Category: Announcements

Friday, Oct. 4 Informal retreat with Swami Ishtananda 10:30-4

Swami Ishtananda , Head Minister of the Vedanta Society of St. Petersburg, FL, will be visiting Ridgely with a group of St. Petersburg friends during the first week of October. The beginning of October usually is also the beginning of the gorgeous display of Fall foliage in the Northeast. For that reason we have decided that, weather permitting, we will have an outdoor retreat/pinic/walk at one of the local lakes. If the weather is not good, we will hold the retreat here at Ridgely. We will post more information in the October newsletter. If you are interested, please call or email us to register.

Two Pujas/Traditional Ritual Worships

Sun. Oct. 6 Durga Puja 11:00am
Sun. Oct. 27 Kali Puja 10:00pm-5:00am

Here at Ridgely, these 2 traditional pujas are the only ones usually celebrated by the Vedanta Societies which do not fall in the winter months when snow and ice compel us to close the retreat. Since worship of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda are always included as part of these larger worships, we celebrate them all in the Fall.

Durga Puja: We celebrate the goddess Durga with a 10-item worship, homa fire and prasad.

Kali Puja: This is our elaborate all-night puja for Dakshina/Shyama Kali, the same form of the Mother worshipped by Sri Ramakrishna. This is the same format followed by the Vedanta Society in Hollywood, similar to the one performed at Belur Math. For this worship we perform the traditional Prana pratishtha, the summoning and invoking the special presence of the Mother in several ways but focused on the murti, the small image of the Mother that ordinarily stays in our shrine room. After the worship She is invoked once more in the homa fire. During the final part of the puja, special presence of the Mother is allowed to return to the Formless.

Offerings: For both Durga and Kali Puja you may bring offerings to be included in the ceremony. Special restrictions apply: 1) all offerings must be new and unused. 2) flowers offerings-please do not enjoy the flowers before the Mother. 3)food-WE WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO PREPARE OR HEAT UP ANY FOOD OFFERINGS IN OUR KITCHENS. Please bring all food offerings already prepared from home in containers that have never been used for eating. If you are making food for offering please do not taste it. The idea here is that the Mother should be the first enjoyer of all offerings. Possibilities for offering : food, flowers, perfume, incense, cosmetics, clothing, jewelry.

Musical Offerings: We always encourage our musician friends to lead bhajans and kirtan. As many of you know, we don’t plan the music; it is very spontaneous and depends upon the singers who attend the puja.

All are welcome to attend all or any part of these 2 pujas. Please note that, during Kali Puja, anyone who wishes to rest after the ceremony is over will be accommodated. This is the one night where we waive our restriction on children under age 17 staying overnight at the retreat.

FOUR YOGA RETREAT AUG. 3-4 PRAVRAJIKAS BHAVANIPRANA, GITAPRANA, SHUDDHATMAPRANA, DIVYANANDAPRANA 10:30-4:30

We are happy to welcome 2 sannyasinis from Sri Sarada Math, India to Ridgely in August. Sri Sarada Math is the women’s independent monastic organization founded by the Ramakrishna Math and Mission in 1954. The sisters in the West are not part of Sri Sarada Math but we always have maintained friendly relations and are very happy when sisters from India come to visit and give teachings. This time we have agreed on a collaborative retreat on the Four Yogas of Swami Vivekananda. Over the weekend, each one of us will give a session on one of the four yogas. Here is the tentative schedule:

Saturday, August 3
10:30-12:30 Pravrajika Divyanandaprana: Jnana Yoga
1pm lunch
2:30-4:30 Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana: Bhakti Yoga

Sunday, August 4
10:30-12:30 Pravrajika Gitaprana : Raja Yoga
1pm lunch
2:30-4:30 Pravrajika Bhavaniprana: Karma Yoga

All are welcome to attend all or part of this retreat. There is no fee for day visitors. If you wish to stay overnight SIGN UP NOW! Right now we have 4 spaces in the men’s house and 4 in the women’s house. They will go fast.

