Dear Friends,
Like many,
I am a humble seeker taking my slow yet steady nascent baby-steps towards ब्रह्मजिज्ञासन (brahmajijñāsana – desire to know
diviity). And recently (August
2023), as part of such ब्रह्मज्ञानयात्र
(brahmajñānayātra – divine-gnostic pilgrimage), I was divinely blessed to attend a वेदान्तपरित्राणसत्सङ्ग (vedāntaparitrāṇasatsaṅga
– vedanta retreat virtuous assemblage) which
was 5-day residential workshop in the दिव्यदेश
शृङ्गेर्याः (divyadeśa śṛṅgeryāḥ
- holy town of Sringeri), wherein His Holiness जगद्गुरु श्री श्री शङ्कराचार्यभगवद्पाद (jagadguru śrī śrī śaṅkarācāryabhagavadpāda) formally
established the sacred दक्षिणाम्नाय
श्री शार्दापीठम् (dakṣiṇāmnāya
śrī śārdāpīṭham) located
under the foothills of the श्रीऋष्यशृङ्गगिरि
(śrīṛṣyaśṛṅgagiri – Holy Rishyasringa hills) along
the banks ofश्री तुङ्गभद्रानदी (śrī tuṅgabhadrānadī – Holy Tungabhadra river).
Figure 1: Batch 2 English (26 - 29 August
2023)
The वेदान्तपरित्राण सत्सङ्गकार्यक्रम
(vedāntaparitrāṇa satsaṅgakāryakrama – vedanta-retreat virtuous-assemblage-programme) is the brainchild of His Holiness ज्येष्ठमहासंनिधानम् श्री विधुशेकरभरतिस्वामिन् (jyeṣṭhamahāsaṃnidhānam
śrī vidhuśekarabharatisvāmin) and blessed by none
other than His Holiness महासंनिधानम् श्री
भारतितीर्थमहास्वामिन् (mahāsaṃnidhānam śrī bhāratitīrthamahāsvāmin) who is the षाष्ठत्रिंशत् पीठाधिपति
शृङ्गेरीपीठस्य (ṣāṣṭhatriṃśat pīṭhādhipati śṛṅgerīpīṭhasya – thrty-sixth pontiff of Sringeri
Monastry).
This आर्य कार्यक्रम (ārya kāryakrama
– noble programme) was started with
the vision of wide-spreading the प्रज्ञान हिन्दुसनतनधर्मस्य
(prajñāna hindusanatanadharmasya - wisdom
of the eternal Hindu spirituality) by teaching its core tenets of उत्तरमीमांसकेवलाद्वैतदर्शन हिन्दुसनतनधर्मस्य (uttaramīmāṃsakevalādvaitadarśana
hindusanatanadharmasya – superior inquiry philosophy of absolute nondualistic
final wisdom). To this end, अहंब्रह्मास्मि केन्द्र (ahaṃbrahmāsmi
kendra – Aham Brahmasmi Mission) was formally established with the प्रेषण (preṣaṇa - mission) of instrumentalizing this noble vision by conducting multiple
brainstorming अन्तर्क्रियात्मक अध्यायनागाराः (antarkriyātmaka
adhyāyanāgārāḥ - interactive learning-workshops) facilitating health participative brainstorming
discussion between the earnest knowledge-seekers on the one side and आचार्याः (ācāryāḥ - preceptors)
& पण्डिताः (paṇḍitāḥ - scholars) and various subject matter experts, on the other.
The best part of this आर्य कार्यक्रम (ārya kāryakrama – noble programme) is that the entire learning objectives and curriculum for
these workshops has been scoped and designed by various आचार्याः (ācāryāḥ - preceptors)
& पण्डिताः (paṇḍitāḥ - scholars) like Padma Shri V. R. Gowrishankar, Late Dr. M L Narasimha
Murthy, Sri V.Subrahmanian, Sri HNLN Simha, (Lakshmeesha) etc., and above all,
it has been reviewed, approved, and directly blessed by His Holiness ज्येष्ठमहासंनिधानम् श्री विधुशेकरभरतिस्वामिन् (jyeṣṭhamahāsaṃnidhānam
śrī vidhuśekarabharatisvāmin). In fact, the अन्तर्क्रियात्मक अध्यायनागाराः (antarkriyātmaka
adhyāyanāgārāḥ - interactive learning-workshops) are formally concluded with an exclusive अपरोक्ष अनुग्रहभाषण ज्येष्ठमहासंनिधानस्य (aparokṣa
anugrahabhāṣaṇa jyeṣṭhamahāsaṃnidhānasya – im-mediate blessing-discourse of the
senrior supreme pontiff).
The distinguishing charecteristic of these अन्तर्क्रियात्मक अध्यायनागाराः (antarkriyātmaka adhyāyanāgārāḥ - interactive learning-workshops) is that it provides a holistic blend of चतुर्मार्ग संमेलन (caturmārga saṃmelana – four-path synergy) , as summarized below
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# |
मार्ग (mārga– path) |
कार्यसूची (kāryasūcī
– agenda) |
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1 |
कर्म / क्रिया मार्ग (karma / kriyā mārga – ritual path) |
|
|
2 |
भक्तिमार्ग (bhaktimārga devotional path) |
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3 |
ध्यानमार्ग (dhyānamārga – meditative path) |
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4 |
ज्ञानमार्ग (jñānamārga - gnosis path) |
|
The technical
sessions by subject matter experts were so effectively handled even when
addressing some advanced concepts that even a beginner student could comfortably
relate to it and participate in the discussions. Of course , अहंब्रह्मास्मि केन्द्र
(ahaṃbrahmāsmi kendra – Aham Brahmasmi Mission) ensures the continuity of knowledge sharing even after the
completion of these workshops by optimally leveraging the digital social-networking
platforms and delivery channels like whatsapp, facebook etc., Afterall वेदाध्यायन (vedādhyāyana –
vedic learming) is a continuum
and collaborative peer to peer learning and knowledge sharing serves as a great
catalyst.
Another key highlight is that the leadership team who are
organizing these अन्तर्क्रियात्मक अध्यायनागाराः (antarkriyātmaka
adhyāyanāgārāḥ - interactive learning-workshops) has startegically designed a multilinguistic learning
pathway in consideration of the linguistically widely diversified भारतीयशीक्षार्तिन्जनसङ्ख्याविज्ञान (bhāratīyaśīkṣārtinjanasaṅkhyāvijñāna
– India’s student demography). For example,
there are workshops not only in English but there are separately vernacularized
workshops cutting across a variety of regional languages including but not limited
to Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi etc. And even logistically these workshops planned
to be spread across different cities of India viz. Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad
etc.
Last but not the least, I would like to highlight the meticulus
planning, coordination in organizing these workshops from all perspective including
but not limited to boarding, lodging and transportaion logistics. My hats off
and humble salutations to all the organizers in general and with heartfelt
special pranams to Sri Gautham and his family, for their hostpitality,
sincereity and dedication – sheer निश्कामकर्म (niśkāmakarma – detached service).
Before
concluding, I would like to share on a personal note that as I was completing
my 50 years of mortal life in the month of August, I honestly from the deepest
of my heart consider it as साक्षात् गुरुकृपा
(sākṣāt gurukṛpā –
absolute grace of guru) that I was blessed with an
opportunity to attend the वेदान्तपरित्राणसत्सङ्ग
(vedāntaparitrāṇasatsaṅga – vedanta retreat virtuous assemblage).
श्री गुरुभ्यो नमः (śrī gurubhyo namaḥ - salutations to holy gurus)॥
