The Ashram

Wisdom Teachings
The Basics
The Kingdom of God

Sometimes we try to escape from our lives, including our responsibilities and duties to family, friends or society. People leave their partners or run away to a Master or to an ashram to “find” themselves and to seek peace and harmony. Some believe they can find spiritual light or a shortcut to salvation in ashrams, often this includes spending a lot of money. In the end, they realize that this is not possible. We have to work over livetimes to tame the personality; those who can do it in one lifetime have done a great job. In spiritual kindergarten we still think, “I can easily take the first, second, third initiation, I will be in the ashram of the Masters.”

It is foolish to pray or do spiritual exercises for one's own benefit, especially when the world is in deep crisis. We enter into wrong situations, and eventually we feel the pain of disappointment. This disappointment works as a medicine to heal us from wrong ideas. The key to true self-development is to think of the welfare of others rather than only our own welfare and advantage.

Often teachers with a magnetic charisma establish ashrams with large buildings. To develop their organizations, money is raised and property is acquired in the form of trusts and foundations. These structures on the physical plane require attention for their upkeep and quickly become sources of problems. Then, when the teacher has left his body, those who follow him cannot maintain the high vibration, and struggles for power and property arise. For this reason, the holy people of India never believed in manifesting huge things materially.

Thus, even the World Teacher Trust does not have a physical ashram. Only according to the requirements of the work there are some visible facilities in stone and mortar. Such structures should be kept at a minimum to ensure that they do not extract too much energy from us - a minimum of infrastructure to allow maximum transmission of the wisdom relating to right living. Master EK said, “I believe in persons with devotion and good heart. I do not believe much in constructing ashrams for which huge sums of money are to be collected. To me ashrams are living beings built with devotion and service. Believe in service and human relations. Do not believe in collecting money and building ashrams. Every house must be an ashram where husband and wife as co-devotees and co-workers in the service of humanity. Let us be among the world servants working for the Lord.”

There are ashrams of the Masters all over the earth, especially in the great mountain ranges. In recent times, however, there are very few ashrams on the physical plane; they function better in secret and in the subtle world. The true ashrams are in the ether and can move about as time and place require. At times of emergency, they are withdrawn into the Himalayas, to be dispersed again when the related etheric purity prevails.

Wherever we gather for three days of group living and do the morning and evening prayers of Master CVV, our ashram constructs itself. It moves in the ether to the place where, through the efforts of the group, a very good wisdom manifests in a group work. For a while, the energies relating to the ashram are then present. When we utter OM, the whole ambience changes and a different energy is there. The Masters come in their subtle bodies, walk around, and keep blessing us. We should be aware of their presence and that we are entering the ashram not as personalities but as souls. This is not understood by a superficial mind; however, it might be realized much later. The ashram disappears again once the group life is completed.

The teachings of a Master give us his presence. When we study his teachings and apply them in life, we transform ourselves with the help of the energies transmitted by the teacher. Thus, we slowly get out of our immature activities and become mature. The Master will help us if we follow the technique given by him. If we are sincere, work regularly with the teachings and consecrate our lives and resources to them, we enter the aura of the Master through this alignment. This aura is called “the ashram of the teacher”. We can then be entrusted with certain tasks according to the Plan. The Teacher is also part of and work for this Plan.

Our receptivity to the energy of the ashram causes it to visit us regularly. The ashrams move along the lines of good work. Wherever there is good will in action, there is the ashram. If we serve the weak, heal the sick, and teach wisdom with enough zeal, the ashram reaches down to us. We do not have to reach up to it. Wherever we are, the energy of the ashram moves with us. It is a mobile ashram. In this way, a disciple becomes a teacher and in turn passes on the same wisdom to his disciple. This is how the Hierarchy came into being.

Numerous aspirants are emotional and claim to have the presence of a Master of Wisdom and also to know the ashram of a Master. Such claims should be ignored and put aside as useless. An emotional attitude does not lead us to the ashram. Those who actually have access to an ashram will not say so. In order to enter the ashram of a Master, we must apply certain wisdom keys to ourselves. This includes subjecting ourselves to discipline, applying the sound key, and cultivating and performing right thoughts and deeds. Above all, we must first have properly discharge our obligations in the objective world. Misbehaviour in the outer world disables us to gain access. Only through the cave of our heart we can find access to the ashram.

For this, we close our eyes, take three breaths, and then attune ourselves to pulsation in order to enter this ashram of the heart and invoke the Master. While we are calling and waiting, the Master descends. The energy descends to meet us and lift us up.

We can also use our sleep for this purpose. Before we go to sleep, we can visualize that we have ascended to the Ajna centre and are falling asleep. We first visualize that we have reached the pulsation and entered the cave of the heart. Then we ascend to the Ajna. There is a portal to go outside, into the subtle planes. We can enter the ashrams or temples in the subtle planes only when we go out through the Ajna. We may not be able to go out, but we can just visualize it. The consciousness will follow our visualization and our pulsation will automatically reach that place in the Ajna center. When, with the help of pranic pulsation, we consciously go through the door in the Ajna and experience existence outside the body, we may unconsciously end up in the etheric ashram of a Master, enter light centres or light-filled assemblies, or through this contemplation may even reach the Samadhi state. The book “The Music of the Soul” shows us a dimension of teaching in a subtle ashram.

In the present times, the Masters of Wisdom do a lot work through impression teaching. Thus, with proper preparation, we can be lifted into the ashram of a Master and have certain teachings recorded in our subconscious. When we awaken again, we may not immediately remember, but the related knowledge remains in the background and slowly reveals itself to us again. Ever since the advent of the Aquarian energy, new ashrams have been opened in the subtle planes where such teachings have been imparted telepathically to suitable students during their sleep hours. This has also been described in various books and films. This knowledge helps us to understand that there is an inner world that permeates this outer world, and that it is important to relate to the Master and his ashram during our daily contemplation. The quality of inspiration we receive and register depends on our orientation and preparation through our daily life.

The teachings in the ashrams of the Hierarchy also happen during the morning and evening twilight hours. Daily, the ashrams transmit not only teachings but also music in tune with the season and the planetary configuration. Those who are attuned to these teachings and the music enthusiastically prepare to receive them during the twilight hours. In the ashrams of the teachers, even today, chants and sounds are intoned in a conscious, rhythmic, and regular way; many Vedic hymns are sung in addition. These chantings are considered more effective than the fashionable silence. Therefore, we too should chant rhythmically and listen consciously to the sound of chanting.

Shambala is the breath and inspiration of the ashrams on the planet. Shambala is the most important of the ashrams that inspire the planet and the planetary beings. All ashrams draw from Shambala the needed energy, the will and the knowledge to act. The ashram of Shambala is invisible to the mundane eye, but visible to all who can see etherically. Shambala is located on the etheric plane near the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. Depending on the purity of the heart, Shambala approaches the beings. The thought of Shambala itself also vitalizes and begins a process of purification within.

Sources used: K.P. Kumar: Ashram - Regulations for Entry; div. seminar notes. Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India (www.aquariusbookhouse.com).