The Bliss of Meditation: 2010 Summer Retreat
9- 17 January

Over nine days in January, we had a retreat on ‘The bliss of Meditation.’ It was the perfect beginning to the year. And in the retreat we had many opportunities to meditate. We also experienced many other forms of bliss...

The bliss of chanting: in the morning, we would begin the day with the Nityananda Arati, as sung in Bhagawan Nityananda’s Samadhi Shrine in Ganeshpuri. And then we would go within. Also, in the afternoons we had energising chanting workshops.

The bliss of seva: with more than sixty people to feed every mealtime, the kitchen was a hive of activity. There were plenty of jobs for the rest of us – every morning we would meet in the marquee and seva (ashram service) jobs would be divided up.

The bliss of programs with Devi Ma: at midday, the activity would come to a stop and we would learn about Self Inquiry and Devi Ma’s sadhana.

The bliss of yoga: every afternoon a different yoga teacher led us in a yoga class. It was a great way to get into the late afternoon meditative mood.

The bliss of Satsang: Swamiji talked about his time with Baba and the philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism which he learned from Baba. As an added blessing, the manager of the Ganeshpuri Ashram from Swamiji’s sadhana days – Swami Govindananda – was our guest of honour during the retreat. On Friday night, to finish a week of Kashmir Shaivism and talking about his Guru, Swamiji and the chanting group played in the centre of the room while we did a ‘dancing saptah’ chant around the centre.

The bliss of the Intensive: on the final day of the Retreat, we held the Intensive: a day-long meditation program. The Intensive was packed out – no more people could fit into the meditation hall. At the end of the day, after everyone had lined up to say goodbye to Swamiji, Sachi and the chanting group led a final rousing chant, with Swamiji playing blues harp and Swami Govindananda playing the bells. It was an ecstatic ending to an amazing week.