Central PA Hindu Monks to Share about Local Ashram, Meditation, Yoga

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Central PA Hindu monks to share about local ashram, meditation, and yoga at Lebanon Valley College on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. in Miller Chapel.

ANNVILLE, PA (02/03/2015)(readMedia)-- Residents of central Pennsylvania will have a unique opportunity to learn about a Hindu ashram in the area on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at Miller Chapel on the Lebanon Valley College campus.

Hindu monk and instructor Swami Pratyagbodhananda will visit the College from the Saylorsburg-based ashram, Arsha Vidya Gurukulam. The first program, to be held at 11 a.m. in Miller Chapel, will begin with a lunch of popular Indian foods including chicken tikka masala, chana dal, aloo gobi, pulao, and naan. Desserts will be purchased from New Jersey-based Bengali Sweets. During lunch, Swami Pratyagboadhananda will share insights from his meditation practice.

During a second public program at 5 p.m., the swami will join the Tuesday afternoon session of Classic Yoga regularly taught by Prof. Marianne Goodfellow, also in the lobby of Miller Chapel on the College campus. Pratyagbodhanda will open the session with insights from his practice of yoga as a Hindu monk.

There will be opportunity for audience members to ask questions at both sessions. The swami will teach three undergraduate classes of religion between the programs.

"How amazed we were to discover that there were no less than four ashrams within three hours' drive of Annville," stated Rev. Paul Fullmer, chaplain at Lebanon Valley College and a key organizer of the event. "The programming available through Arsha Vidya Gurukulam was particularly impressive, so we were overjoyed when the monks there accepted our invitation."

Arsha Vidya Gurukulam is an institute for the traditional study of Advaita Vedanta, Sanskrit, yoga, Ayurveda, astrology, and other classical Indian disciplines. Established in in Saylorsburg in 1986, the ashram is patterned after the ancient gurukulams of India, offering Indians and Westerners alike an opportunity to study the profound spiritual knowledge of the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Brahmasutras, and other classical Vedic texts.

Students who complete a written reflection based on the program may apply their work toward LVC's Interfaith Certification. This program encourages student exploration of the faiths of others in light of the student's own religious identity in and beyond the classroom. Certification is awarded once such reflections are completed.

The program is made possible in part to a grant from LVC's Woomer Endowment. "Meditation at Noon," currently held each Monday at the College under the direction of Prof. Ed Sullivan, has also sponsored the event.

Both events are free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required as space is limited. To register and for more information, contact Natalia Smith at LVC's Office of Spiritual Life, 867-6135 or nsmith@lvc.edu.