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HINDUISM STUDIES

School

Harvard Divinity School

HDS 3184

Psychology of Yoga

BTI Category

Semester

Hinduism Studies

FA25

This course introduces students to the philosophical and psychological study of yoga. While primarily considered in the West as a somatic practice, yoga has historically and even contemporarily been an umbrella term for a host of cognitive, conative, and affective skills and orientations that one can train oneself in towards practical and non-practical ends. This course brings together selected readings from the philosophical and historical corpus of yoga with scholarship in cognitive sciences, psychology, neuroscience, and psychiatry to invite students to think about yoga as a practice of living rather than a cluster of somatic techniques.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Bagaria

MW

02:00PM-04:00PM

Grading Option

Letter, P/F

Credits

4

Online?

N

Professor Approval Req'd?

Y

Prerequisite?

N

Notes

N/A

School

Harvard Divinity School

HDS 3428

Hinduism and Sound

BTI Category

Semester

Hinduism Studies

FA25

This course provides an introduction to Hinduism through the medium of sound, including but not limited to mantra and devotional music. The first part of the course shows the importance of sound in Vedic contexts through the syllable Om, which then starts to develop into a wide variety of mantras in Pur__ic Hinduism and on into the Tantras. The second part continues this trajectory but extends the focus to the sounds and music that often accompany devotional (bhakti) poetry and worship rites (p_j_), including everything from conch horns, drums, vocals, and so much else besides. Using historical lenses, we examine the role of the bh_vas (moods) in Indic aesthetics and show how this informs sounds and music in praise of deities like _iva, Vi__u, the Goddess, and many others. In the third part of the course we look at modern examples of music like that of the Bengali B_uls and Tamil Siddhars which continue to build bridges between Hinduism and other religions on the subcontinent, we investigate the intersections of sound and chanting in yoga, and we encounter expressions of religious sounds in Bollywood and other films. Throughout the course we also reflect on how non-sound, or silence as the opposite of sound, continues to inform Hindu methods of meditation to the present day. Neither knowledge of Indic languages nor prior background in Asian religions are needed for this course.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Cantu

TR

02:00PM-04:00PM

Grading Option

Letter

Credits

4

Online?

N

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Prerequisite?

N

Notes

N/A

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