THE CALL TO AWAKEN:
A JOURNEY INTO THE BHAGAVAD-GITA
March 7, 2023 - June 13, 2023
We began Upbuild in 2008 exclusively teaching this course in our monastery. It is the foundation for all that we do to this day and it’s very close to our hearts...
Course Overview
“The Call to Awaken” is a journey through the Bhagavad-Gita designed to introduce and integrate the core concepts of this sacred text into the fabric of our daily lives. This two-semester course is tailored for those without prior spiritual knowledge or those in the early stages of a spiritual path. It is meant for those seeking answers to the deep questions of life and wanting to be spiritual practitioners in our modern society. We weave together movie and TV clips, quotations from contemporary scientists and ancient philosophers, and personal anecdotes to bring home the universal and timeless nature of the Gita’s key concepts.
Over two semesters, participants will:
Gain practical wisdom from experienced practitioners
Gain a deeper understanding of the most important ideas in the Gita
Form a community with a tight-knit group of spiritual seekers
Experience a warm and inviting atmosphere
Be inspired to develop habits that foster spiritual growth
Logistics
Timing: 13 Tuesdays 6-7:15pm ET from March 7-June 13, 2023 (there will be a few Tuesdays without class and a few “specials” where the class will end at 7:30pm instead of 7:15). The second semester will run from September to early December.
Medium: online via Zoom
Fee: $450 per semester. A link to pay the second semester fee will be sent after the first semester is over.
(financial assistance is available for those who need)
*The price for those who have previously taken Gita Sutras or Call to Awaken is $200. Use “REPEAT” at checkout
Commitment: Attendance of 10 sessions minimum and completion of short weekly assignments
Course Structure
The Bhagavad-Gita
“I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita. It was the first of books. It was as if an empire spoke to us. Nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence, which in another age and climate, had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us.”
— RALPH WALDO EMERSON
The Bhagavad-Gita is the finest introduction to the philosophical and spiritual tradition of India. The Gita is special among Eastern philosophical teachings because it demonstrates how the experience of our own essence can be found in the day-to-day actions of our lives.
The dialogue between Krsna and Arjuna is set on a battlefield just before the onset of a great fratricidal war. The moral dilemma that Arjuna faces of whether a war can in fact be fought for a just cause is apropos for the socio-political climate of our age. The perspective offered through the discourse of the Gita is all at once poetic, nuanced, and applicable, not only to the macro setting of a war, but to the quainter setting of our human affairs.
Inspiring many of the world’s greatest thinkers, including Einstein, Huxley, and Gandhi, among others, the Gita is now being taught at business schools as a “self-mastery” course in leadership.