April 25-26 Retreat With Swami Medhananda “The World As God”

Swami Medhananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order currently posted at The Vedanta Society of Southern California. Many of you may know him through his books, INFINITE PATHS TO INFINITE REALITY and SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S VEDANTIC COSMOPOLITANISM. You might also be acquainted with his talks and classes posted on YouTube. We are happy that he has made the time to stop by Ridgely to give an in-person retreat.

To accommodate his schedule the retreat hours will be different than our usual weekend programs. Here is the schedule:

        Thursday April 25

         1pm Lunch

         2:30-4:30 Session 1

2:30-3:30: Talk: “Sri Ramakrishna’s Philosophy of Vijnana Vedanta”

3:30-4:30: Gospel class (“Is the world unreal?”)

         

         Friday April 26

         10:30-12:30 Session 2

10:30-11:30 am: Talk: “Service as Worship”

11:30-12:30 pm: Gospel class (The Problem of Evil and Suffering)

           1pm Lunch

As of March 11 all the overnight spaces have been filled. You can find accommodation at a local hotel and attend as a day visitor.

If you wish to attend as a day visitor, you also need to register.

Register by calling us (845)687-4574 or emailing gitaprana@ridgely.org

As Shuddhatmaprana, our usual cook for the retreats, will not be here during this time, we are looking for volunteers to bring lunch for 1 day. We expect about 25 people. Please contact Gitaprana if you would like to be of service in this way.

Vivekananda Retreat Opens Tomorrow March 2 ,2024

It appears to be Spring and that means Vivekananda Retreat will be open starting March 2. There may still be snow, but so far, we have had a basically snowless winter. If you wish to visit Ridgely for a day/tour, please call to make arrangements at least 2 days in advance. It is not possible to take your own tour. We live in the houses where you will be visiting and so it is necessary to you to be accompanied by one of us. The tours we give usually last about 2 hours. There is much to see and many stories connected with this place associated with Swami Vivekananda! You can also schedule an overnight stay. Call or email us to schedule overnight stays at least 5 days in advance. Please note: we do not allow children under the age of 17 to stay overnight at the retreat. Also, we are still requiring all overnight guests to take a home Covid test before arriving. This is to protect the resident staff and other guests.

Ridgely is meant to be a place of retreat and reflection. For that reason, we deliberately do not have many daily activities. Each guest is free to structure their retreat as they see fit. Meals are prepared by the guests in the communal kitchen of each retreat house. Caretakers are there to assist if they are free.

We have morning and evening group meditations from 6-7am and 6-7pm. The shrine room is open all day from 6am-7pm. Anyone may use the shrine to meditate during those hours. We have quite a few local people who drop in to meditate whenever they are free. 

Weekly events:

Ridgely sponsors 2 zoom classes each week

Wednesdays at 5:30pm.  Gitaprana’s Shakta Advaita class

Sundays at 5:30pm  Ask the Sisters sessions. The sisters from Calif. and Ridgely answer questions asked via email from the class attendees. The sisters do not know what the questions are in advance so these sessions are very spontaneous.

To receive the Zoom links for these classes please email Gitaprana.   gitaprana@ridgely.org

We also have a class here at the retreat on Sundays at 10:30am. Currently we are studying the Bhagavad Gita in depth.

From about April to November we try to schedule 1 organized weekend retreat featuring a guests speaker-usually one of the swamis or sisters from the Vedanta Societies around the US. We are currently working on that schedule.

Ridgely has 82 acres of forest and field. Anyone may walk on our property, along our shrine trail, during daylight hours. You don’t need to tell us that you are coming to walk. You do need to be aware that we live in an area where ticks causing Lyme Disease are present, so dress appropriately.

Volunteering at Ridgely

Spring means we are beginning our outside property maintenance. There is always much to be done. We have many long flower and shrub borders that require weeding. We have a big organic vegetable garden that needs to be maintained. This year we need to do some work on our shrine trail, fixing drainage and cutting back invasive vines.

We also have many small painting projects both inside and outside of all 3 houses.

We would love some help. If you would like to volunteer, please email or call us. Last year we designated Saturdays as work days, but it rained practically every Saturday. This year we may set 2 days per month beginning in April for group work days.

 

Vivekananda Retreat is closed right now (January 2024)

The retreat always closes during the winter when snow and ice make moving around on our property dangerous..  We will reopen when we know the weather conditions are going to be consistently good. That usually means March. Please check back at a later date.  A reminder:even when the retreat is open, you need to call or email us to schedule a visit. See you when we reopen!

