HRIDAYA RETREAT (REVELATION OF THE SPIRITUAL HEART)

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A Silent 10-day Meditation Retreat

This special retreat focuses on the Revelation of the Spiritual Heart, our real and essential nature, the supreme and divine Self, âtman. During this immersion retreat, we will address broad aspects of the Spiritual Heart, from a variety of traditions including Christian esoteric, Sufi, and Kashmir Shaivist traditions. The atmosphere will be one of agape and strong spiritual support.

The program aims to create an experience most resembling a solitary retreat (as in a cave, for example) with the intention to provide attendees with an opportunity to reach deep inner states of consciousness, intense aspiration for the Divine, and highly focused interiorization for the awakening and blossoming of the soul, jîva-âtman. This method is a unique integration of Advaita Vedânta, Sufism, Tantra, and Dzogchen.

This retreat is led by Sahajananda (Claudiu Trandafir), whose meditation, for years now, has been dedicated to the revelation of the Spiritual Heart through Love and the opening of the soul. Sahajananda, an electronic engineer by education, was formerly a professor at the University of Parapsychology in Bucharest, Romania. He has been a Yoga teacher since 1985, specializing in solitary cave retreats, following the example of Ramana Maharshi and other Jnâna Yoga masters. After years of solitary retreats followed by spiritual accomplishment, in 2002 Sahajananda began to guide groups of people using this method. He has led this special retreat for more than 1,000 participants across Europe, Asia, and North America since 2001.

During these years, Sahajananda has developed a method that gradually cultivates in participants the following attitudes:

1. An inner awareness of all sensory perceptions and emotions which will gradually become, through sublimation, an awareness of the Spiritual Heart;
2. The calming down of the mind (a state of peace of mind);
3. The polarization between the individual soul and the divine Self, âtman, that is experienced as a state of very strong and profound aspiration and longing for God;
4. The evocation of death of the physical body as a way of transcending desires and egotistical tendencies;
5. The act of powerfully evoking and experiencing the mystery of God’s presence inside our Hearts.

To support the retreat, complete mauna (silence) must be maintained by all attendees. An atmosphere full of love and aspiration will be created in which participants can surrender to their real and essential nature.

This retreat includes advice for guided meditation, lectures, and practical methods such as:

• Ramana Maharshi’s method of introspection (Self-inquiry, âtma vicâra, using the question “Who Am I?”)
• Techniques of stilling the mind using breath control
• Study of the symbolism of the Spiritual Heart
• Methods of Self-centering in everyday life
• Advice for maintaining awareness of the Spiritual Heart, in the tradition of the Fathers of the Desert (from Christianity)
• The Christian method of the Prayer of the Heart
• A proper understanding of Advaita Vedânta’s fundamental principles
• Methods of passing from individual consciousness to Cosmic Consciousness
• The four fundamental stages in the process of the Revelation of the Spiritual Heart
• Daily special meditations on themes connected with Self-Revelation
• Yogic methods that approach the issue of the Spiritual Heart
• Poetry
• Hatha Yoga sessions

An introductory session takes place on the day prior to each retreat at Shiva Hall, Srithanu campus (Koh Phangan), during which we meditate and explain the rules. Registration follows immediately afterward (so please come prepared with your payment) and we resolve all administrative details, so that when the retreat begins the next morning it may be consecrated exclusively to mauna (silence) and meditation. Hopeful participants must attend this registration session and agree to abide by the retreat guidelines for its duration.

Please visit http://www.hridaya-yoga.com for more information about Hridaya Yoga, Hridaya Retreats, and the Hridaya Meditation and Hatha Yoga Teacher Training Course.