The School of Theosophy 2007

Friday 9 March - Sunday 18 March 2007. Tauhara Center, Taupo.
(Arrivals Friday 9 March for 7:30pm, departures Sunday 18 March after lunch)

Guest Speaker:  Prof. Ravi Ravindra Ph.D;

Ravi Ravindra, Ph.D, was born in India and received his B.S. and Master of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharapur. He then obtained a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Toronta and a Masters of Arts in philosophy from Dalhouse University in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Attention and its Various Levels and Qualities

The course will be devoted to a study of the various kinds, levels and qualities of attention. Nothing can be accomplished without attention. Also, the quality of what we attend to—which can be our breath, our attitude, plants, kittens, children, the cosmos—changes with our attention; the amount of change depends on the strength of our attention and the quality of impartiality and compassion related with it.   But in general we do not have steady and selfless attention. In the language of the Bhagavad Gita, we are not sthitaprajña. Why does our attention fluctuate? What sort of physical, emotional and intellectual alignment is conducive to steadier attention so that we can apprehend subtler levels of reality?

We will engage in a study of these levels of attention primarily through a study of Yoga Sutra-s attributed to Patañjali. This text has had an enormous influence on the spiritual traditions of India and possibly on early Christianity and later on Sufism. It is the earliest known systematic statement of the philosophical insights and practical psychology that define yoga. It is dated by scholars variously from the third century BCE to third century CE. The stated aim of yoga according to this text is the cultivation of steady attention, or of ‘total attention’ in the language of Krishnamurti.

The primary focus of the course is not the Yoga Sutras or any other text but various levels of attention within ourselves which we will try to understand through the Yoga Sutras. The exploration will not be limited to textual exegesis. It is hoped that the students will have an existential engagement with the material presented in the course.

The levels of attention are intimately correlated with levels of consciousness and levels of being. These levels vary from the quality of attention in the usual state of nishkama kama – with the prevailing sense of generalized apprehension, anxiety and wishing for this or that acquisition but without any purposive action - through focused and gathered attention, to free attention in which nishkama karma or yajña karma, sacred action, is not done by me but it comes about felicitously. In these higher states of attention, states of unknowing and of celebration of Mystery, there is said to be seeing without a seer, action without a doer.  For us to know these words makes a call. To respond with willingness, effort, gratitude and humility can facilitate our search and practice.

In order to enhance our understanding of these levels of attention, and also in order to avoid an excessive scholastic discussion of a text, we will also bring in occasional comparative perspective from the Bhagavad Gita, the Gospels and from some writings of J. Krishnamurti. Students are encouraged to bring in material from other sources which they have found especially insightful and helpful. The point is not to be showing off how much we know but to share the material which has helped us in cultivating steadier attention. Somewhat anchored in steady attention, or at least in a wish for it, we can speak or be silent as is necessary at any given time. Both questioning and silence can assist everyone in the class.

It is useful for everyone to have a copy of Yoga Sutras. Any translation will do, as long as there is also the original Sanskrit text, in whatever script you can read. The students are not expected to know Sanskrit. But we will make a glossary of some of the key words in Sanskrit which cannot be translated easily or fully.

A copy of the Bhagavad Gita is highly recommended. Again, any translation will do. There is no profound human concern to which the Bhagavad Gita is not relevant.

It is also useful to have a copy of The Spiritual Roots of Yoga: Royal Path to Freedom by R. Ravindra; Morning Light Press, Sandpoint, Idaho, USA. Recommended also are Whispers from the Other Shore: Spiritual Search East and West by R. Ravindra, and The Yoga of the Christ by R. Ravindra.

Members: $350 per person for full 10 days accommodation and meals plus $20 non-refundable registration fee. (Note that this cost is subsidised by the NZ Section for NZ members).

Non-Members: $650 per person for full 10 days accommodationand meals plus $20 non-refundable registration fee.
Note: You are required to supply your own bedding, linen and towels). If you would like Tauhara to provide linen towels etc. then there is an extra charge of $75

Financial Assistance:. There is a travel subsidy available for one member of each Branch or Study Group upon application. Please contact your Branch President or Study Group coordinator for more information or contact the Section Headquarters. Application must reach Section Headquarters no later than 1st March 2007.

Registration: Registration forms are below. Please send in your form promptly as numbers are limited.

ALTERNATIVE ACCOMMODATION: If you wish to stay outside the Tauhara Centre and come to the session daily with meals provided (except breakfast) then the cost is $250

TRANSPORT: When you send in your Registration form and fee, please complete the details of your flight and time of arrival and departure if you are travelling by air, so that we can arrange for you to be met and returned to Taupo airport.

REGISTRATION: Non-refundable fee of $20:00
All persons attending the school are required to complete the Registration Form.

SCHOOL OF THEOSOPHY REGISTRATION FORM

Print out and post this registration form (click here)

©2004 The New Zealand Theosophical Society Inc.

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