Saturday, September 18, 2021   
11:00 am - 5:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time
Learning via Zoom (webinar)
$75 Non-member, $60 ZG member

The workshop will be recorded, registrants will have access to the recording after the event.
What is currently called Hinduism is regarded by many authorities as the oldest existing religion in the world. The traditional view is that it originated and was passed down through an oral tradition until it became written in its foundational texts/scriptures, known as the Vedas. As practiced through the ages and up to the current time, it composes a broad range of sects and subsects, each with its own specific philosophies, worldviews, beliefs, practices and rituals. This workshop will focus on some particular threads woven into this cloth of the spirituality of the Indian subcontinent that have survived to the current time, as incorporated into the spiritual, mystical practices and perspective of Raja Yoga and Vedanta which are spiritually more universal in application, transcending sectarian religious practices. We will explore the basics of the Ashtanga Yoga/Raja Yoga system propounded by Pantajali and how it relates to the more philosophical/mystical teachings of Vedanta propounded by Shankara. There will be an emphasis on breath awareness and breathing practices as the foundations for meditation. As such, this workshop will comprise both theory and practice, with a focus on the spiritual and mystical aspects of Vedic Spirituality rather than the religious aspects of Hinduism.
The agenda will cover...
 
Introduction to Hinduism, Raja Yoga and Vedanta
  1. Overview – Oral tradition to written texts.  Connection/significance between sound/mantras/and chants.
  2. Vedanta – an Existential Approach: who am I, why am I here, where have I come from, where am I going. What is spirituality, what is Divinity. Exploration of Cosmic and Individual Being.
  3. Conclusions of Vedanta – Everything arises out of Nondual Reality, exists within it, and dissolves back into it. Humans have an inclination to detach from their connection with Unity, and attach to a false sense of separate identity independent from the Unity.
 Details of Ashtanga/Raja Yoga and Breath/Pranayama
  1. The Five Layers/Veils of the Soul and the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga/Raja Yoga
  2. Breath and Pranayama as an important gateway on the inner journey
 Raja Yoga’s focus on the mind, Vedanta’s focus on consciousness, and the connection between the two 
  1. The functions of the mind according to Raja Yoga.
  2. States of Consciousness according to Vedanta, and the connection/distinction between states of consciousness and states of mind.
 Guided Meditation
  1. Guided meditation practice incorporating moving from breath awareness to pranic awareness, sense withdrawal, concentration and meditation leading to the dimension of Silence beyond the mind, the core/foundation of mysticism.
Teacher Steve Gold shares some insights about interfaith/interspiritual truths that hold us all together in his talk, "The One and Only Church of Universal Ice Cream".
Steve discusses the workshop with the other presenters on The Spirit of Now podcast!
Registration Details
Savings! ~ This event can be purchased as part of the Mysticism Series. Learn more.
ZG Membership info here.
We offer a reduced rate of $15 for those affected by the economy. We don't want anyone to miss out.
Register
The workshop will be recorded, registrants will have access to the recording after the event.
Steven J. Gold, BA Antioch College, Philosophy and Religion; JD Emory Law School, is the founder/director of Torah-Veda (formerly Yoga and Judaism Center) in Atlanta, GA. He is an initiate and practitioner for more than 40 years in the Tradition of the Himalayan Masters, as propagated in the West by the late Sri Swami Rama of the Himalayas. This broad-based tradition includes the classical Ashtanga Yoga/Raja Yoga and meditation systems of Patanjali and the Advaita Vedanta systems and philosophy of Shankara. He has also studied Jewish mysticism and its connections with Indian mysticism for many years.
 Steve is the author of several books, including his latest, Dimensions: Navigating the Spiritual Spectrum. He has been teaching meditation and related classes on Indian and Jewish mysticism for many years, and is an administrator and facilitator of an ongoing Interspiritual Contemplative Group. He has served on the Board of Directors of Zeigest/The Spirit of Now, and is a founding and lifetime member.
 Torah-Veda Website: www.yajcenter.blogspot.com
 Torah-Veda Meditation: www.torahvedameditation.blogspot.com
 
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