Being a Spiritual Seeker in a Material World
Monthly Meetings in 2026 with Ravi Ravindra
Each searcher periodically wonders why I have been created on this small planet earth in the vast universe and only for a few decades. What is my responsibility during my transient existence in the material world. All the sages call us to be free of our usual occupation with me-my-mine and to cultivate a quality of being that will relate us more and more with the mysterious Divine forces of Truth, Love, Consciousness, Delight and sense of Unity and Service.
Each of the sages, ancient ones as well as the modern ones, express their insights and instructions uniquely and emphasize some different aspects. Our wish and effort in the context of the Monthly Meetings is to explore how we can apply their teachings in our contemporary context and actually try to practice them in daily life. We will take some recommendations or instructions of the great classical spiritual teachers and texts and some modern teachers.
There will be eleven Monthly Meetings which will be held on zoom during the last Sunday of the month, from January through November 2026. We will explore the following remarks:
January: "In the beginning arose Love
Which was the primal germ cell of the mind."
--Rig Veda X. 129.4
February: Who am I? Whence is this
widespread cosmic flux?
These, the wise should inquire into diligently,
Soon --nay, now.
--Mahopanishad IV, 21
March: "You don't love yourself enough, the Self that wishes and needs to emerge."
--Jeanne de Salzmann, in Heart Without Measure
April: "Transformation into a new state of being is the result of the fullness of the unfolding of the inherent potential of Prakriti."
--Patañjali in Yoga Sutras 4:2
May: “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
--St. Paul in Galatians 5:14
June: "Christ may be born a thousand times in Galilee; but all in vain until he is born in me."
--Angelus Silesius
July: "There is one thing that, when cultivated and regularly practiced, leads to deep spiritual intention, to peace,
to mindfulness and clear comprehension, to vision and knowledge, to a happy life here and now, and to the
culmination of wisdom and awakening. And what is that one thing?
It is mindfulness centered in the body."
--Gautama Buddha ((Anguttara Nikiya, sutta I, 21)
August: "Those who say that we first die, and then are resurrected, are wrong. Whoever is not resurrected before
death knows nothing and will die.”
–Gospel of Philip
September: "Those who seek nothing, neither honour nor profit, nor inwardness, nor holiness, nor reward, nor heaven,
but who have renounced all this, including what is their own – in such people God is glorified.”
–Meister Eckhart
October: “Whoever departs from this world without having realized their own inner world, to them life has been of no
service; it remains unlived, like the unrecited Vedas or any other undone deed.”
--Brahadāranyaka Upanishad I.4.15
November: Stages in the Journey of a Searcher.
Recommended Readings:
The Yoga of the Christ by Ravi Ravindra [Also published as The Gospel of John in the Light of Indian Mysticism]
The Bhagavad Gita: A Guide to Navigating the Battle of Life by Ravi Ravindra [Shambhala Publications; also published by Jaico Press in India].
The Wisdom of Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras by Ravi Ravindra [Also published by the Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar].
The Dhammapada: Sayings of the Buddha [Any publication of this great text will do].
Heart Without Measure: Gurdjieff Work with Madame de Salzmann by Ravi Ravindra.
Krishnamurti: Two Birds on One Tree by Ravi Ravindra [Also published in India by Pilgrim Press]
Blessed by Mysterious Grace: The Journey of a Pilgrim by Ravi Ravindra.
Centered Self Without Being Self-Centered: Remembering Krishnamurti [Also published by the Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar].
Please contact https://www.journeyswith.in/ravi-mm-lp4 for additional information and registration.
Meditation and Exploration of the Yoga Sutras
with Ravi Ravindra
March 3 - 6
Tuesday - Friday, 10:00 - Noon PT
Zoom
In these four gatherings we will begin with nearly a half an hour long meditation, followed by an exploration of the significant teachings in Yoga Sutras, the great spiritual text attributed to Patañjali. There is a strong emphasis in this text that the whole purpose of the manifested universe (Prakriti) is to serve the Divine Energy (Purusha) which has created the universe. A searcher needs to inquire how the individualized Prakriti in me, which is my body-mind, can serve the individualized Purusha in me, which is the spiritual element that has taken on my body-mind for its own evolution. We will explore the specific obstacles that interfere in the spiritual journey of a seeker and the practices that can help.
Recommended Reading: The Wisdom of Patañjali and Yoga Sutras by Ravi Ravindra
Single Session $15, Series $50
Click here to register.
Exploration of the Katha Upanishad
with Ravi Ravindra
March 10 - 13
Tuesday - Friday, 10:00 - Noon PT
Zoom
Katha Upanishad is an ancient text in the Indian tradition and is regarded as one of the primary Upanishads. This Upanishad contains the first mention of yoga as a practice of liberation, defining yoga as the steady control of the senses and mind, leading to a supreme state of stillness. In this text, an archetypal searcher Nachiketa, whose name literally means “one who does not know,” implying that he does not already have a conclusion, but he is interested in learning, encounters Yama, the Lord of Death and also the Maintainer of dharma, the cosmological order. The important question that arises is: Is death the end? What dies and what does not die? Some aspects of the teaching in this Upanishad resonate in the Bhagavad Gita.
Recommended Readings:
Katha Upanishad by Swami Ambikananda Saraswati.
The Bhagavad Gita: A Guide to Navigating the Battle of Life by Ravi Ravindra
Single Session $15, Series $50
Click here to register.Introduction to the Bhagavad Gita
with Ravi Ravindra
Saturdays, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. CT
April 11 – May 2 (4 classes)
The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most important texts to emerge from the vast spiritual tradition of India. It appears within the great epic Mahabharata, set against an inevitable battle between two families of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, fighting for a kingdom. This battle may reflect an actual historical event used to convey a teaching, or it may function as a literary device.
Indian spiritual teachers have long understood this battle as an inner one, between the divine (daivic) and demonic (āsuric) forces within each human being, contending for the whole psychosomatic complex. The exchange between Arjuna and Krishna is presented as a dialogue between the surface self and the deepest self. Arjuna faces a crisis of dharma, the responsibility to undertake right action, while Krishna emphasizes that no action can be right until the actor is right—possessing inner order, clear perception of purpose, and the capacity for corresponding right action.
Krishna teaches that becoming the right actor requires the practice of yoga. While many forms of yoga are described, the primary teaching is buddhi yoga, the yoga of integrated intelligence and awareness, encompassing both psychological understanding and the perception of spiritual energy (dehin) embodied in the actor.
According to the Bhagavad Gita, every human being contains aspects of both Krishna, the Eternal Witness, and Arjuna, the skillful actor. Engagement in the necessary actions of life requires a subtle inner order, for without Krishna it cannot be done, and without Arjuna it will not be done.
TS members: $65 • Nonmembers: $80
To register please visit - https://www.theosophical.org/program/webinars/introduction-to-the-bhagavad-gita-4-11