MahaKumbh with Sri M
| MahaKumbh Inauguration with Dhwajarohan | 13 Jan 2025 |
| Sankranti Shibir (check-in on 12th Jan) | 13 Jan – 17 Jan 2025 |
| Triveni Shibir | 27 Jan – 31 Jan 2025 |
| Yoga Vāsiṣṭha | 16 Feb – 25 Feb 2025 |
| Mahashivratri | 26 Feb 2025 |
MahaKumbh Inauguration with Dhwajarohan
The Yogadham at the MahaKumbh will be inaugurated with the traditional ‘dhwajaarohan’ (flag hoisting). Sri M will light the sacred dhuni, marking the opening of the Yogadham for the duration of the MahaKumbh.
Sankranti Shibir (13-17 January 2025)
Discourses by Sri M, satsangs, and dharana sessions will be integral in supporting the inner exploration and development of participants. Each day will open with Mantra chanting. Yogasana and Pranayama will help in creating the appropriate frame for mind and body for inward exploration. Participants can join in singing or simply absorbing devotional melodies of bhajans during the Shibir.
The days of this Shibir will be planned such that participants have the opportunity for an all-round experience of the MahaKumbh. Participants can utilize unstructured time to visit the akhadas (places of training and practice) set up by the numerous sadhus from various streams and schools of thought, as well as to visit the sacred sites and important places at and around the Kumbh.
There will also be opportunities to contribute seva (service) in the spirit of Karma Yoga.
More details and planned schedule for the Retreat shall be shared with participants in the coming weeks.
IMPORTANT: This shibir will coincide with the inaugural of Mahakumbh and Makar Sankranti, so participants are encouraged to arrive on 11th January, to avoid getting caught in the peak rush as the Mahakumbh begins.
Triveni Shibir (27th-31st January 2025)
Discourses by Sri M on Yoga Darshana & Ashtanga Yoga, and Dharana sessions will enable the inner exploration and development of participants.
Each day will open with Mantra chanting. Yogasana and Pranayama will help in creating the appropriate frame for mind and body for inward exploration. Participants can join in singing or simply absorbing devotional melodies of bhajans during the Shibir.
The days of this Shibir will be planned such that participants have the opportunity for an all-round experience of the MahaKumbh. Participants can utilise unstructured time to visit the akadas (places of training and practice) set up by the numerous sadhus from various streams and schools of thought, as well as to visit the sacred sites and important places at and around the Kumbh.
There will also be opportunities to contribute seva (service) in the spirit of Karma Yoga.
More details and planned schedule for the Retreat shall be shared with participants in the coming weeks.
Participants can plan to arrive on 26th/27th of January.
Yoga Vāsiṣṭha with Sri M (16th-25th February 2025):
The Yogvāsiṣṭha (also called Yoga Vāsiṣṭha Yoga Samhita) is structured as a discourse of the Sage Vāsiṣṭha with Rama (as a prince), and consists of six books describing the search for liberation through self-effort and meditation, presenting cosmology and metaphysical teachings of existence, and expounding the principles of Maya and Brahman, as well as the principles of non-duality, and a discussion of Yoga.
During this Shibir, Sri M will impart the teachings embedded in this sacred text each day.
Each day will include Mantra chanting. Yogasana and Pranayama to reinforce the appropriate frame of mind and body for inward exploration.
The days of this Shibir will be planned such that participants also have the opportunity for an all-round experience of the MahaKumbh. Participants can utilise unstructured time to visit the akadas (places of training and practice) set up by the numerous sadhus from various streams and schools of thought, as well as to visit the sacred sites and important places at and around the Kumbh.
There will also be opportunities to contribute seva (service) in the spirit of Karma Yoga.
More details and planned schedule for the Retreat shall be shared with participants in the coming weeks.
Mahashivratri With Sri M (26th February 2025)
Shiva is the symbol of all that we can think of on our spiritual journey to perfection. Shivam is the all-pervading Supreme reality whose qualities are consciousness, bliss and auspiciousness.
Therefore, when it is said, “Chidananda roopam, shivoham shivoham”, it means that Supreme reality, whose spark is inside me, is Supreme auspiciousness. I am of the real form of Shiva, which is auspicious all-pervading reality.
When Nataraja, who is the representative form of that Supreme Being, dances the Taandava Nritya, it is said that the entire Universe shakes and shivers, and everything falls to pieces, creating space for the new. This is the destructive and renewing aspect of divinity that we see in the outside world and the inner world. When this turmoil takes places within us, aspects of the ego are churned up and broken to bits, being replaced by peace and blissfulness, the essence of consciousness. When one enters through that, one comes face to face with that which we call Shivam – the lingam. In the highest state of meditation, amrita (divine nectar) drips onto that lingam constantly, and what the yogi tastes is the nectar that flows down. The yogi can continue to be in the world but with the realisation that (s)he is free of this and is a part of that all-pervading Shivam.
This is the inner significance of Shivaratri, the Shivam that we seek, and the destruction of our connection to the outward. This is the dance of Shiva.
This Mahashivaratri celebration at the MahaKumbh creates an opportunity to experience the divine bliss of Shivam at the confluence of the three great rivers, Ganga, Yamuna and Sarasvati, that also signify the three great nadis (channels) within the human system, Ida, Pingala and Sushumna for yogis.
