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Reach between 4.45 pm to 6.45 pm during theacademic term.Meditation Sessions were conducted bySwami Sunishthananda on Sundays between 5.00 pm to 5.30 pm .Classes on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras wereconducted by Swami Sunishthananda onSundays between 5.30 pm to 6.15 pm.Parlour talks were conducted by SwamiSridharananda at 1/11 Boyle Street, Balgowlah, NSW 2093 near Manly Beach onTuesdays between 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm.Classes on the Katha Upanishad were conducted by Swami Sunishthananda everyWednesday between 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm.Classes on the Narada Bhakti Sutras wereconducted by Swami Sunishthanandaevery Friday between 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm.Sri Rāmanāma Sankirtanam was conducted on Ekadashi days after the vesperservice.Devotees also received spiritual counselling and guidance.Other Activities: SwamiNirmalatmananda, President,Ramakrishna Vedanta Ashrama, Sao Paulovisited the Vedanta Centre of Sydney andthe Vedanta Centres in Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Aucklandfrom 13 January 2016 to 09 February2016. SwamiVedamritananda from theVedanta Society of Southern California,Hollywood is visiting the Vedanta Centreof Sydney between 16 March 2016 to 01June 2016. Swami Vimokshananda, President, Ramakrishna Mission, Singapore, visited theVedanta Centre of Sydney and its Centrein Brisbane between 21 March 2016 and26 March 2016. Swami Atmajnanananda, Resident Minister of Vedanta Centre of Greater Washington, D.C., visited the Vedanta Centre ofIssue No. 35Sydney and its Centre in Brisbane between23 March 2016 and 13 April 2016.The Centre maintains a bookstall which has alarge collection of books on Sri Ramakrishna, SriSarada Devi the Holy Mother, Swami Vivekananda, Vedanta, Yoga and the RamakrishnaMovement. Devotional songs, discourses on theBhagavad Gitā, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,Mundaka Upanishad, and other topics are alsoavailable in various media formats.The Centre’s library is also available to devotees.Celebrations: The birth anniversary of Holy Mother wasobserved at the Centre on 01 January 2016.A special worship was offered to the HolyTrinity amidst the chanting of mantras andbhajans. Swami Sridharananda gave a talkon the „Life and Teachings of Holy Mother‟after evening aratrikam. Devotees partookof the prasadam both after the morningworship and in the evening. The birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda was observed at the Centre on 31January 2016. A special worship was offeredto the Holy Trinity amidst the chanting ofmantras and bhajans. Swami Nirmalatmananda, the President of the Vedanta Centreof Sao Paulo, Brazil gave a talk on the lifeand teachings of Swami Vivekananda afterevening aratrikam. Devotees partook of theprasadam both after the morning worshipand in the evening. Shivaratri worship was conducted at theCentre on 07 March 2016 between 6.30 pmand 9.30 pm. A large number of devoteesassembled to worship Lord Shiva. Devotional songs were sung by the devoteesduring and after the worship. Devotees partook of the prasadam after the worship inthe evening. The birth anniversary of Sri Ramakrishnawas celebrated on 10 March 2016. In theMay 2016Page 7

ReachClassical ConcertMeeting Swami NirmalatmanandaVolunteers at the Sydney Centre Audience at the Sydney Centremorning, elaborate worship, havan,chanting of hymns from various scriptures, devotional songs and aratrikamwere conducted. In the evening, SwamiSridharananda gave a talk on the „Life andTeachings of Sri Ramakrishna‟. Devoteespartook of prasadam both after themorning worship and in the evening.Ramanavami was celebrated with thesinging of Rāmnām and other bhajans on15 April 2016. Devotees partook of prasadam after the worship in the evening.Forthcoming Programmes: The Annual Day Celebration will be held on30 April 2016. Guru Purnima will be held on 19 July 2016. Sri Krishna Janmashtami will be observedon 25 Aug 2016.Sri Ramakrishna’s birth anniversary at the Sydney CentrePage 8May 2016Issue No. 35

