Work on the project began in March 2008 in the UK, inspired by MIHE founder and former director Janmastami Das, and current educational director Atul Krishna Das. <\/p>\n
Using the MIHE’s Bhakti Sastri curriculum, the course was developed over ten months by tutor and Mayapur Institute almuni Raghupati Das and Antardwip Das, who runs Mayapur.tv and Online Programme, a virtual temple at iskconlife.org.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Having run Online Programme for many years, Antardwip Prabhu already had a platform for live broadcast and Raghupati had worked with him giving live video classes for a few years\u00e2\u20ac\u201dso the platform was already there,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Atul Krishna Das. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What took time was to organize a course that was suitable for weekly webcasts. That meant preparing all the lessons on PowerPoint, organizing group discussions and ensuring we had invigilators in the different parts of the UK for closed book exams. In total, some 280 hours were spent in preparing the online course material, 56 hours in delivering and 30 hours in exams and invigilation.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
The course itself made use of the audio-visual media and web technologies, and was delivered through a weekly live webcast and online contact with students, so that they could have the classroom experience while in front of their PCs in the comfort of their own homes.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In our classroom courses, students learn from the tutor’s delivery, and are also encouraged to participate in group discussions and making presentations,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Atul Krishna. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On the online Bhakti Sastri course, this was made possible by weekly online lesson delivery from the tutor, Raghupati Prabhu, and then dividing the groups of students according to geographical location so that they could work together. Students living in remote area were encouraged to send their response via emails.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The first ever Bhakti Sastri course was given by Srila Prabhupada himself during Janmastami, 1969, in Los Angeles. Prabhupada requested the devotees to read his books and prepare for the exam, which he personally administered. <\/p>\n
After that, he periodically referred to Bhakti Sastri and other honorific titles, such as Bhaktivaibhava, Bhaktivedanta and Bhaktisarvabhauma, as a means of acknowledging a devotee’s proficiency in sastric knowledge. <\/p>\n
In a 1969 letter to Hansadutta, he wrote, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I want that all of my spiritual sons and daughters will inherit this title of Bhaktivedanta, so that the family transcendental diploma will continue through the generations…\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bhaktivaibhava is the study of Srimad Bhagavatam cantos one through six, Bhaktivedanta the study of the entire Srimad Bhagavatam, and Bhaktisarvabhauma is the study of Sri Chaitanya Charitamrta,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Atul Krishna explains.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/news.iskcon.org\/photos\/11Jan15\/Online2A.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
On January 6th, 1976, Srila Prabhupada officially directed the GBC to implement a graduated system of sastric examinations throughout ISKCON, to ensure that his disciples were carefully studying his books. In January 1990, the ISKCON Board of Examinations was set up to establish standards for such sastric study courses. The first formal examination based on standards set by the Board of Exams was held in Vrindavana, India in November 1993.<\/p>\n
Since then, ISKCON has awarded more than 3,000 Bhakti Sastri degrees. There are currently more than twenty active Bhakti Sastri examination centers, and a few of them, such as Mayapur, Vrindaban, and Durban, function in multiple locations.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153ISKCON Chowpatty, Mumbai recently set the record for highest number of certificates awarded in a single batch,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Atul Krishna says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The same exam was given there in three languages simultaneously, with 81 English candidates, 14 Hindi, and 26 Marathi. The passing marks totalled 121.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
For the individual student, the Bhakti-sastri course provides a personalized approach to learning which encourages one to go beyond simply memorizing the content of Srila Prabhupada’s books by digesting the philosophy and practically applying it. Focusing on behavior and character, the courses nurture appropriate Vaishnava values in the participants. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In 1976, Srila Prabhupada commented, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcSo every temple should be educational center, and the brahmanas should be engaged. They should be properly educated and they should teach others also. In this way, temple means education in spiritual life,’\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Atul Krishna quotes. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So we believe that the Bhakti-sastri course is helping ISKCON fulfill Prabhupada’s vision for systematic spiritual education and training.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
While the pilot Bhakti Sastri Online course was offered only to devotees in the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand received such a positive response that it will receive a second round there this January\u00e2\u20ac\u201dAtul Krishna says that others will get the chance to take the course soon too.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/news.iskcon.org\/photos\/11Jan15\/Online3A.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The weekly webcasts require devotees to be located within the same geographic locations to be able to log on at an appropriate time of the day, so we can’t offer it internationally at the same time,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But the plan is to extend the online program to other geographic locations in the near future\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfor example, we plan to start an online course from Mayapur for India and South Asian countries after Rama Navami in April 2011. We would also be interested to hear from devotees who may want to start similar courses in their countries.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Atul Krishna is excited about the possibilities. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Students can now have a live, visible classroom experience from the comfort of their PCs, without having to travel to far away places like Mayapur and Vrindavana,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That is certainly a major step forward in ISKCON virtual education.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Further information on upcoming online Bhakti Sastri courses, please visit <\/em> http:\/\/www.mihet.org\/index.html<\/a>. If you are interested in running a similar course in your own country, please contact the Mayapur Institute at MIHE@pamho.net<\/a> or atul.krishna.pvs@pamho.net<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After the success of a pilot Bhakti Sastri Online course by the Mayapur Institute for Higher Education (MIHE), the Institute will offer another round of this groundbreaking step in ISKCON education from January 29th 2011 to April 29th 2012. Twenty-six devotees from different parts of the UK took part in the pilot course\u00e2\u20ac\u201da systematic study […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements"],"views":6708,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}