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Retreat Theme: Expansion Through Love - The Sai Way​

You wear coloured glasses and see every-thing through those glasses. Correct your vision; the world will get corrected. Reform yourselves; the world will get reformed. You create the world of your choice. You see many, because you seek the many, not the One. Try to subsume the many in the One; the physical bodies of yourselves and others, the family, the village, the community, the state, the nation, the world. Thus progressively march on towards more and more inclusive loyalities and reach the stage of Unity, in thought, word and deed. This is the Sadhana of Love for, Love is expansion, inclusion, mutualisation. The individual has to be Universalised, expanded into-Vishwa-swaruupa!” -Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 15, April 13 th, 1981

What is Expansion looking through the“Sai- lens”? It is about opening our minds and thoughts, to be inclusive, to Everyone! It is about embedding into our daily life the universal teaching- Brotherhood of Man and Fatherhood of GOD, which includes and treats All as One. It encapsulates the principles of inclusivity, diversity of race, religion, caste, economic diversity and teaches man to Love All and Serve All!

Our goal during this Regional Retreat is to tune our minds to see and treat all with the same love and respect we have for Swami and His devotees. To practice this thought repeatedly and to incorporate and assimilate this mindful tactic or muscle memory into our system.

Guest Speakers

Naganand
Brother S.S.Naganand
BIO Details

Sri S S Naganand lives in Bengaluru and is the second son of the Late Sri S G Sundaraswamy, an eminent Senior Advocate and former Advocate General of Karnataka who was a long-standing devotee of Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba as well as a member of the Council of Management of Sri Sathya Sai Trust Karnataka.

He completed his BCom degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce and obtained a Diplôme in French language and Civilization from Alliance Française in 1977. He passed LLB with three gold medals from Renukacharya College in 1980, and in the same year, qualified as a Chartered Accountant with a national merit rank to his credit.

He started practice as a Chartered Accountant in 1981 and later the same year as an advocate in his father’s chambers. He was designated Senior Advocate by the High Court of Karnataka in 2003. He appears regularly at the Supreme Court of India, International Arbitrations, in the High Courts of India, and in many tribunals in the areas of arbitration, constitutional law, infrastructure law, intellectual property law, company law, and taxation. In 2008 Mr. Naganand founded a law firm called Justlaw, which has offices in Bengaluru and New Delhi.

He is currently a Vice President of the Bar Association of India and LAWASIA. He was President of the Karnataka Section of the International Commission of Jurists. He is the Chairman of Maharani Lakshmi Ammani College Trust and a Trustee of Vedanta Bharati which publishes many books on Hindu philosophy and Samskruta Bharathi which propagates spoken Sanskrit. He is also a founder trustee of Sri Shankaracharya Vangmaya Seva Parishat, Ayodhya, and Ananda Jyana Vigyana Parishat Trust.

His first Darshan of Swami was in 1965. He was the youngest trustee appointed by Swami on the Sri Sathya Sai Medical Trust in the year 2000 and later a member of the Council of Management of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust. He is also a Trustee of Sri Sathya Sai Sadhana Trust and Sri Sathya Sai Media Foundation and Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning Trust and a member of the Board of Management of SSSIHL.

Widely traveled and a linguist who is fluent in nine languages, he wrote an English commentary on Adi Shankaracharya’s Prashnottara Rathna Malika which was released in October 2017 in Bengaluru during the Soundarya Lahari Maha Samarpan graced by PM Sri Narendra Modi. He then wrote an English commentary on a concise version entitled Viveeka Deepinee which has been translated into ten Indian Languages and was released by the VP of India, Sri Venkaiah Naidu, in July 2019 in Delhi. He has also authored in 2021 a family story titled Story of the Clan – a legacy untold.

He has been happily married to Madhuri now for 43 years and the couple have been blessed with three daughters, all lawyers, and has 4 grandchildren. He was conferred with a special honor as a Living Legend in Law by the Bar Association Of India in December 2020. He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of Sri Sathya Sai Global Council as a nominee of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust.

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Brother Shitu Chudasama
BIO Details

Br.Shitu Chudasama has been a devotee of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba for over 40 years. He read History at London University and graduated in 1993 with a BA Honors degree. He went on to gain a Master’s degree and a postgraduate Law degree. He has worked in Asset management for the past 20 years and is a regular speaker and panelist at various Management conferences around the world.

He completed the Bal Vikas Program from Group 1 to Pre-Sevadal as it was called then, in the United Kingdom. In 1992, he was awarded the prestigious Frank Denning Scholarship by the London Borough to undertake research in Prasanti Nilayam on SSEHV. He spent a whole summer at Bhagawan’s Secondary School in Puttaparthi. He has been a frequent visitor to Prasanthi since the late 1980s when devotees used to sit on the sands.

