Premier Catholic University in USA offers Yoga Philosophy course
General
Author : Rajan Zed
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Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles (USA), a premier Roman Catholic university rooted in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions, is offering Certificate Program in Yoga Philosophy.
It includes study of classical yoga, various schools of Hinduism, Sanskrit, mantra chanting, Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, meditation, Samkhya Karika, hatha yoga, tantra, Kashmir Shaivism, moksha, Upanishads, Bhagavad-Gita, etc. Dr. John Casey and Dr. Christopher Key Chapple are the main instructors besides various guest lecturers who are experts in their respective fields.
Welcoming the LMU's interest in yoga, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, yoga was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all. One could still practice one's respective faith and do yoga. Yoga would rather help one in achieving one's spiritual goals in whatever religion one believed in.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that yoga, referred as "a living fossil" whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization, was a mental and physical discipline handed down from one guru to next, for everybody to share and benefit from. According to Patanjali who codified it in Yoga Sutra, yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical. Yoga was based on an eightfold path to direct the practitioner from awareness of the external world to a focus on the inner, Zed added.
Rajan Zed argued that yoga, which never had any formal organization, was the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche. According to an estimate, about 16 million Americans, including many celebrities, now practice yoga.
Founded in 1911, LMU, which enrolls over 9,000 students, is the largest Catholic university on the West Coast of USA. Its mission includes "the education of the whole person" and its sponsoring religious orders are: Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary. It offers 40 masters and doctoral degrees besides 113 programs, yearly undergraduate tuition is $36,404, and David W. Burcham is the President.
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Rajan Zed is a religious statesman who has taken up Hindu, interfaith, religion, Roma and other causes all over the world.
He was invited by President of European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pottering, in December 2008 in Brussels (Belgium) for a meeting to promote interfaith dialogue. He has read opening prayers in United States Senate in Washington DC, various state senates and assemblies/houses-of- representatives, city councils, etc., across the country.
Zed is one of the panelists for “On Faith”, a prestigious interactive conversation on religion produced by The Washington Post. He has been bestowed with “World Interfaith Leader Award”, “Nevada Religious Unity Award”, “Positive Pluralism & Unity Prize”, & other awards for interfaith dialogue.
He is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, Senior Fellow and Religious Advisor to New York headquartered Foundation for Interreligious Diplomacy, Director of Interfaith Relations of Nevada Clergy Association, Spiritual Advisor to National Association of Interchurch & Interfaith Families, etc.
Rajan Zed is on the Governing Board of Directors of Northern Nevada International Center, on the Board of Directors of Nevada World Trade Council, member Citizens Advisory Committee of Regional Transportation Commission, member Reno Police Chief Advisory Board, etc.
He possesses Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from University of Nevada-Reno and Master of Science in Mass Communications from San Jose State University, California.
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