"An Ashram is a doorway into Eternity"

IWhen we build a house, we live in it and when we have an ashram, we also try to live in it as much as we can. An ashram is nothing more than a house where we try to live in accordance with principles to sustain inner growth, inner evolution. People often confuse an ashram with some sort of arcane environment where there can be no smiling and no laughter, no good food, only cold floors, prickly blankets. That went out with the dodo. We are here neither to suffer nor to enjoy. We are here to live under circumstances made available to us.

My Master used to say that Ashrams are not built of brick and mud but of the blood of hearts. An Ashram is a sacred edifice. And every heart must bleed before such an edifice can be built properly. I remember Babuji telling me that Lalaji used to call an Ashram, "A doorway into Eternity." So I hope this ashram will be such a doorway that abhyasis will find it possible to slip from this life into the next life with ease, with facility and without having to undergo all the old tortures of body and mind that the ancient ones had to undergo.

Conventional Ashrams
An ashram is a place where spiritual education and spiritual practice are offered, where a large number of disciples live together in harmony and everything that is necessary for the ashram being produced by cooperative effort. Often these ashrams were deep in the jungles of India and they were isolated communities. They were exclusive in the sense that those who were willing to pass through their portals, never came out again. Only such people entered them because it used to be the tradition that a disciple who entered when he was young did not come out as the same person; he came out a transformed individual, a rishi.

So this was the function of the ashrams. They had no luxury. They were rarely solid buildings. Mostly they were structures of bamboo and wood with thatched roofs, offering the minimum of security and protection from the climate. Thanks to our Master, we have a much better edifice than they ever had. And compared to those ashrams, our ashrams today are luxurious.

Many ancient saints have applauded the idea of an ashram as giving an opportunity to young aspirants to live in personal contact with their Guru, to serve the Guru and be served by him, creating an atmosphere of humility, of love, learning the real knowledge from the Master, how to live this life in such a way that the life hereafter is an assured one in that puissance of divine glory, which we call liberation, realisation, merger with the Infinite, stage by stage.

What is an Ashram?
I remember when I was in school, we had an English teacher who used to teach us in a very nice way. "What is the difference between a house and a home?" he used to ask us. Few people could answer. But the answer was, "The Sun shines on a house, the sun shines in a home." It is full of light, the light of love, the light of affection, the light of being lived in.

Now, Babuji has said, "Have a special place for meditation, have a special Asan, have a special time. "It is creating an environment into which, as you come, automatically we get into the meditative, contemplative mood. So, that particular spot, that we reserve for meditation, you can say, is an ashram too. There is an old saying, that where a king lives, is a palace. He may come to your house tomorrow morning, just unannounced. For him it is a palace. It is not the other way round. What the king sits on, is a throne. It may be specially made, it may be gold, it may be just wood.
A snail carries its home on its back. It does not build it anywhere but never it is homeless or shelterless. Our Master has placed us with a similar opportunity to experience the fact that the most humble snail experienced in its existence. An ashram is but a place where one goes to find rest and obtain shreyas, that is, spiritual well-being and spiritual growth. That succour at both the spiritual and material levels can be available anywhere in this Universe provided one has faith in his heart and courage to go ahead is now proved to be a fact that all of us are experiencing.

What is an Ashram for?
An ashram is a place where we sit and meditate and try to find him here within ourselves, where He is. It is a place where we must sit in a calm atmosphere, where because you are meditating again and again, the atmosphere becomes suitable for us, and then seek Him within. The moment we think that only in the Ashram we can meditate, or only in the ashram we can find peace, or only in the ashram we can achieve our goal, and that it is not possible in our house or in a cottage or for that matter even in toilet, we are again making the same mistake. We have converted the ashram into our old systems you see. So we have to be careful that we don't make an ashram into a temple all over again.

So this is a big danger you see, that we begin to think an ashram is a temple and we must go there everyday and without sitting in the ashram we cannot get the proper estimate or the proper experience of meditation. You know the addiction to an ashram can be as bad as self-defeating as an addiction to alcoholic liquor. So can we not do sadhana very effectively, absolutely effectively without an ashram? Yes, we can. We don't need an ashram! But it is, shall we say, the smallest luxury we can afford, to create a brotherhood by giving a place where everybody can sit together, hear speeches, share experience. People sit and meditate, each one finds the other meditating. We get into some sort of harmonious relationship with ourselves, our belief is strengthened by what we see - other people talking or experiencing or believing and that is the only purpose that an ashram serves. If an abhyasi says that where there is no ashram there is no possibility of meditation and spiritual growth, it is a total lie. It is wrong. Babuji did not meditate in an ashram for instance. There was no ashram in Lalaji's time. They sat where they could; perhaps under a Banyan tree, I don't know. They didn't have even preceptors in the earlier days. So what is the need you see? The need is brotherhood.

