Date: 01/31/2021
This program celebrates the life of Swami Vivekananda (Narendranath Datta) (1863-1902) commemorating the anniversary of his birth. Regarded as India’s first great spiritual ambassador to the West, Swami Vivekananda is perhaps best known for his inspiring speech which began, “Sisters and brothers of America …” delivered at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893.
We have selected Songs, Shlokas and Bhajans reflecting the philosophy of Swami Vivekananda, generating a secular social order through Religious and Ethnic Pluralism that would transcend differences of caste and creed and result in a unique place for India in the World.
Our singers this morning are Sonali Bhattacharya, Aditya Das, Ashidhara Das, and Shyamoshree Gupta Diamond, with Anoop Bhattacharjya on tabla. All are outstanding artistes who have received praise and recognition for their performances and concerts both in India and in the United States.
Date: 02/07/2021
We are currently living in a world that no one would have wished for and no one could have foreseen. Yet in the midst of a global pandemic, racial injustice, and a nation divided, there is hope. Meditation can help us cope with what we experience around us because it allows us to know who we truly are within us. Today’s session will be an active and peaceful meditation based on the teachings of ancient gurus and modern masters. No prior study or practice is necessary.
Anton Grosz has been a practitioner and teacher of Integral Yoga and New Consciousness for over 40 years. His focus is the experiential mode of this evolutionary way of being and the importance of its real time application for individuals, humanity, and the very future of our planet. He can be reached at www.rovingI.net.
Date: 02/21/2021
Along with Sri Aurobindo, the Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram has been a major inspiration behind the founders of the Cultural Integration Fellowship: Mrs. Bina Chaudhuri and Dr. Haridas Chaudhuri. The Mother was not only the spiritual partner of Sri Aurobindo but also his collaborator in the formulation of Integral Yoga. In fact, it is cardinal for the practitioners of Integral Yoga to collaborate with the force of the Divine Mother, which the Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram was stated to have represented. But who was the Mother in her physical manifestation? Where did she come from? Where was she born? How did she spend her childhood and teenage years? What were her spiritual accomplishments before she joined Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry? What made her to come to Pondicherry? How did her role evolve in the ashram? How did she conduct the affairs of the ashram? We addressed some of these questions when we gathered previously. We will continue unfolding her external biography even more as we gather once again to celebrate her birthday.
Kundan Singh is a scholar-practitioner of Integral Yoga and a professor, who teaches in areas of Transpersonal Psychology, Integral Psychology and Philosophy, Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology, Indian Psychology, Yogic Psychology, Postcolonial and Postmodern Psychology, Postmodern Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Epistemology, Critical Thought and Deconstruction, Contemporary and Traditional Vedanta, Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, and East-West Studies.
