REL 499 Special Topics:

The Living Traditions of Hindu Yoga

Class Number: 60158   2:00-4:50 Tuesday

Yoga is now practiced globally and has extensive branches in the West. The interpretations and adaptations of yoga in the West are almost exclusively associated with fitness and wellness in the popular imagination. Yet, the history of yoga includes but surpasses wellness.

Yoga, with millennia-old roots in the Hindu spiritual ethos, has traditionally been understood to represent major types of spiritual paths, each meant to lead the practitioner to enlightenment, defined differently by different yoga traditions.

This course will study the living traditions of Hindu yoga, including the paths of knowledge, wisdom, love, and selfless service. 

Register for REL 499 here: http://web-app.usc.edu/soc/20131/search/REL

REL 499: Special Topics

Hinduism and Ecology

Class Number: 60159   2:00-3:20 MW

This course will examine the resources—conceptual and practical—available within Hindu traditions for engaging the environmental crisis. Our study will begin with contemporary writings on ecological philosophy and then examine recent thought on Hindu systems of thought and practice regarding the environment, with selections from Hindu primary texts. Research on contemporary activist movements will be then explored from the viewpoint of the cross-cultural study of religion and its applications to environmental concerns. 

Register for REL 499 here: http://web-app.usc.edu/soc/20131/search/REL