narendra Hathaway, Dante, and Trevor Hall (Rampriya Das) perform in Laguna Canyon in celebration of Kali Mandir's 30th anniversary. 

Kali Mandir’s 30th Annversary Celebration (part 1) Puja and Bhajans

Morning worship of Ma Dakshineswari Kali and bhajans recorded on 28 May 2023

Devi Gita (Class 32): ”As Heat Exist in Fire” by Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati

Scripture class by Rev. Dr. Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati on the Devi Gita of the Srimad Devi Bhagavatam, chapter 2, verses 5 & 6 given to students of the Ramakrishna Seminary at Kali Mandir via Zoom on 17 May 2023.
पावकस्योष्ण्यतेवेयमुष्णांशोरिव दीधितिः |चन्द्रस्य चन्द्रिकेवेयं ममेयं सहजा ध्रुवा || ५ ||pāvakasyoṣṇyateveyamuṣṇāṃśoriva dīdhitiḥ |candrasya candrikeveyaṃ mameyaṃ sahajā dhruvā || 5 ||5. "As heat inheres in fire, as brilliance in the sun, as cool light in the moon, just so this Maya inheres firmly in me."
तस्यां कर्माणि जीवानां जीवाः कालश्च सञ्चरे |अभेदेन विलीनाः स्युः सुषुप्तौ व्यवहारवत् || ६ ||tasyāṃ karmāṇi jīvānāṃ jīvāḥ kālaśca sañcare |abhedena vilīnāḥ syuḥ suṣuptau vyavahāravat || || 6 ||6. "Into that Maya the actions of souls, the souls themselves, and the ages eventually dissolve without distinctions, as worldly concerns disappear in deep sleep."

Devi Gita (Class 32): ”Indescribable” by Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati

Scripture class by Rev. Dr. Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati on Devi Gita, chapter 2, verses 3 & 4 given to students of the Ramakrishna Seminary at Kali Mandir via Zoom on 10 May 2023.
अप्रतर्क्यमनिर्देश्यमनौपम्यमनामयम् |
तस्य काचित् स्वतः सिद्धा शक्तिर्मायेति विश्रुता || ३ ||
apratarkyam-anirdeśyam-anaupamyam-anāmayam |
tasya kācit svataḥ siddhā śaktirmāyeti viśrutā || 3 ||
3. "It is beyond reason, indescribable, incomparable, incorruptible. From out of itself evolves a certain power renowned as Maya."
 
न सती सा नाऽसती सा नोभयात्मा विरोधतः |
एतद्विलक्षणा काचिद्वस्तुभूतास्ति सर्वदा ||
na satī sā nā’satī sā nobhayātmā virodhataḥ | etadvilakṣaṇā kācid-vastu-bhūtāsti sarvadā || 4 ||
4. "Neither real nor unreal is this Maya, nor is it both, for that would be incongruous. Lacking such characteristics, this indefinite entity has always subsisted."

Devi Gita (Class 31): ”I Alone Existed in the Beginning” by Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati

Scripture class by Rev. Dr. Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati on Devi Gita, chapter 2, verses 1 & 2 given to students of the Ramakrishna Seminary at Kali Mandir via Zoom on 26 April 2023.
शृण्वन्तु निर्जराः सर्वे व्याहर्न्त्या वचो मम |
यस्य श्रवणमात्रेण मद्रूपत्वं प्रपद्यते || १ ||
śṛṇvantu nirjarāḥ sarve vyāharntyā vaco mama |
yasya śravaṇa-mātreṇa mad-rūpa-tvaṃ prapadyate || 1 ||1. "May all the gods attend to what I have to say.
 By merely hearing these words of mine, one attains My essential nature."
 
अहम्वेवास पूर्वं तु नान्यत् किञ्चिन्नगाधिप |
तदात्मरूपं चित्संवित् परब्रह्मैकनामकम् || २ ||
aham-evevāsa pūrvaṃ tu nānyat kiñcin-nagādhipa |
tadātma-rūpaṃ cit-saṃvit parabrahmaika-nāmakam || 2 ||
2. "I alone existed in the beginning; there was nothing else at all, O Mountain King.
 My true Self is known as pure consciousness, the highest intelligence, the one supreme Brahman.
"