Author: thakur

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

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.

 

It is Fall here at Ridgely. It seems like we will have a gorgeous leaf season.We are open for overnight guests and day visitors until snow/ice force us to close for the winter. Please follow there guidelines:

You must be vaccinated and masked at all times

Overnight guests need to make reservations at least 2 weeks in advance. We require overnight guests to take a home Covid test before arrival.

Day visitors need to make an appointment at least a day in advance. Many of our visitors believe Ridgely is a museum. No. We live here, so you need to have someone take you on a tour through the main house.

We are not giving tours to drop-in visitors

Kali Puja 

We will be performing our annual Kali Puja at 6-11pm on the amavasya/no moon night, Monday, Oct. 24. This is an elaborate ritual worship of the goddess Dakshina Kali, the dark mother who is the source of all. 

Here is the approximate timing:

Puja:6pm

Homa:9pm

Flower Offering: 10pm

Prasad Meal: 10:30pm

You are welcome to attend all or part of this celebration. We are again limiting the number of attendees so you need to register by email or phone. Our phone 3: (845) 687-4574

Email: gitaprana@ridgely.org

We are happy to welcome you back to the retreat. We will remain open to  day visitors and overnight guests unless the Covid cases rise to high levels in our area and in the NE in general. To visit you must be vaccinated. Masks are required inside at all times.

 Our shrine is open from 6am-7pm for anyone who wishes to meditate. If it will be your first tine to use the shrine, please call us. All others may come and go without letting us know.

Please call at least a day in advance us to schedule a tour/day visit. You cannot just drop in without scheduling. Since we live here in the houses you will visit and most of us fall into the high risk Covid category, we do not allow people to take tours without one of us as a guide.

Overnight guests need to schedule at least five days in advance. Please note that we do not allow children under the age of 17 to stay overnight at the retreat. Visitors with young children can book a local hotel room and spend the day at Ridgely. To make a reservation, please call us. We have not scheduled any organized programs/retreats at this time. We hope to begin these programs in May/June.

The retreat’s phone # is (845) 687-4574.

Vivekananda Retreat is currently open in a limited way. For tours and overnight stays, vaccination and masks are mandatory. Right now we are not allowing children under 12 years of age to visit the retreat. For tours, you MUST call us to schedule. No drop-in visits. We are allowing limited overnight guests. You must call us at least 2 weeks in advance to book an overnight stay.

DURGA PUJA. We will be celebrating the Devi Durga on Saturday, Oct. 9, 10:30am-2pm. We are limiting the number of people so you must call us to register to attend.

KALI PUJA. This year we will be holding our annual Kali Puja on Nov. 4, 6-11pm. Please note that we have switched to an earlier time. Again, we will limit the number of people present, so you must call to register.

Our phone # is (845) 687-4574

For most of July our area has experienced almost daily severe thunderstorms. We had a lightning strike on our property which took out our phone service last week. It still has not been restored. Without phone service visitors have no way to schedule tours, so we have decided to close the retreat until our service is restored and some other damage is repaired. We require advance appointments for all visitors. Please do not try to visit the retreat at this time. We hope this problem ( and other damage as well) will be fixed soon.

With best wishes,

Gitaprana

We are happy to announce that Vivekananda Retreat will open to DAY VISITORS ONLY on July1. (If that goes well, we will open for overnight stays on August 19.) We look forward to seeing you! Of course, this could change, as the pandemic is not over yet. Because of the growing uncertainty of the spread of the Delta variants and their potential impact you must follow these requirements:

PLEASE  NOTE THESE REQUIREMENTS:

-At this time VACCINATION IS REQUIRED. This means that, for the time being, unvaccinated adults and children may not visit the Retreat. Proof of vaccination required the first time you visit. Our staff is fully vaccinated.

-We are limiting tours to 8 people or less. YOU MUST CALL US AT LEAST 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE TO SCHEDULE A TOUR.  Our phone:(845)687-4574. Our tour hours are 2-5pm.

-MASKS: REQUIRED. BRING YOUR MASK! 

-SOCIAL DISTANCING REQUIRED IN THE SHRINE

-NO DROP-IN VISITS. As stated above, you must call us at least 24 hours in advance. We will enforce this.

FOR OUR MEDITATING FRIENDS:

If you are only coming to use the shrine for meditation.