We need people who will volunteer to organize and cook lunch for this retreat. This will enable Shuddhatmaprana, who usually cooks for all our retreats, to actually attend the entire program. If you would like to volunteer, please contact her: 845 687-4574.

RETREAT WITH SWAMI YOGATMANANDA AUG. 31-SEPT. 1 THE SPIRITUAL POETRY OF HAFIZ

We are happy to welcome Swami Yoagtmananda, Head Minister of the Vedanta Society of Providence, for his annual retreat here at Ridgely. This year the subject will be the spiritual poetry of Hafiz, the 14th century Persian poet.

Here is the schedule:
Saturday Aug 31
10:30-1 Session 1
1 Lunch
2-4:30 Session 2

Sunday Sept. 1
10:30-1 Session 3
1 Lunch

All are welcome to attend all or part of this retreat. The overnight spaces for this retreat have all been reserved. If you wish to be placed on the waiting list for an overnight space, please email or call.

Swami Sarvadevananda, Head Minister of the Vedanta Society of Southern California (which also includes Ridgely), will be visiting from June 13 to 15. He will give a retreat on the Amritabindu Upanishad. Here is the schedule:

June 13 7pm satsang
June 14 10:30-4:30 3 sessions on the Amritabindu Upanishad (lunch included)
June 15 10:30-1pm Final sessions on the Upanishad followed by lunch

All are welcome for attend part or all of this retreat. There is no charge to attend as a day visitor. If you wish to stay overnight please apply via the email application on this site. You will find it in the visit section.

Ritual plays an important role in every religious and spiritual tradition. It is a way to link the individual seeker with Divine Reality in a particular setting, using an established ritual structure.
In India, the ritual usually is called ‘puja’ and has been practiced in various forms for millennia. Over this vast amount of time puja, in addition to serving as a focus for devotion, has come to include layers of nuanced philosophy and what might be called ‘yogic technology’ for lack of a better term. Puja in the Hindu tradition centers around the idea that the infinite, all-pervading Divine, the source of all being, can choose to appear in one particular place, and image when invoked/requested by the one who performs the puja and the ones who attend.

There are many kinds of puja. In fact, in the wonderfully eclectic and inclusive Indian spiritual tradition, there are many ways of doing the same puja! In this intensive we will be talking about the puja associated with the Divine Mother. We will talk about the power of mantra and the sound universe, the subtle forms of divinity known as yantra/mandala, the 2 very powerful meditations that are part of the puja, and the order and meaning of the parts of the puja. We won’t be teaching you how to do it yourself as that usually requires formal initiation by a qualified teacher. Please come and join us if you are interested in entering into the world of the Divine Mother and her worship.

Here is a more detailed program for the retreat:
Puja Retreat The Play of Form and Formlessness

Each session to begin with a meditation from the puja 1. Dhyana Mantra 2. Bhuta shuddhi 3. Manasa puja

1st session-The Divine Mother the the multiverse-the setting for puja
Shakti/Shiva
SRK-Brahman and shakti not different
Emanation from subtle to physical
Mantra, Yantra,Murti: vibration from subtle to physical
Sacred Space and Purity-the concept
Creating sacred space
Mudras/sacred hand “language”

2nd session- As above, so below
The idea that god can be present in a special way-prana pratishtha
The connection between subtle world/forces and the body
The goddess invoked in the altar of the body- chakras and nyasa

3rd session- The Queen of the Universe in heart and home
Invoking Her presence
The actual worship of the Mother
Manasa Puja Worship of the Mother in the heart
Calling the Mother into the Image
The Offerings
She returns to the formless

If you wish to attend this retreat as a day visitor please register by sending an email or calling us. Email: info@ridgely.org Phone: 845 687-4574

If you wish to register as an overnight guest please go to ridgely.org and fill out the overnight application.

