"Man has a dichotomic existence – which is why he is perpetually struggling to come to terms with himself. The fact is that, on the one hand, he appears to be a limited human being (as a body with a seemingly limited self ); and indeed, he is painfully aware of this limitation."
Tat Tvam Asi 
That Thou Art
Sri Sankara Bhagavadpada
During the impressionable boyhood years, he came under the benevolent spiritual & philosophical inspiration from his late mother and his philosopher-friend (who later came to be known as the Master Sri Sri Bhagavan) and also the Master Sri J Krishnamurti.
W.e.f: July 25th, 2020;Sat(all Saturdays),
7:00pm-9pm(IST) | 9:30am to 11:30am(EDT) | 6:30am to 8:30am(PDT)
Principal Convenor: Dawn Giel(Tampa, Fl, USA)
Panchaasya.yoga.inc@gmail.com | Tel: +1(813) 335 4508
Founder
Co-founder
Principal Convenor (U.S.A)
Convenor (U.S.A.)
Convenor (South America)
Convenor (Canada)
Convenor (Canada)
Convenor (Mexico)
Convenor (Mexico)
Convenor (India)
Convenor (India)
Convenor (India)
Convenor (India)
Convenor (India)
Convenor (India)
This retreat was attended by Mumukshus from India and overseas(Canada & Singapore). There was a pre-retreat get-together on the eve of the retreat. Apart from the participants, we had some guests joining us to know what the retreat is all about.
Sri Lakshmi Kumar Periasamy, an engineer, software architect and also a seeker of Truth was instrumental in the participation of Sri Sankara Bhagavadpada at this inter-religious international event held in Toronto, Canada. Sankaraji dialogued with four panelists (who are seekers of Truth) On the importance of self-knowing.
Sri Madhu Sai Deevanapalli, a Yoga teacher, Yoga therapist and Life Coach living in Kamloops, Canada organized an International retreat on self-knowing for Sri Sankara Bhagavadpada in 2018. A seven day retreat, it was attended by seekers from Canada, USA & Singapore.
This year’s retreat had Participants from India and USA. In addition, we also had participation of special invitees, varying from one to four days. Sri Tuhin Chowdhury (Hony. Media Mentor) and Dr. Sudhir Kaicker (Mentor Professor, Neemrana University, India)and also a Sanskrit scholar, were two of these invitees.
At Le Pondy, a beach resort in Pondicherri, the Amanaska Yoga International Retreat was held. The vast and quiet campus, was very conducive for the participants to immerse themselves in the teachings. Sri Ricardo Bravo has brought in a group of nineof which two were from Italy, the rest from Latin America. There were two participants from USA, and about fifteen from India. Sri Ricardo excelled in the direct Spanish translation as Sankaraji was teaching.
The Pilgrimage to take Amanaska Yoga (then Atmajnana) overseas, began in the year 2012, when two Amanaska Yoga retreats were organized by Sri Ricardo Bravo in Uruguay and Mexico City after an initial talk in Toronto, Canada. Around sixty five seekers participated in total. Also Vedic Astrological consultations were given by Sankara ji
to a large number of clients in all the three destinations.
The literature related to Vedas and Upanishads, including the Bhagavad Geetha and all epics, the Itihasas; is truly enormous dating back to at least five to nine millenniums. Many famous classic works such as commentaries (Bhashyams) are in the Sanskrit language and hence not accessible to many average persons, not well versed in Sanskrit. Thus, the true Vedic heritage is not within the reach of many Indians, let alone the persons living outside India. In the last fifty years, there has been many a revival and many successful attempts by many Acharyas have been made, to change this situation and bring back the Vedic heritage and knowledge and make it accessible to average Indians and persons across the globe.
These include the mission started by the late, Pujya Swami Chinmayananda (Chinmaya mission) and the late, Pujya Swamy Dayananda Sarasvati (Arsha Vidya Gurukulam) and the world-wide mission of the late master, Sri. Jiddu Krishnamuri (his teachings and the Krishnamurti Foundation Schoolsin India, England and America), to name a few. Indeed, all these continue to promote our Vedic heritage and no doubt they have enriched many lives.
The course has revealed to me various truths on the purpose of life. The vividexplanations, coupled with presentations, has given a better understanding of the truths of Gita( seems very very far but very very near) The subtle understanding has improved my thoughts on various perspectives and it calls for more and more such interactions to help me ripen and blossom in spirituality. Human birth is a boon meant to evolve. Understanding the purpose of our existence with such spiritual retreats and meditation throws more light on our mission here.
“We should not vegetate. All of us have to know the wonderful teachings ofHinduism. Books do give us an insight but the corrective understanding from a guru makes a vast difference.
Like Swami Vivekananda said “Arise awake and stop not till your goal is achieved”and“All the power is within you”So my journey has begun and definitely Guruji has helped to unleash the power within me. His presence makes the difference.
“Guruji’s teachings has brought about a shift in my concsiousness and my acceptance level has increased remarkably. ThankyouGuruji, looking forward earnestly for the sessions to follow to help me move on the correct track in the right train."
I want tosend my feedback: Atmajnana Yajnas that I have attended are helping me in my spiritual journey for which I am grateful. Atmajnana Yajnas are giving me a chance for cleansing my consciousness .This is helping me to observe my ego, selfishness, raga, anger.It is bringing my awareness to what is& not being concerned withwhat should be.I am reminded of the ultrasonic cleansing of various equipments. The vibrations & teachings are helping though not as fast or as complete as the ultrasound. I have observedthat in addition to the above without much effort things are falling in place. Once again I want to thank Guruji for all this.
