London College of Vedic Studies

A range of online courses took place at the London College of Vedic Studies (LCVS) from September to December.

SEPTEMBER

• Home Deity Worship Course: Over 65 eager participants took part in the popular Home Deity Worship course. As well as UK participants, there were other participants joining from Portugal, Netherlands, Scotland and the USA. ISKCON-London’s Head Pujari Murli Manohara dasa spoke on everything related to home worship during the four online sessions, including setting up an altar, the importance of cleanliness, how to offer arati, setting standards of worship, and the importance of keeping the right mood while serving the Lord. The last session included a practical live demonstration of polishing, bathing and dressing brass Gaura Nitai deities. Participants appreciated Murli Manohara dasa’s patience while answering their questions and loved all the helpful tips he shared with them.

• Bhakti Shastri Course: LCVS was pleased to offer for the first time an online Bhakti Sastri course during 2020-2021, attracting 40 participants. An online version meant that participants across the UK could enrol, and we also have participants from Hungary, India and Lithuania. This year-long course offers an in-depth study of four key texts including the Bhagavad-Gita, The Nectar of Instruction, Sri Isopanisad and The Nectar of Devotion. Jai Nitai dasa kicked off the first unit focusing on chapters one to six from the Bhagavad-Gita and guiding the students through the verses and Srila Prabhupada’s purports. This intensive study course includes memorising slokas, writing essays and taking online tests.

• Five Topics of the Bhagavad-Gita Course: A course for newcomers and those wanting to learn about the key topics in the Bhagavad-Gita took place over four Friday evenings in October with Jai Nitai dasa. The ‘Five Topics of the Bhagavad-Gita’ course attracted 25 participants including people from Croatia and the Netherlands. Jai Nitai dasa expanded on the five key topics mentioned by Srila Prabhupada in the introduction of the BhagavadGita and provided modern day examples to help participants relate the teachings to the modern world.

• Developing Good Sadhana Habits Seminar: LCVS coordinated with the Russian Vedic Society to organise a joint seminar called ‘Developing Good Sadhana Habits’ with senior monk, Valmiki dasa, from Russia. He shared valuable insights on how to overcome laziness and over-sleeping for example by regulating eating and sleeping habits and how to develop good habits.

• Dusshera Special Seminar ‘The Fire of Desire’: Chaitanya Charan dasa joined us online from India to speak at a two-part Dusshera Special Seminar ‘The Fire of Desire’ looking at the festival of burning Ravana. He discussed the inner transformations devotees should reflect on during this festival and the warning signals that Ravana failed to notice.

• ISKCON Disciples Course: ISKCON-London’s Outreach Coordinator Dayal Mora dasa taught the four-part ISKCON Disciples Course (IDC). This course is aimed at providing guidance on the roles of guru and disciple within the multi guru structure of ISKCON. Over 35 participants joined in and gave great feedback on Dayal Mora dasa’s clarity and knowledgeable sessions.

NOVEMBER

• Manah Siksa Course: Urmila devi dasi delivered a wonderful three-part seminar on the ‘Manah Siksa’, a text written by Srila Raghunatha dasa Goswami. A beautiful presentation highlighted instructions within the 12 verses for overcoming obstacles on the path of bhakti and developing attachment to the Holy Names and Krishna.

• Science VS Spirituality Seminar: Keshav Anand dasa joined from India to deliver a fascinating talk which discussed if there is proof of the existence of the soul or consciousness separate from the body. He presented evidences including out-of-body experiences and prominent scientist Ian Stevenson’s hundreds of past life (reincarnation) cases which he had investigated.

Have you missed some of our courses that took place earlier in the year? Do you want to learn how to play mrdanga? You can now take part in a number of pre-recorded online courses through the Udemy website which allows you to study in your own time! Special discount codes available to get a great discount.

• Introductory Mrdanga Drum Course: Join Radha Londonisvara dasa as he teaches a range of mrdanga beats from Srila Prabhupada’s tunes to slow and fast kirtan beats. There are seven video classes on Udemy to watch from the comfort of your own home and practice in your own time.

• Home Deity Worship Course: Join Murli Manohara dasa, Head Pujari at ISKCON-London, over six lectures on home Deity worship on Udemy, including a live polishing and Deity bathing demo. Over four and a half hours of videos!