An ashram is a place where we go for 'Shreyas'[spiritual well-being and spiritual growth]. An ashram is essentially a place where one goes to be with his Master and to grow spiritually. Anything else is a waste of time, and if an ashram is used for anything else, it is money badly applied, money misspent at the poor donor's cost. So when we go to our ashram, let us go in the Constant Remembrance of the Master, to be with Him whether He is there physically or not. Because without being physical, He can give anything. But know for sure, that in this life, in this human life, if you don't get it, you are not going to get it. This is guaranteed. I mean this is negative sort of guarantee.

It is for us to be surrounded by the consciousness of the Master, by His spirit. It is as if you are enveloped! I would suggest, that very much as a mother's womb protects the baby before it is born, ashrams protect us from outside pollution - whether of the body, or the mind, or the spirit.

It is meant for those, who long for spiritual benefit, who are willing to come, who are willing to sit in peace, calmly with eyes closed, meditate and draw whatever is available from the infinite source. It is not a place where we come for relaxation; it is not a place where we come for gossip; nor is it a place where we come to make mischievous plots about how to do this or that or that. I am saying this because today you see what a tragic thing it is, that places of worship are being used for seditious activities, for inhuman activities, for plotting murders, for violence. They are places of worship! So it is my submission, that a place of worship is a place of worship not because it was made a place of worship, but because people worship there. If you stop worshipping, it is no longer a temple! Similarly, an ashram is an ashram only so long as you meditate in it and keep the atmosphere pure, so that it can help the man who comes next and meditate there! The moment you stop meditating and start playing cards and things like that in an ashram, it becomes a club - though outside you may write "Shri Ram Chandra Mission Ashram!"

Don't make the mistake of thinking that the Mission builds ashrams for itself. It is like saying this building built itself for itself. It cannot build itself for itself. Somebody builds it for someone else to use. Even a businessman builds blocks and blocks of apartments to rent out for somebody's use - he doesn't stay in all of them. The Master is not in his ashrams. Don't make the mistake of thinking that, "This ashram was charged for so many years - X,Y,Z, and therefore I don't need the Master any more - if I sit in that ashram I will get everything." It is like expecting your wife's photograph to make love to you!

So the mission is the easiest to understand precisely because it has the least part to play in our spiritual journey. It is a creation which He considered necessary to help us. We should allow it to help us in the way that He designed - meditate. Don't imagine that you can just sit in an ashram and become a saint. No ashram produced a saint, though saints lived in ashrams. Kings live in palaces, but if I went into a palace and lived there I wouldn't become a king!

An Ashram has a purpose other than individual meditation. The purpose is to make us congregate in one place, develop brotherhood between ourselves, develop love for each other, develop an attitude of friendship, of cooperation, of mutual service. An ashram is an arena where without fighting, without quarrelling, without jousting, as in the old tradition, we interact in such a way that hearts become stronger, faith becomes evolved, courage evolves out of our inner sheeps' hearts into lions' hearts.
An ashram is a symbol of unity of all the people living here, people of all races, all colours, all religions, united under the spiritual umbrella of Sahaj Marg and growing together harmoniously, marching towards the goal harmoniously, hand in hand, and making this land, which has been, in a sense, tortured by various problems over the past few centuries, shine in the glory of united land, a united people, a united culture, united in spirituality.

How to maintain our Ashrams?
A meditation hall is to be used as a place of worship. There is a mistaken idea that only temples are places of worship. Quite the contrary! We must be in an attitude of worship continuously, especially when we have adopted the internal way of worship, which we call meditation. The real meditation is in the chamber of the heart, which is the seat of the Divine. To facilitate such a development to a stage of spiritual growth where we can meditate upon the Divine presence in the heart, we need an appropriate place where to conduct our sadhana and such a place is the place of meditation.

It follows that a meditation hall must be maintained as a holy and auspicious place, free from the grossness of daily life. It must be physically clean, and persons using the hall must take care not to defile the holy atmosphere by having wrong and negative thoughts, so as to preserve the atmosphere as one conducive to spiritual growth. The hall must be used solely for the purpose for which it is being offered.
So you see, we can do nothing without the Master's presence. Ashrams are good, ashrams are necessary, ashrams are to be built and will continue to be built, but we, who are entrusted with the job, have to ensure that, That essential thing, which has to be in an Ashram, the Master's grace, His presence, must be maintained there inviolate, its sanctity preserved, its purity preserved. Then alone an ashram is an ashram, otherwise, it is just a building. It is not enough if the main board, "Shri Ram Chandra Mission" is put inside. It doesn't immediately become a temple of God or a temple of the Master. You remember, the old English saying, "What is in a name? A rose by any name will smell as sweet." Yes, if it is a rose. So even the humblest cottage of an abhyasi, where the divine principle of the Master, His presence, His Grace, fills that cottage, is an Ashram. An Ashram is nothing special, it is where He and I commune, the 'I' applying to all of us.

