Vedanta Retreat, a 3 day residential camp by Swami Prakarshananda was held at Chinmaya Vibhootifrom 21-23 June 2019.The camp was to introduce new comers, mainly from Pune and nearby areas toChinmaya Mission and Vedanta. With attendance of over 80 people, almost all new comers, theweekend camp was a resounding success.
Each day began with a short meditation session which prepared the mind for receiving the knowledge.The text for the camp was Tattva Bodh. After explaining that Tattva means one and one alone and Bodhmeans -to know, Swamiji began by asking a fundamental question, what is goal of human life? Taking offfrom here Swamiji guided the listeners, first by explaining the four fold qualifications needed by aspiritual seeker then Swamiji went deep into the text and gave the campers a clear picture andintroduction to Vedanta. Jiva, Jagat, Eshwara, Maya, Atma the three kinds of Karma and other relevanttopics were all touched upon. Swamiji concluded by enlightening the participants on result of this Self-Knowledge which is summarized in the quotes of shrutis and smritis. The knower of the self, havingcrossed samsara, attains supreme bliss here itself and the shrutis confirm that he goes beyond all sorrow
Though the camp was short time was given for visits to Swanbhooti Vatika, Chinmaya Jeevan Darshanand a screening of “On a Quest” The arti at Maruti and Pranav Ganesh Mandir saw full attendance. Saidone of the participant “Swamijis bhajans in between the sessions reverberated in our hearts and in theashram.”
All the participants had high praise for the Ashram and the way it is managed. They showed a lot ofenthusiasm and a desire to be remain connected with the Chinmaya Mission activities and requestedSwamiji to hold more such camps.