ReachMelbourne5-7 Angus Ave, Ringwood East VIC 3135email : vedanta.melb@gmail.comContact : Mr Suresh Ravinutala – 0413 040 599Daily Activities: Vesper service (aratrikam) and reading fromThe Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna were conducted between 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm.Regular Activities: Swami Sridharananda continued to delivermonthly discourses on the Srimad Bhagavad-Gitā from the Thursday to the Saturdayof a prescheduled week at the Centre.Other Activities: Swami Nirmalatmananda from Brazil visitedMelbourne between 02 February 2016 and04 February 2016 and held a satsang at theAshram.Celebrations: Kalpataru day, which was also HolyMother's birthday according to the BengaliAlmanac, was observed on 01 January2016. The program included chanting, bhajans, flower offerings to Holy Mother andreadings from Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play on the significance of Kalpataruday. The birth anniversary of Holy Mother wasobserved at the Centre on 23 January 2016.A special worship was offered to the HolyTrinity amidst the chanting of mantras andbhajans. Swami Sridharananda gave a talkon the „Life and Teachings of Holy Mother‟after evening aratrikam. Devotees partookof prasadam after the morning worship. Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary wasobserved at the Centre on 13 February2016. A special worship was offered to theHoly Trinity amidst the chanting of mantrasand bhajans. Swami Sridharananda gave aIssue No. 35 talk on the „Life and Teachings of SwamiVivekananda‟ after the evening aratrikam.Devotees partook of prasadam after themorning worship.Shivaratri was celebrated on 07 March2016. The programme commenced afterthe evening vesper service. Devoteeschanted the Sri Rudram and all had the opportunity to offer milk abhishekam to LordShiva. All partook of prasadam at the conclusion of the function.The birth anniversary of Sri Ramakrishnawas observed at the Centre. A special worship was offered to Sri Ramakrishna amidstthe chanting of mantras and bhajans.Swami Sridharananda gave a talk on „SriRamakrishna as Avatara Varishta'. Devoteespartook of prasadam after the morningworship.Ramnavami was celebrated on 16 April2016. The programme included bhajans,flower offerings to Lord Rama, readingsfrom The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna andThe Ramayana. All partook of prasadam atthe conclusion of the function.Forthcoming Programmes: Guru Purnima will be celebrated at the Ashram on 23 July 2016.Other Reports: The Centre participated in the HarmonyDay Concert organized by the MaroondahInterfaith Network on 28 February 2016.The programme included a smoking ceremony by the Aboriginal community, Buddhist Meditation, poetry etc. A Hindu danceprogramme was organized by the Melbourne Centre through one of its devotees.May 2016Page 9

Reach2. ArticlesFeature Article:Divine Love and Lessons on Bhakti-Yoga: the Yoga through Devotionby Swami VivekanandaBhakti or the love of God based on the teachings of Swami VivekanandaIknow one whom the world used to call mad, and this was his answer: ‘My friends, thewhole world is a lunatic asylum; some are mad after worldly love, some after name, someafter fame, some after money, some after salvation and going to heaven. In this big lunaticasylum I am also mad, I am mad after God. You are mad; so am I. I think my madness is after allthe best.’The true Bhakta’s love is this burning madness, before which everything else vanishes for him. Thewhole universe is to him full of love and love alone; that is how it seems to the lover. So when aman has this love in him, he becomes eternally blessed, eternally happy; this blessed madness ofdivine love alone can cure for ever the disease of the world that is in us.The Triangle of LoveLove may be symbolisedby a triangle. The first angleis that love questions not.The first sign of love is whenlove asks nothing and whenit gives everything. This isthe really spiritual worship,the worship through love.Whether God is merciful isno longer questioned. He isGod; He is my love. WhetherGod is omnipotent and almighty, limited or unlimitedis no longer questioned. IfHe distributes good, allright; if He brings evil, whatdoes it matter? All other attributes vanish except thatone—infinite love.There was an old Indiaemperor who on a huntingexpedition came across agreat sage in the forest. Hewas so pleased with this sagePage 10that he insisted that the lattercome to the capital to receivesome presents. At first thesage refused. But the emperor insisted, and at last thesage consented. When he arrived at the palace he wasannounced to the emperorwho said, „Wait a minute untilI finish my prayer.‟ The emperor prayed, „Lord, give memore wealth, more land,more health, more children.‟The sage stood up and beganto walk out of the room. Theemperor said, „You have notreceived my presents.‟ Thesage replied, „I do not begfrom beggars. In all this timeyou have been praying formore land, more money, forthis and that. What can yougive me? First satisfy yourown wants!‟Love never asks; it alwaysMay 2016gives. When a young mangoes to see his sweetheart,there is no business relationship between them; theirs isa relationship of love, andlove is no beggar. In thesame way, we understandthat the beginning of realspiritual worship means nobegging. We have finishedall begging: „Lord, give methis and that.‟ Then will religion begin.The second angle of thetriangle of love is that loveknows no fear. You may cutme to pieces, and I will stilllove you. Suppose one ofyou mothers, a weak woman,sees a tiger in the streetsnatching your child. I knowwhere you will be: you willface the tiger. Another time adog appears in the street,and you will fly. But you jumpIssue No. 35

