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Talk: Swamiji’s Raja Yoga and The Wizard of OZ
— Part 2, the Story Baum Told
– Br. Shankara
December 23, 2018
December is a month for study of Raja Yoga, a spiritual path often called the yoga of meditation. As a raja yogi, you use ancient, proven spiritual techniques to quiet your mind and gain control of your attention.
Regular daily practice of Raja Yoga increases your ability to concentrate, and may lead to meditation. This can unite you with the Divine Presence, the source of your being, and liberate you from the cycle of rebirth and death. This Sunday morning’s talk is about a fairy tale.
Albert Einstein said, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
The Library of Congress declared The Wizard of OZ “America’s greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale.”
Published in 1900, it is still an all-time best-selling book of children’s literature. More than three million copies had already been sold by the time it entered the public domain in 1956.
On Sunday morning we will look closely at the characters, and many significant events of L. Frank Baum’s fairy tale.
Dorothy, a young girl, and her dog Toto make a wondrous journey from the plains of Kansas to the Land of OZ and — miraculously — home again. As the story is told, she and all three of her extraordinary companions are utterly transformed.
We will see how the spiritual principles and practices of Karma, Jnana, Bhakti, and Raja yoga, as taught by Swami Vivekananda are woven into the fabric of Baum’s story.
Baum was strongly influenced by Swami Vivekananda. A student of Theosophy, Baum and his family lived in Chicago in 1893; they eagerly looked forward to the Parliament of World’s Religions. Baum, his wife and mother-in-law were in the audience on September 11th when Vivekananda received a long standing ovation after the Swami said simply, “Sisters and Brothers of America …”
Baum attended more of Vivekananda’s talks, and later was captivated by the Swami’s best-selling book “Raja Yoga,” published in 1896. Four years later “The Wizard of OZ” sold out its first edition, even before it came off the press.
Note: There is silent meditation in the Chapel from 10:30-11am, before each Sunday’s talk. After the talk, devotees and friends meet in the Monastery from noon to 1:30pm, for tea, coffee, snacks and a continuation of our spiritual fellowship. Spiritual talks and classes are open to the public and free of charge.[/et_pb_text][et_pb_button button_url=”https://vedantaatlanta.org/audio-archive-of-past-talks/” button_text=”Talk Archive” button_alignment=”center” admin_label=”Button – Talk Archive” _builder_version=”3.16.1″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.96)” button_bg_color=”#9f4204″ button_border_width=”4″ button_border_color=”#d59952″ button_letter_spacing=”1″ button_font=”|700|||||||” button_icon=”%%372%%” background_layout=”dark”][/et_pb_button][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_sidebar area=”sidebar-1″ _builder_version=”3.16.1″][/et_pb_sidebar][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
