A universal assembly for true discernment
You are cordially invited to Awakening Together’s Third Quarter Member Meeting, which will be held in the Sanctuary on Sunday, September 13 at 8pm ET.
The agenda for this member meeting includes:
~ Update regarding our application for church status
~ Changes on the Member Board of Trustees
~ Full Disclosure – Financial Status Review
~ And more …
All members are invited to bring questions and feedback to the member meeting.
We hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
The Member Board of Trustees
Pictures from the Ireland Retreat with Regina Dawn Akers, August 30 – September 4, 2015, hosted by Miracle Mind of Belfast Ireland.
In today’s modern, high tech society we get to enjoy the benefits of cell phone and internet connections that we often give little or no thought to.
As I completed my latest Minister Preparation Program (MPP) course and learned more about the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, I had the opportunity to contemplate just how similar one of the weekly mantras we learned in class is to real life technology.
The mantra I took away from this course was simple enough but had a profound impact on my perception of awareness and helped me to better understand what my relationship to that awareness is. This simple mantra, “Remain with the Self,” and the deep sense of connection I feel when I practice it is similar to how my wifi signal at home automatically recognizes my device when I return home. I don’t have to ask my phone to stop using my data and switch to wifi. It was designed to recognize the signal and “auto-connect” to my internet connection effortlessly.
Using the mantra, “Remain with the Self,” worked in much the same way. We are designed to recognize our Truth at the deepest level, and we draw to us every experience needed to help guide us in that direction. Turning toward the Self in this way gives us an instant connection to that Truth affording us the same flexibility as almost any smart phone… the ability to auto-connect.
“Having realized the Self nothing remains to be known because it is perfect bliss, it is the All” ~ Ramana Maharshi
Dearest Members,
Thank you very much for responding to our request to write letters to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regarding your experience with Awakening Together. We have forwarded 43 heartfelt letters from members along with several other documents in order to express to the IRS that we are, indeed, a strong and close like-minded spiritual community who deserves to be recognized as a church.
If you would like to learn more about our application for church status, please join us in the Sanctuary for our quarterly Member Meeting on Sunday, September 13 at 8pm ET.
With great love and in gratitude,
Regina Dawn Akers
Click the link below to read the minutes from this meeting.
(To learn more about the Member Board of Trustees, click here.)
Regina Dawn Akers interviewed Ram Das Batchelder for Awakening Together’s August 2015 Satsang. In this interview, Ram Das shares enthusiastically about his early spiritual path and the ego-delusions that accompanied his first experiences of God. He also shares how he found his Satguru, Amma, “the hugging saint.” In the final 30 minutes of the interview, Ram Das discusses his realization of truth through Self-inquiry including how through truth, he sees that everything he believed in before, including his own spiritual path, does not exist. Supreme Truth alone exists.
Ram Das was born in Pennsylvania in 1961, had a spiritual awakening in his early twenties, and has spent most of the last 25 years in India as a devotee of Amma, the “hugging Saint.” He has written four children’s books, which have been translated into several European languages, and also a novel in rhyming verse, three full-length plays, and 40 original songs. In 2012, he and his wife, Tarini Ma, wrote and co-taught a university course on Hinduism in Venezuela. He has given numerous talks and workshops about various aspects of spirituality in many locations around the world. He and his wife are currently offering 5-star tours of the sacred cities of India, to both Spanish and English-speaking groups.
Ram Das’ website: rising-inlove.org
Ram Das’ book: Rising in Love: My Wild and Crazy Ride to Here and Now, with Amma, the Hugging Saint
Join Regina Dawn Akers in the Awakening Together Sanctuary for Satsang with Ram Das Batchelder at 8pm ET on Sunday.
Ram Das Batchelder was born in Pennsylvania in 1961, had a spiritual awakening in his early twenties, and has spent most of the last 25 years in India as a devotee of Amma, the “hugging Saint.” He has written four children’s books, which have been translated into several European languages, and also a novel in rhyming verse, three full-length plays, and 40 original songs. In 2012, he and his wife, Tarini Ma, wrote and co-taught a university course on Hinduism in Venezuela. He has given numerous talks and workshops about various aspects of spirituality in many locations around the world. He and his wife are currently offering 5-star tours of the sacred cities of India, to both Spanish and English-speaking groups.
“Rising in Love: My Wild and Crazy Ride to Here and Now, with Amma, the Hugging Saint
Website: rising-inlove.org
(Rising in Love’s publication was directly approved by Amma, and contains 22 photos of her. All royalties from the sale of Rising in Love are being donated to Amma’s orphanage in Kerala, India, which houses 500 children and consistently turns out some of the most successful high school graduates in the state, one-third of whom go on to earn college degrees.)
Dear Awakening Together Members,
As you know, Awakening Together has applied for church status with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and is currently under review. In the past, another internet organization applied for church status and their request was denied. Their court case is a well-known court case, The Foundation of Human Understanding vs. United States.
In that court case, The Foundation of Human Understanding was turned down for church status because their organization operated as an internet radio broadcast. The court determined that there was no evidence that the listeners of their broadcast had a shared or communal worship experience.
In order to receive church status, we must show that our members associate with each other regularly and participate in shared, communal worship. We feel that our Sanctuary allows association and shared, communal worship because of the interactivity provided through PalTalk.
Here’s How You Can Help
We are now on a short-deadline to respond to an IRS Request for Information. In that response, we need to show whether our members feel that they do or do not associate with one another on a regular basis and whether they feel they do or do not have a shared, communal worship experience through Awakening Together.
Please send an email addressed to the Internal Revenue Service describing your genuine experience with Awakening Together. Do you experience association and shared, communal worship with other members? How long have you been coming into the Sanctuary? Why do you come into the Sanctuary? Is there something about Awakening Together that makes it your church of choice? Describe your experience.
Your email must include your full name, telephone number and mailing address so that the IRS may contact you if they choose to. (Note: The IRS will not respond via email.)
We must receive your email by Saturday, August 15.
You may send the email to regina.awakeningtogether@gmail.com or send it via Contact.
Thank you very much for your assistance.
Sincerely,
Regina Dawn Akers, Jacquelyn Eckert & Barbara Deurwaarder
Sage Ribhu and His Disciple, Nidagha
Regina Dawn Akers, minister, contemplates at a story from the Puranas, ancient Hindu texts written to impress the teachings of the Vedas onto the masses and to generate devotion to God in them. She shares how one particular story points to letting go of concepts as the way to realize Nirvana, the kingdom of Heaven, the true Self.
The readers are Ken and Rebecca Gibson. They read from “The Spiritual Teaching of Ramana Maharshi.”
Barabara Deurwaarder served as Sanctuary Administrator.
