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Testimonials
The Sanskrit Retreat Intensive (SRI) at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham had sixteen students from around the world who signed up to attend four weeks of classes on Sanskrit and Indian culture. The following are eloquent reports by two students in the class, Anne Dutton, a Yale graduate and yoga teacher and Shih-In Ma, a former IBM employee.
Shih-In Ma, SRI Student
"SRI: Sanskrit Retreat Intensive. Years of vision and development comes to fruition, the external manifestation of (Chancellor) Amma’s vision and years of effort led by a committed group of individuals. Thomas Goldenberg (Piyush), a Westerner fluent in Sanskrit, Malayalam and scripture, was the main instructor. It was a team effort with many people going the extra mile (and hours) to make the program a success. All along the way, we were taken care of, nurtured… one could say, spoiled.
SRI. Holistic Sanskrit… whole-istic Sanskrit… a pearl necklace with Sanskrit as the thread. The luminous pearls include Spoken Sanskrit, Sanskrit Grammar, Yoga and Scriptural Study, with movies, games and discussion to drive the points home. There were Vedic Chanting, and distinguished Guest Speakers too numerous to mention. We took field Trips to Idukki and Munnar, to Shivagiri and Panmana Ashrams, and a de rigueur boat trip and multi-course lunch on the backwaters. We were also blessed with two darshans with Amma, when some of us spoke to her in (elementary) Sanskrit, much to our panic and her delight.
Our 4-day trip to Idukki (up in the mountains) at the end of the second week was one of the highlights of the course. As with the whole program, we were constantly surprised, delighted and inspired. The scenery was breathtaking on the bus ride up as we climbed mountains which opened into vistas with stunning views and a freshly prepared wind-blown ridge-top lunch.
The days were full. In addition to our time in nature, Sanskrit, chanting, scripture and yoga classes and illuminating games continued.
The second day we climbed Ramakal, a 3200-foot high mountain peak with 360-degree views and expansive, blissful energy. That we all reached the top was a testament to teamwork, as the last few meters seemed much like a ropes course. It seemed fitting to do this during the month when the Ramayana was being read all over Kerala. That night we sang bhajans with members of the ashram’s Boys’ Chorus and Swami Jnanamrita around a bonfire.
The next day we were blessed with the opportunity to spend more time with Swami Jnanamrita, to visit the jungle and the tribal people with whom he works through one of Amma’s many charities. As we started to walk through the jungle, Swami suggested walking in silence. He told us to meditate, to feel our clothes, to feel the breath. To hear the sounds of the jungle in the heart without labeling them. Seeing God in all forms.
A few days after the course was completed, most of our classmates were gone, traveling back to their jobs, to school, to their homes, their families. But they --- we --- will never be the same again.
In the words of one participant, Tony Hirtenstein’s,
“A huge gift has been given, but it is not what it appears to be.”
Anne Dutton, SRI Student
"The Sanskrit Retreat Intensive at Amrita University was everything I hoped it would be; and more. As a yoga teacher, my goals were to get a sense of the grammatical structure of the language, memorize some of the basic declensions and rules for word combination and be able to make meaningful comparisons between original textual sources in Sanskrit and English translations. Visiting India was also a long-cherished dream. But I confess - I was nervous.
I needn’t have worried. I had a glorious experience, returned safe and sound with my goals accomplished and my dream fulfilled. Best of all, my summer in India opened my heart.
The SRI program was administered and taught by two extraordinary American residents of the Amritapuri ashram. Manisha Lewis, a former soft-skills trainer for U.S. companies, devotes her considerable energies and expertise to making sure that the participants have everything they need, are safe and secure, and get to experience local culture off the beaten track. We lived and ate within the secure walls of Amritapuri ashram, a fifteen-minute walk from the University where our classes met. On weekends we visited tea plantations, hiked remote and wind-swept mountain peaks, traveled the backwaters in a thatched-roof houseboat, visited a traditional Ayurvedic medicine factory and hospital and walked into the roadless jungle to deliver rice to tribal people living in the forest.
Thomas Goldenberg (Piyush), our Sanskrit instructor, was the other pillar of the SRI program. A classically-trained Sanskrit scholar and fluent in the local Malayalam language, Piyush designed a program that focuses equally on grammar, conversational Sanskrit and Indian philosophy (Conversational Sanskrit? Who knew.) We read and discussed the Bhagavad-Gita, played games, and performed skits in Sanskrit that we wrote ourselves.
Did I mention yoga every morning with an Iyengar-trained Yoga teacher? Our own Vedic chanting teacher? Guest lectures by Ayurvedic physicians and religious scholars? The band of ashram musicians, cooks and guides that accompanied us on our field trips?
I highly recommend this wonderful program to anyone who would like to study Sanskrit in the context of the culture within which it was developed."
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