So let us not confuse principles with actuality, reality and try to bestow material things upon reality, which is lacking, but try to preserve that pristine purity, which our Master has blessed us with. People often ask, "What is the need for Him to come again and again?" I think it was only to renew that presence of His, by the physical presence of His own. He came, He saw what was to be corrected, He rectified the atmosphere, purified it, perhaps changed it, if necessary and when necessary. That was for our benefit, like we charge a battery. Ever so often, a battery needs to be charged. Who does the charging? Well, the Master does the charging. It is like first charge of the first new battery that you buy. But then, subsequently, it is our job to keep that charge by doing our meditation properly; by sitting in an attitude of contemplation, sitting in an attitude of devotion, dedication to the principles of the Mission, in a real spirit of an abhyasi. Otherwise, if you sit in an ashram and gossip and talk about politics, the prices of potatoes, or indulge in other activities, very soon that ashram's atmosphere is spoilt. Atmospheres are created and maintained. Now the maintenance is forgotten. As in machinery, so in spirituality, there is a maintenance which has to be done, of the Self, of our own pursuit on the path, of the place where we sit and of our Ashrams, which our Babuji Maharaj has, shall we say, bequeathed to us.

So the creator creates. We have to maintain it. Many people think, "Babuji has charged, and it will last forever." No, not at all. I am not questioning His capacity to charge for fifty thousand years. I am only praising the human beings' [the foolish human beings'] capacity to destroy it. Because, the subtlest atmosphere that He creates can be destroyed in two minutes of bad thoughts. I mean, it needs no proof! Sit and see for yourself! So He creates for us. We are destroying it. Otherwise the world should not be what it is today. God did not create sins. Then how did it happen? We say grossness. How grossness? Because we oppose His will with our will! And by our grosser thoughts we destroy His subtler creation! Therefore Babuji said again and again "Destroy your creation, His creation comes into being."

So you see, we have this immense possibility with us, that the Master charges a place for our benefit, only so that when we go there, we start absorbing from the atmosphere. But we must keep renewing that in such a way, that what we use, we replace by our dedication, by our devotion, by our love for the Master, so that the place is kept charged. That is why, those who enter the Ashram should come with a pure mind, with a mind open to spiritual practice, with a mind yearning for spiritual learning with the Master, with a mind coming there to do nothing else but meditate. If an ashram is misused, and if it becomes less than even an ordinary home, then what are we going to get out of such places?

You know it is a common sight - people talk of temples which have been dedicated in the past, by the great figures of the past. There are hundreds of temples strewn all over the countryside of our land, where today only owls reside. Why? A devalayam [temple] should be a devalayam, isn't it? But in some way, you see, there these malpractices have entered. Even temples seem to have a fashion cycle - one day it is this temple, one day it is that temple. But if God is everywhere, if God is omnipresent, why should one temple be different from another temple? It is different, not because the Maker makes it different, but because those who go there - its devotees, made them different, with their vicious thoughts, vile thoughts, dirty thoughts, going to the temple only to do other nefarious things - pick-pocketing, for instance. So you see, they lose their original purity and they become, as I said, the living places of owls, and other such things. An ashram is no different from a temple. That is a place of God, this too is a place of the Master. The Master is our God.

So it is our solemn duty, that we keep our ashrams, of course, physically clean, swept, washed, walls whitewashed, all that is there - that is physical maintenance. Far more important and, may I say, both far more difficult and far more easy too, is the spiritual maintenance. It is very easy, if those who go there are real abhyasis of the Master, sitting there with devotion in their hearts, love in their hearts, with nothing but spiritual practice and spiritual aspirations within them.

We must remember that spirituality does not reside anywhere. If it was residing everywhere we could see it everywhere. We have to create a spiritual attitude, we have to create a spiritual fervour in ourselves, a demand which cannot be assailed, which cannot be negated by us for our spiritual evolution, for our growth. It becomes a cry of the heart. He transcends the mere appetites of the body. Such a man can be hungry without feeling hunger, precisely because this craving supersedes, transcends all other cravings. Therefore people were able to go into the jungle, face the horrors of a jungle life, dangers of a jungle life, the privations and yet sit there and meditate calmly, surrounded by lions and tigers and most poisonous snakes. And they made the grade. Why? Because this craving in them was so much. Now if you contrast that with an attitude that only in an ashram I can sit and meditate, imagine the difference. So an ashram is again nothing but something which can aid our progress. A man may never go into the Ashram and yet become saintly in his approach to spiritual life and go to the highest pinnacle of spiritual evolution. Another man may be even sleeping in the Ashram, but he may not know the beginning of spirituality.

