After long deliberations and persistence of Anil Babu, the first Men’s Retreat of Chinmaya Mission was organised at Rocklyn Satyanand Ashram from 10-11th April 2010. A group of thirty-five enthusiastic men, led by Brahmachari Gautamji, arrived early in the morning at the Ashram, situated about 20 km south of Daylesford. Nestled amongst the native bush, away from the hustle-bustle of city life, the atmosphere in and around the Ashram was serene and ideal for a spiritual retreat.

The two day retreat was broken into four sessions of inspiring talks presented by Gautamji, two Yoga sessions, Mahamrityunjaya Havan and satsang. Time between the various sessions was set aside for reflection by the participants.

Day 1 Session 1 – Spirituality and Career

The morning assembly started on a lighter note with the ice-breaker to introduce the attendees. Members were asked by Gautamji to tell the silliest thing they did during their school days and secondly, what do they do for relaxation. Interesting to learn, what our grown up members were like when they were young.

In the first session Gautamji explained the importance of setting goals in one’s life. However, achieving the material targets does not always lead to satisfaction and happiness. He emphasised to focus on the quality rather than the quantity in life. We must strive to look for something extra-ordinary in the present and make our lives more fulfilling by ‘being happy now’ and not wait until the end of life to find that happiness. The way to do this is to act in line with our inner nature (swabhav) and enjoy the process of getting there rather than the end result only. We should enrich our relationships and take an attitude of service in whatever we do and be considerate towards others.

This session was followed by a brief morning tea and then regrouping in the Jyoti-Mandir for Vedic chanting of Mahamrityunjaya mantra.

Day 1 Session 2 – Dealing with our emotions

After the lunch, we gathered to hear Gautamji talk about how our mind transacts with the world. The mind deals with the emotional aspect of our personality. Most of us are blinded towards our emotions and thatis why we do not know how to deal with it. It was surprising to see when all of us contributed to a list of more than 50 emotions that we go through from time to time.

Next, Gautamji explained that the energy from our emotions should be used creatively by setting aside some time everyday for introspection to detect our feelings and how we react or respond to our daily activities. He continued and said: “Ask yourself, do we want to keep living with this emotion? Does this habit really bother me now?”. He suggested to cultivate the feeling of being free of this habit/problem and controlling our mind and channelising the emotional energy from these feelings to do something constructive or positive. He briefly listed some emotions that we all go through and how to convert the negative energy from them to something positive. One such example that I admired was to overcome fear (negative energy) by developing a relationship with the HIGHER POWER. He assured us that by putting our Trust and Faith (positive) in God we would be looked after by Him. We must live in harmony with the nature and acknowledge the supremacy of the Unlimited.

At the end of this session we had afternoon tea and relaxed by bushwalking and admiring the beauty of nature. On our return, Sankaran gave lessons on Yoga for an hour. This was an eye-opener for some of us, as to how flexible (rather inflexible) our body is.

Later on we attended an hour-long Mahamrityunjaya Havan with the other residents of the Satyananda Ashram, followed by a healthy dinner. Everyone in the Ashram joined for soothing bhajans and a descriptive explanation of the Mahamrityunjaya mantra by our own learned Gautamji. The audience were impressed by the simple but very effective style of his clarification.

It was time now for ‘maunam’ and go back to our rooms for reflection on the day’s activity then a good night’s rest for an early start the next morning.

Day 2 Session 3 – Living harmoniously with your partner

The morning started very early at 5.30 A.M. and almost everyone braved the cold weather and warmed up with two hour session of Yoga with Satyananda group. Breakfast followed the Yoga and we assembled for another inspiring session on a very delicate but important session on how to live harmoniously with our partner. Gautamji pointed out that even according to our ‘shastras’ the husband-wife relationship is the most important for the healthy growth of children. The two genders have different ‘swabhava’ and as a result different personalities. Despite their differences the two are equal and have to keep a balance and live harmoniously for the continuity of the world. The world would not exist without each other. His unbiased views on the importance of building a relationship with spouse were something worth paying attention on a regular basis. He gave numerous tips to follow in our relationship with our partner and if followed sincerely should lead to an amicable family life.

Day 2 Session 4 – Parenting

The final session started after a 30 minute break to reflect independently upon the questions raised in the earlier sessions. Gautamji discussed the importance of good parenting and building a healthy relationship with our kids. The job of parenting becomes even more challenging when the children are taken away from their traditional environment and raised in a culturally different setting. He pointed out the need to empathise with their cause and giving them self-confidence and explaining why we must follow our traditions. He discussed the different approach necessary in dealing with boys or girls.

After the end of four sessions, we formed four different groups and discussed:

• Should we have goals in life?
• What is the role of goals in life?
• How should we set our goals?

All the members shared their opinions within their individual groups. Finally, Gautamji answered the questions raised by the participants, and then he distributed the prasadam to conclude the retreat.

It would be a very difficult task to summarise the details of the wealth of knowledge that we all were privileged to in Gautamji’s talks. We are so fortunate and blessed to have this knowledge in our Mission to guide us through the complexities of everyday life. Personally, I went to the retreat with some degree of anxiety of not knowing what to expect. However, the two day stay with some like-minded people was very rewarding and enlightening experience. Thanks to all the people who attended and made this retreat possible.

Some photos from the retreat can be found by clicking here.