University Student Testimonials

I gained a lot of insight into this philosophy, especially through the weekly feedback sessions. Being able to associate with a devotee and discuss my thoughts helped me put a lot into perspective and deepen my understanding. I have a better idea of the importance of truly duplicating the Esoteric Teaching as opposed to just reading along and presuming the info has been absorbed. I also feel more confident that, although it will take time, I can indeed follow this path and that it is a path worth staying on. I feel stronger than before and am now looking forward to progress.

I think it is a great as an intro course and the assignments really help you to evaluate your own position in devotional life. It is tough to find ways to improve it though because it is more about recognizing ones current stage of devotional life. The weekly association was sometimes a little fuzzy due to connection issues but that couldn't really be helped.

The weekly association as discussing the issues really helped in solidifying understanding and clearing up misunderstandings and found this to be the most helpful part of the course. The kind of assignments given also helped to truly reflect on one's current position.

If someone truly wants to follow the path of Bhakti-yoga then I would certainly recommend it. In the early stages of devotional life it can be tough to adapt to the new lifestyle, especially trying to decide which practices to incorporate straightaway and how to balance life. This course helps give a structured introduction so that one can identify their problems and offers small steps to incorporate the practices into one's life until they are a natural part of day to day life.

Bhakta Steven Lawrence on the Bhakta Intro course:

After this course, I have gained a good overview of this Esoteric Teaching. I have learned where I am at on this path and what I need to do to advance. I realize now that I knew so little about real spiritual knowledge and how to gain advancement on this path. I have learned now to really just start listening to Babaji's instructions and allow the process to work. I have learned the importance of a Master Teacher and the association of his disciples.

For this introduction I am not sure that there could be any improvements. It is such an ambitious task to make available that first step to self-realization that I don't know if I could improve upon this course. It does a good job in orienting the student and assessing where the student is.

I found the weekly talks with Nava-Yauvana to be the most helpful because it allowed for a higher level of communication to this important subject. This way we could really get to misunderstood terms and root them out. It also increased the level of association so that it did not seem so impersonal with just reading others writings.

I would of course recommend it to others but I don't think I know many others that have the eyes to see nor the ears to hear! I believe the best is yet to come. Learning how to learn and really getting to the root of misunderstood terms is so fundamental to real knowledge. I think this is what sets this teaching above any others. Not only does it have real knowledge and truth but it also shows you the real way to learn these things. What is ironic is that some "Gurus" in ISKCON are just now starting to develop a Bhakta course! Unfortunately I don't expect they will find much success without a Self-Realized Master Teacher nor a course in learning 'how to learn'!

Bhakta Michael Jones on the Effective Study course:

This course has been very useful. Firstly, I was always against the media, the school system, etc and believed in the individuals ability, but this was mostly teen angst and wanting to rebel against the system. I could not give structured reasons as to why these things were so terrible, I just knew they were. The first section gave the exact reasons in an intelligent manner so that one can easily explain the reasons the system is flawed without looking like an angry anarchist.

More importantly though, this course has also provided me with many useful skills which I believe will help me throughout my life. I believed one could learn/do anything if they put their mind to it, but I never had a structured guide as to how to do it. My strategy was just keep reading and things will eventually stick. This course has provided a much more effective way to learn whatever I want.

Clearing misunderstood terms means that one does not waste their time reading something that will not stick. Rather, every bit of time reading is effective because I am consciously making sure I understand each and every word, and so a clearer picture of the subject matter is produced in my mind. When I know I'm not too clear on something, I can easily find out why. I have also got a lot from the grammar exercise. I didn't realize how little I knew about grammar. I feel this will improve my writing (though I have a few more units to do).

Learning to search in the Vedabase was also very useful and I've been using it for so many things. I can't believe I neglected it for so long. Even for something simple as typing in an ingredient you have to see what can be cooked with it, what to speak of the powerful uses in clearing Sanskrit terms, and learning about the subjects one is interested in in relation to the Esoteric teaching.

Also, I had not known the effectiveness of modeling. In fact, I don't remember modeling at all during school. I found that it not only forces one to think about the subject matter deeply, making sure the model is not flawed, but it also stays in the memory very clearly. When I had seen diagrams, etc, in textbooks, I often forgot them quickly. Through modeling things myself, it is difficult to forget the subject matter.

Thanks to these techniques I am confident I will be able to learn whatever I like. If in the future I need to learn something for devotional service, employment, or just personal interest, these techniques can help me learn very quickly. This is certainly empowering.

Kānāi dās on the Effective Study course:

Well since I have already read “How to Learn” two or three times when I first came on the site, I already knew that I would have to start from scratch. And I'm glad I did, nothing gets past me now, well less anyway. I notice the symptoms of negative charge and I realize why it happens and I can now amend the problem.

The model making project was fun to do and I can see where I can help, but my mind thinks in images and shapes so that I think the models are already being built in my head. Yes when I do come to a very complicated dilemma the modeling clay will be taken out.

Looking up words is now a natural habit, now that I have an offline dictionary, there is no problem. I notice that I find myself looking up the same word more than once so I still have the tendency of letting misunderstood words and concepts go by, this I will have to correct. Get the word and create several different sentences with the word, this will help.

I feel confident now with myself to be able to learn thing nicely. It's take a little longer but this isn't a race and there are no prizes for finishing first, as long as you finish that's the main point.

The only thing I know I have problems with are the grammar terms, I have a lot of built up negative charge in that area, I can thank primary school for that. I find it very frustrating and thought it was a waste of time, but now I know that we must know the construction of the language to be able to dismantle it and reconstruct it according to our own desires.

We will definitely be kept out of trouble with all these courses, that's for sure. Thank you for this opportunity.

Bhaktin Christina on the Effective Study course:

Looking back I have seen that I have learned a lot from this course. First, I never knew that the public school system was so corrupt! How terrible! I knew that the system was not that good but I didn’t think it was on this level. This was a huge awakening for me.

Secondly, the system for clearing misunderstood words is something that I will use for the rest of my life. I will never skip over a word that I do not understand again. I have also learned that by reading something over 3 times I can actually remember what I learned. When I read something just once, it’s like it goes in but then the next day I can’t remember what I read. But when I read it 3 times I really internalize the information. I also like the idea of making a model to help with the understanding of a misunderstood word. Now when I think of making prasadam, I have my model in my head and it is so clear. It was also fun to freshen up on my English Grammar skills. I think I was in the 4^th grade the last time I studied this! J

I am very happy with the Srila Prabhupada Vedabase that I downloaded. There is so much knowledge there that it will take me years to get through it. Right now I really feel that I can never be lonely or bored again because I have so much to read and to learn and to cook! This is just the first course and look how much great knowledge I have already learned. I am excited to move on to the next one.