Certificate program in Bhagavad Geeta through Sanskrit – Beginner Phase

Description

Bhagavad Geeta Through Sanskrit (BGTS) – Beginner Phase is the foundation set of 4 courses for students of all ages, from 9th Grade onward. It is the first of three successive phases – Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced, which together comprise the BGTS. The only prerequisite is that students know the devanAgari script.  It assumes no prior knowledge of the Sanskrit language. The medium of instruction is English, and the course is easily accessible for a global audience. It is a 4 – Quarter, 44 – week detailed study that prepares beginner level students, i.e., those without any prior knowledge of Sanskrit, to achieve a level of comfort with the Sanskrit language that will enable them to study the Bhagavad Geeta with ease. The Beginner Phase of BGTS is aimed at high school students and adults with a passion to learn the Bhagavad Geeta through a new language, those who are keen to engage with the texts and literature of Hinduism and its numerous derivative knowledge systems. It is taught by dedicated HUA Faculty members, via a user-friendly Online Platform, featuring a learning model that uses live virtual classrooms.

Learning Objectives:   In this phase, students will be able to relate to words and expressions from the Bhagavad Geeta in the following areas, through the study of Chapters 1 and 2 of the Geeta: 

1. Use of pronouns, persons, and numbers.
2. Recognize common Sanskrit words, prepositions, and phrases. 
3. Discover building blocks of the language through simple everyday conversation.
4. Understand the use of the 2nd and 6th case-endings and words ending with a vowel. 
5. Identify and use verbal roots (dhatu) and their different forms according to the tenses 
6. Use of prefixes, suffixes, and indeclinables.
7. Recognize additional Sanskrit words, prepositions, and phrases
8. Further imbibe building blocks of the language through everyday conversation.
9. Understand the use of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, and vocative case-endings. 
10. Continue practicing more with verbal roots (dhatu) and their different forms, tenses
11. Use appropriate case endings for prepositions.
12. Distinguish between close sounding letters in conjuncts.
13. Practice different forms of adjectives and substantives.
14. Learn gender as applied to cardinal and ordinal numbers. 
15. Understand declensions for consonant ending nouns.
16. Research grammatical aspects of Bhagavad Geeta chapters 1 and 2.     

Program Structure:   BGTS – Beginner Phase is structured in the form of 4 quarters (1 year) sequence, 1.5 Credit hours each. This will add up to 60 hours of instruction and 120 hours of self-study in total. Structured innovatively using the curriculum and textbooks designed by Samskrita Bharati USA (SBusa.org), the Program will be based upon material contained in the SBusa published books, “GeetA-sopAnam” (Part 1) and “GeetA-praveshaH” (Part 1, Volume 1), augmented with other appropriate course content.

At the end of the 4th quarter, students may enter the intermediate phase, which has 4 quarters i.e., 44 weeks.

Required / Elective: Required

Prerequisites: Admission into a Certificate Program in Bhagavad Geeta through Sanskrit – Beginner Phase

Faculty / Instructor: Shri. Chandrasekar Raghu,    Shri Satish Srinivasan,  Dr. Shraddha Modi

Quarter Offered: Spring 2023