Everything is different now!
On Wed, 8 April, 2015 - 00:04Nine men recently completed Adhisthana’s latest five-month Dharma Training Course For Men. vidyaruchi [at] yahoo.co.uk ((Want to enquire about the next one?)) One of them was Robin Allan, who writes:
“To try and accurately convey what this experience was like for me and the effects it has had on my life, using only words, feels nearly impossible. I feel a sense of direction and purpose like nothing I have ever known in my life so far. Everything is different now.
The course broadly consisted of training and practice in many of the aspects of a complete Dharma life. This included study, meditation, ritual, friendship, exploring the arts, community living and work, with teachers from outside Adhisthana regularly visiting to lead study, workshops or one of the five retreats we engaged in.
There were nine of us who took part, and each had his own unique motivation for being there. When I was applying, I knew for certain why I wanted to commit myself to the course: I wanted to transform myself. Theoretical knowledge to only be applied at a later date wasn’t enough. I saw five months of training as an invaluable opportunity for radical transformation right there and then. My wish was most certainly granted!
Living in that nourishing environment, having the opportunity to devote every day to practice, always having access to friends and inspiring people, all this may not sound too dissimilar to the usual supportive conditions of a retreat. But you really don’t know what ‘supportive conditions’ means until you make a home in them. Within a month, I knew that things would never be the same. I’d begun to taste something which I feel I might never have known existed otherwise.
There were many times of bliss, clarity and freedom as well as equally many (if not more) times of pain, fear and confusion. It certainly was not easy. But one of Mara’s greatest tricks is to convince us that his coming is not a blessing. Every challenge was followed by a new understanding, and I’d never felt so alive.
So please, if you have the slightest desire in your gut to want to join the next course, but you feel you can’t for some reason, I invite you to seriously challenge that assumption!”
Interested? Contact Vidyaruchi by phone on 07982 219505, or by vidyaruchi [at] yahoo.co.uk (email).
vidyatara [at] mac.com (Contact Vidyatara) about Adhisthana’s courses for women.