Saturdays, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. CT
August 8 – August 29 (4 classes)
In these four gatherings, we will begin with a meditation of nearly half an hour, followed by an exploration of the significant teachings in the Yoga Sutras, the great spiritual text attributed to Patañjali.
There is a strong emphasis in this text that the whole purpose of the manifested universe (Prakriti) is to serve the Divine Energy (Purusha) that has created the universe. A searcher needs to inquire how the individualized Prakriti in oneself—the body-mind—can serve the individualized Purusha, the spiritual element that has taken on the body-mind for its own evolution.
We will explore the specific obstacles that interfere with the spiritual journey of a seeker and the practices that can help.
Week 1: We will focus on the place of the mind in spiritual search. In the *Yoga Sutras*, Patañjali emphasizes that Purusha does not know mentally but knows through the mind. The mind, the instrument of perception, interferes less and less as it becomes freer and freer of subjectivity. The progressive freedom to be attained in yoga is an increasing freedom not for myself but from myself. Then the mind can become a proper instrument of perception and can act in the service of the Real.
Week 2: We will explore the emphasis placed by Patañjali on the quieting of the mind and study Yoga Sutra 2:1: “The practice of yoga consists of self-discipline, self-study, and dedication to God.”
Week 3: We will explore Yoga Sutra 2:2: “Yoga is for cultivating samādhi [full awareness and freedom from the ego-self] and for weakening the hindrances [ignorance, sense of a separate self, attraction, aversion, and clinging to the status quo].”
Week 4: We will explore Yoga Sutra 2:21: “The seen (Prakriti) is for the sake of the Seer (Purusha),” and Yoga Sutra 2:20: “The Seer is only the power of pure seeing. Although pure, the Seer appears to see with the mind.”
Recommended Text: The Wisdom of Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras by Ravi Ravindra.
Member Rate: $65 • Standard Rate: $80
Registrants will receive on-demand access to recording(s). Late registrants will receive recording links to all missed sessions.
Ravi Ravindra, Ph.D., is an author and Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he taught comparative religion, philosophy, and physics. A lifetime member of the Theosophical Society, he has taught many courses at the School of the Wisdom in Adyar and at the Krotona Institute of Theosophy in Ojai, California. He was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla, and the founding director of the Threshold Award for Integrative Knowledge. For more information, visit ravindra.ca.
Program Format
This is a live, interactive online program that will also be recorded. Registrants will receive on-demand access to recording(s) following the conclusion of the program.
Join online via a Zoom link that will be emailed during the week before the program.
Please download Zoom for free at zoom.us/download and test your connection at zoom.us/test. For further information, check out www.theosophical.org/FAQ or email webinars@theosophical.org.