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Gloria Arieira's Yoga sutras of Patañjali

by Ricky Toledano

Seating herself at her podium, our beloved teacher stated with uncharacteristic dryness, “Yoga Sutras. Ok. Fine. Let’s go.” Without the ceremonious preliminaries, the singing the traditional invocations, the class had already started jarringly enough, even before Gloria Arieira abruptly opened her book and added, “But you have to know that this is not Vedanta”.

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Ganesha and the defect of vision

In India, we see a Ganesha form with 3 eyes, the third being between the eyebrows. It aims to chase away the “evil eye”.

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A culture different from ours

For Western eyes, many things are different in India. When looking at India, it is always in a comparative study, referenced and "fitted" by Western thinking. Yet, how can we understand what they say and do if the reference is always foreign? 

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God willing

But who is this Ishvara, anyway? Will it be the president or the prime minister? Is it some authority that decides everything? Is he the creator?

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The importance of the names of Ishvara

To better sing the names of Ishvara, they must be understood so that they are really a compliment or a true declaration of love.

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The life of Brahmana | Pandit Ravichandran and Shubha Ravichandran

 

The lecture is in English and translated to Portuguese by teacher Gloria Arieira.

Pandit Ravichandran, was born in ManjaKudi, India, and has been doing rituals at the Asha Vidya temple for years. He and his wife, Shubha Ravichandran, who also comes from a Brahmana family tell us how a Brahmana lives and what they do in their daily lives.
Some rituals are discussed.
The lecture, held on March 20, 2018, coincided with the passage of the history of the Mahabharata, told by teacher Gloria Arieira, where Arjuna in disguise as Brahmana wins the race to marry Draupadi. The Kshatriyas who were also fighting are outraged and protest. Arjuna and his brothers flee taking the girl. The King, Draupadi's father, is very concerned and sends his son to check who are these supposed Brahmanas who took his daughter. He says to his son: - go back and listen to what they are saying and what they are doing.
So we may ask: How does a Brahmana live?

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Award Padma Shri 2020

Vidya Mandir is proud to announce that Gloria Arieira has been awarded one of India's highest civilian honors, the Padma Shri Award, on Republic Day 2020, for her pioneering Sanskrit and Vedanta Literature and Education in Brazil.

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Bridges to be crossed

 

Gloria Arieira

September 2019

Throughout our lives we have bridges to cross, changes to make, learning to complete.

Brahman, however, is one and unchanging. It does nothing. It is through Maya Shakti that Brahman manifests the universe in all its beauty and logic, and intelligent order in great detail that is cohesive and functioning.

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The knowledge of Brahman that is Ishvara

 

Gloria Arieira

August 2019

The knowledge of Brahman is the main topic of the knowledge that is called Vedanta. But knowing Brahman, however, includes knowing Íshvara, which is Brahman through Maya, the power that makes everything happen. This power is said to be 'na satyam, mithyá iti', 'not real, apparent or apparently real', but it has a reality that cannot be denied. This power, called Maya, cannot be asserted as asat, non-existent. To understand it is to understand the entire universe, which is to understand jiva, the individual.

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