[What is an Ashram?- South India]

A common question and its probably a lot more normal than you might have thought...probably.

Think of an ashram as a number of buildings on a property, much like a university complex. The ashram in Puttaparthy (where I am) has all the essentials plus some comforts, including budget hotel styled rooms, dorm beds, a large prayer hall, library, super market, tea stalls, book shop etc. Although what it lacks I reckon is a groovy cafe, night club and a cinema :-)

I stay within a 10min walk from the ashram in the adjacent small town, in a comfy 1 bedroom studio apartment. I can come and go to the ashram as I please, no need to register, pay fees or even chant an ancient password at the gate... However if one stays in the ashram, the front gate is officially closed from 9pm to 4am. (closing time for the zoo I call it :)

What do I do here..? Well everything and nothing, and the 'nothing' is probably the hardest... There are daily spiritual lectures for 1hr which I sometimes attend. The 'guru' (Sai Baba) attends the prayer hall (fits a good few thousand people) twice daily, known as darshan. When he enters the hall, a designated group starts chanting the Vedas, which is Indias oldest wisdom stored in sounds. That is, the sound of the chanting (in Sanskrit I think) is more important than what is actually said.

They say 2 things are dangerous in this world- to be present in front of a great guru (avatar) or a poisonous snake.... you never know what will happen. And strangely, things do happen in darshan, a sort of conscious awakening, sometimes non-existent yet very subtle at other times. I dont know why or how, it just happens. Ive come to accept that there are things I have experienced that my mind cannot understand, such as natural healing, reiki, homeopathy etc.

Ofcourse being here means the topic of god, love, karma, emotions, thoughts, illusion etc is always on our lips. Politics seems so trivial. So when I am not in darshan or discussing the above with friends in a restaurant in town, I am reading books, meditating, checking emails, etc. There is a sort of routine here but there isnt. Each day becomes a new adventure as I pickup the jigsaw pieces to form the bigger picture. A lot of self-introspection, healing, but releasing pain always sucks!

I am finally comfortable in not knowing what I will do next. That took a lot of effort on my behalf to ignore the nagging questions from the mind. I know that when I need to leave and where I will go to and what I will do next will come to me when I need to know. Ive stopped planning as such for "if you want to make god laugh, tell him/her your plan.. :-)" Got tired and even embarrassed of constantly making new plans!

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