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Thursday Satsang In Person at TMC and via Zoom  – June 27, 2024

“The Guru and Vyasa’s Guru Gita” with Dr. Stephen Parker (Stoma) PsyD

7:00 – 8:30 p.m. CDT

Note New Schedule

 5:30-6:45 p.m.: In-Person Gentle Hatha Yoga with Sig Martell

6:15-7:00 p.m. – Vegan Soup

7:00-8:00 p.m.: “The Guru and Vyasa’s Guru Gita” with Dr. Stephen Parker (Stoma) PsyD

8:00-8:30 p.m.: Meditation Guided by Dr. Stephen Parker (Stoma) PsyD

8:30 p.m.: Evening Prayers

Join Stoma in a discussion the hymn, Vyasa’s “Guru Gita” (Song of the Guru). 

The “Guru Gita” (lit. ’Song of the Guru’) is a Hindu scripture that is said to have been authored by the sage Vyasa. The verses of this scripture may also be chanted. The text is part of the larger Skanda Purana. There are several versions of the Guru Gita, varying from around 100 to over 400 verses. Another view is that Guru Gita is part of Viswasara Tantra….

…The text of the “Guru Gita” describes a conversation between the Hindu god Shiva and his wife, the goddess Parvati, in which she asks him how to achieve liberation. Shiva answers her by describing the guru principle, the proper ways of worshiping the guru and the methods and benefits of repeating the Guru Gita. (Courtesy of Wikipedia.org.)

Verse 4

Durlabham trishu lokeshu, tach chrnushva vadaamyaham; Gurum vinaa Brahma naanyat, satyam satyam varaanane.

Here is the secret knowledge that is difficult to attain in the three worlds.

Listen to it carefully as I reveal it to you now.

The Absolute is the same as the Guru.

This is the truth, O beautiful One, this is the truth.

Stephen Parker (Stoma) was initiated in the Himalayan Yoga tradition by Swami Veda Bharati and was given the initiate name Stoma in 1971. Among the first teachers certified by the Himalayan International Teachers’ Association, H.I.T.A., he began teaching hatha-yoga in 1974. Stoma is a Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher at the 500-hour level of the Yoga Alliance (E-RYT 500). A member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, he serves on the faculties of the Meditation Center in Minneapolis and the Sadhanamandir and Sadhaka Gram ashrams in Rishikesh, India. 

He is also a senior faculty member of the Himalayan Yoga Tradition Teachers’ Training Program. He has lectured on yoga, meditation, and spiritual practice in the U.S. and Canada as well as in Caribbean countries, Holland, Italy, Austria, Hungary, South Africa, Korea, Hong Kong, and India. In 2004 he helped originate and teach the first course on yoga in an American medical school at the University of Minnesota Academic Medical Center. In 2007 he received took preliminary vows of renunciation from Swami Veda and the Shankaracharya of Karvirapitha.

Stoma has been a licensed psychologist in private practice in St. Paul, MN since 1985. He also served as Adjunct Assistant School Professor of Counseling and Psychological Services at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, MN. He has taught on the faculty of the Introductory Workshops of the Minnesota Society of Clinical Hypnosis. In addition to authoring journal articles and book chapters, Dr. Parker edited volume two of Swami Veda’s definitive scholarly work on the “Yoga-sutras of Patanjali” and he has been a peer review editor for the “Journal of Men’s Studies,” the “American Journal of Orthopsychiatry,” and the “International Journal of Yoga Therapy.”

To support the work of The Meditation Center and register you can donate here (suggested donation $15.00) for Thursday Satsang or make a general donation by clicking on the “donate” button on the “Support TMC” website page.



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Note: There is parking available for TMC visitors in the St. Boniface lot across the street from the Center.