Category: Announcements

We are happy to announce that Swami Sarvadevananda, Head Minister of the Vedanta Society of So. California (and also Ridgely), will be visiting us in April. He will be givinga retreat on the Katha Upanishad. This upanishad is unique, consisting of a single storyline: the young boy Nachiketa taught about the Self by Yama, King of Death. Many of you know and loveSwami Sarvadevananda ; we hope you will be able to attend all or part of this retreat.

Here is a schedule for the retreat.

Friday, April 15  

7:30pm Session #1

Saturday 4/16

10:30am Session #2
1:00pm Lunch
3:30pm Session #3

Sunday 4/17

10:30am Session #4

All are welcome to attend this retreat. If you wish to stay overnight, please make reservations soon. The retreat is free. For the overnight suggested donation, please go to ridgely.org

Please Register by March 15, 2016

We are very happy that Pravrajika Vivekaprana will once again be visiting Ridgely. She is a senior sannyasini of Sri Sarada Math and is presently the head of the retreat center Ramakrishna Sarada Mission at Pangot, located in the Himalayas. While here at Ridgely she will give 2 retreats and also, in conjunction with Swami Yogatmananda, a symposium over Labor Day weekend. Here is the schedule:

Aug. 30-Sept.2 2016 – Retreat 1

Pravrajika Vivekaprana RETREAT 1: “The Relationship Between Sri Ramakrishna and Narendranath” based on THE GREAT MASTER, Part V: chapters 6-7

Sept 4-5, 2016 – Symposium

Pravrajika Vivekaprana and Swami Yogatmananda:

SYMPOSIUM: “Inspired To Action:Western Women and Swami Vivekananda”

Swami Yogatmananda will join Vivekaprana and other speakers to discuss the role Western women played and continue to play) in the work of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Yogatmananda is the Head Minister of the ramakrishna Vedanta Society of Providence. He visits us every year during the Labor Day weekend. We are very happy that he has agreed to be part of this symposium.

Sept. 8-17, 2016 – Retreat 2

Pravrajika Vivekaprana RETREAT 2: “Action or Karma as a Path to Freedom”

 

VERY IMPORTANT INFO:

If you wish to attend any of these retreats as an overnight guest YOU MUST REGISTER BY MARCH 15. Why? Because we already know that there will not be room at Ridgely to accommodate everyone who wishes to attend. We are considering renting additional space close by if needed. To do that we need to know how many people are on the overflow list.

Please be aware that we will most likely give preference to those people coming from a long distance. As of today, THERE ARE ONLY SHARED ROOMS AVAILABLE, NO SINGLES.

All are welcome to attend these retreats as day visitors. We will be announcing the details again as the year progresses.

Swami Sarvadevananda is the Head Minister of the Vedanta Society of Southern California, which also includes Ridgely as one of it’s sub-centers. Most of you already know him as he has visited Ridgely many times. He will be accompanied by Swami Atmajnanananda, the Minister-in-Residence of the Vedanta Society of Washington DC. The two swamis will share the talks on this wonderful topic.

Our topic, the nine types of devotional practice, comes from the Srimad Bhagavatam (7.5.23). These practices are important for anyone following a spiritual path and essential for those practicing the path of devotion to the Divine in any form. Do you know the list? It begins with shravanam/hearing about the Divine, and kirtanam, offering praise. We will keep you in suspense for the rest!

We will follow our usual retreat schedule. Saturday the retreat will be from 10:30am to 4:30 pm, lunch included. Sunday the retreat will begin at 10:30am and last until lunch. As always all are welcome to attend all or part of this retreat. If you wish to stay overnight, please fill out the online form found at ridgely.org and send it to us asap. Spaces will fill up fast as this will be Thanksgiving weekend.

We are inviting you to our annual worship in honor of the goddess Kali Bhavatarini, the form of the Mother intimately known, loved and worshipped by Sri Ramakrishna at the Dakshineswar temple in Kolkata. This worship consists of a very elaborate ritual and homa fire, traditionally done at night. During the worship we invoke the presence of Dakshina Kali in our little image and then honor Her with many kinds of gifts, chants and songs. At the close of the ceremony we invite Her to return to the formless and distribute Her “blessing” in the form of shanti jal/peace water. In the early hours of the morning, most likely around 4 or 5 am, we share a prasad “breakfast”. You may attend all or part of this wonderful celebration; coming and going is part of the night as many people must work the next day. We don’t keep to a timetable; here is a rough schedule:

10:00pm a short description of the puja given by Gitaprana
the puja begins
2am homa fire
3am flower offering, conclusion of puja, shanti jal
4am prasad
We encourage you to bring gifts for the Mother. What gifts would you bring to your mother? The ritual requires gifts like jewelry,cosmetics, perfume, clothing and flowers. You can also bring food to be offered. With all these gifts and offerings bear in mind that the Mother should be the first one to enjoy them. Please don’t taste the for, sniff the flowers, wear the jewelry etc.

As always we are extending a special invitation to our “kirtan-wallah” friends and all other singers to come and offer song to the Mother. In many ways, devotional music is one of the most special offerings of all.

We will make our overnight spaces available to all-night puja attendees who wish to rest after the festivities. We will not be asking the usual donation for this.

We hope to see you at this wonderful celebration.