Over the years, he has held numerous posts within the Sai Organisation in the UK and internationally. He was appointed by Bhagawan directly as the first International Youth Coordinator in 2007. Bhagawan instructed Shitu to travel around the world and conduct Zonal Youth Conferences and gave him one year to complete this mammoth task!

In UK, Shitu has held several senior National positions over the years and was appointed by Bhagawan directly as the National Council President in 2010. He was again appointed as National Council President in 2018. Shitu was also the National Youth Coordinator from 2003-2006.

Shitu has led several National Youth Pilgrimages to Prasanthi and in 2010, took 1,555 devotees from the UK to Prasanthi. He is also a former UK Trustee of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust of the United Kingdom.

In November 2005, he was invited to St James’s Palace to have a private audience with the late HRH Prince Philip to receive the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Certificate on behalf of the Sai Organisation and projects undertaken by the Sai Youth. In the Summer of 2006, Shitu and his wife Rita were invited by the late Queen Elizabeth II to attend the Queens’ Garden party at Buckingham in recognition of their services to the Youth in Great Britain.

In 2022, Shitu was appointed as the Central Coordinator for Zone 6 Europe.

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Brother Nishikant Barodekar
BIO Details

Nishikant Barodekar was born in the Sai family & his Grandmother, the famous Vocalist Padmabhushan HIRABAI BARODEKAR had met SHIRDI BABA when she was a young girl. Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba had visited their home when Nishikant was a young boy & he has been visiting Puttaparthi since his birth. He started playing Tabla with Swamys guidance for BalVikas & other progs in His Immediate presence in Mumbai, Pune, Puttaparthi. He was most fortunate to get the supreme guidance of Tabla training from Ustad Allarakha & Ustad Zakir Hussain.

He started performing professionally from 1990 & has toured USA,CANADA, GERMANY, JAPAN, MIDDLE EAST,  UK, FRANCE, SPAIN, MALAYSIA, HOLLAND, RUSSIA etc & at PUTTAPARTHI since 1994. He was very fortunate to perform for SWAMI in Private & public audiences numerous times. Besides performing and touring many top artists of our country, Swami personally instructed him to organise Music programmes & invite Artists for several occasions & Birthday Festivals at Puttaparthi for more than 2 decades.

He has served as a Sevadal & Prashanti Security personnel for more than 14 yrs & was blessed to receive many personal, family & group interviews with Bhagwan. He has been an active participant in the Prashanthi Bhajan Group since 1995. With Swami’S command he shifted to Puttaparthi in 2006 & was appointed as a Professor at the SSSIHL, Music College Puttapatthi. He has travelled, performed & has delivered speeches along with Swami, several times at Kodai Kanal, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Shimla etc.

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Brother Ananth Srinivas
BIO Details

Ananth Srinivas joined the Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School in 2009 and after completing bachelors, masters, working as faculty for one year and then a Ph.D. (Mathematics), He came to US in 2022.

He was fortunate to join the Prasanthi Mandir Bhajan group under the Divine guidance in 2010, and have sung in the Sai Kulwant Hall since then. He was also blessed with opportunities to offer Harikatha, Burrakatha performances, and be a part of many music programs in the Divine Presence.

Currently, He is currently working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, in the area of Computational Neurosciences.

Retreat Details

Please review the retreat information on the website before starting the registration.
  1. Every one attending the retreat must pre-register. There will be no walk-ins or onsite registration.
  1. Please use this form to register members of a single family. There are no charges for children below the age of 6, and discounted charges for SSSE children. However, ALL children must be registered.
  1. Payment for the registration can be made by a check or electronically using Zelle which is offered by most banks.
    • For Zelle payments, the recipient name is  “FORSAIINC”, payable email address is “rscnpo@gmail.com”. Make sure to add “SSSGC R3 Retreat”, your name, email address and phone number in the memo section of check or Zelle payment.
    • If you are paying with a check, it should be made out to “Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Atlanta” and mailed the check to “4965 Tidewater Way, Alpharetta, GA – 30005.
  1. There is no refund for cancellation by devotees. Your funds will be used to support retreat expenses and regional Sai activities. However, if retreat is canceled because of COVID or other reasons, registration payment will be refunded.
  1.  Early Registration deadline is May 1st and Final Registration closes on 15th May 2024. Your Registration is not complete until your payment has been received.
  1. Retreat Registration Fee:
    • Adults (Ages 36 & above) – Before May 1st 2024 ($145) | After May 1st 2024 ($150)
    • Young Adults (Ages 18 – 35) – Before May 1st 2024 ($108) | After May 1st 2024 ($115)
    • SSSE Children (Ages 6-17) – Before May 1st 2024 ($92) | After May 1st 2024 ($100)
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