SRM’s Annual Meet 2019
Event Report • December 2019, Vrindavan
The most awaited celebration of SRM is its Annual Retreat where seekers come from around the world to be in the aura of their living master Sri Guru.
Sri Guru says that “Dharma” means “Anand” i.e. happiness, joyfulness, glory, and celebration. Therefore, in SRM our retreats are full of grand celebrations through Bhakti, Sadhana, and Satsang — the DNA of SRM.
SRM’s 2019 Annual Meet was held from 25th to 28th December in the pious land of Vrindavan at Anandam Clarks Inn & Suites that became our spiritual village where we could feel the love and grace of our Sri Guru flowing in the air.
Sri Guru said in the first session that after a decade, SRM is now on its next level of journey where it is more focused towards inducing experiences of bliss and divinity through its retreats. So the 4 days were full of love, divinity, and grace. She said that the grand setup of the retreat is now the “Sky of Eternity”. When we are totally present in the Retreat, we are in the sky of eternity — that causeless bliss and state of purity.
Prabhu told that you would get according to the type of vessel you behave like i.e. a spoon, bowl, pot or bucket. Take this moment, and cease it to go deep within yourselves. Be Here, Be Now.
The sudden drop in the temperature making the place colder and foggier did not let the temperature of excitement and joy drop even a bit. Each moment of this 4-day residential retreat was grand and full of celebration that is impossible to express in words. Still a few unforgettable moments of this magnificent event could be described as:
Satsangs
Review of Dhammapada year 1: In 2018 retreat we saw “Bhagavad Gita on one page” and in 2019 Retreat we saw the year long of discoveries through “Dhammapada in 1 hour”. In this capsule session, the psychological, scientific and spiritual dimensions of Dhammapada verses that seemed so difficult in the starting of the year could now be related to quickly. Surely through the teachings of Sri Guru, our neurons have fired and wired with right equations, and our mind have expanded and evolved.
Self Love: The chapter 12 of Dhammapada “The Self” was covered during the retreat. Sri Guru explained the chapter by introducing the concept of “Self Love”
Self-love can be developed by:
- Reducing the gap between belief system and actions
- Following role models with the right understanding
- Believing in the power of destiny
- Being confident about our efforts
- Being in the higher radiations of Sadguru
Self-love helps us to be more connected with ourselves. As Sri Guru told that major changes comes inside-out and not outside-in, we need to focus on improving ourselves rather than chasing others and dreaming of ambitions achieved by others irrespective of the realities and efforts in our life.
In short: Self-love = Self-esteem+ Self-confidence+ Self-worth.
A story by Sri Guru: Sri Guru has this way of explaining the mysteries of spiritual quests that are considered difficult to interpret by a common man in ways that even a child can understand.
An interesting story was told, that there were a lot of kids playing on a beach, building sand castles, pretending to be owners of the castles, fighting and crying if someone pushed the sand or ruined their castles. But as soon as a person came and called to the kids that your mother is calling you back home and is waiting for you, all the kids left the castles, the sand and the play without a second thought and ran to be with their mothers.
Such is the play of life. We are all busy building our sand castles that we have forgotten about our mother waiting for us to come home. Sadguru comes in our life to remind us of the temporary nature of this play that we are so busy playing and about our mother waiting for us to realize the unchanging consciousness within all of us.
Seva
What is Seva @ SRM: Sri Guru wants us to do acts after knowing the meaning and the right way of doing them. Seva is not only of the seva team but each one of us attending the event. We must contribute in any little way we can to assist the seva team in the management of such grand events.
Sri Guru explained the 5 aspects about Seva as below:
- Love your seva as when you do something with love then expansion and evolution takes place.
- See everyone as same without partiality or prejudices.
- Take seva as per your capability and slowly evolve.
- Be humble in your way of seva.
- Increase endurance i.e. ability to handle, and tolerate mental differences with a smile.
Bhakti and Sadhna
Hatha Yoga and dynamic yoga: It is interesting to see the blend of dancing bhaktis and meditative stillness at SRM’s events. Similar blend was seen in the Hatha yoga sessions in the morning and dynamic yoga sessions in the afternoon. Anu Prabhu’s hatha yoga sessions are about stillness and feeling each moment during yoga followed by guided meditations by Sri Guru. Indu Prabhu dynamic yoga sessions were about heating the body with fast moments to feel fresh after lunch followed by energy sessions by Sri Guru. The beauty of SRM is it allows what is right at the right moment and not making anything a mundane task.
Energy Hour: SRM is becoming more focused towards inducing experiences as Sri Guru had said earlier that once the brain experiences something it is never the same again. Therefore, a session called Energy Hour was held on 2nd and 3rd day of the retreat. In this, Sri Guru made us feel the immense energy around us through a new technique.
