This class is currently unavailable. Please contact Patricia for information regarding the next Vedanta class.
circles@centerheart.org
Bhagavad Gita Study Course
Dr. Paul Bahder, MD, DHt:
As somebody who spent many years studying spiritual disciplines at the feet of an Indian spiritual teacher, finally coming in contact with the teachings of traditional Vedanta has been a shock and a revelation. In Vedanta I found a teaching that addressed my concerns at my level. It left no question unanswered and it did not ignore any concern. It defined the goal of spiritual search with the precise clarity I’ve never seen before. The formerly fractured partial insights were replaced with one global picture. Vedanta is a clear, whole teaching, freed from superstitious or “fuzzy” arguments. The nature of self, the world, God, and their mutual relationship is presented in an uncompromising simplicity and clarity. The necessary qualifications and the steps on the path are defined.
In addition, I was blessed with meeting genuine spiritual teachers who wielded the teachings in a skillful and comprehensive way. This was a game changer like never before. Originally from Poland with an orthodox medical training, my professional work after the usual hospital requirements has been full time Classical Homeopathy practice in the greater Princeton area for almost thirty years.
Now you are invited to partake of Vedanta. Are you ready to explore your experience and your self? The study of Bhagavad Gita will not focus on the scripture itself, but will be an exploration of you, using the scripture as a guide. While for some spirituality has been an escape from the struggles and dangers of daily life, for others it has been a future ideal. Very few indeed are those that know that, as Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”.
And yet with our limited understanding we search for it here, among human achievements, looking for what superficially glimmers, forgetting that the light we search for is not reflected but self-luminous. That light refers to your self. The Self that you are.
Our notions of how to act spiritually, how to work, eat, how to relate, or even how to have sex when you are involved in a spiritual life – all of those notions and beliefs are examined so that the irrefutable truth can be understood. Vedanta takes you as a human and step by step reveals the spiritual.
After coming in contact with Vedanta I have laughed more and cried less. I have found peace, even in the midst of a kidney stone attack. Vedanta helped to maintain the awareness of that from which even the pain emerged. And it was not a grand achievement or effort. It was just a simple, direct knowing so obvious that nothing exists here by itself and everything here is supported and maintained by that underlying, invisible truth we call consciousness.
Vedanta is a four thousand year tradition, a teaching and a technology to find lasting happiness. Bhagavad Gita is arguably the most important scripture of Vedanta. You are cordially invited to take this journey together. Vedanta will reveal that the meaning of the destination and the necessary preparation. It will in the end show you that you are whole and that life is not a tragedy.
Beside spiritual value Bhagavad Gita is a good human story and a dam good read. You won’t be able to put it down and it is not just because the story is so good. It is more because hidden in its pages is the secret. Not a false promise to satisfy your ego’s desires, but the realization that truth you have been searching for, you already are. Once you catch that meaning, you will in fact be caught and all that will remain is to follow your soul’s aspiration.
You are most welcome to join us.