Why Ashram?
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's family was a large joint family in Tiruvannamalai. There were well over 20 families who lived together in a large house that was almost two acres (nearly 90,000 square feet) in built up area.
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM says: People ask me what you have ashrams and what is the point in being living in ashrams as if in a commune? What difference is it from living in a joint family?
We need to think of humans as conscious beings and not as a social utility. If you are a Doctor your profession is a Doctor; your being is not a Doctor. I am trying to help you reclaim your inner space. You are more than a Doctor; that's only part of your inner space. In his ashram THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is helping people to gain their inner space. In comparison to this inner space the outer space that we have spent all our time in will seem so small and insignificant. One will no longer care for it. We will not care if we have it or not.
Outer life is only one part of our life, our being. You may ask why can't I not reach this from my own home? Why is the ashram necessary?
Your home is based on the concept of society. It makes you forget the truth. Here the ideology of the inner space is the backbone of the ashram; its ambience, its structure, everything in it. Your friends and your Master will not let you forget this.
When people ask about coexisting home life and spiritual life, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM tells them it is ok to continue with home life. That is only a polite answer. For 10 days after meeting him, after hearing his discourse, his meditation course, one will be in a high accepting mood at home. Then society takes us over. The bondage returns. People who interact with us make a difference. Body language is the food for the mind. In the ashram the food is positive. People who we are with help us tide over our weaknesses instead of exploiting them. They do not judge or criticize. Society on the other hand constantly judges us; if we conform you are rewarded; if we do not we are punished.
Ashram is a higher reality. It provides Buddham (wisdom), Dhammam (technology) and Sangam (community) that lives the technology of wisdom. It is a major part of spiritual life. Even if we do not remember our path, Sangam will remind us. Some one around us will constantly remind us of the higher ideals we set out to reach. We would have a loving place, a caring place to grow spiritually in. In the outer world people will disturb, obstruct and stop us from our spiritual path. In the ashram people encourage us in reaching out to the great truths.
Human beings can not live isolated, only as individuals. No man is an island, John Donne has said. Human being is a social animal. If we are constantly reminded of higher truths we shall live them, radiate them. Sangam is having bliss, radiating bliss. That's why ashrams are created.
Ashrams are epicenters of strong ananda (bliss) vibrations; vibrations that cause the inner space to quake and shift; whatever we had built before is shattered, leveled.
When one sits at the feet of the Master all doubts are removed; energy is created to fulfill desires to reach higher spiritual level. It is easy to love the Master; it is much harder to love our fellow beings. In the ashram people learn to love each other without conditions and causes. Bliss is shared independent of the Master.
The ashram is an ideological joint family. It is not a bondage of blood relationship. It is a deep emotional and ideological connection. Ashram life is a way of life and one needs maturity. It is not a theory but a reality to be expressed and experienced.
Vivekananda said: the dharma chakra is in motion. All you have to do is to stand by the chakra and be part of its motion.
Distaste for Society's hypocrisy
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's grandfather's elder brother's wife was about 104 when she died, and THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was about 12. This lady had no children of her own and was looked after by one of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's uncles. This uncle and his wife were not happy looking after this lady and always found some excuse or another not to be of help to her. The lady herself was a difficult person and unpleasant. She was very miserly even though she was wealthy. She often would ask THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to buy her tobacco, and when the boy asked for money would tell him to ask his father. This old lady would even grudge giving water from the common well inside the house to her neighbors when there was a drought in the region.
When she died no one in the family wept to start with. The most caring person was the neighborhood Doctor who attended to her, who had been treated shabbily by her and who had even been refused water by her in the past. Yet, with great compassion he treated her till her death. The family was happy to see her go.
Just before the family expected mourners to arrive the women in the household changed into cheap saris and removed all their jewelry. As soon as guests arrived they started wailing as if on cue. Once the formal wailing ceremony was over as if it was a ritual, they would get into inane social conversation, offer refreshments and coffee to guest mourners. Once a new set of relatives arrived the wailing cycle would start all over again. The boy was shocked and surprised at the hypocrisy of it all.
While the dead body was still in the house and relatives were still calling upon the family to condole, the immediate family went into the dead lady's private room, where her box of jewelry was kept under her bed. There were 27 families living under one roof; they all laid claim to her jewelry and other possessions and started negotiations and bargaining even before her body was cold. The family called the goldsmith to assay and value the jewelry.
In that moment THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM lost all respect for his family and its social conditioning. He started laughing loudly at their behavior. An uncle tried to hit him to stop his laughter, as he thought that the boy was getting hysterical out of emotional shock. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM held his uncle's hand and told him that if he tried to hit him again he would tell all the assembled crowd what the family members were up to; bargaining about sharing the loot even before the body was cremated. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's mother told the uncle to be careful of her son, as he was quite capable of doing what he threatened to do. She tried to persuade him to eat to divert him. Then the relatives haggled about who would pay for funeral expenses. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's father, a mild and innocent man, who hated arguments, immediately agreed to take care of all expenses to avoid all disputes on this score.
Completely disgusted, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM took his book of Bhagavad Gita and started chanting the verses in front of the dead body. That was probably the only action that helped the old lady's spirit depart peacefully amidst all the drama that was going on.