Jashn-e-Kabira: The second night of the retreat was celebrated by diving into the session of bhaktis of Sant Kabir. All the bhaktis of Sant Kabira were sung and rejoiced through the heart-touching voices of the SRM Bhakti Team. The night was special and the sentiments were divine, as the bhaktis were not sung by just singers but by bhakts of SRM who are deeply connected. Through the bhaktis we did not just listen and enjoy good music but we felt our thoughts dissolving, our smiles shinning, our hearts rejoicing and our souls dancing. Energy level elevated through such an exhilarating bhakti night that Sri Guru took us into Shivratri meditation straight after it. Only in the presence of a Guru, it is possible to dance with joy in the bhaktis and to go deep into meditation during the same session.
Celebrations
Christmas celebrations: First day of the retreat was Christmas day and SRM does not forgo any moment to celebrate with joy. So the Christmas was celebrated by 2 sadhaks dressing up as Santas with a bag full of gifts. From kids to adults, Santa lovingly gave gifts to all. Such moments of smiles and happiness are special and remind us that this life is to celebrate.
Award night: SRM awards were given in various categories such as the Meera Award, the Motivator Award, and the Seva Award, etc. These awards are given to recognize the sadhaks who are taking extraordinary efforts on this spiritual path. It was touching for me to know the stories of sadhaks who were awarded as shared by Gautam Prabhu. These stories did motivate us to realize the value of what Sri Guru has given us and to walk with dedication and commitment.
Performances: Acts and dance performances from Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi on the evening of Day 3 of the retreat were a delight to watch. Team Kolkata chose the concept of the importance of balancing chakras for a blissful life, and team Delhi performed on the Adi Shankracharya’s Nirvana Shatakam. The evening concluded with the soulful Ras-leela performed by Team Mumbai. It is no surprise that under the grace of Sri Guru, the youth of SRM is able to put together acts full of spiritual meanings with such ease and beauty.
New Releases
Kids’ zone: SRM, through these retreats, wants the sadhaks to go deeper into their spiritual journey. But families with young kids between ages 4–14 years are not able to fully immerse in the experience due to the responsibility of keeping kids engaged during sessions so as to not disturb the other sadhaks.
To take care of this, SRM created a kids zone to keep these kids engaged and immersed in meaningful and interesting activities. This first time initiative was well received and enjoyed a lot by the kids.
In this zone, 37 kids participated with zeal to play games, watch meaningful videos, learn about values of life and share their experiences with others. SRM’s effort to help parents manage their kids during retreat and alongside help develop values in the kids is a great initiative.
Launch of Swaraj Kriya Level 5: Sadhna at SRM encompasses the concept of Breath, Sound, Chakras and Kendras, a technique and Sri Guru’s grace.
After explaining the meaning of Sadhna at SRM, Sri Guru blessed us with the SwaRaj Kriya Level 5 at the retreat. Swaraj Kriya has been instrumental in changing the lives of thousands of sadhaks at SRM. As Sadhana is in the DNA of SRM so by way of SwaRaj Kriya, Sri Guru ensures that we are able to evolve ourselves in the experiences of oneness.
Release of BOW 2020: On day 3, the annual magazine of SRM, Bliss of Wisdom 2020 was released. BOW is a compilation of important teachings of the satsangs, and highlights of events in 2019, articles and experiences by sadhaks and articles written by Sri Guru. It is a great read to know about the SRM’s 2019 and amazing events coming up in 2020.
Historic Moment
Launch of Shri Atmasiddhi Shastra: 2019 Annual Retreat saw a historic moment of the launch of an illustrated book and an audio track of Shri Atmasiddhi Shastra in Hindi. The moment of launch was full of bhakti bhav as we all could feel the selfless contribution of Sri Guru, editing team, audio & video team, artwork, design, and printing team.
Sri Guru translated the verses by Param Krupalu Dev Shrimad Rajchandra Ji in Hindi and English; Disha prabhu and Avneesh prabhu understood the depth and meaning of Shri Atmasiddhi Shastra and sang it with full devotion. Parina Prabhu created beautiful artworks for verses. Parth prabhu and Bhavesh prabhu ensured that it all came together beautifully through the design and layout of the book.
Sri Guru has established this form of the great Shri Atmasiddhi Shastra for the generations to come. Sri Guru wants the words of Shrimad Ji to reach all including the younger ones. Through the artwork interpretations, Sri Guru wants the people to spend time and introspect deeply on the words of Shrimad Ji.
Seva — full of commitment, love and compassion has gone in creating audio, video, Hindi & English translations and artworks of Shri AtmaSidhi Shastra. This version of Shri AtmaSidhi Shastra is first of its kind and we are so grateful to Sri Guru for this most valuable gift on the beginning of the 10th year of SRM, Delhi.
Sri Guru’s Grace
Spoon, bowl, pot, bucket – irrespective of what you are, you will receive automatically in a higher’s presence.
Such is the kindness, love, compassion of Sri Guru, whose all efforts are like a selfless person calling the children playing and making homes in the sand. Her calling is for us to realize about our one mother and experience the oneness within all of us.
Retreat Videos:
- Dhammapada #21 | Dhammapada #22
- Session — 5 Pillars of Sadhna at SRM
- Dance Performances: Kolkata | Delhi | Mumbai
- Shri Atmasiddhi Shastra: Audio Track | Book
- Bliss of Wisdom Magazine