Reachat the mouth of the tiger andsnatch your child away. Loveknows no fear. It conquers allevil. The fear of God is thebeginning of religion, but thelove of God is the end of religion. All fear has died out.The third angle of the lovetriangle is that love is its ownend. It can never be themeans. The man who says, „Ilove you for such and such athing‟, does not love. Lovecan never be the means; itmust be the perfect end.What is the end and aim oflove? To love God, that is all.Why should one love God?There is no why, because it isnot the means. When one canlove, that is salvation, that isperfection, which is heaven.What more? What else can bethe end? What can you havehigher than love?These are the three points,the three angles that constitute the triangle of love.Unless there is love, philosophy becomes dry bones, psychology becomes a sort oftheory, and work becomes asort of labour. If there is love,philosophy becomes poetry,psychology becomes mysticism, and work the most delicious thing in creation. Bymerely reading books onebecomes barren. Who becomes learned? He who canfeel even one drop of love.God is love and love is God.And God is everywhere. Afterseeing that God is love andGod is everywhere, one doesIssue No. 35not know whether one standson one‟s head or on one‟sfeet—like a man who gets abottle of wine and does notknow where he stands. If weweep ten minutes for God, wewill not know where we arefor the next two months, wewill not remember the timefor meals. We will not knowwhat we are eating.Madness of LoveDo not judge people.They are all mad. Childrenare mad after their games,the young after the young,the old are chewing the cudof their past years; some aremad after gold. Why notsome after God? To be completely turned into love ofGod constitutes real worship.The pivotal question is, howto worship God. WorshipGod as dearer than all yourpossessions, dearer than allyour relatives, dearer thanyour children. Worship Himas the one you love as loveitself. There is one whosename is infinite love. That isthe only definition of God.Do not care if this universe isdestroyed. What do we careas long as He is infinite love?All other thoughts must go.Everything must vanish except God. The love the fatheror mother has for the child,the love the wife has for thehusband, the husband forthe wife, the friend for thefriend—all these loves concentrated into one must beMay 2016given to God. Now, if thewoman loves the man, shecannot love another man. Ifthe man loves the woman,he cannot love anotherwoman. Such is the nature oflove.My old Master used to say,„Suppose there is a bag ofgold in this room and in thenext room there is a robber.The robber is well awarethere is a bag of gold. Wouldthe robber be able to sleep?Certainly not. All the time hewould be crazy thinking howto reach the gold.‟ Similarly, ifa man loves God, how can helove anything else? How cananything else stand beforethat mighty love of God? Everything else vanishes beforeit. How can the mind stopwithout going crazy to findthat love, to realise, to feel, tolive in that?This is how we are to loveGod: „I do not want wealth, orfriends, or beauty, or possessions, or learning, nor evensalvation. If it be Thy will,send me a thousand deaths.Grant me, this—that I maylove Thee and that for love‟ssake. That love which materialistic persons have for theirworldly possessions, may thatstrong love come into myheart, but only for the Beautiful. Praise to God! Praise toGod the Lover!‟ God is nothing else than that. He doesnot care for the wonderfulthings that many Yogis cando. Little magicians do littlePage 11

