Sessions : Ten-Day up to one month Retreats If you would like to organize a intensive ten days or one month retreat in your area, please contact us so we can discuss about it more in detail.
Anaikatti is situated 30 km away from Coimbatore in South India, close to the Nilgiri Mountains, amidst a lush green national forest reserve and surrounded by several hills. Individual comfortable rooms and cottages are available within Arsha Vidya Institute for Vedanta and Sanskrit, set up by Swami Dayananda.
Rishikesh is in North India, a vibrant and ancient spiritual place on the banks of the sacred river Ganges at the foothills of Himalayas. Individual apartments are available within the Vedanta teaching center of Swami Dayananda.
During these retreats, you will have an opportunity to dwell deeply into the teaching of Vedanta. The exposure to this vision without any other distractions can truly bring about a major shift in perspective and transform your entire life. The program would consist of discourses on Vedanta, guided meditations, and dialogue sessions. Yoga classes with a qualified teacher will also be arranged when appropriate/upon request. Excursions in nature such as trekking, river rafting (in Rishikesh) and cultural discovery tours can be organized as well. Circuits for extensions after the retreat to discover South India or the Himalayas can also be planned on an individual basis.
We suggest a group of 5 to 20 for retreats so that people get personal attention and benefit fully from these retreats.
This retreat will unfold systematically and leisurely the entire vision of Vedanta exposed briefly in the website. It will examine the various issues any human being is confronted with and address them in the most fundamental manner through the teaching of Vedanta. The role of Vedanta as a means of knowledge, necessity for a teacher, the process of knowing, the need for personal growth and the means to achieve this growth will be elaborated with material drawn from the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.
The verses from the Chapter XIII of the Bhagavad Gita will be utilized to analyze the topic. These verses will help the participants to discover the definition and place of values in the teaching of Vedanta, give insights into how to grow into an objective, tranquil, compassionate human being. Understanding and implementing these values are necessary not only for a spiritual seeker but for anyone who wants to live a life free from conflicts.
The teaching of the Gita will be elaborated during this retreat through selected verses translated in English. Being the essence of the teaching of the Upanishad, the Gita unfolds the nature of the individual, the cause of the universe, their identity, and also the different means to gain the preparedness necessary for this knowledge.
This retreat is based on a popular text-book on Vedanta, Vivekacudamani. It is presented in the form of a lively dialogue between a student and his teacher. An English translation of the book will be used as a study material upon which we will give elaborate commentary. Through this text, we will cover the entire vision of Vedanta.
Tattva Bodha is an introductory text-book on Vedanta that is studied initially in the tradition as it presents the main definitions of terms and exposes briefly the different teaching methods. The study of this book enables one to have a strong foundation which is essential for in-depth study of Vedanta.
