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 mal-practices 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 white-washed, 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!

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