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‘The Clear Space of Good Feeling’: What We Did this Summer
At the end of the Intensive, on the last day of the Retreat, Swamiji looked around the marquee and said, ‘this is how life should be lived.’ He had just finished greeting more than a hundred people, many of whom had spent the eight previous days living and working in the ashram. His statement mirrored the moment perfectly. It was a sunny, still summer afternoon: when we looked around, the peace in our hearts was reflected in the surrounding world.
The natural feeling of happiness was the theme retreat’s theme. In the first evening program, Swamiji said, ‘when we start talking about the inner Self, we make it into an object. We make it different to ourselves. But the experience of the inner Self is simply that: it’s a clear space of good feeling within ourselves.’
Everything was done to serve this space within ourselves during the Retreat. Whether we were just helping out, chanting, or doing hatha yoga, the experience of the inner Self was very close by. It was amazing and most importantly it felt normal. In the Retreat I saw that the experience of the Self is not something we add on to ourselves, but it is discovered at the centre of who we are.
One afternoon the Retreat people went to Pop and Selma’s Café in Mt Eliza. There in the courtyard, the band of ashramites played for everyone. Song after song, the energy burst forth. .It was a celebration. On another afternoon, Swami Premananda co-ordinated a ‘garage sale’ of bric a brac and directed Self Inquiry sessions while passers by haggled over second hand goods.
During the daytimes, the retreat participants split into three groups – Utpal taught the Learn to Meditate course,Swami Premananda took a Shiva Process group, and the Self Inquiry meditation sessions were led by Devi. She said in one session ‘We all have a yearning within ourselves. We yearn for the Self, but sometimes we think that it’s something else and we can get distracted.’ The midday sessions set us on focus every time.
Each day was capped by evening Satsang with Swamiji. In these programs, Swamiji drew on a wide range of traditions. He spoke about the teachings of Maurice Nicoll, a disciple of Gurdjieff and Jung. He discussed Ramana Maharshi’s Self Inquiry. He shared how these Great Beings have lived with verve and insight. And the night before the Intensive Swamiji spoke from Baba Muktananda, his Guru.Swamiji spoke about how forward he was looking to the Intensive, and that the Intensive came from Baba’s grace.
It was through this grace that the Retreat was so special.
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