- LIVE ONLINE PROGRAM
August 25 – October 27, 2021
Self-Surrender and Self-Knowledge Cultivating Equanimity and Non-Attachment
Swami Brahmananda
10 WEEKLY SESSIONS, Wednesdays, 6:30-8:30pm ET
Course Description:
Join this 10 weeks course with Swami Brahmananda to learn what makes our spiritual life fulfilling and fully integrated with our everyday activities and how to overcome emotional disturbances and attachments. You will learn tools to cultivate mental equanimity and inner strength based on the teachings of Yoga and Vedanta as taught in the Bhagavad Gita. The teachings and practices are meant for new and experienced students alike.
The Bhagavad Gita is acclaimed as the teaching that guides us how to put in practice and apply directly in our life the sublime teachings of Yoga and Vedanta.
Throughout the Bhagavad Gita the attitude of surrendering oneself to the Divine and accepting life’s dualities and challenges as God’s grace is given as a means for attaining peace and equanimity. When the mind is thus purified from binding attachments and emotions one can attain Self-knowledge and abide in one’s true nature as the all-pervading, limitless Self.
What you'll learn:
The course is an in depth study of the 78 verses of the 18th chapter with traditional commentary.
Some of the main points of the teachings we will be covering are:
- What makes our spiritual life fulfilling and fully integrated with our everyday activities
- How to cultivate mental equanimity.
- How to overcome emotional disturbances and attachments.
- How to attain Self-knowledge and inner freedom while engaging with the world.
- How to cultivate the attitude of surrendering oneself to the Divine and accepting pleasure and pain, success and failure, gain and loss as the Lord's grace, thereby finding peace in the unavoidable challenges of life.
- The duties of each person are due to his inborn nature (swabhava). Through performance of one’s duties (swadharma) as worship of the Lord, without attachment, one attains the supreme.
- He whose intellect is unattached, by renunciation, becomes untainted by actions and free from the bondage of action or karma.
- One may perform actions for the solidarity of the world and yet he will not be bound by actions, having attained freedom from action through knowledge of the Self.
- Fixing one’s mind on God, one overcomes all obstacles, but through egoism one perishes. The Lord dwells in all beings causing all beings to revolve by the power of Maya. Bound by thy own karma, that which from delusion you wish not to do, you will do helplessly.
- The significance of the most important teaching of the Bhagavad Gita: Verse 18.66: Abandon all duties, take refuge in me alone, I will liberate thee from all sins, grieve not.
Additional Information:
Offered as 10 weekly sessions on Wednesdays, Aug 25, Sept 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, Oct 6, 13, 20 & 27, 6:30-8:30pm ET
This program is offered live through Zoom webinar with the availability for students to interact through Q&A with the presenter.
For enrolled students, a video recording will be available after each class in the event you miss a class or would like to review the content.
It is possible to register and take the course at any time. You can catch up on any classes you miss with the recordings.
Requirements and Recommendations:
- No experience necessary. This program is open to beginners as well as advanced practitioners.
- Viewing Device: Desktop or laptop computer will provide the best experience, although you can also connect via a tablet or smartphone.
- Internet connection: High-speed broadband wired or wireless is best.
- Video: Download Zoom to your computer, or install the Zoom app to your device. For interactive group sessions, a webcam or integrated camera will allow others to feel more connected with you.
- Audio: Headphone speakers are recommended. If you wish to participate vocally, a headset with a microphone will be ideal.
Swami Brahmananda is a monk and senior teacher of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers and is the current Manager of the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas. Swami Brahmananda joined the Sivananda organization in 1999 and was initiated into Sannyasa (monasticism) in 2006.
A long-time practitioner of yoga, meditation and philosophical studies, he regularly teaches meditation and yoga philosophy for the Sivananda Yoga Teachers’ Training Courses as well as the Advanced Yoga Teachers’ Training Courses. He also teaches online courses on the Patanjali Yoga Sutras and Vedanta. Swami Brahmananda is a much-loved, inspiring, and knowledgeable teacher.