Chinmaya Mission Orlando invites you to participate in a 4-day retreat titled Understanding Marriage - The Joy of Harmony. Guided by Acharya Shailaja Nadkarni, Acharya Vilasini Balakrishnan and Acharya Vivek Gupta, this unique retreat is filled with discourses, discussions and dialogue with experienced teachers and sincere friends and aims to help participants in developing a Vedantic vision of marriage. By viewing marriage as a spiritual partnership, this retreat hopes to bring an uplifting perspective to this most important relationship in your lives!

Registration

This retreat is open to adults ages 25 to 55. Although aimed primarily at married couples, singles are not excluded and are most welcome to participate. The cost of the retreat is US$ 101 per person which includes all meals. Lodging is not included but we have made arrangements with the hotel listed below to offer a discounted rate to retreat participants. Some local families may be willing to host those coming from out of town but space is limited and subject to availability.

Holiday Inn Orlando East - UCF Area,
1724 N. Alafaya Trail
Orlando, FL 32826

Please contact the hotel directly at 407-658-9008 and ask them for group rate for Chinmaya Mission. They will be able to offer a rate of $89 per day which is almost 30% off their usual rate for this time of the year.The discounted rate is only available if you book by March 16th.This hotel is about a 20-25 minute drive from Chinmaya Mission Orlando.

Childcare is available for an additional cost of US$ 101 per child.

 Click here to proceed to the registration page.

Program Details

The retreat will be held at Chinmaya Mission Orlando from March 24 - 27, 2016. The retreat starts at 6:00 PM on Thursday, March 24th and will conclude around mid-day on Sunday, March 27th.

Click here to view the schedule.

Children's Activities

About the Acharyas

 Dr. Shailaja Nadkarni is the president of Chinmaya Mission Orlando and a longtime devotee of Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda. She has been conducting Balavihar classes at Chinmaya Mission Orlando since 1987 and in 2008, Pujya Swami Tejomayananda - current head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide - conferred the title of Acharya upon her. While continuing to oversee Balavihar philosophy and Indian language classes at the Orlando center, Shailaja ji expounds upon the Upanishads and Bhagavad Geeta every Sunday.  She also conducts classes during weekdays on  Vivekchoodamani, Gnyaneshwari, Bhagavad Geeta and and other topics related to Vedanta.

Ācārya Vilasiniji began her studies of Vedanta under Swami Chinmayananda in 1975 when she was in India studying comparative philosophy. She graduated from Tufts University with a B.S. magna cum laude in philosophy, and in 1978 she graduated from Sandeepany Sadhanalaya’s course in Vedanta. From 1981-1984, Vilasiniji had the great honor of being Swami Chinmayananda’s personal assistant, traveling with Gurudev to all his yajnas, videotaping his talks, and performing secretarial assistance. In 1984 she was assigned to be Editor-in-Chief of the Mananam Publication Series. In 1986 Vilasini and her husband Suresh moved to Washington, D.C. where they later became founding members of the Board of Trustees of Chinmaya Mission Washington Regional Center (CMWRC) in 1989. Vilasiniji is presently serving as Ācārya for Adult Vedanta Classes and Director of the CMWRC Bala Vihar Program for all chapters.

Having experienced much of what the world has to offer, from studying at the Ivey School of Business, to traveling to over 45 countries, Vivek Gupta sought more. Tired of the inconsistent peace attached to extroverted pursuits, he decided to say enough and turned his journey within. In 2005, the young college graduate was accepted to the intensive two-year Vedanta Course at Chinmaya Mission’s Sandeepany Sadhanalaya in Mumbai, India. Under the guidance of Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayananda, he studied the Upanishads, Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Ramacharitramanasa, Sanskrit, Vedic chanting, and much more. Blessed to have joined the group of 'Sandeepany' graduates, Acharya Vivekji says now his only purpose in life is to make others aware of what is the purpose of life: to be unconditionally happy. Inspired by the fact that he is a young adult and was raised in Canada, Vivekji has been invited to share his insights and conduct classes and camps by Mission centers and other organizations throughout North America.