W1505 - Nièvre : « The Flame of Attention » « An intensive retreat with inquiry and silence in the light of Krishnamurti’s teaching » : 14th-24th May 2015 - ‘La Maison’, Burgundy, France

The Flame of Attention

An Intensive Retreat with Inquiry and Silence
in the light of Krishnamurti’s teaching"

Thursday 14th May – Sunday 24th May 2015,

at ‘La Maison’, Burgundy, France

(English language with French translation)

The gathering will be facilitated by Mukesh Gupta, of the Krishnamurti Centre at Rajghat, India.

“Observation is like a flame which is attention, and with that capacity of observation, the wound, the feeling of hurt, the hate, all that, is burnt away, gone... It is only the mind that is inattentive that gets hurt. So give your whole attention and that whole attention is not possible when you are resisting, building a wall around that hurt, frightened about being further hurt... And when you give your complete attention, then you will see that there is no hurt, then only you can proceed to find out what love is.”
Krishnamurti in India 1974-75, 2nd Public Talk, Madras, India 08-Dec-1974

Choiceless awareness and attention seem to be at the core of Krishnamurti’s teachings. For Krishnamurti, attention is the highest form of virtue, love and intelligence. Without this flame of attention, the ignorance and therefore sorrow and bondage of human mind continues. Inattention seems to be the essence of our mechanical way of living, of our inertia, of the constant repeating of conditioned patterns of our mind, our thinking and suffering. What is that flame which burns away all the mediocrity, all the conflict, all the hurt, and all the suffering from our psyche ? Can we discover, awaken and hold that flame ? What are the barriers, blocks and challenges in discovering and keeping that flame alive ?

We are going to explore as friends and co-travellers the depths, challenges and various aspects of this question of attention and inattention, which encompasses our whole life, in this retreat. The primary intention is that our entire retreat becomes a meditative process so that there is a natural opening up of fundamental problems that confront our daily life in the light of care, affection and attention. This may happen by simply sharing our observations, our blocks, our aspirations, our inherent goodness, trust, love and quest for truth. This retreat is an open invitation to all those friends who are not merely satisfied with their mechanical way of living and are burning with some questions. In order to participate in this seminar you need not have any previous knowledge of any teachings or philosophy ; what you need is only a simple heart and mind which is open to listening, learning and wondering ! The challenge for all of us is to come together as beginners and friends in this inquiry which does not depend on any authority and knowledge.

The venue of this gathering is in a small village set in a beautiful countryside in Burgundy, France, about two and a half hours from Paris... The daily schedule of the retreat is designed in such a way that participants will have ample leisure to be with themselves, to reflect upon their own lives, observe nature, share observations and interact with one another in a friendly, non-authoritarian way, with an intention to create an ambiance of learning, of love, of stillness. The daily program will include introductory talks and dialogues, watching Krishnamurti video talks, silent sittings and nature walks. We intend to explore the questions not only in dialogues, but by sharing our daily living, our work, our learning and silence together.

The gathering will be facilitated by Mukesh Gupta, of the Krishnamurti Centre at Rajghat, India. For about two decades he has been engaging with the teachings of J. Krishnamurti, Buddha and other teachers ; has translated writings of J. Krishnamurti and conducted retreats, study groups and dialogues in India, Europe and Israel. Presently he is the coordinator of the Krishnamurti Study and Retreat Centre at Rajghat, Varanasi, India.

Informations :

 Dates : Thursday, the 14th May (Arrival) – Sunday 24th May (Departure) 2015
 Venue : Champ de la Fontaine, 58700 Beaumont-la-Ferrière, Bourgogne, France
 Website : http://la-maison-beaumont.blogspot.fr/
 For details and reservation contact : Christiane Joseph
 Email : la-maison hotmail.fr Tél. : + 33 (0) 3 86 38 21 78

 or Christiane Joseph
 Postal adress : Soffin, 58700 AUthiou
 Mail adress : christiane.joseph2 orange.fr
 Tél : 03 86 60 15 07
 06 84 11 32 62

Price : 500 euros for the ten-day seminar, accommodation and meals. A small fee may be requested if the heating is needed.

Beaumont 14th-24th may 2015