My Days at the Samvedan Retreat

An Event Report by Bharat Bhushan after immersing into the 4-day Retreat of the Sadanishth Group (Samvedan 2020)

Out of the four values of SRM (Love, Service, Discipline, Meditation), meditation (sadhana) is the most subtle. It helps expand the consciousness, lets one sink deep into self and get to the actual experiences that work as catalysts in any seekers spiritual journey.

Samvedan, a dedicated four days retreat in the conducive surroundings of Himalayas is all about intense meditation in the gracious aura and focussed guidance of Sri Guru. It is for carefully selected and limited seekers of a specific age group and paves the path for accelerating and maturing their experiences. Sixty-five seekers between the age group of forty-five to fifty-nine, lovingly called by Sri Guru as Sadanisth, were the blessed ones to be a part of the Samvedan Retreat from 20th to 23rd February 2020 at Sterling Resort, Nainital. This was the first such event out of the five in the Samvedan series to be held this year, as SRM celebrates its tenth year of formation.

The excitement of all the participating seekers was sky high, the carefully selected location with encouraging natural surroundings was possibly the best, and most importantly the grace, aura, pure intentions and blessings from Sri Guru were unconditionally over flowing. What could be a better synergy than this to plunge into the depths of self-discovery and experiences for seekers. It is difficult to express those subtle experiences and feelings in words, however, here is a gross level summarisation of the fond memories of those four memorable days.

Meditation:

This was the key focus area of the retreat. Under Sri Guru’s grace and guidance, the seekers effortlessly underwent almost 8 to 10 hours of meditative experiences per day. The meditations involved effective techniques to purify and enhance the energy levels of vital air sheath (Pranamaya Kosha), that forms the essential bridge between the physical body (Annamaya Kosha) and the remaining three sheaths (Manomaya kosha, Vijñānamaya kosha, Anandamaya kosha). Sri Guru explained in depth the intricacies of vital air sheath, its various constituents and their importance for the seekers. The sessions involved meditative sleep (yog nidra) too as the last phase for freezing the energy and experiences. It was great fun to listen to sleeping seekers snoring in a variety of tunes, pitch and frequencies, and Sri Guru literally pulling them out of such intense and rejuvenating sleep sessions. At the end of each session, all the experiences and energy gained was devoted to that primordial energy (Adyashakti) from where everything has evolved.

Hatha Yoga:

This formed the starting activity of those unforgettable days of the retreat. It was a delight to see all seekers, clad in whites, defying the cold and rain, and rushing towards the event hall with full enthusiasm. The hatha yoga sessions were conducted at sharp 6:00 AM in the gracious presence and participation of Sri Guru and the guidance of our Yoga Master Anu Prabhu. The carefully selected exercises and the hour-long session helped tune the physical body to make it more agile and receptive to the follow-up meditation sessions.

Embracing Nature:

The serene surroundings of Himalayas, the lush green vegetation, the extremities of weather from bright sunlight and deep blue sky to dark roaring clouds, coupled with light drizzling to heavy rainfall created cycles of joy and astonishment for everyone during the entire stay. It appeared that nature was trying to embrace us by showing its full spectrum of shades and adding that extra excitement to the grandeur meditative feast. In this drizzling weather, short strolls on the circular hilly paths with Sri Guru was nothing less than a heavenly experience. It was as if mother nature was at its best to give that holistic support and everyone was just merging with it.

Strengthening the Society Returning Philosophy:

SRM is an abbreviation to multiple full forms, one of them being “Society Returning Movement”. Samvedan witnessed two impactful announcements in tune to the returning philosophy propounded by Sri Guru. The first one was adoption of two rural schools in the nearby remote hilly areas for improving and augmenting their infrastructure. This symbolized the spirit of returning back something to the place from where so much is being gained. The second was the launch of “Vastu” project, aimed at women empowerment by creating products that help seekers on their spiritual path. The first two products being specially designed aids to experience darkness and silence, the two important needs for deep diving during meditation. Almost every seeker experienced immediate impact by using the products and enthusiastically shared their experiences.

Fun Sessions:

In this power packed retreat, Sri Guru planned for some fun sessions too, but these were not just fun and had deep meanings to learn and internalize. One of them gave every seeker an opportunity to deeply introspect oneself and in return get to a better understanding of self, followed by individual level guidance by Sri Guru. The second one, through geometrical patterns emphasized the complexities of life and gave insights on how to handle them.

Summing Up:

Every seeker experienced some or the other form of expansion of their boundaries, be it physical, mental or experiential in an effortless manner. And that is what meditation (sadhana) is all about. Probably every seeker in their hearts was wishing that this joy, this bliss, this leela keeps continuing for ever. But in this impermanence, everything is temporary, and so were these four days too. However, they laid a solid foundation for all seekers towards the experiences of oneness, that which is permanent and the ultimate goal of every human. And we all eagerly look forward to getting to those states with the blessings of Sri Guru and such enriching experiences in future too.

To know more about the Samvedan Retreats, see srmdelhi.org/samvedan