Course on Introduction to Bhagavad Gita
Motivation
Bhagavad Gita is a store house of wisdom from the Hindu tradition. It is a non-sectarian, non-dogmatic book with a rational worldview and Universal values based on that. It is one of the fundamental scriptures of Hinduism. It has been the inspiration for several great philosophers, saints, scientists, artists, and social workers throughout the world for centuries.
Several translations and commentaries are available on the Bhagavad Gita in several languages written over the years. Still, there is a need for a systematic presentation of the message and text of the Bhagavad Gita in a way that is relevant and relatable to the youth and professionals of today. The presentation needs to be based on modern scientifically accepted theories, use modern idioms, and help the student to relate to everyday situations in modern life.
Audience and Purpose
Bhagavad Gita was told by a successful king to another successful king, when the latter faced a moral dilemma in life and sought the former’s wise counsel. Today, many of us face situations in life where we need some guidance to decide. We cannot dig a well when the house is on fire. We need to equip ourselves with a worldview and a framework of concepts, that can help us to make good decisions when needed. Also, often, after having attained a certain degree of success in life, we seek a new meaning to life and new purpose to work. This course is designed to present Bhagavad Gita as a framework to rediscover oneself, reinvent oneself, find a higher purpose to life, work towards it and guide making decisions in every-day life.
Description
A top-down approach is utilized in this course. First some core concepts and categories are introduced. This would help the student grasp the high-level map of the terrain of Bhagavad Gita. A handful of slokas are introduced to give the scriptural anchoring to these concepts. The students are introduced to chanting the slokas and their word by word meaning. The students are taught how to understand the literal and implied meanings of slokas. After having the basic understanding of the message of the Bhagavad Gita using these handful of slokas, we do a deep dive into chapters 15 and 12. Chapter 15 gives the philosophy of Bhagavad Gita. Chapter 12 gives the instructions on how to put the philosophy into practice. After that, we take up some important slokas from the Bhagavad Gita under the categories of various Yogas. Overall, the student would become familiar with about 80 slokas. The students will be guided on how to redesign their life and create a personalized daily routine to form habits in line with the new knowledge gained.
Mode of instruction
The course is in English. The mode of teaching will be using slides. It can be delivered in-person or online. The sessions need to be recorded so that, if a student misses one session, the student can catch up before the next session. The slides will have the slokas in Devanagari and Roman scripts. So, no knowledge of Sanskrit or Devanagari script is required. Students can ask questions after the explanation is given on every concept or sloka. Also, there will be some thought experiments given throughout the course to understand the concepts better. Some stories from Indian tradition and anecdotes from the lives of great people will be used to illustrate the concepts. The students will be encouraged to ask any question with an open mind to explore how these concepts can be used to reinterpret and applied to various situations in life. The course would be a gradual build-up of understanding in a well-designed sequence with curated sets of slokas. Familiarity with the previous sessions would be required to fully benefit from a subsequent session.
Syllabus
Here is the outline of the course that will spread over about 24 classes of 90 minutes each.
- Foundation Series (12 classes)
- Introduction to the course (1)
- Introduction to Bhagavad Gita (1)
- prapanna paarijaataaya
- kaarpanya dosho (2.7)
- asocyaan anvasocastvam (2.11)
- The Goal (1)
- vihaaya kaamaan (2.71)
- Roadmap to the Goal (1)
- yoga yukto (5.7)
- Individual and Self-effort (1)
- uddharet aatmanaatmaanam (6.5)
- Impersonal Truth (1)
- aham aatmaa (10.20)
- Personal God (1)
- bhoktaaram yagna tapasaam (5.29)
- Review (1)
- Gita’s Way – Karma Yoga and Dhyaana Yoga (2)
- ye tu sarvaani karmaani (12.6)
- teshaam aham (12.7)
- Marks of a Devotee (1)
- adveshtaa sarva bhootaanaam (12.13)
- santushtha satatam (12.14)
- Summary (1)
- Advanced Series (12 classes)
- Review of Introduction (2)
- Bhakti Yoga (1)
- Karma Yoga (1)
- Dhyaana Yoga (1)
- Jnaana Yoga (1)
- Saadhana Pancakam (1)
- Chapter 15 (2)
- Chapter 12 (2)
- Summary (1)
Reference
The required slokas will be presented in the slides. The students will be given a PDF file with all the selected slokas. This can be used for regular chanting and deeper study.
- Essence of Bhagavad Gita – 12 selected verses that cover the essential concepts. This introduction lays a strong foundation for further study of the Gita. This also can be chanted everyday remembering the meaning as a recap of the Gita message.
- Bhagavad Gita – Chapters 15 and 12 – Gita Chapters 15 and 12 with Meaning for Daily Chanting. Chapter 15 covers the concepts and Chapter 12 covers practice. So these two chapters are considered as the most important chapters to memorize and chant while remembering the meaning.
In addition, the students can use any Bhagavad Gita book which gives word-by-word meaning. Suggested book is the Bhagavad Gita book by Swami Tapasyananda, published by Ramakrishna Math, Chennai. An alternate book is by Swami Swarupananda (disciple of Swami Vivekananda), published by Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata (part of Ramakrishna Math). PDF of the book is available on archives.org.
Several batches of these courses have been completed in the past couple of years. Here is a playlist of the recording of one such batch:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8pL_wkgB-us5Bz1tkFcs8w-gekEFjyf0
Here is the set of presentations used for the course:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-3uvxH4_ighe5H9mXGPb7YQxSELxOaUu?usp=sharing
Here is a video with testimonials by the students, done by SoulUp.in who ran several batches and continues to run for those who are interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH48AhTNi4Y
Here is the Essence of Bhagavad Gita as an image which you can keep as reference and share.
Other Formats
Shorter versions of the course can be conducted based on the context and time available.
- Four sessions of 2 hours each
- Can be over one, two, or four weekends
- Chapter 15 – Two sessions of 2 hours each
- Chapter 12 – Two sessions of 2 hours each
- Two sessions of 1 or 2 hours each
- Can be over one or two weekends
- 12 Selected verses
- Essence of Gita – 1 or 2 hours
- 4-Purushaarthas, 5-Koshas, Ishvara, Karma Yoga, Dhyaana Yoga
Contact
If you want to run this course in your organization, study circle, temple, college, office, ashram, etc., please contact me at
g o k u l m u t h u @ g m a i l . c o m or + 9 1 9 8 4 4 1 0 1 0 4 7