When Swami Satyanandaji had gone to Sivanandaji eighty years ago, Swami Sivananda said only one sentence to Swami Satyananda, ‘Work hard and you will be purified.’ This sentence indicates the intent of the ashram. Ashram has two roles to play. One role of ashram is vidya, the knowledge, the intent of the place, the learning. The second component of ashram is shram, which means to engage in activity. These two become the two legs of the ashram’s body.
Why have you come here? You have come here for vidya. You came here to learn something. You came here to spend a week, a month, some time learning different things. That is the vidya component. The other component is shram, engagement and activity. This engagement or activity is part of the ashram culture. It is not only at the physical level, but also very much at the individual and personal level. We are not aware of the shram component; we are more aware of the vidya component, thinking, ‘What can I gain? What can I learn? What can I take back?’ Our participation in the ashram is only fifty percent.
Most of the time people do not realize the value of shram. They think that shram means to do hard physical work. That is the understanding which we have in relation to the word ‘work.’ The word ‘work’ is not only working hard physically, but also working hard internally. Physical activity becomes a means of attaining mental balance. I am sure you have experienced the conflict in the mind, when we engage ourselves to do something with many other people. Too many cooks try to cook the broth. Sometimes the salt is more, sometimes the masala more, sometimes the water is less, sometimes the vegetables are less. In the ashram, work is not seen as physical, it is seen as a stepping stone to manage and balance the mind, the responses and reactions of the mind. For that, one has to be aware.
One day, Swami Sivananda said to Swami Satyananda, ‘There is this person suffering from leprosy. Go and clean his wounds.’ Swami Satyananda went and started to clean the wounds of the leper. It was hurting and aching, and that leper abused Swami Satyananda, and gave him a kick. He was hurting. Swami Satyananda came back to Swami Sivananda and said, ‘I am not going to clean the wounds of that man.’ You would have said the same thing. It is a normal reaction. You would have responded in the same manner. Swami Sivanandaji said something nice, ‘See God in his suffering. You are not helping the sick person; you are helping God inside the person. You are serving God inside that person.’
That changed the perception of Swami Satyananda. He went back and of course, there were reactions, yet the focus of learning is there. He was now not just wiping and cleaning the wounds, there was an awareness, ‘There is something inside this person, who is also experiencing pain, and I have to relieve that pain.’ Is this intellect? No. It is confronting one’s own mind to have a different perception, vision, focus and awareness. Only people with awareness can do it. We will not be able to do it; despite having many opportunities, we have not done it. This is an indication of where we are. We think of shram as physical activity only and we do not see the psychological impact of shram, and how it can be utilized to experience the positive nature of the individual. This is one aspect which people do not realize and why they fail in the ashram too.
You have come here. Are you engaging in both aspects of ashram – the learning and the expressive? Are you focused on vidya and shram? Ask yourself that question and see your engagements. Which engagements do you avoid? Which engagements do you engage in voluntarily, without informing anybody? That is an indication of your own commitment, truth and sincerity to ashram culture. It is an indication of how you support the environment of the ashram, by avoiding your identification with vidya, and your identification with shram. For you, vidya is just a classroom teaching; that understanding has to change. The classroom practice is not going to make you spiritual, but realizing how you can deal with your own mind is.
Swami Satyanandaji has said, ‘Within you, except you, everything else is the mind.’ This means that within you, except the spirit, the soul, the atma, every moment is a mental indulgence. Every moment. We are always conflicted between raga and dwesha, attraction and repulsion, the swing of the pendulum. We do not come out of it. Despite talking about it, we never come out of the swing of the pendulum.
If we cannot come out of that swing of the pendulum, it defeats the whole purpose of the ashram. You may as well come to a hotel, have a nice yoga camp, network and then go back. That is how many people treat the ashram. Today the real purpose and relevance of the ashram is that if you want to connect with positivity in life, you have to confront the mind. Otherwise do not have any expectation of positivity, and do not have any expectation of peace, harmony and joy in life.
The challenge before everyone today is the mind. Previously we could ignore the mind and say, ‘I can do this because I have willpower.’ Today we do not have willpower. Ten years ago, we could take a decision and stand by it, without having to depend on Google, networks and social media. Today, there is no individuality left in people, only the questioning, ‘What do other people think of me? How do they see me?’ This is the mind. The mind is going through narcissistic behaviour right now. Thirty or twenty years ago, we used to laugh at people who could look at themselves in the mirror and say, ‘You are a narcissist admiring yourself.’ Today, if I do not like your post, you have a problem because I have not ‘liked’ it. That is narcissistic behaviour. People like to live in that mindset. If people cannot come out of that mindset, how can they experience peace and happiness? They cannot. Therefore, peace and happiness is more elusive now than it was one decade ago or two decades ago.
For the people who really wish to rediscover themselves, the ashram is one of the best places today. If you are willing to take up the challenge, there is no better place.
16 October 2023 Progressive Yoga Vidya Training, Ganga Darshan, Munger