A Jewel of Indian Spirituality: Reflections on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

16th May, 2021
15:00 – 16:30 BST

This event is the fourth in a series of seminars under the general title, Unity in Diversity.

Presented by Elizabeth Roberts

Seminar Description

One of a number of sutra texts from the late Upanishadic period, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is a jewel of Indian spirituality. According to its Indian origins, yoga is not just a physical practice but a sacred science of right living and higher awareness aimed at coming to realise the inner truth of the universe – the Divine, God, the Absolute or whatever name one may use to refer to this highest value.

As a text that focuses on spiritual practice, its methods have been adopted and absorbed into many of the religious traditions of the east, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

Such is its current popularity in yoga studios of the west that, along with the Bhagavad Gita, it has come to represent Hinduism to westerners and can be considered a canonical text of world spirituality.

Speaker

Elizabeth Roberts studied English at Oxford, Philosophical Inquiry at Glasgow University and gained an education in the principles and practice of spirituality through the Beshara school.

After a career spent in education she now teaches and practices yoga and ayurveda in the Scottish Borders and is currently Philosophy Tutor on the Yoga Scotland Teacher Training course. She was Chairman of the Beshara Trust from 2008-2014.

Booking

Cost: FREE via Zoom

Registration is via Eventbrite

MESP logo

The Spiritual Journey in Poacher’s Pilgrimage

Thursday March 9, 2017

An evening with Alastair McIntosh, author of Poacher’s Pilgrimage: an Island Journey at The Sanctuary, Edinburgh.

Letters by Bülent Rauf

Weekly on Tuesdays
21:00–22:00 BST/GMT

An online study and reading of the Letters of Bülent Rauf. This is an existing group with a limited number of places. New participants are very welcome.

Contact: Yafiah Katherine Randall
yafiahkatherine@gmail.com

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Fables as Contemplative Wisdom

“How if this be the truth – that all are a little true?”

Sunday, 30th October 2022
15:00–16:30 GMT (online via Zoom)

Robert Louis Stevenson’s fables are little-known masterpieces by this supreme story-teller.

This online seminar is the latest in a series under the general title Unity in Diversity.

Led by Robert-Louis Abrahamson

The Transformative Power of Beauty: Joseph and the Myth of Reconciliation

14th March, 2021
16:00 – 17:30 GMT

An online seminar exploring the Joseph myth. Joseph is understood as one of a community of prophetic figures, whose story emerges as the epic and emblematic story of divine knowledge revealed to humanity. The centrepiece here is beauty, and the focus of the presentation will be on beauty and its intimate relation to truth.

Registration via Eventbrite

‘Truth is One but the wise speak of it differently’

(Rig Veda)

A 5-module course from 8th September, 2021 to 4th May, 2022. Wednesday evenings from 7-8.30pm GMT/BST

This course will introduce participants to four major traditions of human wisdom – the philosophies of ancient Greece and India, Christian wisdom and Islamic Mysticism. As we progress through the course we will explore how these traditions might converse with one another and go on to consider what light these wisdoms have to shed on the issues the world faces today.

Singleness, Oneness & Singularity

Metaphysical Foundations of the Fusus

Fridays 21st and 28th April 2023
Online 19:00 – 20:15 AEST

An exploration of the metaphysical foundations of the Fusus al-Hikam, as they are presented in the introduction to the commentary rendered into English by Bülent Rauf and Jandi’s commentary on the Wisdom of Singularity.

Ibn ‘Arabi and the Journey Within

February 22nd, 2020 (2–5pm)
The October Gallery, London UK

A seminar and interactive discussion with Rim Feriani exploring the meaning of ‘the journey’ in passages from selected works by Ibn ‘Arabi.

Fusus al-Hikam Study Sessions

Weekly on Tuesdays from 8th March, 2022
19:00–20:00 (AEDT)

A reading group for online study of the Fusus al-Hikam by Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi, volumes 1-4. Participants will be able to join in as they wish.

Contact: markvtemple@gmail.com

Jelaluddin Rumi

One Light: Jelaluddin Rumi

May 4, 2017
The Nomads Tent, Edinburgh, UK

An informal evening dinner followed by the poetry and stories of Jelaluddin Rumi with storytellers Ashley Ramsden and Flora Pethybridge.

The Alchemy of Human Happiness

December 7th, 2019 (2–5pm)
Rudolf Steiner House, London UK

An introduction to a new translation of a core chapter from Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi’s Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya with the translator, Stephen Hirtenstein.

A field where we can meet…

RUMI 750 – a gathering

Saturday 2nd September – Monday 4th September, 2023
Chisholme Institute, Scottish Borders, UK

An immersive weekend marking the 750th anniversary of Rumi’s death, known as his Nuptial Night. Come and explore how Rumi’s relevance informs every aspect of the current era; from ecological to economic, cultural to spiritual, while also intimately connecting with our own lives.

Nestled in the Womb of God

Hindu-Muslim comparative inquiry

9th December 2023
14:00–17:00 GMT
The October Gallery, London

A seminar by Hina Khalid

This seminar ventures into the relatively unexplored terrain of a Hindu-Muslim comparative inquiry into the intimate presence of the divine reality to the finite world. It offers a comparative analysis of the conception of the infinite in the worldviews of two major philosopher-poets of the Indian subcontinent – Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) and Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).