Reality Retreat Sessions in Bay Area,CA
Reality retreat sessions in Bay Area
Love to Share Foundation’s Bay Area chapter had its first Reality Retreat on the 23rd and 24th of April 2018 in two different locations, San Jose and San Ramon respectively.
Mr. M.K. Ramanujam, who guided us through this session helped us discover our true nature of peace and bliss through the calming practice of mantra meditation.
Mr. M.K. Ramanujam, very beautifully explained that meditation is not the first step but the penultimate step to perfection and he showed how we could meditate upon a sound- a Manthra, to silence the mind.
Manthras are powerful words which by nature has the ability to silence the mind.B ut the questions arises – How to silence the mind with a sound?
Ramanujamji explained this paradox with an analogy. He said, in order to prevent a plain neat compound wall being suddenly invaded by unwanted posters, its not just enough if we remove them all, but we also need to stick another message that would say – “Stick no posters” and we need to hold on to this poster until we are assured that there would be no other new ones on the wall. Likewise in order to silence the mind, we need it to hold on to a mantra – until the mind is devoid of all unnecessary thoughts. That’s why the meaning of the mantra is -“mananAth thrayathe ithi mantra” – that which the mind can hold on to and that which protects the mind from unwanted thoughts.
Ramanujamji, demonstrated this with the powerful mathra called the “mahamanthra” and he used a simple technique to practice this meditation by slowly draw the mind inside from outside with this manthra – first physicaly by calling out the sound, then a little subtle(sookshmam) by imitation of the sound by mumbling and finally very subtle(athi sookshmam) as a thought in the mind.
All those who had gathered for this retreat session thoroughly felt revitalized and were amazed to learn this very simple technique of meditation to calm the mind. Close to 80 people attended the reality retreat workshops on both days.
Body, Mind and Soul Workshop in Seattle
On Sunday, April 22nd 2018, Mr.M.K.Ramanujam conducted a four hour long Reality Retreat: Body, Mind and Soul meditation workshop. The workshop had various segments in it including silent walk, yoga, meditation and Q&A. There were 25 attendees at the workshop and all of them went out relaxed and looking forward to more such sessions. The session received immensely positive feedback and hope that with more Reality Retreat classes, it will be able to instill calm and clear thinking for all the attendees. “Life is a lyric” was also released and was distributed to all the attendees of the workshop.
Body Mind and Soul Retreat in Houston
Body Mind and Soul Retreat in Houston
Love to Share Foundation America conducted its first of a kind -Body Mind and Soul retreat away from the maddening crowd in the serene ambience of Brazos Bend National State Park on Sunday, January 21, 2018.
The event started with an hour of silent walk introspecting on the inattentive nature of the mind, followed by an hour of yoga for physical well-being. This was followed by Reality Retreat – divine name meditation in the rustic surroundings of the amphitheater of the park. Harmonious lunch was served to all the attendees and the event ended with a reassuring discussion on mental health.
By the divine grace of Sri Swamiji – 57 registrants immersed themselves in the journey of happiness. Young children also enjoyed the natural park with fun events and games. Due to popular demand Love to Share Foundation America will be hosting another retreat in the presence of Sri Poornimaji within a few weeks, please stay tuned for further updates.
