MP3 & Video from Ananda Village | Homepage | MP3 & Video from Ananda Palo Alto
SUNDAY SERVICES Archived
with Lorne Dekun (and others) - Watch Video or Download MP3
Based on Readings from the Bible and India's Bhagavad Gita ... Sunday Readings
#22: The Inner Kingdom
May 28, 2011 in East Lansing, Michigan with special guest
Nayaswami Devarshi from Ananda Village in California.
MP3 for download or online listening 28:47
#18: Perfection Is Self-Transcendence
May 1, 2011 in East Lansing, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening 19:40
#17: How High Should We Aspire
April 10, 2011 in Fraser, Michigan
(based on the scripture reading below)
| The passage this week is from the Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 5:
I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. The easiest explanation for these words is that they were spoken in criticism of the scribes and Pharisees, particularly since Jesus was often verbally attacked by them, and stood up to them fearlessly. However, it wouldn't have been much of a challenge to the disciples, who aspired to spiritual perfection, to tell them, “Don't be like those who lack any such aspiration.” Jesus in fact says only a few verses later, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” What Jesus was referring to here, then, was the self-righteousness of the priests. Don't seek perfection, he was saying to his disciples, in the image you project toward others. Don't be satisfied with a goodness born merely of ego-definitions. The highest virtue is to transcend the very thought of personal virtue in the realization of God alone as the Doer. Before this realization, even the thought, “I am kind,” or, “I am truthful,” is self-limiting. As it says in the Bhagavad Gita, the seventh Chapter: Yet hard the wise Mahatma is to find,That man who sayeth, “All is Vasudev!” |
MP3 for download or online listening 24:10
#16: To Each According to His Faith
April 3, 2011 in Lansing, Michigan
(based on the scripture reading below)
| In the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 3, we read:
Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. It is a common experience, shared by most people, that when a person errs he experiences a desire to hide that error from his conscience instead of holding it up for purification. Error clutches its misdeeds to itself, and resists correction, though it is only in the state of purity that we can achieve perfect freedom. It requires an act of will to offer that awareness up to the light, and to hold it there until one's inner darkness is completely dissipated. For every state of consciousness has its own attractive power. And the more we allow that attraction to act upon us, the more we attract to ourselves the objective circumstances and experiences natural to it. Our faith is the attractive power of our underlying state of consciousness. Goodness attracts goodness; it takes goodness even to see goodness. Evil attracts evil, and it takes evil even to see evil—that is, to take special note of its existence. Whatever there is in you of darkness or light, offer it up to the heights. In the Supreme Light alone will we find salvation. Accept nothing less in yourself as your lasting reality. As the Bhagavad Gita says, in the twelfth Chapter: Cling thou to me! |
MP3 for download or online listening 18:41
#11: Reason Vs. Intuition
March 16, 2011 in Fraser, Michigan
(based on the scripture reading below)
| Jesus, when addressing his critics, appealed to reason and common sense. In his training of the disciples, however, he, like all great masters, encouraged in them the development of a higher faculty: soul-intuition. For it is only by intuition that spiritual perceptions are achieved.
In Chapter 16 of the Gospel of St. Matthew we find Jesus drawing on the intuition of his disciples by asking them who they thought he was, in reality. They immediately understood that what he wanted from them was a subtle answer, not some obvious reply based on his nationality, sex, and the like. Peter it was, at last, who understood and answered the question on its intended level: the spiritual. “Thou art the Christ,” he said, “the son of the living God.” And Jesus turned to him, saying, “bessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonah: for not by human nature was this truth revealed to thee, but by my heavenly Father. And I tell thee this also: Thou art Peter, which is to say, a rock, and upon this rock will I build my church, and never will the powers of darkness overwhelm it.” Jesus was pleased with his disciple for relating to the question on its deepest level. Reason could not have given Peter that answer. The answer came through the faculty of soul intuition, and proved him thereby to be a spiritually advanced disciple. It was his intuitive perception—that insight which cannot be shaken by tempests of reasonable doubt—that Jesus praised in referring to him as a rock. The “church” he referred to, next, was the edifice of cosmic consciousness. Any outer church institution would have to depend, as in fact the Christian churches have always done, on the level of understanding of its individual leaders and members. Peter's intuitive perceptions could never have been passed on to an outward succession of prelates. Clarity comes by direct soul-perception. Confusion results from excessive dependence on reason as the guide to understanding. As the second Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita states: When your intellect, at present confused by the diversity of teaching in the Scriptures, becomes steadfast in the ecstasy of deep meditation, then you will achieve final union with God. |
MP3 for download or online listening 19:53
VIDEO: Reason Vs. Intuition
#9: By Thinking Can We Arrive at Understanding?