There is no use having memorials - expensive, exquisitely beautiful, comfortable within reason, if we are not going to bring our heart into that meditation hall, at least during the time of meditation, during the pendency of the meditation, lay our heart at the feet of the Master, the highest discipline is this that in anything I do, in anything I think, my heart must be with me.

So this beautiful memorial must house abhyasis, everyone of whom is a living memorial of the Master. People must say, "But you are a memorial to your Master. I see your Master in you." What is a memorial, except the place, where the Master is? If it is only a building, it is not a memorial, it is only a building. It can be a building in memory of "Babuji Maharaj". We are not building buildings in memory of - in the past. We are building a place, which will live and pulsate with His existence, because we live and pulsate with His existence inside of us.

These ashrams that Master builds for us are ours, only for the purpose of converting your heart into an ashram, which becomes His. He gives us this facility where we can meditate, where we can become that which he wants us to become: a pure, a noble, an aspiring, released, perhaps achieved soul, to whose heart He is a permanent resident. So, this ashram is ours, this ashram is His.

We treat our home as our home and our ashram as merely an ashram. I would suggest that we should be as if we are in an ashram at home - as if my home should be my ashram and my ashram should be my home, then we will find a certain detachment in our life at home. We are detached from events, from persons, from even wife, children, husband, which is a very desirable thing, because it is attachment which is a curse, not love. Love is always a benediction, a gift, God's gift to humanity. Attachment is a curse, and we are attached at home. We are attached to the home, we are attached to everything in the home - including chairs, paper, string. I know people who collect string from packages and keep it for the future. Someday we may have to do some parcelling ourselves.

So the only secret of spiritual success is, as Babuji most tersely put it, "Be a guest in your home." Now I would like to add to that, "Be a member of the family in the ashram." In that way we have an idea that all here are our brothers and sisters. Many people are very sorry to leave the ashram after a session precisely because they feel at home. Why do we feel at home here? Because we have no responsibilities. Yes, except meditation, cleaning and constant remembrance, what else have you got? You are fed, you are clothed, you have everything here. It is a self-contained world here. So, we lead a carefree life. Everything is looked after, provided we look after ourselves as abhyasis. In the ashram it is possible to live a carefree existence, concentrating solely on your spiritual life and leaving the rest to God, Master, or "Allah mian" as Babuji used to say. At home the water pipe leaks, we are in trouble; the flush doesn't flush, we are in trouble, the wife has tantrums, we are in trouble. And this happens every day, day after day. Here, you see, how our children are carefree. So, there is wisdom in trying to make our home into an ashram and that can only be done provided, in the home, you are Master-centred, Spirituality-centred. Constant remembrance means precisely that. So, I recommend this sort of spiritual discipline.

A sannyasi is not allowed to stay more than three nights, not because any place is good or any place is bad, but attachment robs you of the possibility of development and growth: attachment to a place, attachment to a people, attachment to a thing. We have a right to use places, as we are using this ashram, but not to be attached to it. If somebody makes the mistake of thinking that only in an ashram we can grow spiritually, that is wrong. If somebody thinks that he can grow at home spiritually without ever coming to the ashram, that too is wrong. Everything in its place, in its appropriate time. There is a time when we need to be in the ashram, to be away from the world. "In it, but not of it."

So please use the Ashram, never be attached to it. Attachment to property in any form is detrimental to our progress. It is an aid. It is something which we must use in the knowledge that it is not ours, but is available for our use. Like a train compartment, we get into it, when the destination comes, we must get out of it. We cannot say, "I am so attached to this compartment I cannot get out." It is all right for children. It is not so for adults. So an ashram is a mere facility that the Master in His benevolence, in His kindness provides for our use. We cannot be attached to it as a place of meditation.

So this is the ancient philosophy, the truth that our country has always held you see. However grand these things should be, the places, the marbled structures in an ashram, the atmosphere in an ashram, don't forget, we create the atmosphere. The Master sanctifies it, charges it and if He wishes, it can be withdrawn in a second. It is a provision for us, like a boat which we use to cross a river, and once we are across, we forget the boat.

An ashram is a place pregnant with possibilities for one who is able to walk into it with head erect. "Whatever I am, I am here." But there is one thing that is essential. You must be willing to say. "Whatever I have to become, please make me that." May this ashram help all of you to progress. Use it as a boat, don't own it, don't posses it, don't depend on it, just travel in it!