The Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi, organized a Spiritual Retreat (Bhakta Sammelan) in the Mission premises on Sunday, 22nd September, 2019.

For this Bhakta Sammelan, Swami Vimalatmanandaji, Adhyaksha, Ramakrishna Math, Kankurgachhi, and Swami Sukhanandaji, Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Patna, were specially invited to speak on the subject, “Spiritual Life” (आध्यात्मिक जीवन ).

The programme began with singing of Bhajans (Bhavasagar o….) led by Swami Dhruvarupanandaji accompanied by Sh. Bishnumurari Chattopadhyay, Br. Ujjwal and Sh. Siddhartha Bhattacharya on tabla. This was followed by a meditation session conducted by Revered Secretary Maharaj Swami Shantatmanandaji, and then Puja conducted by Swami Amritamayanandaji (Pujari Maharaj).

Following this, Sri Ramakrishna Namarchana was performed by Swami Tadbhasanandaji Maharaj with 108 sacred names of Sri Thakur spelt out by him. All this was done in the Vivekananda Hall itself.

After Namarchana was over, Revered Secretary Maharaj-ji welcomed the speakers and all others who had come to participate in the Bhakta Sammelan. At the end of the welcome address, Swami Sukhanandaji Maharaj spoke on the subject.

The Gita chanting led by Swami Dhruvarupanandaji Maharaj. After the Gita chanting, Revered Swami Vimalatmanandaji spoke on the subject. Then there was chanting of “Bhajagovindam” by all led by Swami Dhruvarupanandaji and accompanied by Br. Nirbhay, Br. Baswaraja, Sh. Bishnumurari Chattopadhyay on manjira and Shri Siddhartha Bhattacharya on tabla. Later Revered Swami Shantatmanandaji Maharaj spoke on the subject.

After the speeches were over, the devotees attended Aratrikam in the Vivekananda hall itself led by Swami Amritamayanandaji Maharaj. ”Khandanabhava bandhana…… “ was led by Swami Dhruvarupanandaji accompanied by Br. Nirbhay, Br. Baswaraja, Br. Ujjwal, Sh. Bishnumurari Chattopadhyay, Sh. Madhumurari Chatterjee on sitar, and Sh. Siddhartha Bhattacharya on tabla.

After Aratrikam all the delegates were served lunch, prepared in the Ashram by volunteers and staff.

The afternoon session started with the singing of a few devotional songs by Sh. Chandranath Mukherjee accompanied by Sh. Amar Jyoti (Ashok) Brahmachari on tabla and Sh. Bikas Bose on manjira. This was followed by devotional songs from Sh. Champak Chatterjee, accompanied by Sh. Madhumurari Chatterjee on sitar, Sh. Siddhartha Bhattacharya on tabla, and Sh. Bikas Bose on manjira.

This bhajan programme was followed by an interesting Question-Answer session in which almost all questions given in writing by some delegates were very well answered by Revered Swami Vimalatmanandaji Maharaj, Swami Sukhanandaji Maharaj and Swami Shantatmanandaji Maharaj. After the Question – Answer session was over, Swami Shantatmanandaji Maharaj delivered the concluding remarks. This was followed by singing of “Ramakrishna Sharanam” in chorus by all delegates led by Swami Dhruvarupanandaji and accompanied by Sh. Bishnumurari Chattopadhyay, Br. Nirbhay, Br. Baswaraja, and Sh. Siddhartha Bhattacharya on tabla.

At the end, all the delegates were served with tea and snacks. Thus the Bhakta Sammelan came to a successful conclusion at 4:30 pm.

Video recordings of the lectures:

Spiritual Life || Swami Vimalatmananda || Bhakta Sammelan || Sept 2019

Spiritual Life || Swami Sukhananda || Bhakta Sammelan || Sept 2019

Spiritual Life || Swami Shantatmananda || Bhakta Sammelan || Sept 2019

Audio recording of the lectures:

Download the audio (Right-click & save):

(Spiritual Life || Swami Vimalatmananda || Bhakta Sammelan || Sept 2019)

(Spiritual Life || Swami Sukhananda || Bhakta Sammelan || Sept 2019)

(Spiritual Life || Swami Shantatmananda || Bhakta Sammelan || Sept 2019)

(Spiritual Life || Question Answer Session || Bhakta Sammelan || Sept 2019)

A few photos of the Bhakta Sammelan: