Dear Noble Friends,
With great joy, I wish to let you know about the Purna Arunachala Retreat this November. When I asked Ganesanji to provide a name for our 2007 retreat, without hesitation and with great happiness he said “Purna”. This is a Sanskrit word with several meanings including “completion”, “fullness”, “wholeness” and “abundance”. We hope to again spend some delightful mornings on Ganesanji’s veranda.
A fresh approach ~ From Pakva to Purna
This year the primary venue of the retreat will be in and on the rooftop of our flat located close to Ramanashram. Construction of the roof-top begins in September.
The retreat will begin in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu in South India on Thursday, November 8 and will end on Thursday, November 22. Most friends from Montreal will leave from Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau Airport on Tuesday, November 6 and very early in the morning of Thursday, November 8 will arrive at Chennai Airport where a bus will be waiting to bring them to Tiru. In the evening of Thursday, November 22, some people will return to Chennai by bus or car to catch a return flight leaving early in the morning of the next day and arriving in Montreal the same day. This year, we ask you to make your own flight and visa arrangements. Of course, we recommend that you use Mathew at United Travels (514 932 1000 unitedtravels@videotron.ca ). He tells us that at the moment Air France offers the cheapest ticket (less than last year!) There is about a four-hour wait at Charles De Gaulle Airport each way. Mathew will be expecting your call very soon. Please do not delay as the prices are likely to go up. To have everyone as a group on one flight is much more desirable.
The retreat will not be held in the Pavilion at the Arunai Anantha. Instead, many meditation and yoga sessions will take place at our flat on Post Office Road near Ramanashram and therefore where you stay is entirely up to you. This year, we also ask you to make your reservations directly with Peter, the Manager at the Arunai Anantha Hotel (hotelarunaianantha@yahoo.co.in). Peter has agreed to reserve for a limited time a number of rooms for our group and will be expecting your email. We are discussing with him a reduced rate for members of the group. Please tell him that you are with the Mollie Lawson Group and whether you would prefer a private room or would like to share a room with another person. We are not sure whether there will be enough rooms available to ensure that all requests can be granted. There is also a new hotel named the Sparsa Tiruvannamalai, which is being constructed at this very moment. It is situated just off the Girivalam Road with superb views of the Hill. If it is open by November, it will provide an attractive, but much more expensive, option (about US$90 plus taxes per night). For reservations and information, email; sumeet.bhatia@auromatrix.com. It is a short autorickshaw ride to the flat from the Arunai Anantha and quite a bit longer from the Sparsa.
Most days will begin with an early morning meditation and yoga session or satsang at the flat. After this, you may choose to spend time in and around Ramanashram or the caves or have breakfast at one of several nearby restaurants. Then on some mornings, we’ll go to Ganesanji’s veranda for the 9:30am sharing. In the middle of the day which is usually quite hot, you may return to Ramanashram, have lunch and take rest. There will be a second session on the rooftop of the flat in the afternoon. Following this, you may wish to sit in silence at 5pm with SivaSakti Ammaiyar (whom we call Silent Ma), return to Ramanashram for parayana, the nightly chanting from 6:30pm to 7:15pm, and then have dinner. Of course, many other happenings, some predictable and some not, take place at Arunachala and so the schedule is only a rough guide. Those who have come to past retreats know how much there is to do and see and how quickly the days fly by.
If you would like to join us, please call 514 935 1909 to leave a message or
. Let me know as soon as possible and then send your cheque for $500 to Mollie Lawson at 37 Church Hill, Westmount, Quebec H3Y 3A1. This is a non-refundable payment. It will cover among other retreat expenses the cost of building a coconut roof on the rooftop of our flat and the costs for the bus from and back to Chennai Airport (as a group from the Air France flight only).You will pay for your other expenses including the flight, hotel, meals and autorickshaws.
I recommend that to secure a place you send your cheque without delay. Already people have requested a place in the retreat before knowing whether there would be a retreat this year.
*If you have not come to Tiru with us before and would like more information about the retreat, please
as soon as possible.
*If you have come to Tiru before and have any questions about the retreat, please
.
Book Recommendations:
For newcomers:
- Be As You Are ~ The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, edited by David Godman. www.amazon.com
- Maharshi’s Gospel. Ganesanji says that this book is the cream of the almost 700 pages of Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi. www.arunachala.org
- The Essential Teachings Of Ramana Maharshi A Visual Journey. www.InnerDirections.org
The Purna Arunachala Retreat is intended only for those who strongly feel the pull of Ramana and Arunachala.
May the blessings of Arunachala be with us always .
May you be able to welcome your noble Self to partake of this great feast, some of us for our fifth time ,
others for the very first visit to Arunachala.
With love and happiness,
Mollie xo
“Today, I find people who have never seen Bhagavan physically, never heard his voice or listened to his upadesa, sitting in the Old Hall or the Samadhi Hall, oblivious of themselves, often shedding tears, and going round the hall as if impelled by some unseen force. What gives these people their experiences? As Bhagavan always said, “Is this body Bhagavan?” When somebody expressed sadness at having to go back home from the Ashram, Bhagavan said,“What am I to do? You say that this body is Bhagavan. I say that it is not. Now, if you insist, what am I to do?” To others he would say, “Look! He says he is going to a place where I am not.” These new devotees of Bhagavan are proof of all he told us.”
Srimati Kanakamm
Above is Major Chadwick's Ego Samadhi Shrine which he constructed in Ramanashram to offer his ego to Arunachala while still in his body. May we do the same!
