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Man does not manufacture God out of his own brain; but he can only see God in the light of his own capacity, and he attributes to Him the best of all he knows. Each attribute is the whole of God, and this signifying of the whole by one quality is the metaphysical explanation of the Personal God. Iśvara is without form yet has all forms, is without qualities yet has all qualities. As human beings we have to see the trinity of existence: God, man, nature. We cannot do otherwise.

But to the bhakta [lover of God] all these philosophical distinctions are mere idle talk. He cares nothing for argument, he does not reason; he senses, he perceives. He wants to lose himself in pure love of God. And there have been bhaktas who maintain that this is more to be desired than liberation, and who say: ‘I do not want to be sugar; I want to taste sugar. I want to love and enjoy the Beloved.’

In bhakti yoga the first essential is to want God honestly and intensely. We want everything but God, because our ordinary desires are fulfilled by the external world. So long as our needs are confined within the limits of the physical universe, we do not feel any need for God. It is only when we have had hard blows in our lives and are disappointed with everything here that we feel the need for something higher; and then we seek God.

Bhakti is not destructive; it teaches that all our faculties may become means to reach salvation. We must turn them all towards God and give to Him that love which is usually wasted on the fleeting objects of sense.

Bhakti differs from your Western idea of religion in that bhakti admits no element of fear, no Being to be appeased or propitiated. There are even bhaktas who worship God as their own child, so that there may remain no feeling even of awe or reverence. There can be no fear in true love, and so long as there is the least fear, bhakti cannot even begin. In bhakti there is also no place for begging or bargaining with God. The idea of asking for anything is a sacrilege to a bhakta. He will not pray for health or wealth or even to go to heaven.

One who wants to love God, to be a bhakta, must make a bundle of all these desires and leave them outside the door, and then enter. He who wants to enter the realm of light must make a bundle of all shop-keeping religion and cast it away before he can pass the gates. It is not that you do not get what you pray for; you get everything; but it is low, vulgar—a beggar’s religion. . . . These prayers for health and wealth and material prosperity are not bhakti. They are the lowest form of karma. Bhakti is a higher thing. We are striving to come into the presence of the King of kings. We cannot get there in a beggar’s dress. . . .

Giving up the ideas of pleasure and pain, gain and loss, worship God day and night; not a moment is to be spent in vain.

Giving up all other thoughts, with the whole mind day and night worship God. Thus being worshipped day and night, He reveals Himself and makes His worshippers feel His presence.

 - Swami Vivekananda, Inspired Talks, Wednesday July 31, 1895

Talks  •  Panel Discussion  •  Questions and Answers  •  Music 

Memorial Day Speakers

Speakers:

• Rev. Charles P. Gibbs – Christianity
• Dr. Nahid Angha – Sufism
• Rev. Heng Sure – Buddhism
• Ms. Sherna Deamer – Baha’i
• Swami Atmajnanananda – Vedanta

Time and Place:

10 a.m. – 4:15 p.m.
Vedanta Retreat, 9799 State Highway One, Olema, West Marin County

Complimentary Lunch and Dinner
Child care provided. No Pets, please.

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Look upon every man, woman, and everyone

as God.

You cannot help anyone,

you can only serve.

Serve the children of the Lord,

serve the Lord Himself,

if you have the privilege.

If the Lord grants that you can help

anyone of His children,

blessed you are.

Do not think too much of yourselves.

Blessed you are that that privilege

was given to you when others had it not.

Do it only as worship.

I should see God in the poor,

and it is for my salvation

that I go and worship them.

The poor and the miserable

are for our salvation,

so that we may serve the Lord,

coming in the form of the diseased,

coming in the shape of the lunatic,

the leper, and the sinner!

Bold are my words;

And let me repeat

that it is the greatest privilege in our life

that we are allowed to serve the Lord

in all these shapes.

Give up the idea that by ruling over others

you can do any good to them.

 But you can do just as much as you can

as in the case of a plant:

You can supply the growing seed with the materials

for the making up of its body,

bringing to it the earth, the water, the air

that it wants.

It will take all that it wants

by its own nature,

it will assimilate and grow by its own nature.

Bring all light into the world.

Light, bring light!

Let light come unto everyone.

The task will not be finished

till everyone has reached the Lord.

Bring light to the poor,

and bring more light to the rich,

for they require it more than the poor.

Bring light to the ignorant,

and more light to the educated,

for the vanities of the education of our time

are tremendous!

Thus bring light to all

and leave the rest unto the Lord,

for in the words of the same Lord:

‘To work you have the right

and not to the fruits thereof.’

‘Let not your work produce results for you,

and at the same time

may you never be without work.’

May He who taught such grand ideas

to our forefathers ages ago

help us to get strength

to carry into practice His commands!

- Swami Vivekananda

(If you have begun playing two classes, you may have to reload the page in your browser to play a third.)

Talk 1 – March 29, 2013

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Talk 2 – March 30, 2013

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Talk 3 – March 30, 2013

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 Talk 4 – March 30, 2013

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 Talk 5 – March 31, 2013

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