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Thursday Satsang via Zoom and In-Person Viewing at TMC  – October 10, 2024

“Devotion to the Divine Mother as Exemplified in the Lives and Teachings of H.H. Sri Swami Rama and Swami Veda Bharati “

with Stephen Parker (Stoma), PsyD, 500 E-RYT

7:00-8:30 p.m. CDT

5:30-6:45 p.m.: In-Person Gentle Hatha Yoga with Maja Radovanlija

6:15-7:00 p.m. – Vegan Soup

7:00-8:00 p.m.: “Devotion to the Divine Mother as Exemplified in the Lives and Teachings of H.H. Sri Swami Rama and Swami Veda Bharati “

with Stephen Parker (Stoma), PsyD, 500 E-RYT

8:00-8:30 p.m.: Meditation Guided by Stephen Parker (Stoma)

8:30 p.m.: Evening Prayers

8:45 p.m. Recitation of the 1,000 Names of Lalita by Swami Veda Bharati

(We will use the same Zoom link as the link for Thursday Satsang)

During this 8th day of Navaratri, join Stoma for a compelling discussion regarding the devotion of Swami Rama and Swami Veda to the Divine Mother. Come with your questions and some stories of your experiences.

“To The Mother“

by H.H. Sri Swami Rama

I sing my songs by myself. 

I find need for no one to sing them for me. 

My songs are filled with delights; they are never empty or vacant.

They are hymns of the Mother Divine.

She is the beloved Mother of all.

How magnificent, wonderful, and grand Thou art! 

To see Thy luminous face is the only desire I hold.

What a fate and destiny I have: Thou caresseth me, and I am unable to see Thee.

Surely, most certainly, one day I will see Thy face, in this lifetime, certainly.

How is it I am unable to see the face of my Mother?

I have been crying for ages, and Thou hast been wiping my tears.

The tears that moisten my eyelids make my vision blurred; everything looks hazy here and everywhere.

Give me vision, give me strength, and help me sing my infant song.

( Love Whispers, page 63 (hardcover, 1986)

Dr. Stephen Parker was initiated in the Himalayan Yoga tradition by Swami Veda Bharati and was given the initiate name Stoma in 1971. Among the first teachers certified by the Himalayan International Teachers’ Association, H.I.T.A., he began teaching hatha yoga in 1974. During that time he also studied Sanskrit with Swami Veda and South Asian languages and culture for his B.A. at the University of Minnesota.

Stoma is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher at the 500-hour level of the Yoga Alliance (E-RYT 500). A member of the International Association of Y.T., he serves on the faculties of the Meditation Center in Minneapolis and the Sadhaka Gram ashram in Rishikesh, India. He is also a senior faculty member of the Himalayan Yoga Tradition Teachers’ Training Program. He has lectured on yoga, meditation, yoga psychology, and spiritual practice in the U.S. and Canada as well as in Caribbean countries, Holland, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Lithuania, South Africa, Korea, Hong Kong, and India. In 2004 he helped originate and teach the first course on yoga in an American medical school at the University of Minnesota Academic Medical Center. In 2007 he received preliminary vows of renunciation from Swami Veda and the Shankaracharya of Karvirapitha.Stoma has been a licensed psychologist in private practice in St. Paul, MN since 1985. He also serves as Adjunct Assistant School Professor of Counseling and Psychological Services at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, MN. He teaches on the faculty of the Introductory Workshops of the Minnesota Society of Clinical Hypnosis. 

In addition to authoring journal articles and book chapters, Dr. Parker edited volume two of Swami Veda’s definitive scholarly work on the Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali and he has been a peer review editor for the Journal of Men’s Studies, the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, the International Journal of Yoga T. and Yoga Mimamsa. He is also the author of Clearing the Path, The Yoga Way to a Clear and Pleasant Mind: Yoga, Neuroscience and Emotion (2017) published by AHYMSA publishers.

To support the work of The Meditation Center and register you can donate here (suggested donation $15.00) for Thursday Satsang or make a general donation by clicking on the “donate” button on the “Support TMC” website page.

Or donate through PayPal.

Note: There is parking available for TMC visitors in the St. Boniface lot across the street from the Center.