The Manor House will be locked. You will need to ring the doorbell. During the group meditation times the door will be open.

GROUP MEDITATION TIMES:

6-7am

6-7pm

THE RETREAT CLOSES AT 7pm SHARP.

People have many reasons for not getting the Covid vaccine.We recognize that. Here is the reality for an organization like Ridgely that relies on the support of our visitors and friends: The Covid restrictions that currently exist for places like ours are all waived for the vaccinated public but not for the unvaccinated. That makes it possible for us to re-open on a limited basis only. We will do this, unless the pandemic takes another unforeseen turn. We look forward to the day when all restrictions will no longer apply. That day, realistically speaking, won’t be anytime soon.

With all the above in mind, and because we have enjoyed meeting new friends via Zoom, we will be continuing our Zoom classes- the Wednesday Gita class and the Sunday Ask the Sisters class, both every week at 5:30pmEDT.

A note from Gitaprana:

Dear Friends,

Vivekananda Retreat, Ridgely will remain closed throughout the month of August, 2020. I have to admit that the question of how safe it is to open the retreat has hijacked many of my morning meditations. It has really weighed on my mind. Many people have asked us when we are going to open. Understandably they want to escape the city and visit a beautiful, quiet place such as Ridgely. As I mentioned last month, I am following the other local religious/spiritual centers that have a situation similar to ours- places where living space is shared, meals are communal, and visitors are moving through the same spaces where the staff lives. These centers remain closed and so will we. This is the reality of the pandemic. In my hijacked meditations when I weigh the lives of the staff and visitors against the need for a drive in the country to get away, the choice is clear. We are not open.Unfortunately, this could last much longer than we imagined back in March.

Dear Friends,

Vivekananda Retreat Ridgely will remain closed to all visitors for the entire month of July. This is still because of the Covid-19 pandemic. If all goes well in NY we are looking at a very limited re-opening with HUGE restrictions some time in the month of July. We will let you know. Until then, please don’t visit us! We miss our usual summer rush, but this is the way of the world this year. We need to protect our staff and our visitors and, until we feel confident that this is possible, we will remain completely closed. We don’t see any organized retreats with visiting speakers happening in the near future because of space and gathering restrictions that will probably be in place all year.

There are some benefits to this time fraught with uncertainty and anxiety. One of them is the explosion of wonderful online teachings and talks as spiritual organizations have moved their presence to the internet. I suggest you check them out. In fact, I suggest that you limit your exposure to the news and, instead, listen/watch a talk or participate in a Zoom class.

We all know the problem with the news. We need to stay informed without going down the rabbithole into a worldview of endless disaster and unbelievably negative behaviors on display. We may think that this is the way we keep focused on the larger picture, but , if we really pay attention, we will find ourselves feeling totally enraged and disheartened. We will not find Oneness in the news.

As the pandemic drags on, we may find our spiritual life lying in shreds on the floor, as it were. All inspiration and motivation is lost and we feel numb. I would guess that this might be the experience of quite a few people, especially if you live in a place like New York City where the death toll and the horrible consequences of severe illness are all around you, sirens wailing through empty city streets. It is your relatives, your friends on those gurneys, in the morgue. And it just drags on and on…no job, no money , limited friendly contact……Remember, everyone is experiencing some form of anxiety. Remember you are not alone. These are not normal times.

When our spiritual life is hanging in the balance there are a few things we can adjust. One is to find a friend of like mind and talk/study together. Another is to look for a fresh view of your spiritual life. That’s where all the online classes come in handy. Try a new approach with an open mind. If you have been devotionally oriented, listen to a different teacher or challenge yourself to listen to an Advaitic talk or a devotional teaching from another tradition. Break down some barriers in your mind. And visa versa-if you consider yourself an Advaitin, try some devotional practices. “Chant the name of the Lord and His glories unceasingly”.

Many teachers have recommended spiritualizing an activity you love. When the usual practices seem useless and uninspiring, your love for this activity will keep you going. Do you love walking in nature, music, painting, working on cars? Collecting stamps? Writing? Building things? Gardening? Make that into a spiritual practice. You will know how to do it. As Swami Vivekananda said, “Your religion is between you and your God.”

And, above all, stay connected, stay on the Blessing Bandwidth, keep reaching out and doing the next right thing.

With Love, 

Jai Ma,

Gitaprana