Our Mission | A Manifesto

In our recent lectures like Advice to Spiritual Teachers & Aspirants & Sex, Drugs & Choosing A Guru | Q&A we've been going over our ideals and values as a community, using Swami Vivekananda's reflections on Sri Ramakrishna as our guiding principles. 

Recently also we took a look at our lineage and heritage to see where we've been! Now, we can look into the future and ask, "well, where are we going?" 

I want to discuss "our mission" as per Myra Mā's excellent inquiry in class the other day. What's our purpose? What's the manifesto? What's to be expected from me and from our community in the years to come? 

Mainly, with regard to our "mission", I want to say "we have none!" I'd like to talk a little bit about the risks of having "a mission" and the kind of grandiosity that it can bring. 

Importantly, I want to show how Swami Vivekananda's mission was not at all "his", but God's. Mā alone is doing everything through us and if we were to all simply surrender to the expression that arises naturally from moment to moment, Her līlā will unfold without us having ever to plan or to think about it or force outcomes. 

Really, in a deeper sense, this class is about how to stay calm and compassionate in trying times, during political instability, personal tragedy etc.and how to act in a way that is aligned with God's will!