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25th anniversary of the first visit of Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati to Argentina
Boletin Arsha Vidya
YEAR N° 1 JUNE 2015 N° 1
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Fundación Arsha Vidya
A nonprofit foundation for the study of Vedanta, Sanskrit, yoga and Vedic
culture.
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Swamini Vilasananda Saraswati President
Dr. Alfredo Lauría Secretary
Raúl Rishi Verma Treasurer
HONORARY BOARD MEMBERS: Dr. Roberto Toranzo Antonio Perrone V.S. Dr. Horacio E. Vajovsky V.S Silvia Vajovsky Marcos Erize
STAFF Boletín Arsha Vidya
Swamini Vilasananda Saraswati Director of publication María Lorena Reynoso Writing and publishing Comments and suggestions: Fundación Arsha Vidya J. Salguero 2225, C.A.B.A. Tel. 54 11 4826 5767 www.arshavidya.org.ar [email protected]
With the blessings of
Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati
We offer the first issue of Boletín Arsha Vidya
Om Sri Gurubhyo Namaù
Om Gaëeçäya Namaù
Hariù Om
Boletín Arsha Vidya
In fearless voice may we proclaim
The Rishi’s message from all house-tops
And bring the men of different claim
To a fold of Love where oneness lasts!
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SWAMI DAYANANDA SARASWATI
Interview with non duality magazine, part one
Swami Dayananda Saraswati is a contemporary teacher of Vedanta and a scholar in Sanskrit in the tradition of Śankara. Swamiji has been teaching Vedanta in India for more than five decades and around the world since 1976. His deep scholarship and assimilation of Vedanta combined with a subtle appreciation of contemporary problems make him that rare teacher who can reach both traditional and modern students.
A teacher of teachers, Swami Dayananda taught six resident in-depth Vedanta courses, each spanning 30 to 36 months. Swami Dayananda Saraswati
Four of them were conducted in India and two in the United States. Each course graduated about 60 qualified teachers, who are now teaching throughout India and abroad. Under his guidance, various centers for teaching of Vedanta have been founded around the world; among these, there are three primary centers in India at Rishikesh, Coimbatore, Nagpur and one in the U.S. at Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. There are more than one hundred centers in India and abroad that carry on the same tradition of Vedantic teaching.
In addition to teaching, Swami Dayananda has initiated and supported various humanitarian efforts for the last forty-five years. The most far-reaching of these is the establishment of All India Movement for Seva in 2000. Awarded consultative status with ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) by the United Nations in 2005, this organization is devoted to serving people in the remote areas of India, mainly in the field of Education and Health Care.
Swami Dayananda Saraswati has also promoted several international events and participated as a speaker in several global forums, among
Swami Dayananda Saraswati which are: the United Nations gathering of NGO's, the UNESCO Seoul Global Convention, the United Nations 50th Anniversary Celebration, the Millennium World Peace Summit, the International Congress for the Preservation of Religious Diversity, the Conference on the Preservation of Sacred Sites, the World Council for Preservation of Religious Diversity, the Youth Peace Summit, the Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders, a Hindu-Christian dialogue with the World Council of Churches, and the Hindu-Jewish Leadership Summit.
Arsha Vidya Gurukulam temple
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NDM: What are your thoughts on contemporary advaita teachers who say that self-realization is an accident, it happens for no reason, that there is no path, method, or means to do this, that all of these things only reinforce the seeker?
Swamiji: I cannot be an accident. If self is myself, I’m not going to be an accident or incident or an event. I am already there. Why they should say an accident? That’s a wrong thing to do. An accident is an incident, the cause of which you don’t know. That’s called an accident.
It’s an incident. If you are not able to figure out the causes of the incident, then you are constrained to call it an accident. Otherwise it’s not an accident. It’s an incident in time and space.
If there is a road accident a cop comes there, and then he has to find out who is the cause for this accident. Then he begins to search for the cause. Then when he finds the causes, the accident reduces itself into an incident. These are the reasons this happened. Therefore it’s a cause effect relationship. Somebody is punished and somebody gets all the benefit. And therefore, there are no accidents at all in life. And the worst thing is, self is an accident – self-realization is an accident. This is a silly thing.
Self is not different from self-realization. Self is self. If I don’t know what that self is, how am I going to come across myself? I am what I am. If I don’t know what I am, how am I going to suddenly recognize myself?
