Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago Organizes a Spiritual Retreat from May 20th through 22nd 2016 at Vivekananda Retreat, Ganges, MI with Swami Sarvadevananda, Head, Vedanta Society of Southern California on Wisdom of Brahmasutra Friday: May 20 7 - 7.30 pm Vesper Service 7.30 – 8.30 pm Dinner Invocation by Swami Ishatmananda 8.30 – 9.30 pm Retreat Session 1: Introduction Saturday: May 21 5.15 – 6 am Morning Vesper Service & Japa-Meditation 7.30 – 8 am Gita Chanting with Swami Ishatmananda 8 – 8.45 am Breakfast 9 - 10.30 am Retreat Session 2: The Very First Question with interactive session 10.30 – 11 am Tea Break 11 – 12.30 am Retreat Session 3: The Source with interactive session 12.30 – 2 pm Lunch Break 2 – 3.30 pm Ashrama Seva 3.30 – 5 pm Retreat Session 4: Scriptural Support with interactive session 5 – 6 pm Devotional Songs 6 – 7 pm Tea Break 7 – 8 pm Vesper & Meditation

8 pm Dinner Sunday: May 22 5.15 – 6 am Morning Vesper Service and Japa-Meditation 7.30 – 8 am Gita Chanting with Swami Ishatmananda 8 – 8.45 am Breakfast 9 - 10.30 am Retreat Session 5: Harmony of the Texts with interactive session 10.30 – 11 am Tea Break 11 – 12 pm Sunday Service: Silence and Stillness 1 – 2 pm Lunch For Registration visit http://chicagovedanta.org/calendar/retreats/register/ Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago 14630 Lemont Road, Homer Glen, IL 60491 Website: chicagovedanta.org; email: [email protected] Swami Sarvadevananda, the minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of Southern California, is a monk of the Order of India. He was initiated by Swami Shankarananda, the 7th President of the Order, in 1961. He joined the monastery at , the Order’s headquarters in Kolkata in 1965 and completed his monastic training while serving in various capacities, including working in a camp for refugees who barely escaped with their lives during the Bangladesh war in 1971. The Swami was posted in Saradapeeth, an educational institution near Belur Math from 1960 onward and thus had the opportunity to come in contact with many great monks. Swami became the head of the of Sikra in 1988. While there, he initiated literacy and health programs for hundreds of underprivileged villagers and performed relief and rehabilitation work for the homeless. In 1993, Swami Sarvadevananda was posted to the Vedanta Society of Southern California in Hollywood and in 2012 he became the Minister-in-Charge and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society. Currently he is the spiritual head of the seven sub- centers and two convents that are under the Vedanta Society of Southern California, and several private centers (run by the devotees) too are working under his spiritual guidance. In addition to regular lectures and classes, he addresses schools, colleges and other religious groups through out the United States whenever called upon. Swami has co-authored the biography of Swami Shankarananda. He translated some important work from Bengali, such as, “The Life Story of Sri Ramakrishna: The First Biography” by Ramchandra Dutta, Yoga Vashishtha Sara as “Nectar of Supreme Knowledge” etc. He is a regular author in various leading Ramakrishna Mission publications as well as of the other spiritual journals. In this Spiritual Retreat Swami Sarvadevananda will speak on the Wisdom of Brahmasutra. The Brahmasutra is one of three most important texts in Vedanta along with the Principal Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. It has been influential to various schools of Indian philosophies, but interpreted differently by the Advaita (nondualism), the Vishishtadvaita (qualified nondualism) and the Dvaita (dualism) Vedanta sub-schools, as well as others. The Retreat will focus on the most well studied commentaries on the Brahmasutra which is the bhashya by Adi Shankaracharya. The sutras of the Brahmasutra are aphorisms, which Paul Deussen states to be "threads stretched out in weaving to form the basis of the web", and intelligible "when the woof is added" with a commentary.