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THE REVELATION OF THE SPIRITUAL HEART RETREAT

GUIDELINES FOR PARTICIPANTS

Agama occasionally offers the Revelation of the Spiritual Heart Retreat in a weekend or seven-day format. However, unless stated as such, this retreat is always presented in a 10-day format to give greater immersion to this unique experience. An introductory session (and eventual selection process) takes place the day prior to all retreats – see Calendar for times and location. At this pre-session we will meditate and explain the rules. Registration will follow immediately afterward (so please come prepared with your payment) and we will resolve all administrative details, so that when the retreat begins it may be consecrated exclusively to mauna (silence) and meditation. Hopeful participants must attend this retreat pre-session and agree to abide by the retreat guidelines for its duration. The fee to join this retreat is 3,000 Baht. If meals are arranged for participants, the fees for either lunch only or lunch/supper will be additional to retreat fees. No reservations are needed to join this retreat. Contact info@agamayoga.com if you need more information or have further questions that are not answered here.

During this retreat, we will dedicate approximately seven hours per day to meditation, two and a half hours to Hatha Yoga practice, and an hour or so to inspirational talks and readings. All activities will be divided into morning and afternoon sessions, with an ample break in between for lunch, rest, your own tapas, etc.

As inspiration, during this retreat we encourage you to try to cultivate in your awakened consciousness the following:

  • An inner awareness of all sensory perceptions and emotions

  • The calming down of the mind

  • The polarization between the individual soul and the Divine Self that is experienced as a state of very strong and profound aspiration and longing for God

  • The constant evocation of death as a way of transcending all desires and egotistical tendencies

  • The act of powerfully evoking and experiencing the mystery of God’s presence inside our hearts

Revelation of the Spiritual Heart

RETREAT RULES

In order to create the preliminary conditions that facilitate our access to deep inner states, mental peace, and aspiration toward the Divine, it is necessary that certain rules be strictly followed for the duration of the retreat. These rules aim to create certain conditions that would resemble those a yogi experiences in solitude, for instance in a cave retreat. Please understand that these rules are implemented to help YOU as participants, and not for the benefit of the retreat leader or Agama Yoga. The retreat atmosphere has been evaluated carefully as to how it can best support the attendees’ spiritual efforts. The rules are part of this support. All hopeful participants must agree to abide by these guidelines and the consequences of noncompliance.

This retreat is arranged as a serious opportunity for serious aspirants who wish for a very special and exclusive retreat opportunity. Please approach these guidelines with this frame of mind, with an openness toward protecting and supporting this atmosphere through your own agreement and cooperation. If you at first glance feel that the guidelines are too strict or too difficult for you, first consider your own state of readiness to participate. If you do indeed feel ready, then inspire yourself with the knowledge that this retreat lasts just a few days in the big picture of life! Take this as a tapas to see what can happen within you when you undertake such self-discipline and strong efforts for your own evolution. The opportunity for this retreat does not exist anywhere in the world right now. Thus we are very privileged, and each hopeful attendee should try to keep this in mind.

  1. Mauna (silence) is compulsory. The period of mauna will begin on the first morning, with the consecration of the retreat, and will end after the last meditation on the seventh or 10th day, as per the length of the retreat. Absolutely no talking by participants will be allowed. For any real necessities, please inform us in writing of administrative problems. Some exceptions will be made for participating teachers who continue to teach the Yoga classes and for other very important and urgent Karma Yoga activities of the school. Participants will be asked to volunteer themselves for special (short and temporary) Karma Yoga assignments during the retreat, tasks that must continue (such as cleaning, for example) and do not require talking.

  2. Retreat participants are asked not to use CD players, MP3 players, radios, TVs, DVD players, the Internet, or computers for the duration of the retreat. Thus there is to be no listening to the news or music, doing email, watching movies, etc.

  3. Use of mobile phones is not allowed during the retreat. They should ideally be left at home and off for the retreat’s duration. We recognize that some people live far from the hall, will travel home alone at night, etc. Therefore, we will not request to hold the phones to remove temptation (which is normally done in an ashram setting for this retreat) in order to leave you the emergency safety use of your phones. However, you should make a firm commitment not to use the phone for conversations, SMS messages, etc., for the duration of the retreat.

  4. Reading is not allowed, not even of books of a spiritual nature.

  5. Sexual abstinence is mandatory. This really means abstinence and not just continence! This point is obviously non-enforceable (we cannot check you, of course), but is insisted upon to reinforce the atmosphere resembling solitude that we are attempting to create for participants. If you wish to join the retreat, please agree to abide by this requirement for the duration of the retreat.

  6. It is strongly recommended that men and women choose separate accommodation for this retreat and that they also dine separately. Agama will facilitate this point with separate dining areas for men and for women during any arranged mealtimes. For couples who live together, we recommend that one partner move to his or her own bungalow for the week of this retreat only or, if this is not financially feasible, that he or she stays with a friend of the same gender who is also enrolled in the retreat.

