Bhagavad Gita for Beginner – DEHA

ONLINE CERTIFICATE COURSE

from

HINDU UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA

Start Date: January 16, 2022

End Date: March 20, 2022

Time: 5:00 PM CET – 6:30 pm CET

Day: Every Sunday

Faculty / Instructor:  Mr. Gopi V. Prasad

Prerequisites: N.A.

Course Content:

DEHA is the first of a three-course series titled, DEHA, GNANA and YOGA. The Deha course highlights the Material and Psychic aspects of the body. The Gnana course describes the Physical, Social, Occupational, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual dimensions of divine wisdom. The Yoga course explains the four paths of Yoga in Bhagavad-Gita.

The DEHA Course helps students to understand, explore and apply the divine wisdom of the Bhagavad-Gita in their own lives. It simplifies the learning process for the beginner using specially designed graphic workbooks, transliteration textbooks in multiple languages (12 Indian languages and 12 world languages) and guided audios, available in recitation and practice versions. The interactive sessions are conducted online in English. 

The Course is divided into 3 modules – Sadhana, Sodhana and Vaadana through which Students will acquire a thorough overview of Hindu Dharma and enrich the quality of their spiritual lives.

Sadhana: In this module students understand the verses in three steps.

Step 1: Shloka Rachana (Copy writing the shloka): In this step each verse is written in a language of choice by copying from the transliteration textbook. 

Step 2: Shloka Shravana (Listening to the verse): In this step the students will get to know the accurate pronunciation of each verse.

Step 3: Shloka Anucharana (Guided recitation): In this step students will learn the accurate pronunciation of each verse through guided practice. After this step the students would be able to independently practice the recitation using the guided chanting audios available online. 

Sodhana: In this module students understand the meaning of the shlokas in 2 steps.

Step 4: Bhava Darshana (Graphic illustration): In this step the meaning of the verse is explained through graphic illustration.

Step 5: Pratipada Artha (Word meaning): In this step the word by word meaning of the shlokas is translated from Sanskrit to English.

Vaadana: In this module the interpretations of different acharyas to the shlokas of each lesson are explored to gain deeper meaning and summarized by the students in about 500 words. A debate on contemporary issues and situations is held towards end of the course. During the debate the students shall apply their learnings from the course and present their remarks and recommendations by referring to the specific shlokas of DEHA course.

Course Learning Objectives:

In this course students will be able to:

• Practice accurate pronunciation of the shlokas through guided chanting.
• Discover the interpretations from different commentaries on Bhagavad-Gita.
• Gain a deeper understanding of the Bhagavad Gita by comparing and analysing the similarities and differences between the interpretations of various acharyas.
• Comprehend the simultaneous co-existence of diverse understandings of the divine wisdom of Hindu Dharma, enshrined in its varied Sampradayas.
• Discover the foundations of Hindu Dharma from the Bhagavad-Gita.
• Gain an overview of the Hindu Wisdom, and Hindu Pathways for spiritual growth.

Class Structure:

There will be a minimum of 1.5 contact hours with faculty every week. The class is structured in a way that promotes discussion and debate based on self-study and reflection each week. After the weekly class the students will be required to submit audio recordings of verses and complete online assignments with drag and drop type questions.