June, 13th 2008

AN APPEAL FOR DONATIONS TO THE VEDANTA SOCIETY OF CALGARY:

1. The Vedanta Society of Calgary was formed in 1973 through the encouragement of one of the Monk from the Ramakrishna Mission [RKM] & it is a non-profit charitable organization whose membership is open to anyone irrespective of race or religion. The objective of the society is to study the unity of all religions as propounded by the Vedanta philosophy & also to preserve the interest of the members of the society as a religious group [www.vedantacalgary.com]

2. With Sree Ramakrishna'grace & the devotees'efforts, the VSC will apply to secure the affiliation to the RKM[Belur Math.India] andthis appeal is for the pledge of "ONE DOLLAR PER DAY" donations for THREE-YEARS[2008-11] period to support a Residence MONK from RKM at Calgary. The VSC will apply for the matching donation funds to the CIP [community involvement projects] from the Alberta govt.

3. The VSC will issue the Tax-deductible receipt to the donors at the end of the year [donors will get back nearly 40 to 50% of the donations as tax refunds,depending on the income level].

Again, with Sree Ramakrishna' grace & the devotees' efforts, we hope to achieve this GOAL.

Dr. Ramananda Chatterjee[ president,VSC]
39, Edgeridge View, Calgary, AB T3A5Y9

 

Message from President Friday, April 4, 2008

1. It is a great pleasure to inform you that Swami Bhaskarananda presented a ten minutes talk on "Meditation & its Benefits" in www.youtube.com[video]. Six more copies of his book on "Meditation, Mind etc...." are available to purchase from VSC.

2. We are continuing to meet on the 1st & 3rd Sundays of each month at INCA, 2pm-4pm, where Patanjali's yoga sutras as interpretated by Swami Vivekananda, are read & discussed. [All are welcome to participate in these meetings]

3. I would like to remind you the date of the AGM of the VSC which will be held on Sunday 1st of June 2008, INCA, 2pm-4pm. In this AGM, we will introduce a By-law where the criteria for the membership to the VSC will be explicitly defined. If anybody wants to contribute to this item, please let us know before the meeting.

4. Once again, I would like to assure you that the Kali Temple-Vedanta center building project is progressing well [ADAL applied to secure the rezoning permission from MD of Rocky View] & hope to get the response before the end of this year.

5. The Kali Temple-Vedanta center is a joint project of BAC & VSC, therefore the Trustees of both the societies will be responsible for operating all the building funds [jointly], thus, there will be another By-law to materialize this objective.

6. All the materials of VSC, are with the auditor Shipra Sarkar & I will provide the auditor's report through e-mail, before the AGM [please make your own copy before coming to AGM [as I am trying to cut down the cost of Xeroxing].

7. AS Mr. Kalyan Roy became the president of BAC, so his position of Treasurer&Trustee will be filled by Mr. Biren Dasbiswas [I requested him & he agreed]. I sincerely hope that all of you will endorse this position at the AGM.

8. If any of the executive or trustee want to relinquish your position, please let me know before the AGM.

9. IN the forthcoming AGM, the administrative load will be distributed according to the constitution & the books of the society should be properly maintained in order to make it available to the auditors of the AGLC & Revenue Canada, possibly in next year.

10. More participation is required in the bi-monthly meeting of the VSC, in order to justify the existence of the VSC.

N.B. Although, the Mustard Seed Lunch programme was responded well by our community, but our appeal to the donation of dry food for food bank during Swami K' visit, was not responded at all. May I request all of you to donate some dry food & then we will take it to the "Food Bank".

DONATION TO THE VEDANTA SOCIETY ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE [At this Tax-return time one will get upto 50% of the donation amount as refund].

Cheers,
Ramananda Chatterjee, President, VSC

 

Message from President on Sunday, Mar 9, 2008

Some Thoughts on Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa [Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya; 1836-86]

1. British established themselves firmly in India roughly 100 years & Lord Canning was the Viceroy of India, Cacutta was the capital city, it was Queen Victoria's reign in England.

2. 1828: Raja Rammohan Roy founded BRAHMO SAMAJ along with Debendra nath Tagore & latter on Keshub Chunder Sen took charge of it.

3. 1829; Law of banning "Satidhaha" was passed due to Ishwar Chandra [Vidyasagar]Banerjee,who was the principal of the Sanskrit College[Calcutta].

4. 1856: Law of the remarriage of Widows, was passed.

5. 1857: The University of Calcutta was established.

6. 1858: SIPOY MUTINY & Queen Victoria declared the full juridiction of British Parliament in India.

7. 1875: Arya Samaj was formed in Bombay by Dayananda Saraswati& he also met Sri Ramakrishna in Calcutta.

8. 1876 : Dr. Mahendra Lal Sarkar established "Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science" [a research institute]. Dr. M.Sarkar was the physician of Sri Ramakrishna

9. 1882: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, who was one of the creators of the modern Bengali literature & he composed the poem "VANDAMATARAM"[ hail to mother land,the national song of India] & published the story, entitled "Anandamath", which inspired young Bengali peoples to revolt against the British rule in India.

10. 1885: The Indian National Congress was established due to U.C. Banerji, Surendra Nath Banerji & others.

11. 1867: Actor, writer,producer; Girish Chandra Ghosh introduced the open-stage theatre & he was a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna.

12. 1897 : Ramakrishna Mission was established at BELUR [a few km outside Calcutta] by Swami Vivekananda. Sri Ramakrishna lived in an age in which India was torn by conflicts of creeds, cultures, dogmas & doctrines and Sri Ramakrishna brought back the "Hindu Spirituality" in the centre core of the society and thus the wheel of progress began.

    At the birth-tithi day [9th. March, 2008, second day after the Phalguni New moon], we pray to Sri Ramakrishna to provide us the strength, to be an effective member of the community at-large.

Cheers, Ramananda Chatterjee[president,VSC]

 

Latest Message from President, December 2007
The Vedantasociety of Calgary

On behalf of the Vedanta Society of Calgary, I would like to THANK you for your support during the year of 2007 & I wish you all well. I would like to provide you about the plan of the new year of 2008:
1. The VSC is trying to secure from AGLC to retain the CASINO-funds for the construction of KALI TEMPLE-VEDANTA center, untill, July 2008 & within that timeperiod, we are expected to get permission of rezonning of the purchased land.
2. The society will be continuing its regular activities as mentioned in the society's web-site.
3. The Society will be continuing the traditional policy of inviting Swamis which is as follows: The VSC can only sponsor Swamis only when somebody could share the major part of the expences.