  7. Fasting is not recommended for the entire duration of the retreat (although your own tapas of a weekly fasting day is OK), in order to maintain a high level of vitality and energy for meditation.

  8. It is recommended that you aim to cultivate a state of experience resembling solitude by agreeing not to: look at others, touch, hug, kiss, say hello (even nonverbally), smile at each other, etc. This can at times feel alienating and lonely for people who are very sociable and miss such simple human contact, but it will drastically help your experience of interiorization. In addition, the opening of the soul will offer you the opportunity to communicate in a much subtler way, through the language of love. Your friends will still love you at the end of the retreat, maybe even more if they have reached a deep opening of the heart!

  9. Participants should try to avoid attention to their own vanity and desire to attract the opposite sex. This advice is usually presented in Buddhist retreats held at monasteries, where there is also a sensitivity toward supporting the meditation environment of the monks. The same is asked here. We even suggest you do not look in the mirror. We ask that women not wear makeup or perfume, and that they dress discreetly and simply.

  10. Please limit your looking at photographs to those of spiritual masters and gurus only. Do not gaze upon photos of your friends, family, etc. in order to help yourself concentrate on transcendental states rather than worldly thoughts.

  11. We strongly advise you not to go into the city, do shopping, etc. These guidelines are given well in advance of the retreat to give you ample opportunity to prepare for your needs. We will also support you in the event you did not plan adequately for your retreat. A daily supply run will be organized, through which a person may leave a sum of money (more than will be required) in an unsealed envelope (the envelope will be sealed with any change and a receipt) along with his or her name and what is needed on the outside. A supply run will be arranged locally (not into Thongsala); no extensive efforts will be made to find rare items. This service will be arranged only for emergency needs that a person cannot go without for the duration of the retreat (for example, feminine hygiene products, medical supplies, etc.). Water can be purchased at the mealtimes and will not be arranged.

  12. It is recommended that participants record their meditative and daily experiences in a notebook, but please keep all questions until the last day of the retreat when we will hold a question and answer session designated for this purpose. Recall that we are evoking a state of isolation in solitude where there is no one but you to answer your questions.

  13. Attendance at all retreat sessions is compulsory. The only exception will be made for sick people. Each participant will have a name card that stays in the hall and identifies his or her seat for the week; absences will be noted when this card marks an empty place.

  14. Everyone must be on time for all spiritual activities, as lateness is very disruptive and latecomers will not be allowed to join until the next session. Please plan accordingly.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT CERTAIN ACTIONS CONSTITUTE

GROUNDS FOR EXPULSION FROM THE RETREAT.

It is hereby re-emphasized that these guidelines must be followed, for the benefit of all participants. Consider carefully before joining whether you truly accept the parameters of the retreat and its rules. Certain actions will form the basis for warnings (listed below). If a person has already received two warnings, he or she will be asked to leave without hesitation or negotiation after the third infraction of the rules. No refunds will be given for those who choose to leave or are asked to leave.

These actions will constitute grounds for a warning:

  1. Absence from a retreat session

  2. Lateness to a retreat session

  3. Falling asleep during meditations

  4. Disregarding segregated areas for men and women

  5. Talking, making other sounds, or being generally disruptive

  6. Listening to music, news, sending SMS messages, or talking on the phone

  7. Disregard for any other of the above mentioned rules.

Last notes

  • Let it be noted that we will take extra care for your comfort during this retreat. Agama will arrange additional fans and will also provide more chairs than usual for people who may have trouble with longer meditation sessions. We ask that participants please make fair use of the mats, pillows, and benches during the retreat (we will also provide these in ample numbers). If you feel like creating special conditions of comfort for yourself, use your own resources and do not disfavor the others.

  • No food will be allowed in the meditation hall. Water, tea, etc. in closed containers and thermoses will be allowed, but drinks are strictly to be taken only at break times.

  • We ask that no one move about during the meditation sessions. You may discreetly rearrange your limbs if necessary, but this is the extent of movement allowed.

  • The gentle ring of a bell will mark the end of a meditation session and beginning of a break. At one or two minutes prior to the end of a break, a longer series of bell-sounds will be produced. When the next session is to begin (and all movement is to cease), again a single bell-tone will be rung.

We welcome you to this exceptional retreat and hope you will choose to be patient and open. The first several days, as anyone who has done a meditation retreat knows, can be full of restlessness, muscular fever and aches, physical and mental purification, and various spiritual tests. We invite you to commit yourself fully to this retreat, to stay firm and double your resolve in the face of such challenges. Try to make this event a very special opportunity for your spiritual evolution!

May God bless and inspire us.