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Dhruva Maharaja dasa: For the last six years I\u2019ve been developing eCourses for studying Srila Prabhuapda\u2019s books online. These now include: Introduction to Spiritual Wisdom from India, Sri Isopanisad, Bhagavad-gita, Nectar of Instruction, and Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1, Chapter 2.<\/p>\n
Although hundreds of of devotees and newcomers have participated in our eCourse program, my wife Samapriya and I were still inspired to conduct a Japa Workshop in seminar-style during a weekend because there are so many seminars among ISKCON devotees. We figured this style of teaching and learning must be successful after hearing so many positive testimonials, and wanted to share our enthusiasm about chanting japa with deeper meaning in that style of presentation.<\/p>\n
From July until October we prepared, condensing 40 years of chanting experiences into a two day presentation on a Saturday and Sunday with between 25-35 participants in Alachua. We met in the morning for a few hours for the first part of our presentation, arranged prasadam for everyone in the early afternoon, and then continued for a few more hours until early evening. This was the general program for both days, and many devotees becomes inspired by the experience.<\/p>\n
A few weeks after the Workshop completed, however, we began thinking all that work \u2014 almost 3 months worth \u2014 didn\u2019t balance very well compared to the amount of time and effort we invested, so we decided to also conduct a Japa Workshop online and present the same material in a slightly different format.<\/p>\n
Rather than conducting only a two day Workshop, we fine-tuned our presentation to include one exercise per day, five days per week \u2014 for four weeks (total 20 exercises). Although the subject matter was essentially the same in both presentations, this change-of-venue and format from one weekend to an entire month drastically influenced the participants ability to grasp and digest the information we presented.<\/p>\n
Two distinct dynamics manifest according to the way information is presented: on one hand is an inspiring weekend, usually consisting of around 16 hours of presentations, and then participants apply their own regimen after the event in their individual lives \u2014 having been inspired by attending the gathering and sadhusanga, association with devotees.<\/p>\n
On the other hand is a more gradual application of less time per day, but many more doses of steady practice. During our eCourses we expect participants to spend only 15-25 minutes per day, and in this way gradually develop strong daily spiritual habits as well as digest information and transcendental knowledge following Srila Prabhupada\u2019s instructions, \u201cRead my books daily.”<\/p>\n
Both methods have their merits, just as both light and water are necessary for the growth of healthy plants. If one truly wants to accomplish the difficult transformation from our present spontaneous attraction to material life and sense gratification to spontaneous love for Lord Krsna, the most efficient path will include a balance of both these options.<\/p>\n
I would like to invite everyone to participate in our next eCourse (June2-July 26) to experience the slow, steady progress this format presents with an eight week study of all 18 Chapters of Bhagavad-gita. To learn more, or to enroll please visit our website and take advantage of the earlybird discount before May 15th: http:\/\/www.bhaktilife.org\/content\/bhagavad-gita-it<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dhruva Maharaja dasa: For the last six years I\u2019ve been developing eCourses for studying Srila Prabhuapda\u2019s books online. These now include: Introduction to Spiritual Wisdom from India, Sri Isopanisad, Bhagavad-gita, Nectar of Instruction, and Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1, Chapter 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-message-board"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}