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IKS Meta-Retreats are immersive intellectual explorations spanning 2-3 days, led by an Acharya in the ambience of a Gurukula and conducted with an attitude of Shraddha. Acharya, is the subject matter expert (SME), seeking to explore a specific topic, discipline, or domain along with a cohort. 9-12 participants who possess shradda and the right experience in the chosen theme form the cohort. This cohort then comes together with an upanishadic attitude of learning through immersion at a location that echoes the ambience of a Gurukula.
After organising four such pilot IKS Meta-Retreats that were conceptualised and curated internally, INDICA is now pleased to invite applications from all IKS subject matter experts (SMEs) interested in exploring a specific theme. The applicant must have rich experience in a particular subject, domain, or discipline. The cohort will be carefully selected by the SME and INDICA consisting of practitioners, academics, thinkers, and activists . The retreat will be held at a location and environment that facilitates reflection and immersion.
INDICA seeks the following outcomes from every Meta-Retreat for advancing the chosen theme:
- A vision paper
- A group project
- A personal goal by each participant
IKS Subject Matter Experts who are keen on leading a Meta-Retreat may send us their bio at nam...@indica.org.in. A 300 word summary mentioning the subject, domain, or discipline they seek to explore along with the names of cohort participants they would like to invite should also be furnished.
Travel, logistics, and accommodation at the Retreat will be hosted and managed by INDICA.
IKS Meta Retreats held so far
INDICA conceptualised and curated the following 4 pilot Meta-Retreats since November 2023.
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| Sr. No |
Theme |
Cohort Leader |
# |
Participants |
| 1 |
Towards a Self-Conscious Nation State |
Shivakumar
Ajay |
11 |
Akshay Alladi, Kalyan Halley, Manish Maheshwari, Dr. Nagaraj Paturi, Nithin Sridhar, Raghava Krishna, Rinkoo Wadhera, Dr. Srinivas J, Surendranath Chandranath |
| 2 |
Hinduism - The Hope of Philosophy |
Dr. Joydeep Bagchi |
9 |
Amritanshu Pandey, Dr. Pingali Gopal, Megh Kalyanasundaram, Prof. Ramesh G, Dr. Suryanarayana J, Shrikant Ramdas, Shrinivas Udumudi, Vinay Kulkarni |
| 3 |
Oral Storytelling Traditions - The Road Ahead |
Deepa Kiran |
10 |
Dr. Diti Vyas, Dr. Janardhan Ghosh, Kavita Meegama, Lavanya Prasad, Lavanya Srinivas, Vikram Sridhar, Surya Swapna, Tarini Chandrashekhar, Varada Shambhus |
| 4 |
Tech for Dharma, Tech with Dharma |
Surendranath
Ajit Padmanabh |
10 |
Prof. Dr. Arnab Chakraborty, Anugraha Nagaich, Dhrupad Vipat, Prof. Dr. Mohan Raghavan, Nikhilesh Ghushe, Ratul Sinha, Subramaniam Vishwanathan, Subramaniyan Chidambaran |
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All the above retreats were held at Bilvam Foundation, Tiruvannamalai. The 2-Day program broadly had 8 sessions which were organised around the following elements weaving together an immersive and transformative experience.
- Invocation
- Cohort Introduction and Concerns around the subject
- A Stock Taking of the Present
- A Deep Dive into the Past to understand the Present
- Problems, Concerns, Conflicts that require Resolution
- The Emergence and the Opportunities
- Desired Future
- How do we get to the Desired Future
- The Next Steps
The Evenings were spent in informal conversations around the subject with a visit to the Arunachala Shiva Temple and Ramana Maharshi Ashram.
A more detailed report of each of the retreats can be found below.
Shivakumar GV
Director – INDICA (Guru-Sadhaka Sachiva)
Convenor & Co-Curator of Meta-Retreats
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