• How to Worship Tulasi at Home Course: Join Jaga Mohini devi dasi as she shares her knowledge on what best soil to use, lighting, how to deal with pests and diseases and organic treatments. Over 2 hours of video footage.

LCVS Posters – Thank You

Throughout 2020, all the LCVS posters, social media posts and promotional videos have been designed and created by Nelly Guseynova, a very talented and creative individual. LCVS would like to say a big thank you to Nelly for all her amazing work, creative designs and support throughout the year!

I really found the Fire of Desire course very interesting and Chaitanya Charan

explains everything step by step and very carefully, making sure that everyone

understands fully and also the graphics were simple but excellently self-explanatory. Wonderful points like this one on temptations: “A lot of temptations in this material

world always keep coming to disturb and provoke our mind but we should always

have stronger and greater desire to serve the Lord which should always keep us

driving. So we could easily purify our mind to control ourselves from turning these desires into intentions.”

Anil Sharma, ‘The Fire of Desire –

Dusshera Special Seminar’ attendee

“Thank you again for such a number one evening with all the course material on time and with a smooth organisation.

Very nice structure of the course especially for those whom are new and also for those whom are studying a few years

as well. This structure gives me a focused framework for sharing parts of the topics in Dutch to groups of students and

to women in my network in the Netherlands. Loved the connection with our own lives, reflection questions and the link

with Western films / writers as well.

It is not easy at all to put such a treasure-hold of such spiritual knowledge into understandable parts starting from invocation, Srila Prabhupada’s history, explaining As It Is, glossary and pronunciation, the connection with Bhagavan, setting the scene with the introduction and introducing the main characters.” Bindumati Priya devi dasi (from the Netherlands), ‘Five Topics of the Bhagavad-Gita’ course attendee

“One thing I’ve found most interesting on the ISKCON Disciples Course was the feeling of

being connected to a large spiritual family like ISKCON. The course teacher is exceptional,

full of wisdom of the heart and mind. The course has made me see the world differently for

so many reasons. One being, there are thousands of good souls around the world who all

think like you and want to help others on their path, how amazing is that! I am just at the very beginning of my spiritual journey and I’m enjoying every moment. I want to take this

opportunity to say thank you from my heart for a truly wonderful life-changing course, with inspiring beautiful people.” Clare Louise O’Mara, ‘ISKCON Disciples Course’ attendee

“This is the first time I have attended one of the LCVS courses and the course has

certainly helped me tremendously in my spiritual journey. I am so glad I did the

course as it gave me inspiration to go deep. I was really impressed with the attention

Jai Nitai gave to the students and even agreed to take follow-up questions via

emails, and his replies were very helpful and prompt.

I am aged 62 and a Financial Markets Trader and a coach. At my trainings I always

have a 60-minute session on the Bhagavad-Gita and I have a table with all of Srila Prabhupada’s books. It is my mission to distribute as many Bhagavad-Gita books

as possible, and recently I distributed my 150th book. The target is to distribute

1,008+ books. After distributing the books, I do a follow-up and then refer them

to their local ISKCON centre. I am so glad that I came across LCVS via Facebook

and look forward to learning more and most importantly applying the wisdom to my day-to-day life.” Jay Lakhani, ‘Overview of the Bhagavad Gita’ course attendee

“I heard about this course through the ISKCON-London Community Newsletter and

wanted to join to deepen my understanding of the Bhagavad-Gita. I can say handon-heart that this short course was brilliant. It inspired me to “think outside the box”

and also how to understand the box and how it can limit all of us in realising our

full potential. I would recommend the course even to those who are familiar with

the Bhagavad-Gita because the teacher Jai Nitai had so many wonderful insights to

share about this ancient wisdom that made it relevant to what was going on in my life right now.” Steven James, ‘Five Topics of the Bhagavad-Gita’ course attendee

The Home Deity Worship course was excellent and very informative. The presentation

was good with lots of explanations and visuals. Murli Manohara Prabhu did a great

job to break up the course information for us. After attending the course I have

implemented much more in my home worship and changed the way I do certain things

after learning about them in the course. Michael Gheorghe (from Scotland), ‘Home Deity Worship’ course attendee