Feburary 26, 2011 in Fraser, Michigan
(based on the reading below)
| There are many places in the Gospels where we see Jesus in open conflict with the Pharisees—that is to say, with man-made as opposed to true, mystical tradition. In the Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 15, we see a good example of how they and he “locked horns.”
“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem came and asked Jesus, ‘Why do your disciples break our ancient tradition and eat their food without washing their hands properly first?'” Jesus, after scolding them for their hypocrisy in observing lesser rules so carefully while ignoring the much more important ones, said, “Listen, and understand this thoroughly! It is not what goes into a man's mouth that makes him common or unclean. It is what comes out of a man's mouth that makes him unclean.” It wasn't that Jesus counseled against such wholesome practices as washing one's hands before eating. In an age, however, when lesser rules were given too much importance relative to the truly important observances—cleansing the heart of impure desires, for example—he emphasized the supreme importance of loving God and of communing with Him. The Pharisees—the orthodox religionists of his day, in other words—had brought true religion down to a level of intellectual hair-splitting. They mistakenly considered the way to understanding to lie through a mine-field of definitions, which they tried to refine to ultimate exactitude. Jesus taught, however, that the intellect alone can never lead one to truth. Without love, indeed, there is no ultimate verity. Without fixity of purpose, born of the heart's devotion, the intellect wanders endlessly. It cannot settle for long on anything. As the Bhagavad Gita says in the second Chapter: The intellects of those who lack fixity of spiritual purpose are inconstant, their interests endlessly ramified. |
MP3 for download or online listening 23:26
VIDEO: By Thinking Can We Arrive at Understanding?
#8: Can Man See God?
Feburary 20, 2011 in Marysville, Michigan
(based on the reading below)
| There is a saying in Chapter 1 of the Gospel of St. John that would seem to respond with a definite No to the question, Can man see God? The saying is:
“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” Many great saints, however, claim to have seen God. If we ask, then, “Can God be seen?” rather than, “Can man see God?” the answer is, “Yes! Else those saints lied; and the Scriptures themselves lied.” For Jesus also said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The point is, it is not man—this human body, these human eyes—that sees God. God can be seen only with spiritual vision—with the eye of the soul. “Thou canst not see Me with mortal eyes. Therefore I now give thee sight divine. Behold My supreme power of Yoga!” With these words Hari, the exalted Lord of Yoga, revealed himself to Arjuna in His infinite form. Paramhansa Yogananda, in Autobiography of a Yogi, describes the supernal experience in words more readily comprehensible to modern minds than the poetic phraseology of the Bhagavad Gita. The chapter “An Experience in Cosmic Consciousness” is one of the most inspiringly beautiful in all mystical literature. Here is a brief excerpt: An oceanic joy broke upon calm endless shores of my soul. The Spirit of God, I realized, is exhaustless Bliss; His body is countless tissues of light. [I saw] the divine dispersion of rays pour from an Eternal Source, blazing into galaxies, transfigured with ineffable auras. Again and again I saw the creative beams condense into constellations, then resolve into sheets of transparent flame. By rhythmic reversion, sextillion worlds passed into diaphanous luster; fire became firmament. I cognized the center of the empyrean as a point of intuitive perception in my heart. Irradiating splendor issued from my nucleus to every part of the universal structure. . . . The creative voice of God I heard resounding as AUM, the vibration of the Cosmic Motor.” This, so the great masters aver, is what God is. And this also, they insist, is what we are in our deepest reality. |
MP3 for download or online listening 19:25
VIDEO: Can Man See God?
