by Mihai Stoian

The ashram is the place where the limits are all the time pulled down and the physical appearance of the ashram is important only in the extent is reflecting the inner reality. In the ashram, for each individual the “outside” and the “inside” meet under the sharp light of the constant attention.

 For example if one has a messy room, that reflects the inner mess and by cleaning the room he/she aims to clean the inside that was the cause for the outside mess. If one is always postponing to do certain tasks for the common living in the ashram, that person shows a mental pattern that is in fact affecting all his/her life, not only those particular situations where it become visible for the others. And knowing this, that person has the chance to transform efficiently for better using the spiritual techniques that are provided to get out from the “tyranny” of that mental pattern.

Every attempt to organize the life in the ashram has to take into consideration the spiritual goal and also the fundamental law of correspondence that make possible to influence and even to modify what is “up” (in the higher aspects of our being) by modifying what is “down” (in the physical level). For this reason the life in the ashram will sometimes have situations that are not usually found in the normal life but this is due to the fact that the life in the ashram itself has a purpose: to create the best conditions for its inhabitants to transform. In a situation that a person breaks a glass and doesn’t announce this but is just hiding the pieces, the main focus when this is discovered is not to replace the glass as soon as possible so that the life take its normal course but to find the person that did that and with specific methods to help the person to understand the deep mechanism that made him/her to do that (hiding from responsibility). In a normal situation we don’t care much who did it but to restore the order as soon as possible. In an ashram the first concern is to help the person to understand the mistake and of course after that to restore the order.

When the light is bright the dark looks darker
In the ashram are the most demons. The more you stay in the light the more the darkness looks darker. If a person is stealing from his neighbors, that is seen as a regrettable act but if this is happening in a spiritual community then it looks worse. For this reason some have the tendency to see in the ashram a place with a lot of problems but in reality in the ashram the problems are highlighted by the general level of awareness that is higher than normal and also by the raised standard of expectations from a spiritual community. But being a spiritual school, an ashram is a place where mistakes are even more visible because the mistakes here are the way of learning and nobody is avoiding them (at least not consciously).
 
Another important aspect that is deeply specific to the life in the ashram is the “spiritual integration”.  This means a special field of interconnections between the inhabitants so they are always confronted with the situations of life serving the best their spiritual goal. This “spiritual integration” is given by two aspects that are common to all the persons that are living in the ashram:

1. The individual dedication for a certain and clear spiritual goal followed with intense aspiration. One of the fundamental conditions to live in an ashram is to place the transformation on a higher priority than the individual comfort. Usually we are seeking consciously or not for comfort and easy life and when confronted with the transformation (especially the spiritual transformation that is affecting very deep all the levels of our being) we realize that we are not ready to “pay the price” that is requested or it. It becomes obvious in those moments that we are pricing higher the comfort and easiness of our life than transformation and evolution. Living in an ashram makes sense only for those that already have a priority from their spiritual evolution or at least want to do that when they are confronted with the choice.   For the ones that place GOD on the first place in their life, the ashram is a “launching site”. And in the ashram the evolution can be much faster. For those that are not ready, the ashram is a kind of “prison” from which sooner or later they will “escape”. The fact that most of the ashram inhabitants are linked by a common aspiration makes the events in the ashram to become “synchronistic” and highly significant for each of the members of the community (to understand better this notion please read the article “….” from the second issue of Logos magazine). Only a group of people that are studying by out of curiousity and in a flabby manner the spiritual texts, in the rest of time being focused on all kind of other goals, are not part of an ashram, even if it might be called like that.

2. The connection to a spiritual school or system. In this way the inspiration and the feed back are assured for the process of transformation to be safe and to go always in the right direction. A spiritual school or system, represented here by teachers that in themselves are realizing the goals that the aspirants are aiming for,  is providing with the assistance, with the “expertise” to pass the difficult moments, and – most important – with the proper techniques for operating this transformation. Therefore a group of people that are living together and that are individually interested into the spiritual evolution are not necessary forming an ashram.
Empowered by these aspects mentioned above, the “spiritual integration” is manifesting as a protective field of “significant coincidences” and “lucky” events that are always having a spiritual meaning and tend to teach exactly that lesson that the aspirant needs for the moment, the evolution becoming thus an accelerated process of inner transformation. It is possible to appear such phenomena because of the above mentioned conditions that in an invisible way connect through resonance all the members of a spiritual community.

Both these things are essential to create an ashram. Any attempt to break these aspects will lead sooner or later to the evanescence of the ashram (even though the building and even the inhabitants are still there!)
We say that the transformation is possible instead of being certain because here lies another very important characteristic of the ashram that makes the ashram different than a blind oppressive system. In an ashram a person comes by free will and goes by free will. And most important, is assuming the ashram discipline and practice by free will as a part of the assumed “price” of the spiritual transformation.

Because of this situation, the ashram is a spiritual transformation friendly environment, giving the necessary discipline, silence, community with persons having the same preoccupations and the same spiritual goal, but in the same time it is not guarantying the results. It is exactly like going to the gym. There we have all the conditions to train our body, we even have competent assistance but nobody can tell for sure that we will do it because it’s all based on our own effort.

Even if it is a system that helps the transformation, the ashram is not canceling the individual responsibility for evolution. And this is another characteristic of the life in the ashram.
The individual spiritual goal that is aimed intensely is important so that the permanent orientation of all the attitudes and actions of the inhabitants are integrated into the spiritual field that is generated by the goal itself.  This is giving to the spiritual community a great stability and reliability in front of the very many problems that appears in the life of such community. This common orientation toward a spiritual goal is what makes the people in the ashram to live together in harmony even in the most difficult situations that appear.

The transformation through action
An important tool of transformation that was always at a very high price in ashrams in order to maintain the spiritual level of the life there was KARMA YOGA. For this reason the ashram is also a very good support of the spiritual school so that in this way the karma yoga is integrated in the general picture of the school’s needs.

By definition the KARMA YOGA system is “the yoga of communion with GOD through all the actions that we are doing”. Basically no one can stay without doing something. On the other hand anything we are doing involves a “reaction” (we are programming a reaction from the universe that is coming sooner or later in our life).

From the other perspective the life of the ashram always tend to become intensive and to “force” the participants to overpass their limits. Therefore the life there is not easy and is also not meant to be easy. Between easiness and intensity lies the big abyss of death. The special condition that the aspirants to enlightment have to fulfill is to relax and abandon into the flow of transformations. Trying to always be in control in a forceful and egoistic way will bring back the limits that were removed in the first place.

But the ashram is not at all like a “pensioner’s house”, but like a dynamic “resting room” in an airport. Or like the eagle nest. People don’t grow older in the ashram, they grow wiser. And after the solid base of deep inner transformation was built, its time for the “young” aspirants to face the real life and to make room to others that need the protection in order to begin their spiritual life. The ones that evolve become the living models for the new aspirants and in this way the whole environment is permanently providing the aspiration for going further. Within the ashram is created a genuine spiritual lineage, beginners and advanced, students and teachers being in a very close connection and walking the path together.

Many times the spiritual path was seen as entering in a “collision course” with the society, the collision being most of the times devastating for the aspirant therefore was considered that these two have to stay separated. In this way also the “conflict” between the spirituality and society reach to a wise peaceful solution, spirituality being harmoniously integrated into the society, both fulfilling their role in the formation of us as perfect universal beings. That is the final meaning of the modern ashram or spiritual community. 

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