To postpone isjust another trick ofthe mind for its continued security. To postpone is theheight of hypocrisy.To postpone isto be denied offreedom forever’[Sri Sri Bhagavan].Well these words have been ringing in my ears since Ireceived your reminder.Well that’s my state of my mindafter theYajnas, my mind hasturned inward. I knowIhave been putting off mailing my feedback, not giving any excuses here.BEING WITH WHAT IS.
“I want to justshare whatIhave explored and experienced, though can’t be specific about actual,because it is of a personal nature.Ihave come to an understanding that when youexperience something totally whether its pleasure or pain,u are set free.Have been enjoying that freedom in the past two weeks, life is beautiful.The experience of visiting a temple is different now,Inow try to relate lessons taught byGuruji.Look at lordGanesha and try to anchor myself to the‘I Am-ness’.It is difficult to put in words certain experiences because this whole process of Atmavicharana is for each individual to experience for themselves.One has to experience it to believe it. It is difficult and easy at the same time. The Yajna helps the individual to start looking for answers and to not just find an answer,but to experience it.
“To prospectiveseekersIwould like to say one must take the plunge with the feeling of nothingness,emptiness and total surrender.I feel it works best.Asyougo along things look clear, sometimes distorted,sometimes it ishappiness and most times when things look sad and u feel‘Ijust can’t move a step further’,then is the time you have to stay with what is and the freedom thereafter is phenomenal.I personally have experienced this freedom. It isa beautiful feeling.
ThesessionsbySriSankara Bhagavadpadawere most useful for me. From both the Yajnas[I have attended two Yajnas], I am now able to face up to my problems (mostly due to my reaction to a situation), come face to face with the not so nice part of my nature, learn to accept that it exists and put an end to the incessant struggle within me. I'm not saying that I'm completely at peace with myself but I have come a very long way towards it.
SriSankara Bhagavadpada'sAtmajnanasessionshelped me to try to focuson my inner life and to be more philosophical with respect to external irritants.
The 2 day spiritual retreat has really helped me to understand and self realise about the duality in life (happiness and sorrow).
It was an eyeopener for me when I learnt about the distinction between consciouness and awareness through various examples. My flow of thoughts got reduced considerably, once I became aware of my moving thoughts.
Afterattending the Yajna I am able to sit for meditation for 20 minutes. Daily I am scolding at least ten persons; I am able to watch that (atthe same time I am able to watch this, after scolding the concerned persons also).As perGuruji’swords, in our mind wecreate two images; one is I and another is the ‘other person’; I am able to understand that, in the sense the image created in our mind is not theactual I.In Siva-SaktiTattva, if Sakti is not present then there is no place for Creation; thatalsoI understood.
After attending the AtmajnanaYajna, thelengths of silences have increased considerably & there is a marked increase in the occurrences of these incidences too. I get in touch with the Divine with ease regularlynowdays.The understanding that the end to suffering can only be the recognition of one’s true nature & cannot be found in any material desires’fulfillment is also complete.
The Atmajnana Yajna has given me immense peace & clarity in thought. At the first instance,the conflict between the mind and the heart has reduced. I feel much relaxed in doing my daily chores. As we become true to ourselves, we are in touch with the Atma, which is always joyous.As soon as I returned from the Yajna, the following week my younger daughter’s marriage was finalized much to our and her wishes.”
The Atmajnana Yajna course helped me to identify the ‘real me’, which is Awareness. Being‘aware’has helped me deal more effectively with varioussituations.Many interesting and important topics were covered during the Yajna. The most important lesson that I learnt was‘How I could be in touch with my soul all the time’.
The analogies of Siva and Sakti were eye openers.Very hard hitting deep spiritual concepts presented with amazingsimplicity.Every teacher has an objective which he wantsto achievein a class. Only the teacher knows the objective clearly. But as astudent I feel that the objective was to awaken the quest in us todiscover who we really are. There is a lot of distracting noise in allour lives and we tend to get involved with each distraction therebylosing sight of the main objective of life. This 2 day session cut through all the “noise” and held up a mirror to our lives. To thisextent Guruji has achieved his objective.
Here, words do not help me to explain .... What appeared as the ‘other’and guided meis my own beloved Atma (which only increases that love orbhakti,contrary to my earlier opinion). That ‘IAm-ness’ comes tothefront and goes back at its will. Something has changed inside, marked with a deeper inner peace.. not tainted with excitement.
The analogies of Siva and Sakti were eye openers.Very hard hitting deep spiritual concepts presented with amazingsimplicity.Every teacher has an objective which he wantsto achievein a class. Only the teacher knows the objective clearly. But as astudent I feel that the objective was to awaken the quest in us todiscover who we really are. There is a lot of distracting noise in allour lives and we tend to get involved with each distraction therebylosing sight of the main objective of life. This 2 day session cut through all the “noise” and held up a mirror to our lives. To thisextent Guruji has achieved his objective.
Donation to ‘Tat Tvam Asi’ Trust may be made through cheque/DD/Bank remittance.
Bank Account Details
If you are outside India and wish to support Tat Tvam Asi, donate through the Payment Gateway @
Read more
Read more