#6: The Importance of Soul Receptivity
Feburary 6, 2011 in East Lansing, Michigan
(based on the reading below)
| Chapter 1 of the Gospel of St. John states:
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. This was a passage Paramhansa Yogananda often quoted to his disciples. “Be in tune,” he would tell them. “Delusion can't touch you, if you will keep in tune.” Of a disciple who became highly advanced, even though she didn't meditate much, he said, “She got there by attunement.” To one who found meditation difficult, he said, “I will meditate for you, as long as you stay in tune.” Truth is a state of consciousness, not a well-worded definition. It is in that consciousness, above all, that our lives are transformed. Therefore the Bhagavad Gita says, in the tenth Chapter: To those who are ever attached to Me, and who worship Me with love, I impart discernment, by means of which they attain Me. Out of my love for them, I, the Divine within them, set alight in them the radiant lamp of wisdom, thereby dispelling the darkness of their ignorance Thus, through holy Scripture, God has spoken to mankind. |
MP3 for download or online listening 19:25
VIDEO: The Importance of Soul Receptivity
The Infinite Christ 21:43
January 23, 2011 in Fraser, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
VIDEO: The Infinite Christ
Is God Present Even Where There is Ignorance? 22:24
January 16, 2011 in Marysville, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
Did God Create the Universe - Or Become It? 9:47
January 9, 2011 in Fraser, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
The Divine Ascension 18:10
December 26, 2010 in Fraser, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
What Was the Star of Bethlehem 30:50
December 19, 2010 in Port Huron, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
VIDEO: What Was the Star of Bethlehem
Living In the Presence of God 24:46
December 12, 2010 in Fraser, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
VIDEO: Living In the Presence of God
What Is It to Fail Spiritually 15:26
December 5, 2010 in Marysville, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
VIDEO: What Is It to Fail Spiritually
The Law of Karma: Bondage, or Soul Release? 11:57
November 28, 2010 in Marysville, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
Reincarnation: The Spiral Staircase 35:14
November 21, 2010 in Marysville, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
VIDEO: Reincarnation: The Spiral Staircase
The Promise of the Scriptures 17:39
November 14, 2010 in Fraser, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
VIDEO: The Promise of the Scriptures
Faith Is a Call to Prayer; Pray Is a Call to Faith 14:58
November 7, 2010 in East Lansing, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
VIDEO: Faith Is Call to Prayer
Why Tell God Anything When He Knows Everything?
Why Offer God Anything When He Has Everything? 20:38
October 31, 2010 in Fraser, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
VIDEO: Why Tell God Anything?
What Is The Best Way To Pray? 20:02
October 24, 2010 in Fraser, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
VIDEO: What Is This Best Way To Pray?
First Things First 10:50
October 17, 2010 in Marysville, Michigan
MP3 for download or online listening
VIDEO: First Things First
Victory Demands the Courage of Conviction 24:25
October 10, 2010 in Fraser, Michigan
oooooooooo VIDEO: Victory Demands the Courage of Conviction
MP3 for download or online listening
In Surrender Lies Victory 15:34
October 3, 2010 in East Lansing, Michigan
oooooooooo VIDEO: In Surrender Lies Victory
MP3 Many Are the Pathways to Truth 21:51
September 26, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
VIDEO: Many Are the Pathways to Truth
MP3 Intuition is Simple: The Intellect is Complex 23:53
September 19, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
"VIDEO: Intuition Is Simple"
MP3 Truth Invites; It Never Commands 8:34
September 12, 2010 (low quality audio - sorry)
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
No Video This Week
MP3 Ego - Friend or Foe? 19:41
September 5, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
"VIDEO: Ego - Friend or Foe?"
