130th Sri Ramana's Advent Retreat
Saratoga, CA
Namaskar Friends,
You are invited to a Bhagavan retreat September 25 (Friday) - Sept 27 (Sunday) at the Sri Ramana Maharshi Center of Sonoma. There is no cost for this retreat other than supplying your own food and possibly staying in a hotel if we are over the accommodations maximum (see below).
This retreat coincides with our regular Saturday satsang which will be hosted here at the Sonoma Center on that Saturday 5:00 - 7:00.
The dates for the retreat are 9/25/26 - 9/27/26, but you are welcome to come earlier and/or stay later. In fact, the center is always open for devotees to come and do their own personal retreat for any length of time. Arrival and departure times and dates for this retreat are totally up to you, though I recommend arriving Friday evening and leaving Sunday evening. As in previous retreats, it is expected that devotees will be rolling in at different times and days and staying for different lengths of time.
As with the December 2025 retreat, the concept for this retreat will be an organic mix of structured / scheduled group events and discretionary time for individual meditation, outings, etc.. It can be dynamically altered during the retreat to fit the needs and desires of attendees. A tentative schedule is the following:
- 4:00am - Satsang Hall open for individual silent meditation
- 6:00am - Discretionary time - Walking meditation in nearby woods, yoga in Satsang Hall, etc.
- 7:30am - Aksharamanamaalai chanting in Satsang Hall
- 8:00am - Breakfast
- 9:00am - Group activites in Satsang Hall - readings, videos, audios, singing performances, etc.
- 12:00pm - Lunch
- 1:30pm - Discretionary time - possible group outings to the beach or nearby state park with giant redwoods
- 6:00pm - Dinner
- 7:00pm - Group activites in Satsang Hall - readings, videos, audios, singing performances, etc.
- 9:00pm - Satsang Hall open for individual silent meditation
- 10:00pm - Lights out
As far as food, you will be on your own to bring and prepare (and share) whatever you want. The center has a large kitchen and two refrigerators for you to use. It is suggested that you organize yourselves into family or friend groups that coordinates and plans what you will eat, prepare, and bring.
There are overnite accommodations for 13 people - A dormitory style building ("Virupaksha shed") with 4 in one room (either men’s or women’s quarters) and 3 in another, and 3 rooms in the main house for 3 couples or 3 individuals. There are portable bed options for a few more to be accommodated if needed. For overflow accommodations, there are many hotels within a 20 minute drive. This includes the moderately priced Fairfield Inn by Marriott in Sebastopol, plus lots of low-cost motels in Santa Rosa. Accommodations at the center will be assigned on a first come, first served basis (based on the order of signups on the online spreadsheet linked below).
Note that maximum accommodations is separate from maximum attendees at the retreat. The satsang room can hold up to 40 people at a time. There may never be that many people in the satsang room at one time, but the retreat attendance number needs to be capped at 40 just in case. Based on past experience, it does not seem like we will reach that. If we do reach that, acceptance to attend the retreat will be based on the order of signups, like accommodations.
If you would like to attend this retreat, please sign up on this Google Spreadsheet
In Bhagavan,
Peter
We hope to see you at the retreat!