Archive: Past retreats at SASP
2 0 0 5
Saturday,
December 31st
New
Year's Eve - Annual Gathering and Bonfire
Our annual evening program started at 9:00 pm this year. There was a short talk on the topic of 'Sri Aurobindo on Rebirth' by Charles Elerick. We had our annual bonfire and we watched the VCD 'A New Birth.' Happy New Year!
Saturday,
December 17th
The
Mystic Fire and the Mother's Force
This month our topic was on the Mystic Fire and the Mother's Force. There was a talk by Rick Lipschutz on the significance of Agni. We had a study group in the evening discussing how we each build and sustain our aspiration through the day and how we we try to open to the Mother's Force. We also had the regular retreat activities of karma yoga, volleyall, pot luck meals, etc.
Saturday, November
19th
SASP
10 Year Anniversary
This month marked 10 years since Sri Aurobindo Sadhana Peetham finally moved to Lodi--that move took place between November 17th and 24th back in 1995. We spent the day in quiet, grateful celebration and also reflection on how we've grown through the years and where we're headed and shared with each other our collective aspirations for the future.
Saturday, November
5th
Auroville
Family and Friends Gathering
We had our Auroville Family and Friends Gathering this month. We were very happy to welcome Narad Eggenberger to join us for the gathering this time. Narad shared with us some of the latest developments going on at the Matrimandir and Auroville, and also Mother's words to him on the Matrimandir Gardens. We also were joined by two guests, Vlad and Samatman, who came to facilitate a short workshop on building spiritual community.
Saturday, October 15th
Conquering Fear
Our focus this month was on the very human topic of fear with emphasis on the ways and means to overcome it in the the light of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother's teachings. We discussed our personal experiences with fear and how we were able to overcome it. We also had our regular retreat activities of collective chanting, karma yoga, volleyball, pot-luck meals, etc.
Friday-Sunday, September
16th-19th
Camping retreat
This year's camping retreat took place at Big Basin State Park.
Saturday, August
20th
Collective Yoga
The subject of our retreat this month was collective yoga. We had some small group projects during the day where we had a chance to develop our collective consciousness. The activities were group singing, group storytelling, creative video presentation on collective yoga, and some others. Other regular retreat activities of collective chanting, karma yoga, volleyball, pot-luck meals, etc. took place as usual.
Saturday, July 16th
The Promise of the Future
The subject of this year's AUM Conference which took place in June was "The Promise of the Future." As several members of the retreat group attended, we had an overview of the conference and an exploration of this intriguing and inspiring theme. Other regular retreat activities of collective chanting, karma yoga, volleyball, pot-luck meals, etc. took place as usual.
Saturday, June 18th
The Psychic Being
This saturday
we had two very special guests with us for the retreat: Neeltje
Huppes, the author of the “Psychic Education Workbook” and Alok
Pandey, featured keynote speaker at the recent AUM Conference.
Alok and Neeltje spoke to us in the morning about the "The
Psychic as the Leader in the Evolutionary March". In the
afternoon we had karma yoga projects in the warehouse and in the
garden and a game of volleyball. And in the evening we had a study
session on the topic with Alok and Neeltje. The day was filled
with a great psychic presence and we were very greatful for our
guests from Pondicherry and everyone who came.
This month our focus was on Karma Yoga and we had many work projects to pour our energies into. We also had our retreat meeting to plan for the next few months. The regular activities of collective chanting, volleyball, pot-luck meals, and children's activities happened as usual.
Saturday-Sunday,
April 23rd-24th
Physical Education and Darshan
Day
This month
our focus was on the Body and increasing its plasticity and receptivity
to the new conciousness-force. We did not have long philosophical
discussions about the subject; instead there were games, exercises,
and movements - individual and collective - that helped us bring
coordination, harmony, and beauty to our body's action and movements.
Sunday was the Darshan date commemorating
Mother's Final Return to Pondicherry. We had an early morning
meditation at 6:00am and a performance of a synchronized drill.
Other regular retreat activities of collective chanting, children's
activities, pot-luck meals, etc. took place as usual.
Saturday,
March 26th
Auro-Family Gathering
This month we heard from Julian Lines and Charles Flores about recent developments in Auroville, as they had just come back from a long stay. We also watched a couple videos on the tsunami relief, a power point presentation on The Matrimandir, and a photo slide show from Auroville. We had some time for karma yoga projects in the morning and a game of volleyball in the evening.
Sunday-Monday,
February 20th-21st
Mother's Birthday Darshan
This Sunday
we held the Mother's Birthday Darshan retreat at Lodi Ashram,
with an early morning meditation on Monday morning, the Darshan
Day.
As an inner preparation for this special gathering,
we meditated on the following quote from Mother: "The
most important thing for an individual is to unify himself around
his divine centre; in that way he becomes a true individual, master
of himself and his destiny. Otherwise, he is a plaything of forces
that toss him about like a piece of cork on a river..."
-- from Volume 5, Questions and Answers 1953, p.139 (1 July
1953)
In the morning there was a flower arranging
session with roses to decorate the altar. As Roses symbolize the
many aspects of “Love for the Divine”, we had a collective rose
offering for the altar. And as usual there were karma yoga projects,
this time mostly at the warehouse.
Saturday, January 15th
Auro-Family Gathering
This was the third gathering of the "Auro Family" at the Lodi Ashram. The context of the gathering was “Convergence”--a kind of coming together of approaches and paths and harmonizing of differences. There was an overall focus on Auroville and Auroville International USA especially in the evening program, and also we joined together in various work projects which took place at the warehouse. We had a small consecration ceremony for the new AVI-USA office in the warehouse. In the evening there was some informal talks and stories focusing on the history, present work, and future directions of AVI-USA with Q&A and dialogue.
