GOD'S SONG: READING THE GITA (2026)

GOD'S SONG

MEDITATING WITH THE GITA

A 12-Week Course on the Art of Devotion

led by Lindsay Sanwald, MDiv

September 8th - November 24th 2026

Tuesday Evenings 7:30-9pm EST on Zoom

Weekly Kriya Meditation Labs (recorded)

Wednesdays at High Noon EST on Zoom

This reading and meditation course – OPEN TO ALL – welcomes creative beings, contemplative thinkers, mystical seekers, and the theologically curious. Its mission is the preservation of poetry, music, attention, and the soulful arts of human intelligence.

Together, we will humbly devote ourselves to a close ritual reading of the Bhagavad-Gita from beginning to end. Through the darkening days of autumn, our intimate class will meet each week to seek refuge in one another and in the timeless wisdom of this foundational work of Hindu scripture.

The Bhagavad-Gita ("God’s Song") is an episode set in a larger epic Sanskrit poem from ancient India. In these 700 verses (composed around the first millennium BCE) we eavesdrop on a dialogue between the warrior Arjuna, paralyzed by doubt on the battlefield, and Krishna, his wise charioteer and divine guide.

Across eighteen chapters, the text offers profound teachings on action (karma), knowledge (jnana), and devotion (bhakti)—guiding us on how to act without attachment, live wisely, and serve faithfully. More than two millennia later––in an age of distraction, uncertainty, and ceaseless change––its dialogue speaks with surprising intimacy to our own questions of purpose, responsibility, identity, and freedom.

🏹 WHY READ THE GITA TODAY?

It offers a timeless response to the anxieties of modern life: information overload, existential crisis, and burnout.
It trains us how to meet doubt, despair, and moral confusion with courage and compassionate action.
It invites us to recover the distinctly human capacities for attention, discernment, integrity, and presence.
it reminds us how to read and share poetry with one another.

🏹 WHAT WILL WE LEARN?

How to transform work, relationships, and responsibility into paths of awakening.
How to practice spiritual discipline without withdrawing from the world.
How to discover purpose without becoming attached to outcomes.
How to navigate periods of personal transformation with humility and resolve.
How to surrender without becoming passive.
How to find freedom in the midst of obligation.

CLASS RITUALS

TUESDAY SATSANG

Our intimate group will meet every Tuesday evening from 7:30-9pm EST in the monastery of Zoom for twelve consecutive weeks. In this regular refuge called satsang (a gathering for devotional instruction) we will read and discuss the text and practice basic Kriya meditation techniques (asana, pranayama, visualization, mantra).

KRIYA MEDITATION LAB

Additionally, students are invited to attend a weekly Kriya Meditation Lab to practice a fuller exploration of yogic concentration, either in real time on Zoom (Wednesdays High Noon EST) or on their own time via a recording.

HOME DEVOTIONS

Morning Pages Journal Practice
Weekly Readings (~10-20 pages)
Audio Letter Exchange with a partner in class
Personal Vow of Action & Final Creative Project (due on the 11/24 full moon)

CLASS & READING SCHEDULE

1 - TUESDAY 9/8

INTRODUCTIONS & INTENTIONS

2 - TUESDAY 9/15

CHAPTER 1: ARJUNA’S DEJECTION

CHAPTER 2: PHILOSOPHY & SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE

3 - TUESDAY 9/22 *EQUINOX*

CHAPTER 3: DISCIPLINE OF ACTION

CHAPTER 4: KNOWLEDGE

4 - TUESDAY 9/29

CHAPTER 5: RENUNCIATION OF ACTION

CHAPTER 6: THE PRACTICE OF MEDITATION

5 - TUESDAY 10/6

CHAPTER 7: KNOWLEDGE & JUDGEMENT

CHAPTER 8: THE INFINITE SPIRIT

6 - TUESDAY 10/13

CHAPTER 9: THE SUBLIME MYSTERY

CHAPTER 10: FRAGMENTS OF DIVINE POWER

7 - TUESDAY 10/20

CHAPTER 11: CONTEMPLATION OF THE UNIVERSAL FORM

CHAPTER 12: DEVOTION

8 - TUESDAY 10/27

CHAPTER 13: KNOWING THE FIELD

CHAPTER 14: THE TRIAD OF NATURE’S QUALITIES

9 - TUESDAY 11/3

CHAPTER 15: THE SUPREME SPIRIT

CHAPTER 16: DISCERNMENT OF THE DIVINE AND DEMONIC

10 - TUESDAY 11/10

CHAPTER 17: 3 ASPECTS OF FAITH

11 - TUESDAY 11/17

CHAPTER 18: LIBERATION THROUGH RENUNCIATION

12 - TUESDAY 11/24 *FULL MOON*

FINAL SHARES - THE WONDROUS DIALOGUE CONCLUDES

TUITION

Make and honor a 3-month commitment to practice reading and meditation

(charged September, October, and November)

PATH OF ACTION (KARMA)

$444/month

*includes (3) monthly 1-on-1 dharma talks with private meditation instruction*

*limited to eight students*

*OR PAY $888 TOTAL NOW BEFORE THE END OF AUGUST FOR EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT*

PATH OF KNOWLEDGE (JNANA)

$777/month

*includes (12) weekly 1-on-1 dharma talks with private meditation instruction*

*limited to three students*

PATH OF DEVOTION (BHAKTI)

$108/month

FOR CURRENT STUDENTS, ALUMS, & PATRONS

"When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow."

— Mahatma Gandhi

"In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita."

— Henry David Thoreau

"The Bhagavad-Gita is a true scripture of the human race."

— Sri Aurobindo

"The Bhagavad-Gita is perhaps the most systematic scriptural statement of the Perennial Philosophy."

— Aldous Huxley

“The Gita is at once an instruction manual for living a spiritual life and a profound, ecstatic vision of the ultimate nature of God.”

— Ram Dass

: : : this class is part of a larger series : : :

DIV/LIT

DIVINE LITERACY FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

: : : VOW TO LEARN : : :

ENROLL NOW