MONDAY MUSIC
"Achyutashtakam" by Adi Shankaracharya
Music by Stephen Devassy, vocals by G. Ghayatri Devi, S. Saindhavi, R. Shruti
Monday, January 30, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
THURSDAY QUOTE
"Private beneficence is totally inadequate to deal with the vast numbers of the city's disinherited."
-Jane Addams, America's "Mother of Social Service"
The Jane Addams Hull House Association is closing in March, after 123 years of serving the poor. Hull House founded in 1889 by Addams, a pioneering Chicago reformer and karma yogi who opened settlement houses throughout the city to help immigrants and the poor adjust to life in America at the turn of the 20th century. At its peak, Hull House served more than 9,000 people a week, offering medical help, an art gallery, citizenship classes, a gardening club and a gym with sports programs.
Addams was also a leader in women's suffrage, and the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She and her associates influenced policy on public health and education, fair labor practices and immigrants' rights. She also was an antiwar activist and fought against child labor.
Hull House is closing due to lack of fundraising and an increase in demand for service; it currently serves some 60,000 people a year though more than 50 programs at over 40 sites throughout the metropolitan Chicago area.
Why one of the city's billionaires (Sam Zell? Oprah, [why did you have to leave]? Pritzkers? Ty Warner? Kevin Griffin? Bill Wrigley? Eric Lefkofsky?) doesn't step in and bail out this historic organization just boggles the mind.
BONUS QUOTES FROM JANE ADDAMS:
"Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we often might win, by fearing to attempt."
"For ten years I have lived in a neighborhood which is by no means criminal, and yet during last October and November we were startled by seven murders within a radius of ten blocks. A little investigation of details and motives, the accident of a personal acquaintance with two of the criminals, made it not in the least difficult to trace the murders back to the influence of war. Simple people who read of carnage and bloodshed easily receive its suggestions. Habits of self-control which have been but slowly and imperfectly acquired quickly break down under the stress."
"Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics."
"We have learned to say that the good must be extended to all of society before it can be held secure by any one person or class; but we have not yet learned to add to that statement, that unless all [people] and all classes contribute to a good, we cannot even be sure that it is worth having."
and a personal favorite:
"The essence of immorality is the tendency to make an exception of myself."
Read Jane Addams' New York Times obituary here.
Click here to read a Jane Addams poem by Kevin Coval.
"Private beneficence is totally inadequate to deal with the vast numbers of the city's disinherited."
-Jane Addams, America's "Mother of Social Service"
The Jane Addams Hull House Association is closing in March, after 123 years of serving the poor. Hull House founded in 1889 by Addams, a pioneering Chicago reformer and karma yogi who opened settlement houses throughout the city to help immigrants and the poor adjust to life in America at the turn of the 20th century. At its peak, Hull House served more than 9,000 people a week, offering medical help, an art gallery, citizenship classes, a gardening club and a gym with sports programs.
Addams was also a leader in women's suffrage, and the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She and her associates influenced policy on public health and education, fair labor practices and immigrants' rights. She also was an antiwar activist and fought against child labor.
Hull House is closing due to lack of fundraising and an increase in demand for service; it currently serves some 60,000 people a year though more than 50 programs at over 40 sites throughout the metropolitan Chicago area.
Why one of the city's billionaires (Sam Zell? Oprah, [why did you have to leave]? Pritzkers? Ty Warner? Kevin Griffin? Bill Wrigley? Eric Lefkofsky?) doesn't step in and bail out this historic organization just boggles the mind.
BONUS QUOTES FROM JANE ADDAMS:
"Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we often might win, by fearing to attempt."
"For ten years I have lived in a neighborhood which is by no means criminal, and yet during last October and November we were startled by seven murders within a radius of ten blocks. A little investigation of details and motives, the accident of a personal acquaintance with two of the criminals, made it not in the least difficult to trace the murders back to the influence of war. Simple people who read of carnage and bloodshed easily receive its suggestions. Habits of self-control which have been but slowly and imperfectly acquired quickly break down under the stress."
"Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics."
"We have learned to say that the good must be extended to all of society before it can be held secure by any one person or class; but we have not yet learned to add to that statement, that unless all [people] and all classes contribute to a good, we cannot even be sure that it is worth having."
and a personal favorite:
"The essence of immorality is the tendency to make an exception of myself."
Read Jane Addams' New York Times obituary here.
Click here to read a Jane Addams poem by Kevin Coval.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
MAHA SADHANA (Dharma Yoga Intensive) SATURDAY (1/28) FROM 2-5
Deepen Your Practice!
