Next Retreat: 04 - 13 Mar
Where: Koh Phangan, Thailand
Hours: Daily 07:00-12:00/16:00-21:00
Teacher(s): Sahajananda (Claudiu Trandafir)
Fee: 3000 Baht
Registration: 3-Mar-11: 16:00, info@agamayoga.com
Accommodation: Please note that this is not a residential course. All participants must arrange their own accommodation. See our FAQ section for helpful tips.
Meals: An optional vegan buffet is arranged by Agama Yoga to support the rest periods and mauna
(sacred silence) of participants. The cost is 1,800 Baht for all meals (lunch and supper for 10 days).
Alternately, you may take meals individually (100 lunch, 80 supper) as you like, or may take the Ohsawa 7
(brown rice) 10-day cleanse for all meals at a reduced rate.
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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 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. Claudiu, 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 Claudiu 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, Claudiu has developed a method that gradually
cultivates in participants the following attitudes:
- An inner awareness of all sensory perceptions and emotions which will
gradually become, through sublimation, an awareness of the Spiritual Heart;
- The calming down of the mind (a state of peace of mind);
- 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;
- The evocation of death of the physical body as a way of transcending desires
and egotistical tendencies;
- 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 will take place on the day prior to each
retreat at Shiva Hall, Srithanu campus (Koh Phangan), during which 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 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 the the Hridaya Retreats.
