CURRENT PROGRAMMES



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  1. Yearly Programme 2010 (html version): Yearly Programme 2010.html
  2. Yearly Programme 2010 (pdf version): Download


Sunday programmes in Berlin

Swami Baneshananda conducts monthly Vedanta-Retreats in Berlin at 11:00 a.m. on Sundays (Please see dates below.) for about two hours in the meeting room of the vegetarian restaurant “Satyam”, Goethestraße 5, 10623 Berlin, (U-Bhf. Ernst-Reuter-Platz or S-Bhf. Savignyplatz).
Programme:
(i) Opening-Bhajan;
(ii) Reading, discussion, Question-Answer (about 30 minutes);
(iii) Talk on the theory of meditation (about 25 minutes);
(iv) Gayatri-chanting (about 10 minutes);
(v) Chanting of OM (about 5 minutes);
(vi) Guided meditation (about 30 minutes);
(vii) Closing song/reading.
Those who want to take part in the retreats may kindly contact Mr. P. K. Ghosh (Co-ordinator), Dahlemer Weg 161 a, 14167 Berlin, Tel.: (030) 8 17 44 52, Fax: (030) 84 70 70 98, E-Mail: pradeepk.ghosh@gmx.de
Dates for Sunday programmes at “Satyam”, Berlin:
March: 28; May: 23; June: 27; September: 26; October: 24; November: 14; December: 12

Saturday programmes in Mühlheim am Main

We conduct regular Saturday programmes (Please see the dates below.) at Pestalozzistraße 2
Programme till April 2010:
15:30 – Tea
16:00 – Class on the Yoga-sutras/Bhagavad-gita
16:45 to 17:00 – Break
17:00 to 17:45 – Prayer and meditation
Programme from May 2010:
15:00 – Sanskrit class
16:00 – Tea
16:45 – Class on the Yoga-sutras/Bhagavad-gita
17:30 to 17:45 – Break
17:45 to 18:30 – Prayer and meditation
Dates for Saturday programmes at Pestalozzistraße 2:
January 2010: Yoga-sutras: 30
February: 6, 13, 27.
March: 6, 13, 27.
April: 10, 25 (Sunday).
May: 1, 8, 22, 29.
June: Bhagavad-gita (No Sanskrit class): 5, 19, 26.
July: 3, 10, 17, (Yoga-sutras): 31.
August: 7, (Bhagavad-gita)(No Sanskrit class): 28.
September: Yoga-sutras: 4, 11, 25.
October: 2, 9, 23, 30.
November: 6, 13, (Bhagavad-gita)(No Sanskrit class): 27.
December: 4, 11.

Lessons in Sanskrit-language

Swami Baneshananda will give lessons in Sanskrit-language from 1st May 2010 (Please see the dates below.) at Pestalozzistraße 2. The one-hour class begins at 3 p.m. For registration, please contact us after 28 February 2010. One has to oneself procure one's own book and other materials. The following books will be helpful:
(i) A Sanskrit Manual: Part - I, by R. Antoine, published by Allied Publishers Private Limited, India;
(ii) A Sanskrit Manual: Part - II, by R. Antoine, published by Allied Publishers Private Limited, India.
Dates for Saturday Sanskrit-lessons at Pestalozzistraße 2:
May: 1, 8, 22, 29.
July: 31.
August: 7.
September: 4, 11, 25.
October: 2, 9, 23, 30.
November: 6, 13.
December: 4, 11.

Retreat in March 2010 in Bindweide with Swami Baneshananda and Swami Bhaswatananda

Topic: The Soul and Its Destiny
(As usual, the discourses will be translated sentence-for-sentence into German.)

Kindly enrol yourself well in advance so as to help us arrange for your accommodation in or near the Ashrama.

Swami Vivekananda said: ‘Of the many riddles that have perplexed the intellect of man … the most intricate is himself … the most mysterious is his own nature. It is at once the most insoluble enigma and the problem of all problems.’

Each generation passes on to the next this problem of the nature of the soul and its destiny, the great mystery of life and death. There are some who cannot help asking: Where do we come from? Have we been created like the things we see around us? Did we exist before our birth in this world and shall we continue to exist after death? Such questions have been asked again and again, down the ages. From direct personal experience, the teachers of Vedanta tell us that the soul, which passes through repeated embodiment, is immortal in itself. It existed before its ‘birth’ and will continue to live eternally, even though it may pass through a series of ‘births’ and ‘deaths’.

Fortunately, there are always a few intrepid souls who try to unravel this mystery and find a solution through Self-realization. Let us make an effort, then, to follow in the footsteps of these great ones. If we try hard enough and persistently enough, we may solve the problem for ourselves!

Swami Baneshananda and Swami Bhaswatananda of Vedanta Gesellschaft will jointly conduct a three-day interactive retreat on the above subject.