UPCOMING EVENTS AT RIDGELY October/November 2023

Oct. 21, 11am-3pm Durga Puja

We invite you to our annual puja celebrating the Goddess Durga. The puja will be followed by a homa fire and a Prasad meal. If you are planning to attend be aware that we have reinstated our Covid practices. Please do not come if you are feeling even a little ill and be aware that masks are currently required.

Nov. 3-4 Retreat on “The Gitas’ by Swamis Sarvadevananda, Tyagananda and Atmanjnanananda

Friday Nov. 3 ,10-5 (lunch provided)

Saturday Nov. 4 ,10-12 (lunch provided)

You are invited to attend this 2 day retreat. Swami Sarvadevananda will speak on the Shanti Gita. Swami Tyagananda will take a section of the Bhagavad Gita. Swami Atmajnanananda will speak on the Ashtavakra Gita. Schedule details are still to be finalized.

If you wish to attend this retreat as an overnight guest or as a day visitor please contact us at gitaprana@ridgely.org as soon as possible. Please be aware that all overnight guests must take a home Covid test before arrival. All retreat attendees are required to wear masks.

In addition to the retreat on Thursday November 2, there will be an evening informal satsang with the swamis. This program will begin at 7:30pm.

Sunday, November 12, 6-10pm. Kali Puja

This is our annual, elaborate puja  celebrating the Devi Dakshina Kali. The evening includes the main worship, homa fire and Prasad. If you wish to stay overnight please notify us as soon as possible.

I have been thinking about questions and answers. Way back when, there was a group of us young people who spent all our free time in the company of Swami Swananda, then head of the Vedanta Society of Berkeley. One of his many remarkable qualities was open-mindedness. Once somebody asked him”Swami, how did you become so open-minded?” He answered, “I didn’t ask questions.” Instead, he tried to work out the answers for himself. Fast forward about 25 years when Swami Swahananda said to me,“In all these years I have never answered any of your questions. Do you know why?” I rarely asked him questions anyway but he was correct; if I did ask a question he either replied “Figure it out yourself!” or supplied many answers, or a ridiculous answer.  He told me, “You see, you have to look at questions from many perspectives and try to work out an answer for yourself, especially because you will be talking to many people with different ways of approaching God.”

Fast forward another 15 years and I say there are NO answers in spiritual life, at least not of the intellectually based kind. The German poet Rainer Maria Rilke once asserted that questions are best LIVED with the hope of one day LIVING into the answers. Brahman,the Self, God, the Mother can never be intellectually understood, can never be captured in words or concepts. Realization is experience, not some kind of mind-based understanding. We ask questions to clarify our spiritual path, to strengthen our resolve to go forward with our intention to’ realize God.’  Like Swami Swananda and Swami Swahananda, we should deeply consider our questions before we ask them and be open-minded about answers, remembering that the same question can be answered from many perspectives. We should beware of seeking THE answers. We should not accept pat answers and glib statements about the nature of reality. We should strive to push our understanding out to its very boundaries, to live ‘on the edge’ as it were. What is that edge? Where mind can’t go and ultimately falls apart into realization. Our questions vanish and we LIVE our way into that Divine Consciousness that is the very basis of our existence.

Visiting Ridgely

This year we are happy to report that we have had more visitors than ever before. The local community has been using the retreat as a quiet place to walk, sit outside, or to meditate in the shrine. We have many people coming for tours and a growing number of overnight guests. 

Here is a FAQ about visiting the retreat for those who might be new:

Anyone is free to walk on our roads and on the shrine trail during daylight hours You need to avoid the properties of our neighbors who share our internal road (known as Ridgely Drive). Please be aware that we live in an area where the ticks carry Lyme and other diseases. If you are going to walk on our shrine trail or sit on the grass anywhere here you need to spray yourself with a DEET based insect repellent or natural equivalent. 

If you would like a tour of the property you need to call at least 2 days in advance to schedule. Our tour guides have many other responsibilities and aren’t always available. Ridgely isn’t like a museum. Tours usually take about 2 hours. Masks may be required so please bring one.

Regarding overnight stays: You need to book overnight stays at least 5 days in advance. You can do this via phone or by email (info@ridgely.org)We do not allow children under the age of 17 to stay overnight at the retreat. Families w/young children can book a room in a nearby hotel and visit during the day. We are still requiring that each person take a home Covid test before coming. 

We open the Manor House at 6am and close it at 7pm. During our open hours people may come to the shrine to sit, meditate, pray. If it is your first visit to the shrine, please call ahead. We will show you where to leave your shoes etc. After the first time you are free to come and go during the open hours w/o notifying us. Group meditations are from 6-7:15am and 6-7pm.Masks may be required as Covid cases are on the rise here in NY.

We close the retreat at 7pm.

