Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.
From `Happiness and God's Grace' by Ramana Maharshi
Education for Adults and Kids
OFFERED AT ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGE
A spiritual practice is absolutely key for the spiritual well-being of society and also for our own. This is our way of delivering some of the core tenets of Hinduism to our community, for adults and kids. Check out what Swami Vivekananda's discourse on the growth of man (below).
We are now launching our Education Program towards this - see details below.
Please email saratogatemple<at>gmail.com to register for these classes
These sessions are conducted weekly at various locations in Saratoga
Please specify which program you are interested in, and whether the interested student is a minor (with age) or adult.
The program is conducted free of charge., and you are not expected to pay for these classes.
Your participation in this program implies your agreement with our TERMS and CONDITIONS here http://www.saratogatemple.org/tc.html
We are now launching our Education Program towards this - see details below.
Please email saratogatemple<at>gmail.com to register for these classes
These sessions are conducted weekly at various locations in Saratoga
Please specify which program you are interested in, and whether the interested student is a minor (with age) or adult.
The program is conducted free of charge., and you are not expected to pay for these classes.
Your participation in this program implies your agreement with our TERMS and CONDITIONS here http://www.saratogatemple.org/tc.html
WEEKLY CLASSES AT THE SARATOGA HINDU TEMPLE
Starting January 2014
ONLY 3 selected classes; Sunday evening 3:30pm to 6:30pm
Details to be announced soon
Meet our teachers
Our Instructors discuss their offering and their background - see videos below
LINE UP OF OUR WEEKLY CLASSES
There are 5 categories of classes
#1 Healthy Living
#2 Language Classes
#3 z Ancient Holy Books
#4 Chantings for wellness
#5 Bhajan/ Kirtan Satsangh
Find the session that works for your needs, shoot an email to saratogatemple <at> gmail.com with request for enrollment and specific details on class code.
HEALTHY LIVING, WELLNESS via YOGA, MEDITATION & PRANAYAMA
Simple practices to quiet our mind, reduce stress towards healthy living and practices, and connect to our inner consciousness for clarity of thought and alignment with the universe.
Yogi Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras during the Indian Maurya empire (322 BC to 188 BC) approx 2300 years ago. This is still the reference guide in most of the modern day Yoga classes. Your opportunity to understand the 8 limbs of Yoga
Course Code SHTCC01 Meditation Teacher - Jyoti Bhardwaj
Course Code SHTCC02 Yoga Teacher - Vani Gangu
Vani Gangu is trained and certified through Yoga Bharati's Yoga Teacher’s training. Vani has been teaching for the past 7 years in east bay for adults and kids and also occasionally at ICC, Milpitas. Yoga has brought balance in her busy life style and she wishes to spread the same for others.
Akshaya Sekharan,10th grade student is undergoing Yoga teachers training and will be assisting Vani in conducting these classes.
Akshaya Sekharan,10th grade student is undergoing Yoga teachers training and will be assisting Vani in conducting these classes.
Course Code SHTCC03 Yoga/Pranayam Teacher - Sangeetha Sampath
Certified Yoga and Pranayama instructor from Vivekananda University. Sangeetha conducts yoga therapy and Pranayama/Meditation group classes at psychologists groups under El Camino Hospital
Course Code SHTCC04 24 minute Yoga by Yuvraj (courtesy Ujjain Yoga Society)
Energize yourself for 24 hours via The 24 Minute Yoga
Course Code SHTCC05 Vinyasa Flow
Wellness via Vinyasa Flow
Course Code SHTCC06 Yoga by Mahendra Yogi
Cheerful fun yoga by the "Groovy Guru". Course details at http://www.yogimahendra.com
LANGUAGE CLASSES
Planning a trip to India? Learn Hindi and blend in. A global world demands a multitude of language skills too. Want to understand the ancient shlokas and mantras - learn Sanskrit?
Course Code SHTCC07 Sanskrit Teacher - Dr. Geeta Tonwar, Ph.D Sanskrit, Bombay University
Dr Tonwar has taught Sanskrit at various Middle Schools and High Schools.
Course Code SHTCC08 Hindi Teacher -Mrs Meera Ramachandran
Mrs Ramachandran has a Master's equivalent Degree in Hindi with Teaching Diploma. She has taught BA students and to students at the International School, Taiwan.
Course Code SHTCC09 Hindi Teacher -Dhawal Tyagi
Dhawal has been teaching Hindi to Chinmaya Mission's Balvihar students for the last 3 years.
UNDERSTANDING THE ANCIENT Holy Books & TEACHINGS
The holy books were written in 1500BC - are they still relevant today?
Your opportunity to understand the teachings and apply to everyday life.
Course Code SHTCC10 Journey into the Self - Teacher Gayathri Narayanan
Narayana Guru’s ‘Atmopadesha Satakam’ or ‘One Hundred Verses of Self Instruction. Atmopadesha Satakam has the power to transform each of us via a deep sadhana / spiritual practice, opening us up to the flow and grace of the Absolute.