PROGRAMME
Friday (19.03)
18:30 Prayer and meditation
19:45 Dinner
20:45 Introduction/Announcements
Saturday (20.03)
06:00 Meditation
06:30 Prayer and reading
07:45 Breakfast
08:30 Karma Yoga
10:30 Discourse
12:15 Lunch
13:30 Silence and rest
15:00 Tea
15:30 Free time
16:30 Discourse and Question-Answer
17:30 Reflection
Silence period: 18:30 to 7:30 (next day)
18:30 Singing, meditation
19:45 Dinner
20:45 Discussion / Evening programme 21:45 Retiring to bed
Sunday (21.03)
06:00 Meditation
06:30 Prayer and reading
07:45 Breakfast
08:30 Karma Yoga
10:30 Discourse and Question-Answer
11:30 Prayer
12:15 Lunch, silence and rest
15:00 Tea
15:30 Room cleaning

Registration: Please register your name latest by 12.03.2010 by post or by telephone with Vedanta Gesellschaft, Pestalozzistraße 2, 63165 Mühlheim am Main, Tel.: 06108-823 105.
Retreat Cost: (per person) € 50 for the 3-day retreat including food (accommodation extra), or € 25 per day.
Accommodation: The Society does not have many single-bed or double-bed rooms. Elderly persons and ladies will be given preference in the mater of room allotment. People generally donate an amount of € 20 for three-bed, € 22 for double-bed and € 25 for single-bed rooms, per head per night.
Please pay the retreat cost in advance and also your donation, if any, to our account No. 406262, in favour of Vedanta Gesellschaft, with Volksbank Gebhardshain, BLZ: 573 614 76.
Please bring your house shoes and bed linen. Bed linen is also available at the ashrama for € 5.


Retreat in April 2010 in Bindweide with Swami Veetamohananda and Swami Baneshananda

Topic: Sri Ramakrishna and Universal Harmony
(As usual, the discourses will be translated sentence-for-sentence into German.)

Kindly enrol yourself well in advance so as to help us arrange for your accommodation in or near the Ashrama.

Having emerged as an important part of social studies, comparative religion is acting as an antidote to the exclusiveness and fanaticism fostered by certain religious institutions in the present-day world. Until recently, the study of comparative religion used to be undertaken with the attitude of a critic, adopting a particular standard, and exposing the shortcomings of different religions from that point of view. Lately, however, it has taken a novel turn. It is being realized that a true understanding of a religion is had not by approaching it as a critic but as a believer.

Sad to say, though this liberalism in interreligious understanding is gaining more and more acceptance among independent scholars, some religious establishments and their priestly bodies do not seem to be much influenced by it. This is the background of interreligious attitudes against which Sri Ramakrishna appears before us. If there is any chance of effecting universal harmony in a world of religious pluralism, it lies in our getting acquainted with his experiments with the great religions of the world and his liberal conclusions. For he is the only person in world history who has supported religious pluralism with the example of his own life.

Swami Veetamohananda of Centre Vedantique Ramakrishna, France, and Swami Baneshananda of Vedanta Gesellschaft, Germany – both with extensive teaching experience – will speak on the above theme in this three-day retreat.

PROGRAMME
Friday (16.04)
18:30 Prayer and meditation
19:45 Dinner
20:45 Introduction/Announcements
Saturday (17.04)
06:00 Meditation
06:30 Prayer and reading
07:45 Breakfast
08:30 Karma Yoga
10:30 Discourse
12:15 Lunch
13:30 Silence and rest
15:00 Tea
15:30 Discourse and Question-Answer
17:00 Reflection and Free time
Silence period: 18:30 to 7:30 (next day)
18:30 Singing, meditation
19:45 Dinner
20:45 Discussion / Evening programme 21:45 Retiring to bed
Sunday (18.04)
06:00 Meditation
06:30 Prayer and reading
07:45 Breakfast
08:30 Karma Yoga
10:30 Discourse and Question-Answer
11:30 Prayer
12:15 Lunch, silence and rest
15:00 Tea
15:30 Room cleaning

Registration: Please register your name latest by 09.04.2010 by post or by telephone with Vedanta Gesellschaft, Pestalozzistraße 2, 63165 Mühlheim am Main, Tel.: 06108-823 105.
Retreat Cost: (per person) € 55 for the 3-day retreat including food (accommodation extra), or € 30 per day.
Accommodation: The Society does not have many single-bed or double-bed rooms. Elderly persons and ladies will be given preference in the mater of room allotment. People generally donate an amount of € 20 for three-bed, € 22 for double-bed and € 25 for single-bed rooms, per head per night.
Please pay the retreat cost in advance and also your donation, if any, to our account No. 406262, in favour of Vedanta Gesellschaft, with Volksbank Gebhardshain, BLZ: 573 614 76.
Please bring your house shoes and bed linen. Bed linen is also available at the ashrama for € 5.


Important Information

Please help us serve you better!

We are happy to inform you that if you wish to stay some more time than the retreat period, you may come one day before and/or stay on one day after the retreat. You may donate some amount for these two extra days. Those who volunteer to help us prepare for a retreat and reorganize things after the retreat will get priority for accommodation for these two extra days.

If you like us to arrange for your accommodation for a retreat when the ashrama is already full, we will try to do it for you. The availability and rates of outside accommodation is not always certain.

If you wish to be received or seen off at Betzdorf railway station, you may want to pay € 8 for each trip. Please check our website for availability of bus services from Betzdorf to Bindweide (or even to Steinebach or Rosenheim, which are just a kilometer away), and then book your railway tickets.

Those who want to leave on Sunday morning should arrange for their own conveyance.



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