A community that teaches a weekly practice to anyone
Vedanta Community is a registered charitable trust in South Africa. We teach Vedanta, the philosophy of life and living recorded in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, through free weekly classes, short courses, public talks, retreats, youth programmes and books.
Clarity of thought and purposeful living
To guide people towards spiritual growth, clarity of thought and purposeful living through the study and practical application of Vedanta.
Vedanta Institute Durban Trust
Vedanta Community is the public name of the Vedanta Institute Durban Trust, a non-profit organisation that makes the knowledge of Vedanta available to the wider community. Classes cost nothing and are paid for by people who have benefited from them.
Seven ways to study, and one of them is free every Sunday
- A weekly study class, Gems from the Gita, on Sunday afternoons.
- Short courses of four to six weeks on one theme at a time.
- Public talks on questions from ordinary life, and talks on the meaning behind a festival.
- Youth and children’s programmes, with a course for parents.
- Half-day workshops and programmes for organisations.
- Retreats, with Vyasa and at the Vedanta Academy in India.
- Books and study materials, and recorded courses to study at your own pace.
Question, reflect, and arrive at your own understanding
Vedanta offers knowledge to be examined, understood and applied through your own experience. A class gives you an idea, a scene from life that shows it, and a question to take home. Nobody is asked to accept anything blindly, and faith is welcome. Vyasa’s own position is that the more you understand this wisdom, the more you will be able to relate to your own faith.
At the heart of the study is the intellect: the faculty that reasons, judges and sees a situation as it is. The mind wants; the intellect weighs. A stronger intellect lets you rise above impulses and reactions and meet the day with clarity and self-reliance. It grows with use, the way a muscle does.
The pursuit leads beyond self-development to Self-realisation, which the tradition names as the highest goal of a human life.
Take in the teaching through systematic study with a teacher, and build a clear foundation of knowledge.
Question, reason and reflect on what you heard until you understand it and it becomes your own.
Apply it in everyday life, and let it guide your thoughts, choices and actions.
The four steps on this site, study, reflect, apply and realise, follow the same order.
Vyasa Dass, Principal Faculty
Vyasa Dass is Principal Faculty of Vedanta Community, and the teacher of its weekly class, courses, talks and retreats. He completed the three-year residential programme at the Vedanta Academy in India, then spent fifteen years studying under its founder, Swami A. Parthasarathy. He grew up in an established family business and holds a double major in business and religious studies, cum laude. He leads wellbeing programmes at Ananda Spa, is a regular resource for YPO members, and gives inner-wellness seminars for companies and the public.
In class he starts with a scene everyone has lived, a new car over a speed bump or the alarm on a Monday, and lets the principle come out of it. Then the Sanskrit word, its literal meaning, and one thing to try before next week.
“Live each day self-surpassed.”
Vyasa’s sign-off at the end of every session
Swami A. Parthasarathy and the Vedanta Academy
Swami A. Parthasarathy, known to his students as Swamiji, founded the Vedanta Academy in Malavli, India, in 1988, and has taught its complete course on Vedanta there since. He wrote the eleven books the community studies. Vedanta Community is its own organisation in South Africa, with its own programme; the Academy is where Vyasa trained, and where our e-learning and residential retreats link to.
Teachers of Vedanta Community have completed a minimum of three years at the Academy, after which graduates are awarded a diploma in Vedantic philosophy. Some go on to post-graduate study there.
A continuous giver, with a term of respect
Swami means one who gives continuously. The suffix ji is a term of respect, the way one might say “sir” to a teacher. Put together, the word names a person who gives his knowledge without stopping.
More answers are in Questions people ask.
The best way to understand the community is to sit in on a class
Classes are in English and open to all. No prior reading is needed. Register so that we know you are coming, and the Zoom link arrives by email.