An Aspect of Ashram Life

 by Swami Vidyapadma

I have spent four and a half months at Mandala Yoga Ashram. On the eve of my departure, I would like to thank everyone I have met here for the love and courtesy shown to me at all times. It has been a unique experience at the ripe old age of seventy one. I appreciate the care and concern I have received from each and every person I have met here. I suppose it had to be so, since the Ashram’s focus is on the heart chakra!

When you relate to people from the heart you bypass the mind, thereby setting aside reasoning, judgement, logic and other mental gymnastics (life is not often logical). The heart is all love; it does not reason and never judges. Love reaches out to the heart, therefore there is no room for conflict. It is pure and simple Being at the transcendental level.

However, we do not remain at this level at all times, because the world is too much with us. The drama of life goes on: there is giving and taking, there is choosing and judging and much else to live with. This in essence is, to my mind, the source of all conflict. This is the battle of Kurukshetra (as described in the Bhagavad Gita) and it is part and parcel of worldly living. When we come to Yoga, our eyes are opened to a new world. We begin to understand there is more to living than bargaining for what we would like to have; to give a little and ask for everything; to choose the pleasant and reject the unpleasant or if we cannot reject it, suffer with it. Everyone knows this game very well. We have all gone through it, and we have had to live with it.

While living in an Ashram, one is able to stand apart, and watch what is happening in the Ashram and elsewhere. The mind is never quiet. Sometimes, there is a whole kaleidoscope of events and experiences ( of the past ) that pass through the mind screen. There is no need to watch television or a movie, because truth is stranger than fiction! This is similar to the practice of antar mouna in Yoga.

An individual is like a point on a straight line. The point cannot comprehend the line. A point outside the line has a whole view and can therefore see the line. That is yogic living.

So one can understand the importance of Ashram life, especially at a time when society is like a rudderless boat; materialism with its grasping, selfish ways sweeps the world and violence is the order of the day, while respect for human life is at its lowest ebb.

Anyone visiting an Ashram for a few days or weeks, or a long stay, has to accept that Ashram life has a different set of norms. It is not, and can never be, like our daily existence. This is where love and caring comes in. If we accept the Ashram as it is, and do not allow the mind to intrude, we can and do derive immense benefit from our stay. Constant questioning and comparing Ashram life with our usual lifestyle, is not the best thing. If we can slip into the Ashram routine and do what is expected of us, we are really slipping into the habit of doing karma yoga, the yoga of works as described in the scriptures. There is no conflict in our minds, therefore energy is conserved and often even enhanced.

To my mind, this is the greatest service an Ashram offers in the modern world.