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Dear Devotees, Friends, and Students of the previous retreats,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

With great pleasure we again invite you to attend our Divine Names Retreat in Radhadesh. This year, 2011, it will be held from April 22nd-28th. You can also attend our additional "Building the Retreat Culture through a Teacher Training Program," which will be held for one day, on April 29th.

In our retreats, we want to enter into deeper understandings and experiences of chanting the Holy Names, which can immediately empower every participant with an improved relationship to the Divine Couple, Radha and Krishna. With the help of teachers such as Bhurijan Prabhu, Giriraja Swami, and Bhakti Vijnana Goswami, our team has constantly worked on improving these retreats. Judging from the experiences of the many participants worldwide, we can safely say that the retreats work. They are truly transformational and life-changing events. In our retreats we mainly use a method called Active Learning, which helps the participants grasp the knowledge much better and imbibe it more deeply. In other words, there are many practical and powerful tools, new skills, and spiritual experiences awaiting all of you.

We would like to address two important questions, which devotees who have already attended our retreats often ask:
1)    Are new things taught in each retreat?
2)    Is there a benefit in attending more than one retreat?

The answers are:
1)    We are continuously working on improving the retreats by adding new knowledge, which shows up during our never-ending research on these subjects. We also apply the experiences and feedback of our participants to craft new schedules and deliver new contents. So each retreat is different.
2)    We highly recommend taking part in a few retreats. The best is once a year (I do a japa retreat during Karttika in Vrindavan). After all, what a retreat is really all about is all participants developing their personal relationship with Radha and Krishna, and there is always room for progress.

This year, we will introduce our Teacher Training Program, full with helpful tools and tips for those who wish to share the content of our retreats with others. This optional one-day program will enhance your endeavors to be part of the great mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada.

We wish to once again invite you and request that you give our team the chance to serve you. Please also invite your devotee friends who are serious about working on their chanting.

Wishing you all the best and lots of spiritual strength,
Sacinandana Swami and the Retreat Team: Gaurahari Dasa and Bhanu-nandini Dasi


Schedule:
22.04. Arrival and Entering the Retreat Class
23-27.04. Days 1-5
28.04. Closing the Retreat and Departure
29.04. Building the Retreat Culture through a Teacher Training Program

There are two ways of doing nama-seva, or service to the Holy Names of the Lord. One is through individual and congregational chanting of the Holy Names, and the other is by sharing the glories of the Holy Names. Thus we have developed an additional program that offers support to those who wish to share the knowledge with others. We call this program "Building the Retreat Culture through a Teacher Training Program". The participants can learn many tools and tips on teaching a retreat, e.g., by organizing japa-and-kirtan sangas and other kirtan events (workshops, nama-yajnas, or even public mantra programs). The program is primarily designed for the retreat participants who have just finished their retreat, but other interested devotees can also take part in this program to see if they can get new and fresh ideas for presenting japa and kirtan in their communities. It is a one-day program that will enhance our endeavors in being part in the great mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada. You are most welcome to take part in it.
Read more on:
http://bhaktivedantacollege.com/index.php?p=news&id=332