Hari
Om
'Freedays' are the 'gather our thoughts' days;
Q&As; a general review of the week so far…
...and now for something different…
YAM
is going to be away for a while, the travel bug has hit. However, there WILL be
posts here every day. Rather than beavering away at preparing the usual
subjects well ahead, the decision has been made to offer a break in the type of
study for you too. Story-days and Sounds-days will remain in place. For the weekdays, a number of scheduled items of the audio-visual type have
been set; discourses from the CCMT and CIF channels, so that you can experience
different Swamis talking on the subject of Vedanta and how to apply it in life.
Whilst
there are going to be a few individual, 'stand-alone' vids, there are also
going to be complete, multi-episode sessions. If you were attending a CM study
group in your city, there would come a time when the Swami in charge of your
area would hold a week-long 'yajna' - a group of teachings around a particular
scripture (or part thereof), or a particular theme of saadhana… or even about
saadhana itself, as you will discover soon. These yajnas are great events,
where all the different study-groups of the area get a chance to mingle, as
well as being open to the public and therefore a chance to talk with folk who
perhaps know nothing of Vedanta at all - and you discover a small sense of
pleasure at having even the small understanding you have now from your study
and practice. Not to display pride, but to recognise that, after all, there has
been some progress...intellectually if not necessarily in application!
By
having found AV-blog (and, yes, again I tell you that readership has steadily -
if somewhat stealthily - grown!), and attended 'class' here, this is perhaps
the only way to bring you into yajna.
During
this period, then, keep your notebooks handy and take down all the gems which
will appear as you listen. As always, write down your questions - then see if
they get answered as the sessions move along. You
are encouraged to treat your visit to each day's post in this time with the
same respect you would if actually attending sessions in person. This
entails ensuring that you have addressed all food and toileting needs before
being seated; have only water on hand in case of need. Do not leave your seat
during the session (times vary between an hour and ninety minutes). Switch off
your mobile phones! Pay attention. Worry not at Hindi or Sanskrit usage, all
will be clear in the flow of the talks. Listen out for all the terms with which
you ought now to have some familiarity. (It would be beneficial to use
earphones for listening.)
Most
of all, please enjoy this temporary change of learning 'environment'; the
Swamis' styles are all very different, but they are consistent in the message.
Normal service will resume in approximately four weeks - with Bhagwan and
Gurudev's blessings! Hari Om...
