Guest guest Posted December 30, 2002 Report Share Posted December 30, 2002 Spiritual Retreat in Devon Let me share my thoughts on the retreat we had in Devon. A total of about 64 people attended the retreat. We had a good mix of young and old. People from a variety of sectarian bodies attended. Many ex-students of our Hinduism classes - (who now run Hinduism classes themselves) became the key operators of the event. All this came about very naturally - we seem to have uncovered another dimension to our work. Although we did not operate a severe regiment, yet a kind of relaxed discipline was maintained by most. The spiritual elements of the retreat consisted of chanting and meditation in the mornings and talks on the Life and Teachings of Swami Vivekananda in the evenings; followed by long question and answer sessions (one went on till about 1am in the morning). Other activities in the daytime consisted of long walks (the longest took nearly 4 hours) on the Dartmoor, rapid recall quizzes on Hinduism etc. Some participants learnt classical dancing and performed in front of the whole group in the evening. On both the evenings we had an hour of entertainment provided by the youngsters through music, dance, poetry or humour. We had sumptuous vegetarian meals, cooked by the ladies. Message imparted: The adults were told: We only have a few pauses in your lifetimes when we are away from the daily grind and get an opportunity to take stock of our lives. Do not be fooled - we will not turn to spirituality after we have discharged our family duties..... we will just die in the saddle! To the youth we said, we know that this gender thing is beginning to bother you. Hold fast, the source of all your strength, the source of all your purity and power to make progress in educational or spiritual fields come from Celibacy. To the very young we said, try and develop some daily routines like repeating the name of God..... or repeating a verse before you take your main meal or before going to bed.....adopt some ritual in your daily lives that will link you to the spirit. Let me share some personal observations:- A bunch of young girls came over and said, "We had never heard of this Vivekananda before; after hearing about his life story - we love him!" With overflowing emotions and sparkling eyes.. ............surely the Spirit had been invoked! A young father came over and said, "Do you know what I have learnt? The cause of all my problems has been the fact that I exhibited weakness. From now on I will not allow weakness to cloud my action". ...........surely Strength had been invoked! One young chap decided that the only way he can draw attention to himself is if he crushed crisps and scattered them on the beds of the girls...It certainly worked... He was asked to Hoover the room. ..........surely Humour had been invoked! One gentleman who had driven all the way from Wellingborough -- who loved to go for early morning walks, got up on the final day -- saw that it was raining hard so decided to go to the kitchen and wash up all the dirty pots and pans of the previous night. ...........surely Selflessness had been invoked! Another young chap came and said, "The girls are bothering.....what should he do?" We said: follow Vivekananda's example..call them 'Mammy' and they will bother you no more! ..........surely Practicality had been invoked : ) jay (dilip) lakhani Vivekananda Centre London Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 30, 2002 Report Share Posted December 30, 2002 Great retreat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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