I cannot come across myself accidentally. If I am ignorant of myself and I commit a mistake about myself, to correct that mistake I have no clue. And therefore in life, you may accidentally – it means without expectation – come across something. A lot of discoveries are just made without any planning.
Penicillin was discovered by that man not with a deliberate search for penicillin. He was doing some research on some bacteria, and he was growing this bacteria for his research, and he found all of them were dead. Then he tried to find out why they were dead and he found a formation of fungus. Being a scientist he thought, ‘Is this fungus the reason for their death?’
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Then he picked up this fungus and put it in another strain. That also died. The whole strain of the bacteria died. Penicillin was discovered and the quality of human life was never the same afterwards. We didn’t have anything for infection until then. Now they can do transplantation of organs, they can do all these orthopedic surgeries and all that because of the discovery of penicillin. Then afterwards they went on and on and discovered more derivatives. It’s never been the same. One discovery – by accident.
Therefore, you can stumble upon something that you don’t know, and you may come to know, but you cannot stumble upon yourself when you are ignorant of yourself. No way. No way. (Laughter)
That there is no path is true because what is the path between you and yourself?
(We will continue with this article in the next Boletín Arsha Vidya.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
REPORTS FROM TEACHERS OF ARSHA VIDYA ARGENTINA:
The Sacred Texts
In the year 1985 I made contact with the culture and traditions of India; in the year 1990 I had the great blessing of being a student of Sri Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati and since that time I am studying under his tutelage, not only with Pujya Swamiji but also with other sannyasins who teach Vedanta. In the year 2007 I completed the three-and-a-half-year course, as a resident of Nagpur city, India, taught by Mataji Brahmaprakashananda Saraswati, where I also received on 8th of September of 2007 the classification of Vedanta Shastri – Title given by Kavikulaguru Kalidas Sanskrit University of the city of Nagpur.
Since then on the advice and with the blessings of Mataji I began teaching courses on Introduction to Vedanta and Sanskrit, Tattva Bodhah, Mundaka Upanisad and Katha Upanishad among other texts.
At this time we are coming to the end of Kathopanisad, with 10 students attending the course. In July we will begin a new text. Besides I conduct another group with whom I share advanced texts of Vedanta weekly.
Contact: [email protected] V.S. Dr. Horacio E. Vajovsky
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Bhagavad Gita Home Study Following a suggestion of Swami Svaratmananda we are aiming at the formation of several groups of Bhagavad Gita Home Study in different locations.
The idea is to form groups of 7 to 11 persons who meet together weekly to read, analyze and study Pujya Swamiji’s unfoldment of the meaning of every verse presented in nine volumes of his monumental teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, which he himself recommends as the first step for studying Vedanta.
Roberto Toranzo will assist the groups during the first 2 to 4 meetings in order to guide and encourage the participants to express what they are understanding. Thereafter, they will continue on their own and at the completion of some topics or monthly he will attend the meetings to clarify basic topics of Vedanta.
The main aim is to have about one hundred people mastering the first and second chapters with some of the more advanced among them finishing the third chapter by April of 2016, the forecasted time for the next visit of Swami Svaratmananda to Argentina to conduct intensive courses, retreats etc. The soil should be fertile when the master comes to sow the seeds.
Devotees are responding well to the proposal. So far one group is formed and ready to start in June of 2015. A second group will start in the city of La Plata by July or August. Two more are forming for the fourth quarter beginning in August.
We are pleased with these first results. The majority of the people inscribed are seekers who, having listened to Swami Svaratmananda, feel that they have found their personal path while others who knew Pujya Swamiji have decided to return with greater commitment.
We are aware that the span of time allotted to us by the Lord Isvara as human beings is short so we are deeply involved in not losing time.
Roberto Toranzo
Contacto: Tel.: (+51 11) 4541-6761 Ciudad Autónomo de Buenos Aires
E-mail: [email protected]
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Vedanta in Mar del Plata At present we have in the city of Mar del Plata a study circle of the Bhagavadgita and we meet together once a month for two hours during which time we read and analyze the commentaries of Swamiji Dayananda. In this group there are four people who for a little more than the past two years have been attending the study group meetings with enthusiasm and interest. Soon we will initiate a new group for studying the Bhagavadgita for interested new people. These meetings will take place in a Cultural Center of this city.
Last month we began a course of Vedic Chanting in the city of Tandil that has the endorsement of the Indian Embassy and is organized by a teacher of yoga there.