Course Code SHTCC11 Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi's WHO AM I - Dr Vishwanathan
Course Code SHTCC12 Shlokas - Ganapriya "Priya" Poolavari
BHAJANS / KIRTANS CHANTINGS - SATSANGH
Meet the Instructors -
Play the video below, Fast Fwd to 10:08
|
|
|
|
|
|
GROWTH OF MAN - by Swami Vivekananda
Now, I shall tell you a theory, which I will not argue now, but simply place before you the conclusion. Each man in his childhood runs through the stages through which his race has come up; only the race took thousands of years to do it, while the child takes a few years. The child is first the old savage man—and he crushes a butterfly under his feet. The child is at first like the primitive ancestors of his race. As he grows, he passes through different stages until he reaches the development of his race. Only he does it swiftly and quickly.
Now, take the whole of humanity as a race, or take the whole of the animal creation, man and the lower animals, as one whole. There is an end towards which the whole is moving. Let us call it perfection. Some men and women are born who anticipate the whole progress of mankind. Instead of waiting and being reborn over and over again for ages until the whole human race has attained to that perfection, they, as it were, rush through them in a few short years of their life. And we know that we can hasten these processes, if we be true to ourselves.
If a number of men, without any culture, be left to live upon an island, and are given barely enough food, clothing, and shelter, they will gradually go on and on, evolving higher and higher stages of civilization. We know also that this growth can be hastened by additional means. We help the growth of trees, do we not? Left to nature they would have grown, only they would have taken a longer time; we help them to grow in a shorter time than they would otherwise have taken. We are doing all the time the same thing, hastening the growth of things by artificial means. Why cannot we hasten the growth of man?
We can do that as a race. Why are teachers sent to other countries? Because by these means we can hasten the growth of races. Now, can we not hasten the growth of individuals? We can. Can we put a limit to the hastening? We cannot say how much a man can grow in one life. You have no reason to say that this much a man can do and no more. Circumstances can hasten him wonderfully. Can there be any limit then, till you come to perfection? So, what comes of it?—That a perfect man, that is to say, the type that is to come of this race, perhaps millions of years hence, that man can come today.
And this is what the Yogis say, that all great incarnations and prophets are such men; that they reached perfection in this one life. We have had such men at all periods of the world’s history and at all times. Even this hastening of the growth must be under laws. Suppose we can investigate these laws and understand their secrets and apply them to our own needs; it follows that we grow. We hasten our growth, we hasten our development, and we become perfect, even in this life.
This is the higher part of our life, and the science of the study of mind and its powers has this perfection as its real end. The utility of this science is to bring out the perfect man, and not let him wait and wait for ages, just a plaything in the hands of the physical world, like a log of driftwood carried from wave to wave and tossing about in the ocean. This science wants you to be strong, to take the work in your own hand, instead of leaving it in the hands of nature, and get beyond this little life. It’s a great idea.
Words By Swami Vivekananda
Now, take the whole of humanity as a race, or take the whole of the animal creation, man and the lower animals, as one whole. There is an end towards which the whole is moving. Let us call it perfection. Some men and women are born who anticipate the whole progress of mankind. Instead of waiting and being reborn over and over again for ages until the whole human race has attained to that perfection, they, as it were, rush through them in a few short years of their life. And we know that we can hasten these processes, if we be true to ourselves.
If a number of men, without any culture, be left to live upon an island, and are given barely enough food, clothing, and shelter, they will gradually go on and on, evolving higher and higher stages of civilization. We know also that this growth can be hastened by additional means. We help the growth of trees, do we not? Left to nature they would have grown, only they would have taken a longer time; we help them to grow in a shorter time than they would otherwise have taken. We are doing all the time the same thing, hastening the growth of things by artificial means. Why cannot we hasten the growth of man?
We can do that as a race. Why are teachers sent to other countries? Because by these means we can hasten the growth of races. Now, can we not hasten the growth of individuals? We can. Can we put a limit to the hastening? We cannot say how much a man can grow in one life. You have no reason to say that this much a man can do and no more. Circumstances can hasten him wonderfully. Can there be any limit then, till you come to perfection? So, what comes of it?—That a perfect man, that is to say, the type that is to come of this race, perhaps millions of years hence, that man can come today.
And this is what the Yogis say, that all great incarnations and prophets are such men; that they reached perfection in this one life. We have had such men at all periods of the world’s history and at all times. Even this hastening of the growth must be under laws. Suppose we can investigate these laws and understand their secrets and apply them to our own needs; it follows that we grow. We hasten our growth, we hasten our development, and we become perfect, even in this life.
This is the higher part of our life, and the science of the study of mind and its powers has this perfection as its real end. The utility of this science is to bring out the perfect man, and not let him wait and wait for ages, just a plaything in the hands of the physical world, like a log of driftwood carried from wave to wave and tossing about in the ocean. This science wants you to be strong, to take the work in your own hand, instead of leaving it in the hands of nature, and get beyond this little life. It’s a great idea.
Words By Swami Vivekananda