Reachtricks. God is the big magician. He does all the tricks.There was one Yogi, a greatlover. He was dying of cancerof the throat. Another Yogi,who was a philosopher, visited him. The latter said, „Lookhere, my friend, why don‟tyou concentrate your mindon that sore of yours and getit cured?‟ The third time thisquestion was asked this greatYogi said, „Do you think itpossible that the mind which Ihave given entirely to theLord can be fixed upon thiscage of flesh and blood?‟From the worldly standpoint, my all is this body. Myworld is this body. My God isthis body. I am the body. Ifyou pinch me, I am pinched. Iforget God the moment Ihave a headache. I am thebody! God and everythingmust come down for thishighest goal—the body. Butfrom the standpoint of thelover, to whom this body isnothing, who cares for thisnonsense? Why bother thinking about this body thatcomes and goes? There is nomore to it. There is a wholegamut of difference betweenthe worldly standpoint andthe lover‟s standpoint. According to the lovers of God,whatever the world does,wherever it goes, has no influence on them. One Yogihad attained supernaturalpowers. He said, „See mypower! See the sky; I willcover it with clouds.‟ It beganPage 12to rain. Someone said, „MyLord, you are wonderful. Butteach me that, knowingwhich, I shall not ask for anything else.‟ To get rid ofpower. To have nothing, notto want power! The girl isplaying with her dolls, gettingnew husbands all the time;but when her real husbandcomes, all the dolls will beput away forever. Likewise,when the sun of love rises, allthese play-suns of power andthese cravings will pass away.What shall we do with power?Thank god if you can get ridof the power, which you have.Begin to love. Power must go.Nothing must stand betweenGod and me except love. Godis only love and nothingelse—love first, love in themiddle, and love at the end.There is a story of a queenpreaching the love of God onthe streets. Her enraged husband persecuted her, and shewas hunted up and down thecountry. She used to singsongs describing her love.Her songs have been sungeverywhere. „With tears in myeyes I nourished the everlasting creeper of love ‟ This isthe last, the great goal. Whatelse is there? People want thisand that. They all want tohave and possess. That is whyso few understand love, sofew come to it.Love itself is the eternal,endless sacrifice. You willhave to give up everything.You cannot take possessionMay 2016of anything. Finding love,you will never want anythingelse. „Only be Thou my loveforever!‟ That is what lovewants. „My love, one kiss ofthose lips! For him who hasbeen kissed by Thee, all sorrows vanish. Once kissed byThee, man becomes happyand forgets love of everything else. He praises Theealone and he sees Theealone.‟ In the nature of human love even, there lurksdivine elements. In the firstmoment of intense love thewhole world seems in tunewith your own heart. Everybird in the universe singsyour love; the flowers bloomfor you. It is infinite, eternallove itself that human lovecomes from.Why should the lover ofGod fear anything—fear robbers, fear distress, fear evenfor his life? There are manywho are seeking this madnessof love before which everything but God vanishes. Atlast, love, lover, and belovedbecome one. That is the goal.Which is better—to becomesugar or to eat sugar? To become sugar, what fun is that?To eat sugar—that is infiniteenjoyment of love.All the ideals of love—Godas our father, mother, friend,child—are conceived in orderto strengthen devotion in usand make us feel nearer anddearer to god. The most intense love is that between thesexes. God must be lovedIssue No. 35

Reachwith that sort of love. Thewoman loves her father; sheloves her mother; she lovesher child; she loves her friend.But she cannot express herself all to her father, or to themother, or to the child, or tothe friend. There is only oneperson from who she doesnot hide anything. It is thesame with the male. The husband and wife relationship isthe all-rounded relationship.The relationship of the sexeshas all the other loves concentrated into one. In thehusband, the wife has the father, the friend, the child. Inthe wife, the husband hasmother, daughter, and something else. That tremendouscomplete love of the sexesmust come for God. „I haveone hope. They call Thee theLord of the world, and—goodor evil, great or small—I ampart of the world, and Thouart also my love. My body, mymind, and my soul are all atThy altar. Love, refuse thesegifts not!‟ (Vedanta and theWest, Sept-Oct. 1955).Lessons on Bhakti Yoga:The Yoga through DevotionBhakti Yoga is the path ofsystemised devotion for theattainment of union with theAbsolute. It is the easiest andsurest path to religion or realisation. Love to God is theone essential to be perfect inthis path.Every force completes acircuit. The force we call manIssue No. 35starts from the Infinite Godand must return to Him. Thisreturn to god must be accomplished in one of twoways—either by slowly drifting back, going with nature,or by our own inward power,which causes us to

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and the Life and Teachings of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi were conducted on the last Sunday of every month. Other Activities: Swami Nirmalatmananda, President, Rama-krishna Vedanta Ashrama, Sao Paulo, Brazil, visited the Centre and gave a talk on The Gospel