Astāvakra Gitā: Freedom Is Here And Now

Astāvakra Gitā: Freedom is Here and Now

2 Day Residential Retreat

Sage Asthāvakra is astoundingly straightforward and his insights are capable of lifting us to heights of ecstatic contemplation, fuelled by depths of insights.

This retreat is being conducted by Swami Chidananda ji, an experienced teacher of Vedānta, who has been speaking and writing for four decades now. While he learnt the basics of Vedānta from Pujya Swami Chinmayananda ji, he later got much enriched by the teachings of Ramana Maharshi and J Krishnamurti. His work has been mostly in India and USA.

Key Focus: 

Understanding the DIRECT WAY or the Quantum Leap approach to liberation. The well-known approaches involve steps and are described as gradual. Sage Astāvakra goes into the root of the issue (of bondage) and shakes us off our self-created hindrances.

Topics Covered:

Why we live in conflict; role of thought in creating psychological suffering; main hurdles in our emancipation; Becoming versus being; quietude; joy of Self-realization.

Takeaways: 

• Methods have limitations; staying alert is the panacea.
• Structures and concepts fall by the roadside when we recognize the essence.
• Thinking may solve problems; Deep Seeing dissolves problems.

The Details of the Retreat are as follows:

*Suitable age group 18 years and above* Open for all, requiring no prior knowledge of Vedānta. Knowledge of the Text or of Sanskrit also is not required.

Date and timings: Starts on the evening of Friday, 24^th October, 2025 at 4:30 PM and concludes on Sunday, 26^th October, 2025 at 4:30 PM

Venue: Indica Gurukulam @ Ritambhara, No. 69, BMTC Layout, Adjacent to Kammasandra Village, Lakshmipura-Hobli.

The Retreat Place, located just on the outskirts of Bangalore city, is a small beautiful space dedicated to Yoga and spiritual studies and practices in a simple and clean environment adjacent to a farm of its own.

Workshop Contribution: Rs 8,000/- per person. The fees are inclusive of boarding, lodging and teaching plus resource materials.

Accommodation: Shared accommodation will be provided

Food: Simple sāttvik food with fresh-grown vegetables from the farm.

Reaching the Venue: The venue is about 22 km from Majestic Bus Stand and is accessible through Magadi Road and Tumkur Road, preferably through your own vehicles. The retreat centre is very close to “Sri Kamadhenu Kshetra”, a highly popular Raghavendra Swamy temple, which has become much-known in recent years. It would take approximately an hour to reach the retreat venue from the city centre. Participants have to make their own arrangements to travel to the venue. If any assistance is required, the Indica Yoga Team will help.

Metro Rail Access: Take Green Line, get down at Madavara Metro Station. From there, it takes 25 mins (9.2 km) via Lakshmipura Road by Auto Rickshaw / Taxi.

Contact: namaste@indicayoga.com / +91 6363663313 / +91 8431570343

Faculty

Swami Chidananda

Vedanta Teacher and Head of FOWAI FORUM

Swami Chidananda has been a Vedānta teacher and speaker on human values for more than three decades. After he served for 5 years as the resident Vedānta teacher in San Jose, California, (representing the Chinmaya Mission in those days) in the mid-1990s, his work has been mostly in India and the USA. Since 2006, he heads FOWAI FORUM, a non-profit that disseminates philosophical and spiritual knowledge with special coverage of Indian ethos. Numerous talks by him are on YouTube at the FOWAI channel. The author of seven books, he is specially known for his presentations on Bhagavad Geeta and the Upanishads. Hailing from Udupi district in Karnataka, he presently lives in Mumbai. He had begun with a career in electronics engineering, with a BE from Mysore University and an MTech from IIT Madras. Then he served Chinmaya Mission, the organization of Swami Chinmayanandaji, for 18 years and the Foundation of Jiddu Krishnamurti for 10 years.