Retreat at Chinmaya Gardens Trust, Coimbotore
 

BY THILAKA Vivekanandan Wijeyaratnam

THERE are ashrams and astrams in India. One thing very noticeable about these ashrams is that the founders and organisers and incumbent Swamys are great environmentalists. That they are environment-friendly folk is seen in the well laid out gardens and the lush forest vegetation well preserved.

So did we of the Sri Lanka Chinmaya Mission find the Chinmaya Gardens Trust situated about twenty odd kilometres from Coimbotore Town a heaven among havens, an ideal site and setting for retreat.

On the western side were the Western gnats keeping guard and closer yet were the groves of eucalyptus trees, so straight and stiff keeping vigil like sentinels.

With this natural protection we settled down to an entirely different lifestyle. On the day of inauguration, we were given orange robes to be worn.

Orange is the colour of knowledge, while yellow is the colour of renunciation. We donned the robes and were temporary Sanyasis during the five days of retreat in that salubrious climate of Coimbotore.

The Chinmaya Mission also runs a first class school. A co educational school set in picturesque setting at the foot of imposing mountains.

The daily exercise saw the members at tea at 5.30 am then to yoga followed by meditation or Dyana and then religious discourses or Sathsanga.

The religious and almost divine atmosphere with other rituals like home, temporarily made us forget everything that is worldly. It was a highly disciplined life and though rigorous the young and the old kept up with the spirit of it.

There were bajans too in between religious discourses. We were all highly taken up by Swamiru Mother Vipulananda who kept us spell bound with her enlightening lectures on the journey of life and the re-awakening of the Athma to realise the merging of the Athma with the Paramatma.

It was a fruitful experience for everyone. The day before the Valedictory Ceremony, there was a cultural show where elders also sang a song and staged a drama both written and directed by the writer.

The experience did not end with the five days. We carry it with us and spend a lot of time on what we learnt - spiritually in that religious atmosphere. The aroma and flavour of the five day retreat would last for ever.

The mind that was under the control of the Athma, has registered all what was said - the impressions are indelible. It keeps surfacing and makes one wonder at this science of religion revealed to us by the lectures.

This spiritual uplifting helps one to be a decent human being and more and more of such retreats would be beneficial to mankind.