NEW WEEKLY CLASS SCHEDULE FROM NOVEMBER 19

A brief review of the survey results: 80 of you responded. 28 are interested in the Sri Rudram class. Almost the same numbers of people are interested in the Tuesday night class. Out of those, 80% preferred the current Milpitas location. 23 are interested in joining the new Sanskrit class. Based on this and also thinking about the right sequence, the following class schedule will start on November 15th for the Tuesday class and November 19th for the Saturday classes.

Please note that all classes will be at the Jain Bhawan classroom A&B. Also, everyone is always welcome in any of the classes.There is no restriction or fee. More description about the text can be found at our website, arshavidyacenter.org.

Saturdays 8 to 9:30 AM - Continuation of the current Advanced Vedanta class

Saturdays 9:30 to 10:45 - Class on short topics of Vedanta

Saturdays 10:45 to 12 Noon - New Sanskrit class

Tuesdays 7:30 to 9 PM - Class on Sri Rudram Ц chanting and meaning

ADVANCED VEDANTA CLASS: This is aimed at the students who have been regularly attending weekly classes for several years. In the due course of time, we hope to cover the major Upanisads and some notable texts that directly reveal the nature of the. Currently we are studying the Dakshinamurti Stotram.

SHORT TOPICS OF VEDANTA: This is a new class, replacing the Introduction to Vedanta class. I find value in taking up important, diverse topics of Vedanta, and focusing on them for relatively short periods of time. Choice of topics will depend upon the experience level of students. Meditation will be one of the topics.

SRI RUDRAM: This is a class that replaces the Vishnu Sahasranama class, and also moves to Tuesday nights to accommodate those who cannot make it on Saturday mornings. The first hour of the 1 hour class will be on teaching/practicing the chanting of Sri Rudram with the correct Vedic svaras (intonations). The next hour will be devoted to analyzing the words and sentences and seeing their meaning. This text is to help improve our means (primarily the mind) so that the self becomes clearer. Students who already know the chanting of Sri Rudram can opt to come to the whole class, or just come to the last hour.

NEW CLASS ON SANSKRIT: The emphasis will be on a `working knowledge' of the language, aimed at preparation for studying Vedanta. Having learned from teaching previous Sanskrit classes, I see this new syllabus as a multiple-year course, partially following a particular text, and partially as a workshop. As a workshop we hope to give help with on-line references, supplementary reading and practice exercises. It will be divided into segments, starting from the very basic and then more advanced in time. Each segment will have a test.