This week, sparkling lights will be hung from the Temple to honor our entrance into the season of holy days. Let this beautiful adornment outside serve as an invitation to come inside from the cold and begin to meditate upon this divine Season of Light. We will join together this Sunday to consider the role of our holiday preparations. Over the following weeks we will not only deck our halls, but lift our hearts and minds to the purest ideals of the Absolute. Following the service, please join us for our annual tree-trimming, as we beautify our Temple, and embrace that holiday spirit.

We may not learn all we desire to know in life. We may not understand all the facts. But we can live by the wisdom of God, the infinite wisdom of soul. In realization of the supreme self of us all, we are guided by the light of true wisdom.

Purity has become a very important ideal in modern society. For the sake of our bodily health we rightly desire to breathe pure air, drink pure water and eat pure food. But what of our spiritual health? A heart that is filled with the purity of divine love ensures perfect spiritual health. We do not use the word “purity” in a moralistic sense but as in “of one substance.” Absolute “oneness” is the essence of divine love. In divine love we fulfill Jesus’ commandment to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” and “thy neighbor as thyself.”

As we prepare to share our blessings at this time of Thanksgiving, we turn to that gracious spirit that dwells within us. We show our appreciation for the beauty and the bounty of the Earth, the life bestowed upon us, and the divine benediction of God. Our soul is awakened to the pure and sacred oneness of all creation. Our prayer of Thanksgiving is offered through our living in the consciousness of love and gratitude.  

The three “C’s” in the subject title for this Sunday are not mere symbols, nor are they mere philosophical concepts: They are Powers of Divine Perfection. By our understanding of them we grow, we attain greater happiness and become more wise. By appreciating how they work we also gain access to higher states of consciousness. 

As the days become shorter, the temperatures colder, and we begin to look toward the Season of Thanksgiving, may we first take time to contemplate the way of the pilgrim. From time immemorial, pilgrimage has played a paramont role in the spiritual life. People from all times, lands, and faiths have set out searching for, and journeying to, the divine. Sacred sights, where saints have lived and left their holy vibrations, or where Mother Nature has revealed her majesty, can be places of renewal, transformation and awakening. Yet, the wise pilgrim also sets out on the path within. Let us come together this Sunday to meditate on our inner pilgrimage.

Swami Premananda describes the Gita as  “the voice of subjective revelation and an unfailing guide on the path of self-unfoldment.” This Sunday we will listen for that voice, and not only reflect upon the Gita as a metaphor for living, but as a living metaphor as well. 

We will explore the question:  “What is the authority for the Gita?" and discover that its authority is to be found within ourselves.  We will further discover that the Gita is an evolving, living fountain of spiritual insight into our own subjective journey, and as we grow, evolve and unfold as spiritual beings so will our understanding of the Gita’s message.”

Such is Swami Premananda’s supplication to God in his "Prayers of Self-Realization." All phenomena would lose power and vibrancy and dissipate into nothingness without a calm center, even as the hurricane would become impotent without its calm eye. The absolute calmness of God is the “eye” of the manifested universe. In order to realize our oneness with God let us become calm as God is.

No one can master the circumstances of his material life. To pray that life should come to us with propitious mundane experiences according to our desires is both naive and selfish. Yet peace and contentment is possible for us, and if we are willing to put our hearts and minds to it we will realize a transformation, an ease and a power that is enduring.

We all seek guidance in our lives. Our own pure consciousness is the light of Soul that guides us always.  And yet we need to be awakened to that consciousness.  God is the Supreme Guru.  The Soul in us is Guru.  God is revealed to us through the human Guru. Guru guides us through our own consciousness. May we be blessed with the realization of God and Guru. 

This Sunday we will meditate on the subject of meditation.  The subject, “Let us meditate,” is taken from the first three words of the Gayatri Prayer, one of the most ancient invocations known to humanity:  “Let us Meditate on the Glory of that effulgent reality from whom the whole universe is projected" is a bridge to the infinite spirit within and around us. ” “Let us meditate” is an acknowledgement that when we meditate, we unite our consciousness with all beings throughout God’s universe as well as the source of light, wisdom and love within us.

There is but one true Duty: to realize God and to manifest his divine qualities in our lives. At the same time, however, there are as many sets of duties as there are individuals in this world. Each person’s duties are in accordance with his or her spiritual unfoldment. Our duties in life are a sacred gift from God to aid us in our further spiritual unfoldment, and to help others in theirs. The secret to a happy life lies in the conscientious performance of those duties with the constant awareness and guidance of that highest Duty.

What does it mean to live the meditative life?  What is it that awakens the soul within us? What enlightens our spirit? How do we unfold our divine qualities?

The Upanishads have declared, “Arise! Awake! And stop not until the goal is reached.”  It is the call to rise above all worldly limitations.  With selfless service, with a pure mind and devoted heart we realize our true nature. We aspire to awaken to the consciousness of our universal Self. 

On our spiritual path, it's natural to search for similarities, for common traits, for shared experiences with our fellowman and the wider world around us as we strive for ever greater realization of oneness. Yet, we need not look far. Our very births are a good place to start. From thought, to action, to object, to living thing -- in one way or another, all is born into this world. We wrap this process of creation, this seeming transformation of nothing into something, from non-existence to existence, in stories and narratives that allow our minds to perceive glimpses of the Eternal. Let us meditate on our blessed birthright this Sunday.

For students September means return to familiar academic routines, to studies and friends. For vacationers, return to their homes and vocations, routines and accustomed surroundings. Whatever our age we feel a calling and a need to return to what is familiar, to that by which life can feel well established (rooted, as a tree is rooted!) and secure.