The early bird price of $35 has been extended through Thursday
Maha Sadhana means “The Great Practice”, and this amazing asana-based intensive will deepen your yoga practice. It will include chanting, pranayama (breathing exercises), and meditation as well as direction toward the true goal of yoga.
Dharma Yoga is a classical, flowing hatha system originated by New York City-based yogi Dharma Mittra, creator of the Master Yoga Chart of 908 Poses. Dharma’s energizing Shiva Namaskar sequence focuses on opening the hips, shoulders and upper back and includes variations for every level of student. Poses are repeated so that students may go deeper into them each time. Many options are given, so that all levels will feel challenged/comfortable. The emphasis is on practicing in a playful, relaxed manner.
At Sweet Pea's Studio
3717 N. Ravenswood, Suite 213
$35 through Thursday, $45 after
Click here to register via Paypal.
Deepen Your Practice!
The early bird price of $35 has been extended through Thursday
Maha Sadhana means “The Great Practice”, and this amazing asana-based intensive will deepen your yoga practice. It will include chanting, pranayama (breathing exercises), and meditation as well as direction toward the true goal of yoga.
Dharma Yoga is a classical, flowing hatha system originated by New York City-based yogi Dharma Mittra, creator of the Master Yoga Chart of 908 Poses. Dharma’s energizing Shiva Namaskar sequence focuses on opening the hips, shoulders and upper back and includes variations for every level of student. Poses are repeated so that students may go deeper into them each time. Many options are given, so that all levels will feel challenged/comfortable. The emphasis is on practicing in a playful, relaxed manner.
At Sweet Pea's Studio
3717 N. Ravenswood, Suite 213
$35 through Thursday, $45 after
Click here to register via Paypal.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
THURSDAY QUOTE
Maitri karuna mudita upekshanam sukha duhka punya apunya vishayanam bhavanatah chitta prasadanam
"By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness."
-Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, I.33
Swami Satchidananda comments:
"Whether you are interested in reaching samadhi or plan to ignore Yoga entirely, I would advise you to remember at least this one Sutra. IT will be very helpful to you in keeping a peaceful mind in your daily life. You may not have any great goal in your life, but just try to follow this one Sutra very well and you will see its efficacy. In my own experience, this Sutra became my guiding light to help keep my mind serene always."
Sanskrit translation:
* maitri = friendliness, pleasantness, lovingness
* karuna = compassion, mercy
* mudita = gladness, goodwill
* upekshanam = acceptance, equanimity, indifference, disregard, neutrality
* sukha = happy, comfortable, joyous
* duhka = pain, misery, suffering, sorrow
* punya = virtuous, meritorious, benevolent
* apunya = non-virtuous, vice, bad, wicked, evil, bad, demerit, non-meritorious,
* vishayanam = regarding those subjects, in relation to those objects
* bhavanatah = by cultivating habits, by constant reflection, developing attitude, cultivating, impressing on oneself
* chitta = mind field, consciousness
* prasadanam = purified, clear, serene, pleasant, pacified, undisturbed, peaceful, calm
Read another commentary here.
Maitri karuna mudita upekshanam sukha duhka punya apunya vishayanam bhavanatah chitta prasadanam
"By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness."
-Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, I.33
Swami Satchidananda comments:
"Whether you are interested in reaching samadhi or plan to ignore Yoga entirely, I would advise you to remember at least this one Sutra. IT will be very helpful to you in keeping a peaceful mind in your daily life. You may not have any great goal in your life, but just try to follow this one Sutra very well and you will see its efficacy. In my own experience, this Sutra became my guiding light to help keep my mind serene always."
Sanskrit translation:
* maitri = friendliness, pleasantness, lovingness
* karuna = compassion, mercy
* mudita = gladness, goodwill
* upekshanam = acceptance, equanimity, indifference, disregard, neutrality
* sukha = happy, comfortable, joyous
* duhka = pain, misery, suffering, sorrow
* punya = virtuous, meritorious, benevolent
* apunya = non-virtuous, vice, bad, wicked, evil, bad, demerit, non-meritorious,
* vishayanam = regarding those subjects, in relation to those objects
* bhavanatah = by cultivating habits, by constant reflection, developing attitude, cultivating, impressing on oneself
* chitta = mind field, consciousness
* prasadanam = purified, clear, serene, pleasant, pacified, undisturbed, peaceful, calm
Read another commentary here.
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