MP3 Who Are the True Christians? 9:54
August 29, 2010 Lorne in Rhode Island
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
oooooooooo*
Ram in Rhode Island Singing Gods Power MP3
"VIDEO: Who Are the True Christians?"
MP3 Does Satan Exist? 31:26
August 22, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
No Video This Week - sorry
MP3 Does God Hide the Truth? 29:26
August 8, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
"VIDEO: Does God Hide the Truth?"
MP3 How Demoratic Is Truth? 25:32
August 1, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
"VIDEO: How Demoratic Is Truth?"
MP3 Do You Need a Guru? 27:41
July 25, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
"VIDEO: Do You Need a Guru?"
MP3 Self-Reliance vs. Self-Reliance 14:22
July 11, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
No Video This Week - Sorry
MP3 Abiding in God 47:20
SPECIAL: With Ananda Founder Swami Kriyananda
July 4, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
"VIDEO: Abiding in God"
MP3 The Redeeming Light? 25:02
June 27, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
(No video recorded so here is the video of Nayaswami Asha: "The Redeeming Light"
MP3 The Eternal Now 14:27
June 20, 2010
SPECIAL: With Ananda Guest Minister Acharya Krishnaa
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
VIDEO: "The Eternal Now"
MP3 How Devotees Rise 15:27
May 16, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "How Devotees Rise"
MP3 Why Devotees Fall? 23:55
June 6, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
ooooooooooSong at the end of Service - Sung by Peggy Branden:
MP3 The Secret of Right Action 25:53
May 16, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "The Secret of Right Action"
MP3 Mother's Day - God as the Divine Mother 25:13
May 9, 2010 (Note: Click Here to see more on the Cosmic the Divine Mother)
Online Audio Player:
Video: "Mother's Day 2010"
MP3 Perfection Is Self-Transcendence 18:50
SPECIAL: With Ananda Guest Minister Minister Pranaba Hansen
(Lorne does the opening readings)"
April 18, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "Perfection Is Self-Transcendence"
MP3 How High Should We Aspire? 22:25
April 18, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "How High Should We Aspire?"
MP3 To Each According to His Faith 15:11
April 18, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "To Each According To His Faith"
MP3 Deeds vs. Intentions 4:35
April 11, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "Deeds vs. Intentions"
(Due to a Technical Problem only the Introduction was recorded on the video -
the full service can be heard only on the audio player.)
MP3 Easter Sunday 18:13
April 4, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "Easter Sunday"
MP3 Who Is This Son of Man? 19:50
March 28, 2010
Online Audio Player:
Video: "Who Is This Son of Man?"
MP3 We Are Children of Light 13:57
March 21, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "We Are Childern of Light"
MP3 Reason vs. Intuition 22:32
March 14, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "Reason vs. Intuition"
MP3 Dogmatism vs. Common Sense 24:34
March 7, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "Dogamatism vs. Common Sense"
MP3 By Thinking Can We Arrive at Understanding? 15:47
February 28, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "By Thinking Can We Arrive at Understanding?"
MP3 Can Man See God? 20:00
February 21, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "Can Man See God?"
MP3 The Law is Perfected in Love 27:44
February 14, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "The Law is Perfected in Love"
MP3 The Importance of Soul-Receptivity 22:51
February 7, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "The Importance of Soul-Receptivity"
MP3 The Infinite Christ 19:08
January 24, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Is God Present There, Even Where There Is Ignorance? 22:30
January 17, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "Is God Present There, Even Where There Is Ignorance?"
MP3 Did God Create the Universe - Or Become It? 20:05
January 10, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Video: "Did God Create the Universe - Or Become It?"
MP3 At the Heart of Silence – The Eternal Word 35:24
January 3, 2010
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Click on the Link Below for Video of this Talk:
Video: "At the Heart of Silence"
MP3 The Divine Ascension 28:41
December 27, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Click on the Link Below for Video of this Talk:
Video: "The Divine Ascension"
MP3 What Was the Star of Bethlehem? 24:12
December 20, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Click on the Link Below for Video of this Talk:
Video: "What Was the Star of Bethlehem?"