Retreat With Swami Yogatmananda Sept. 2-3

Swami Yogatmananda, Head of the Vedanta Society of Providence, will be giving a retreat here on Saturday, Sept. 2-Sunday September 3. His subject will be Gems From Meister Eckhart. Many of you know that Swami Yogatmananda gives a retreat here every year over the Labor Day weekend. His retreats are very popular and , as of today, all the overnight spaces for men are filled. There are still a couple spaces for women left. We won’t be restricting the number of people who attend all or part of this retreat, so it is still possible to attend as a day visitor. All are welcome.We hope to see you that weekend.

 Here is the tentative schedule:

Saturday, Sept, 2

10am-12:45 Morning sessions

1-2 Lunch

2:15-5 Afternoon sessions

Sunday Sept. 3

10am-12:45 Final sessions

1-2 Lunch

 

About Meditation

Meditation. It’s an important part of our spiritual practice. It is better to sit every day and be utterly unable to control our thoughts than to skip our meditation altogether. When we sit to meditate we must remember that MEDITATION IS NOT ANOTHER ACTIVITY. It is a non-activity. In the US we live in a culture that prioritizes activities that produce results. We cannot come to our meditation with that kind of attitude. We might sit down for a certain time, make our seat comfortable, take some deep breaths, pull out our mala/rosary and start counting. If we don’t adjust our thought process to simply BE beforehand, all these actions are interpreted by the mind as more activity. We are still in action mode and we wonder why we can’t seem to ‘control our thoughts’. Another activity-I have to control my thoughts. No. We need to learn to ignore them and slowly a deeper kind of consciousness begins to manifest on its own. We don’t have to produce it; it is already there. The Self/God is not somewhere else; it is always present. All we have to do is ‘enter the silence’ of our own essential nature. That’s where we encounter the Divine. It’s not about how long we meditate or how many mantras we recite. It is about that deep presence that can be touched only when mind is not buzzing away in activity mode. Yes, we might repeat a mantra or use some kind of visualization but we should look at those activities as a doorway into the mystery, the doorway between ourselves and the Divine. If meditation is frustrating, before you sit down remember: no activity, no results, JUST BE.

Upcoming Events and Activities at Ridgely

Sept. 2-3 Retreat with Swami Yogatmananda GEMS FROM MEISTER ECKHART

Oct. 21 Durga Puja

Nov. 3 TENTATIVE Retreat with Swami Sarvadevananda and friends

Nov. 12 Kali Puja

We will send more details about all these events later in the summer

Ridgely’s Ongoing classes

ZOOM

Sundays 5:30pm Eastern  ASK THE SISTERS

 Sisters from Calif. and Ridgely answer questions and sometimes get wildly off topic. We don’t know what the questions are in advance so we can’t plan answers. We love this class-the chance to get together with many sisters and friends from all over the US.

Wednesdays 5:30pm Eastern. GITAPRANA’S SHAKTA CLASS

Looking at the tradition and philosophies of of the Divine Mother. Currently we are finishing a study of the Devi Mahatmyam. We will most likely take up the study of the Lalita Sahasranama/1000 Names of Lalita next.

Please email us if you wish to receive the links for either of these classes. We don’t post them to YouTube or any other site online.

Saturday mornings at Ridgely

9:30 volunteer work mornings followed by a bag lunch.

 Lately we have been rained or smoked out but we are hoping the weather will not continue this way forever. Most of our work is outside so outside clothes are needed. Gloves and a hat too.

Sundays at Ridgely

 Once again we are going to try to resume our Sunday program here at the retreat.

9:30-10:30 Chandi chanting/reading

10:30-12 Class facilitated by Gitaprana. We usually use a text. We might start with the Kena Upanishad.

1pm Lunch

Vivekananda Retreat is open

March has been a month of snow and ice, forcing us to close the retreat temporarily. We are now back open. If you wish to visit as a day visitor you must call us to schedule a tour. If you wish to stay overnight, we need at least 5 days notice. We still have some Covid restrictions in place. Masks are required. Overnight visitors must take a Covid home test before coming. We do not allow people who have travelled internationally to visit the retreat overnight until they have been in this country 5 days and test Covid negative. Please remember, we live here and share our space with visitors. Children under the age of 17 are not allowed to stay overnight at the retreat.

Our regular schedule is currently in place.

Saturdays: 9:30am Chandi reading

10:30am -1 volunteer service (please call us if you wish to join us. Weather sometimes forces us to cancel)

Sundays: Bhagavad Gita study group 11am

Our shrine room is open for meditation every day from 6am to 7pm. Group meditation times are 6-7am and 6-7pm. If you have never been here before, please call us to schedule a time for shrine orientation. After that you may come and go during our open hours w/o contacting us.