Streaming Video - The Bhagavad Gita: Values for the 21st Century - A video recorded seminar with Dr. Georg Feuerstein, Ph. D. - USD

A video recorded seminar with Dr. Georg Feuerstein, Ph. D, at the Babaji’s Kriya Yoga Ashram in St Etienne de Bolton, Quebec, Canada on June 30, 2000. 6 hours 22 minutes.

The Bhagavad Gita or Sacred Song is one or the world’s most important sacred texts. It celebrates the relationship of man with God, the intense joy of Divine Love and the realization of the Self through Yoga. In the form of a dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna on the eve of a battle, Krishna teaches the fearful Arjuna the need for action and the requirement that he – like all mankind – take his place in the world with faith and love.

This is a rare recording, nearly six and one half hours in length, by perhaps the West’s greatest scholar of Yoga in modern times, the late Dr. Georg Feuerstein (1947 to 2012). Those who have enjoyed reading his more than thirty books on the subject of Yoga will enjoy even more listening to and watching one whose great scholarship was uniquely informed by his profound experience of the deeper dimensions of Yoga. Make your practice of yoga deeply meditative.

Video 1: The Historical Context and an Overview of its Message, 2 hours, 2 minutes:
The Gita’s relation to the epic Mahabharata; the Gita’s “integral” yoga including knowledge, action, meditation and love; the battlefield of life: “we are our own greatest obstacle in the path;” “no effort is ever wasted;” samkhya: pre-classical Yoga: a model to correct our perceptual error of reality; nature and awareness; “mind is a material thing;” illumination; karma: the consequences of action; svadharma: one’s own inner being; our true identity.

Video 2: The Obstacles and Means to Self-realization, 1 hour 31 minutes:
Includes the role of the buddhi, the intellect, the first veil over the Self; discernment; “renunciation is likely to be incomplete as a means to liberation;” “the subliminal activators, samskaras; detachment as the means; qualified non-dualism; sleep and awareness; Samadhi; the three modes of nature, the gunas; the principles of nature; the Supreme Being; chapters 1, 2, 3. The necessity of meditation to transcend karma, becoming aware of subliminal activators and releasing them.

Video 3: The Practice of Yoga, 1 hour 55 minutes:
Includes the illusion of egoism, “We are That,” the process of purification; the need for techniques to become aware of and to de-activate the samskaras; “sattvavication” allowing wisdom to guide us, allowing the light of awareness; better to live a conscious active life than to retire from the world; karmayoga; bhakti yoga; becoming the on-dual reality; chapter 3 continued; chapters 4: Dhyana Yoga, the path of meditation; “your worst enemy is your best friend;” letting go of conceptual baggage; chapter 5: unselfish work is superior to renunciation; being equal-minded towards everything; the Self is the only friend of the self; chapters 6-11; suffering; wisdom; four types of devotees; What is the Self? The need for practice to prepare for the moment of death; the significance of “AUM;” “faith is the Mother of Yoga;” faith that we can grow into our potential; don’t make beliefs exclusive; offering with love; using the higher mind to discern the Truth.

Video 4: The Universal Vision, the Qualities of a Yogi, Questions and Answers, 54 minutes:
Includes: Arjuna’s vision of Krishna’s Universal Form; bhakti Yoga; Brahma Nirvana or union with the lower aspect of the Divine; discern true wisdom; otherwise practice detachment repeatedly ; otherwise serve; otherwise renounce; different approaches are possible; the Yogi is ever content, self-controlled, equal minded; distinguishing the Self from the field of nature; transcending the three modes of nature, sattva, rajas, and tamas (balance, activity and inertia) by becoming aware of how their play; overcome attachment to knowledge, action and dullness. How to recognize one who has transcended them; the nature of the mind; the yoga of renunciation: renounce the fruit of your action, not your duties; chapters 11-18. Questions and answers.

Disclaimer

• there are some imperfections including problems with tracking in a few places, due to the fact that the seminar was recorded on tape in 2000, but not transferred to a digital disc until 2013.

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