- LIVE ONLINE PROGRAM
October 16, 2024 – Jan 15, 2025
Self-Surrender and Self-Knowledge Cultivating Equanimity and Non-Attachment
Swami Brahmananda
12 WEEKLY SESSIONS, Wednesdays, 6:00-7:45 pm ET
Course Description:
Join this 12-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 opening teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, in chapters 1 and chapter 2, verses 1 – 38, containing the foundation of the whole teaching, in which the essence of what the world bondage is what is true freedom from bondage.
Some of the topics included are:
- What makes our spiritual life fulfilling and fully integrated with our everyday activities.
- How to cultivate mental equanimity and overcome emotional disturbances and attachments.
- How to attain Self-knowledge and inner freedom while engaging with the world.
- The study of the Gita alone is sufficient for daily Swadhyaya (scriptural study). You will find here a solution for all your doubts. The more you study it with devotion and faith, the more you will acquire deeper knowledge, penetrative insight and clear, right thinking.
- The world is one huge battlefield. The real Kurukshetra (where the Mahabharata war took place) is within you. The battle of the Mahabharata is still raging within. Ignorance is Dhritarashtra (the blind king); the individual soul is Arjuna; the indweller of your heart or Self is Lord Krishna, the charioteer; the body is the chariot; the senses are the five horses; mind, egoism, mental impressions, senses, cravings, likes and dislikes, etc.are your dire enemies.
- The two fold path: The path of action and the path of knowledge
- 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.
- Life’s crisis and challenges as a manifestation of the inner conflicts of the forces of purity and impurity in one’s heart.
- Grief and delusion as the two forces of bondage within samsara.
- Self-surrender to God allows us to proceed safely and wisely through obstacles and adversities.
- Jnana Yoga or the knowledge of the indestructible reality or Self of all beings.
- Discrimination between Reality Satyam and appearance or Mithya.
"When Swami Brahmananda teaches, he frequently uses inspiring stories, anecdotes and brilliant analogies which make the teachings easier to understand, to remember, and then to apply in daily life. A magnificent and powerful creative force emanates from him. Throughout this course, you will get an understanding on how the mind works and you will gain significant tools to gradually master it to ultimately Self-surrender to God."
Additional Information:
Offered as 12 weekly sessions on Wednesdays, Oct 16, 23, 30, Nov 6, 13, 20, 27, Dec 4, 11, 18, 2024 & Jan 8, 15, 2025 from 6:00-7:45 pm 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:
- 24 hours of on-demand video
- 12 live sessions of 2 hours 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.