Article from Ladies Retreat 19th - 20th January 2007 that took place at Chinmaya Sannidhi.

The e-mail from Br. Gopalji sent on the 30 Dec 2006 carried a long awaiting piece of information that there would be a ‘Ladies Retreat’ in January 2007! Finally it happened! Ladies Retreat was to be held on 19 Jan – 20 Jan 2007. I was one of the Chinmaya Devis, who was waiting for this retreat, needless to say, that I enrolled myself at the very first opportunity.

The Ladies Retreat was based on ‘Daily Sadhana’. In view of the fact that the Lady of the house-hold is the ‘cultural and spiritual point of contact’ for the whole family, I thought that the subject ‘Daily Sadhana’, for a Ladies Retreat was most appropriate.

DAY ONE

On Friday the 19 Jan, I was dropped off at Chinmaya Sannidhi, at 8pm to be received by Br.Gopalji and young Pavana, who had offered to help with the camp admission formalities and the Ice-breakers. The other ladies who joined the camp that night were Amitaji, Shaliniji and Mumtazji. Each one of us received pens, note books and folders containing the agenda for the camp; all the instruction; shlokas and the various hymns that we would be learning during the camp.

The class started straight away with opening prayers as always. Br. Gopalji gave an introduction to the camp; ‘Daily Sadhana’ by giving us ‘dina charya’ to divinise all activities of the day starting from the shloka ‘ Karaagre vasate lakshmi’ to chant looking at both palms before getting up each day; ‘Gange cha yamune chaiva..’ while taking bath, and many more shlokas to chant before eating, before starting the day until before going to bed.

Further, all of us took turns to read, the story- “Sahdaka's path” given to us by Br. Gopalji. This story was about 2 friends, who went to a Guru and asked for ‘Initiation’ on Gurupoornima day. The guru asked them to go and gain some life experience from the outside world. The 2 friends go to various places where they learn the following facts:

• As long as you are ignorant, you will become a pawn to every cunning man that passes by;
• Money - can become a killer; even put Lord Yama behind;
• Envy- makes man selfish; if he cannot enjoy some thing, he makes sure that others cannot enjoy either.
• Fear is some thing which can hold you from living up to your full capability;
• While accepting the new system of values, preserve and observe old values and traditions.
• A Devotee can become greater than the Lord Himself by his devotion.

The class continued with another story of a King who approaches a Guru seeking knowledge. The Guru puts him to a test to see if the King could surrender his ego before taking him as his disciple.

Br. Gopalji explained to us from the story that one should be mentally fit to start upon seeking knowledge.

Before concluding the night’s class, all of us were asked to pick a ‘Message’ from the collection –‘Evergreen messages – quotes by Swami Chinmayananda’. We were going to contemplate on that message, on the following day during the ‘Silent Reflection’
and make a 5 minute presentation on that to the class later in the day.

We were very sad that the day's program ended so quickly eventhough we are pushed Gopalji to continue satsang till 11.30PM.

Day 1 of the retreat ended with Aarathi and we all went to bed thinking about the message we had picked up.

DAY TWO

Day 2 of the camp started nice and early at 5.30am we were guided through Meditation by Br. G opalji, after which each one of us chose a spot in the backyard of Ashram for our time for ‘silent reflection’.

During this time, we contemplated on the message that each one of us had picked up the previous night. For me the message was- ‘Spiritual unfoldment cannot take place merely because of an intellectual appreciation of the theory of perfection. Evolution takes place only when a corresponding change in a subjective life is accomplished. Recommend it. Gain bliss before you offer it to others.’ Could not keep track of time contemplating on the message & preparing for the presentation, when Gopalji reminded us that the time was up!

On the second day of the retreat, 3 more participants – Ushaji, Sudhaji, and Maithiliji joined us. We all jointly performed ‘Ram Parivaar pooja’ followed by ‘Guru Paaduka pooja’.

Gayatri Homa was the next event, for which each one of us got different tasks as a part of preparation and was guided by Vahiniji on what to do. Once everything was ready, we started the actual Homa, with Br Gopalji’s guidance. The homa was performed with great dedication that even the Sun God was so pleased that he shone brightly on each one of us and continued to show his glory through out the day!

After a delicious breakfast of bread toast with peanut butter and fruit juice, the next session of the day took off. The class on “How to Pray?” started. Br Gopalji took us through the following 5 steps of Prayer:

1. Naman – prostrating, with humility
2. Smaran – invoking through remembrance –calling the Lord
3. Keertan - praising and glorifying the Lord
4. Yaachan- asking for boon – ask for strength, intelligence and knowledge
5. Arpanam – surrendering 6 vikaras and 5 kleshas.

With the understanding of the steps, we were all given an opportunity to write our own prayers. It was a very emotional experience for each one of us to write our own, heart felt prayers to our ‘Ishta Devata’. In the workshop later, we all shared the prayers we wrote, not without any tearful eyes!

We had a very tasty lunch, lovingly prepared by Radhikaji, Rajaniji and Rajkumarji.

The next segment of the camp was ‘The Secret’. This was a documentary produced by Channel 9. The gist of this 1.5 hrs video was ‘The Law Of Attraction’. It was very interesting to know how the thoughts produced in our minds can reach some other part of the universe and get responded to. Even the negative thoughts produce positive response. Example: When you say, “ I do not want to remember Mr. X”, actually you are remembering Mr X. The more you say that means, you are remembering more of what you do not want to! How true is that! That being the Law of Attraction, how can you make it work in the way you want it? Think of positive things; focus on it single pointedly. It will come true!

Well, if you want to experiment it, go ahead and do it. Focus on something you really want. It will come true! It will work; I have tried it! We had a short tea break.

When we came back, we had a group discussion on ‘The secret’ that we had heard. We exchanged few examples of how the human mind works. Br Gopalji showed us how the secret's message also came from Vedanta only.

The next topic, the last but not the least, for the day was how to perform a ‘Nitya Pooja’. Each one of us got a copy of the book ‘Ganesha Puja Vidhi’. Gopalji took us through the book which details everything from the articles required for pooja to the different steps and mantras to recite during the pooja. This was very beneficial for many of us to understand the steps and the reasons for them. The class concluded with each one of us presenting our thoughts on the message that we had picked from Gurudev’s ‘Evergreen Messages’.

The Grand Finale of the camp was the Convocation after the Aarati. Each of us got blessings from Lord Rama & the Parivar, Gurudev and from our acharyaji (Br Gopalji). Br. Gopalji gave us a medallion with a deity inscribed in it.

We all said farewell to each other, with our hearts and minds full of positive thoughts and love for each other and sadness to depart this beautiful retreat. We are all ever grateful to Br Gopalji for conducting this Retreat filled with Love and Devotion. We eagerly look forward to Br Gopalji's next retreat.

Stay tuned coming in July 2007.

Love
In the Service of the Lord
Pushpa Jagadish