MP3 Living in the Presence of God 22:98
December 13, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 What is it to Fail Spiritually? 20:13
December 6, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 The Law of Karma: Bondage, or Soul Release? 21:19
November 29, 2009 (Link to Weekly Readings)
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 The Law of Karma: Bondage, or Soul Release - with Jyotish
MP3 Reincarnation: The Spiral Staircase 26:29
November 22, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 The Promise of the Scriptures 21:49
November 15, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Faith is a Call to Prayer; Prayer is a Call to Faith 25:17
November 8, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Faith is a Call to Prayer; Prayer is a Call to Faith 20:10
"SPECIAL: With Ananda Minister Asha Praver"
November 8, 2009 (Link to Weekly Reading)
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Why Tell God Anything When He Knows Everything? 20:56
November 1, 2009 Also: Durga mp3 - Larry mp3oooooooooo
Online Audio Player:
MP3 First Things First 21:45
October 18, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Victory Demands the Courage of Conviction 22:44
October 11, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 In Surrender Lies Victory 19:20
October 4, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Many Are the Pathways to Truth 20:48
September 27, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Intuition is Simple: The Intellect is Complex 22:28
September 20, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Intuition Intuition is Simple: The Intellect is Complex
September 20, 2009 with Peter Goering from Ananda Village
MP3 Truth Invites; It Never Commands 20:55
September 13, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Ego: Friend or Foe? 28:55
September 6, 2009 With Guest Minister Ram Smith from Ananda Rhode Island
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Who Are the True Christians? 21:45
August 30, 2009 More Information on Yogacharya Oliver Black.
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 How Should We Meet Our Tests? 24:16
August 23, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 How Democratic is Truth? 20:19
August 2, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Do You Need a Guru? 32:50
July 26, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Self-Reliance Vs. Self-Reliance 20:16
July 12, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Abiding in God 21:51
July 5, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 The Reedeming Light 26:13
June 28, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 The Eternal Now/Father's Day 31:34
June 21, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 How Devotees Rise 29:58
June 14, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Why Do Devotees Fall? 21:07
June 7, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 The Inner Kingdom 20:58
May 31, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 The Best Way to Worship 24:27
May 24, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Activity Vs. Inner Communion 28:20
May 17, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Mother's Day - God as the Divine Mother 22:05
May 10, 2009 (Note: Click Here to see the Divine Mother Picture mentioned in the talk)
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Perfection Is Self-Transcendence 23:04
May 3, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 How High Should We Aspire? 23:50
April 26, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 To Each According to his Faith 34:10
April 19, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 EASTER at Ananda Michigan 22:31
April 12, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Who Is This Son of Man? 21:26
April 5, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Deeds Vs. Intentions 22:43
March 29, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 We Are Children of Light 26:42
March 22, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Reason vs. Intuition 21:25
March 15, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Dogmatism vs. Common Sense 19:39
March 8, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 By Thinking Can We Arrive at Understanding? 24:27
March 1, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Can Man See God? 19:39
February 22, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 The Law is Perfected in Love 25:03
February 15, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 The Importance of Soul-Receptivity 24:44
February 8, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 The Mystery of Avatara 23:15
February 1, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 Is God Present Even Where There is Ignorance? 19:11
January 18, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 At the Heart of Silence the Eternal Word 31:26
January 4, 2009
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 The Divine Ascension 29:50
December 28, 2008
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
MP3 What Was the Star of Bethlehem 27:51
December 21, 2008 (Note: Click Here to see the artwork mentioned in the talk)
ooooooooooOnline Audio Player:
Note: The MP3s also may be played online, just right-click and choose
"Open in New Window." If you have any other questions please E-mail.
MP3 & Video from Ananda Village | Homepage | MP3 & Video from Ananda Palo Alto