- LIVE ONLINE PROGRAM
August 31- November 16, 2022
Self-Surrender and Self-Knowledge Cultivating Equanimity and Non-Attachment
Swami Brahmananda
10 WEEKLY SESSIONS, Wednesdays, 6:00-7:45pm ET
Course Description:
Join this 10-week course with Swami Brahmananda to learn what makes our spiritual life fulfilling and fully integrated with our everyday activities. Throughout this course you will learn how to overcome emotional disturbances and attachments and gain 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 ninth and tenth chapters of the Bhagavad Gita 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 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
- Brahman or the Self is absolutely distinct and untouched by the names and forms of the world, i.e., thoughts, emotions, bodily conditions, events of the world etc.
- All this world is pervaded by Brahman or absolute reality. All beings exist in Brahman, but Brahman does not dwell in them.
- The Lord is a witness or pure consciousness. Nature or Maya Shakti does everything. By reason of Brahman’s proximity or presence, Maya Shakti manifests and projects all beings and all names and forms.
- The Lord or Self exists in all the forms of the world as the All-faced. It is the one Lord which is seen in all the different forms of the world as His faces.
- The method of surrendering to God: Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, whatever you give, whatever you practice as spiritual discipline, do it as an offering unto the Lord. Consecrate all acts to the Lord. Then you will be freed from the bondage of Karma by self-surrender unto the Lord.
- Just as the river joins the sea abandoning its own name and form, so also the individual soul joins the Supreme Soul giving up his own name and form, his own egoistic desires and egoism. The individual will has become one with the cosmic will.
- Devotion is the Mother of Wisdom: The devotees who have dedicated themselves to the Lord, obtain the divine grace. The Lord gives them wisdom or the Yoga of discrimination (Jnana Yoga) or understanding by which they attain the knowledge of the Self.
- The Lord is the Self or Atman, seated in the hearts of all beings.
- How to recognize the Lord in the names and forms of creation through His divine glories (Vibhutis) as existing and pervading the whole world and all beings.
Additional Information:
Offered as 10 weekly sessions on Wednesdays, Aug 31, Sep 7, 14, 21, 28, Oct 5, 12, 19, 26, November 2 6:00-7:45pm 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.
Course Includes:
- 16 hours of on-demand video
- 10 live sessions of study from the Patanjali Yoga sutras and guided practices. Each class includes teachings, practice time and dedicated time for questions and answers
- Home guided practices – including recorded guided meditations
- Feedback and personal guidance on student’s home practices
- Availability to ask questions about the studies and practices between classes
- Course Manual
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.