For the past several years in the city of Mar del Plata, a group meets weekly to study the various topics and texts of Vedanta. At present we are studying the Tattvabodha of Shankaracharya with the commentaries of Swamiji Dayananda.
Antonio Perrone
Contact: Tel.: (0223) 492-4683 [email protected]
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The Tradition of Chanting
For almost 20 years I have been sharing this wonderful Vedic Tradition with all those persons who desire it and who follow the spiritual path.
During these years I have attended various Courses in India and in the United States, and during the years 2004 to 2007 I attended a residential course at Arsha Vijñana Gurukulam under the guidance of Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati with the Acharya being Mataji Brahmaprakasananda Saraswati, disciple of Swamiji for the past many years, where I received the Vedic Shastri Certificate given by the Kavikulaguru Sanskrit University of the city of Nagpur.
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During those years I gained a more profound approach to Vedanta, Sanskrit, Vedic Chanting and the cultural, religious and philosophical traditions of India.
Upon my return, I continued sharing this teaching and at present a total of more than fifty people divided into three groups meet together.
The first group is of beginners, who I initiate into the basic traditional prayers: Shanti Mantras, Shanti Pathas, Ganesha Stotrams, Guru Stotrams, Gayatris, Stotrams and Mantras to the different Deities, Aratis, and Tradition and Culture, opening the way to Vedanta.
To the second group who are advanced students, some of whom I have been teaching now for the past various years, those who have knowledge of Sanskrit and can chant directly in that language, lately I have been teaching them the Ganapati Atharva Shirsha Upanishad, Aditya Hrdaya Stotram, and others with Bhashyam.
Almost all of them have attended the first Course of Shri Rudram which I conducted from 2010 to 2012. We all chant Shri Rudram together on the first Sunday of each month in the Sai Baba Centre of Uriarte (in the city of Buenos Aires). These first two groups meet for weekly classes lasting one and a half hours.
During this time interval, they have learned Purusha Suktam, Mantra Pushpam, Margabhandu Stotram, Mahishasuramardini Stotram, Narayana Suktam, Shiva Manasa Stotram, etc, the majority of them with a profound meaning.
To the third group I am teaching Sri Rudram with Laghunyasah and propitiatory Shanti mantras with commentaries of Swami Dayananda, Shri Bhatta Bhaskara and Shri Vishnusuri; these classes are bi-monthly and last for two hours.
It is an enormous pleasure for me to achieve this transmission of the teaching in the traditional manner without breaking this millenary Tradition, which makes me continue with the study.
I thank my Gurus who have blessed me with this teaching and allow me to teach so that it keeps flowing to hundreds of persons and filling hearts with love and respect for the Tradition.
V.S Silvia Vajovsky
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Coming soon: classes online!
Consultations: [email protected]
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25th anniversary of the first visit of Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati
to Argentina On Sunday the 3rd of May of 2015 the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Arsha Vidya Argentina took place in the city of Buenos Aires. Hundreds of participants came to know about our association and of the knowledge of Vedanta through the wonderful words of Sri Swami Svaratmananda Saraswati, who touched the hearts and minds of hundreds of people during his stay in Buenos Aires. Another essential ingredient of the day was provided by our talented Argentine musicians of classical Indian music: the SaRGaM group, Rasikananda Das on tabla with Francisco Ali Brouchoud on bansuri and afterwards with Pablo Camaño on sitar, who delighted us. Marcelo de Aquino Vicente presented a beautiful and relaxing closing concert on the rudra vina. Our Chief Guest, Ignacio Vera visionary IT expert, joined us with a fascinating talk about India.
We are filled with great gratitude towards all those who participated with their presence or collaboration and
made possible this wonderful meeting of souls in search. Details will come in the next Boletín Arsha Vidya. Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s anniversary message can be watched with subtitles on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tSsiVaO3Q4 Pujya Swamiji also sent us a written message for our anniversary souvenir:
I am happy to know that the Argentina Arsha Vidya is celebrating its 25th anniversary. I can’t believe 25 years have gone by since my (first) visit to Buenos
Aires. It was a discovery for me to see such a huge and lovely city, one to be recognized as one of the largest
cities in the world.
The people are warm with open minds even though they were brought up to believe about God and
religion differently. I enjoyed talking to them and I thank every one of them for supporting Arsha Vidya
by studying our Shastra.