As of Monday, March 25, the retreat will is open to day visitors. On April 1 we will resume taking overnight guests. If you are coming as a day visitor you must call us first to make sure we have someone available to give you a tour. This is a residence and a retreat center, not a museum. You need one of us to take you on a tour through the buildings. We are happy to do that. Please be aware that we do most of the work here ourselves and do not have someone always available tours at any hour. We need to work them in with our other responsibilities.Please call us in advance.

If you would like to stay at the retreat overnight, you will find the online application in the Visit section. Please be aware that we do not allow children under the age of 17 to stay overnight at the retreat. Please send us your application or call us to make a reservation at least 5 days in advance.

We look forward to seeing you here at Vivekananda Retreat this year!

It finally snowed here at the retreat. The snow is covered with a layer of ice. This means we are closing the retreat until further notice. Usually we are closed during the months of January and February. We hope to see you in the Spring.

PLEASE NOTE: We are now in the winter season here at the retreat.During these winter months we do not schedule programs or events. We will remain open for visitors and retreatants until snow and ice make it impossible/unsafe to park or walk on our internal roads. PLEASE CALL AHEAD BEFORE YOU GET IN THE CAR TO COME HERE IF YOU WANT TO VISIT.IT’S BETTER TO CALL AT LEAST A DAY IN ADVANCE. We are happy to schedule tours but not when the retreat is closed. Overnight guests need to make reservations at least 5 days in advance. Please go to our Visit page and fill out the overnight retreat form at the end of the section.

Please be aware that we are not a museum.It is not possible to just walk in and see the place without one of us acting as tour guide. We live here as well. We do enjoy giving tours but please be aware that the people here have many other responsibilities and may not be available. That is why we ask you to call ahead to schedule a time that works for all.

We will begin our programs again in the spring as soon as the snow and ice disappear. Our first program of 2019, as of now, will be a retreat given by Swami Sarvapriyananda on April 6. Topic to be announced. If you wish to sign up for our email newsletter, there is a link here on our website.

We hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

We are happy to welcome back Swami Nikhileshwarananda, the Head of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission Center in Rajkote, India. He will be giving a one-day retreat. Here is a tentative schedule:

10:30-1 Morning session
1pm. Lunch
2-4pm. Afternoon session

All are welcome to attend this program. If you wish to stay overnight, please go to our website, ridgely.org and fill out the overnight application. You will find it in the Visit section. We do require that reservations be made at least 5 days in advance. Please be aware that we do not allow children under the age of 17 to stay overnight at the retreat.

Please be aware that we are now experiencing winter conditions here at the retreat. If there is a snowstorm on the 24th we will cancel this event.

Dear Friends,
Due to illness of the Ridgely staff we have decided to cancel our October events. Our next public event will be Kali Puja, Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 10pm.

We are happy to announce that Swami Sarvapriyananda, Minister in Charge of the Vedanta Society of New York, will be returning to Ridgely to give a one-day retreat. His subject is Waking to Awakening, based on the Mandukya Upanishad- discovering the Self by analyzing waking, dreaming and deep sleep state of consciousness.

We are limiting the number of attendees for this retreat to 50. We have already given first chance to sign up to our local friends. There are 30 spaces left. If you wish to attend you must sign up by emailing me: gitaprana@ridgely.org. Give me your name and your phone #. DAY VISITORS MUST SIGN UP.

OVERNIGHT VISITORS: There are a few spaces left in both the women’s and men’s retreat houses. If you wish to attend as an overnight visitor please go to ridgely.org and fill out the overnight application. You will find it at the end of the Visit section. Once we receive your email application, we will contact you to finalize. Please remember that w do not allow children under the age of 17 to stay overnight at the retreat.

DAY VISITORS, SIGN UP. OVERNIGHT VISITORS, EMAIL US YOUR APPLICATION. DO IT NOW!
Swami Sarvapriyananda is a very well-known speaker and these spaces will fill up quickly. Once the spaces, both overnight and day visitors, are filled we will be placing all others on a waiting list.