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Sacinandana Swami, Giriraj Swami, and Bhurijana dasa addressed the assembled devotees on the final day of the retreat.
“Every day you spend about two hours on retreat. You chant your rounds, and you do some reading. So every day each one of us goes on retreat. In that time—the time of your spiritual practice—take something that you have learned here and apply it. For example, some devotees have told me that they have taken the simple point of focusing on the first ‘Hare’ of each mantra with them and it has changed their chanting. Others take a memory—this works for me, as I will take the memory of sitting under the kadamba trees and chanting. When I chant my rounds in Munich or Berlin, I will remember the desire tree under which I sat. So my suggestion to you is to remember something essential that you learned here and practice it. And when you practice, it will start to come automatically, as you will have developed a new samskara in your heart. You live out of the suitcases of your samskaras—your karmic baggage. We live and react and think out of this baggage. Now let us create a new samskara, which can be done by taking one essential point with you. It is possible to change. Please never ever join the fatalists who think we are helpless victims of our habits. Create a new habit and break out of your personal prison.” —Sacinandana Swami
