More than any other book, Sri Caitanya-caritamrta reveals our identities as Vaishnavas, for it roots us in the tradition we represent. Also, it yields deep insights into the life and philosophy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The text thus provides us with the authority to spread His teachings. But, above all, this sacred biography gradually and methodically introduces us to the inconceivable love of God experienced by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The course is meant to offer essential perspectives on our personal spiritual lives and aims to establish the dignity and authenticity of our sampradaya.

Teacher: Kadamba Kanana Swami

Introduction to Kavya introduces students to the principal elements of Sanskrit poetry (kavya), its historical development, key authors, and writings. It further aims to enlarge the students’ knowledge and understanding of Hindu and Caitanya-Vaishnava theology by considering the relationship between kavya, scripture, and religious practice.

Teacher: Gopinath Acharya Dasa

 

Classical and Medieval Philosophy introduces the most important thinkers and ideas of the West in a chronological overview, from the Greeks to the 1500s. The overview makes it possible to understand the nature and the deeper meaning of Western philosophy. While giving due attention to the individual features of the work of the various thinkers, two distinct phases are discerned: the formation of the discipline in classical Greece and the synthesis with Christianity that philosophy entered into in the Middle Ages.

Teacher: Mahendra Dasa

Provides students with a broad understanding of the principal religious and philosophical ideas contained in the four Vedas and the principal Upanishads, supported by an in-depth study of selected texts.

Teacher: Gopinath Acharya Dasa

Teacher: Saunaka Rsi Dasa

The course will include material on varieties of pastoral care that are being practiced in spiritual organizations, current issues in the delivering of pastoral care, the nature of pastoral care, and the need for pastoral care within communities. We will also discuss a variety of current ideas and developments regarding pastoral care within ISKCON communities.

Below are a few questions to consider for our upcoming seminar:

(1) Have you ever received spiritual care when you needed it? What was that like?

(2) Have you ever provided spiritual care to someone in need? How was that experience for you? For the recipient?

(3) Have you ever seen someone who needed spiritual care but did not receive it? How might this situation have turned out differently?

(4) Have you ever deeply needed spiritual care but none was available in the way you truly needed it?

Introduces the six philosophies of Hindu thought that have contributed most to defining historically Hindu ideas of world, self, God, and the process of liberation. Each philosophy is analyzed in terms of its basic perspective and categories, with the help of selected original texts in translation. The course provides tools for informed comparative studies and a broader grasp of the basis of traditional Vaishnava philosophy.

Teacher: Pranava Dasa

World religions is a survey of the world’s major religious traditions. It will include reading and discussing short works by practitioners and outsiders, to show a range of possibilities for further study. The point of departure is that if there is to be meaningful communication of Krishna consciousness, then attempting to understand others’ viewpoints is crucial.

Teacher: Anupama Dasi

Provides students with background on the emergence of modern Hinduism and a detailed understanding of the lives and teachings of the Hindu reformers who shaped it.

Teacher: Pranava Dasa

Identifies the successes and mistakes of more than twenty years of preaching in the United Kingdom. This course takes into account all the existing ISKCON programs of congregational development and some from other organizations, and helps students think about what will be right in various fields of preaching.

Teacher: Kripamoya Dasa

Srila Rupa Goswami and his community dominated the Medieval world of Indian metaphysics. He was a highly placed minister of Nawab Hussain Shaw, of Bengal, but still not happy. He renounced everything to follow the saint and mystic Sri Krsna Chaitanya. He obtained happiness by surfacing and drowning in the waves of the gopis' love for Lord Krsna. Rupa Goswami wrote more than 11,000 verses in 18 works and then summarized everything in just eleven verses.

Teacher: Hanumatpreshaka Swami

 

 

Provides students with a comprehensive overview of Hindu history, theology, and social and political life.

Teacher: Gopinath Acharya Dasa

Provides students with historical background on the life of Rupa Goswami and detailed knowledge of the structure and contents of his principal theological ideas, as presented in the Bhaktirasamrta sindhu.

Teacher: Hanumatpreshaka Swami

The pure devotional service course will give the students an exciting glimpse and dip into the unlimitedly nectarean ocean of pure devotional service according to the teachings of AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The diving spot for entering into that ocean will the six characteristics of pure devotional service as described in the Nectar of Devotion. And there will special excursions into various aspects of pure bhakti through the songs of Narottama das Thakur and Bhaktivinode Thakur. The course will be taught by Sankarshan Das Adhikari, an initiating guru and travelling preacher of ISKCON.

Teacher: Sankarshan Dasa