Letters from Anandashram - 1993 to 1994

12. Rain & Visitors in Anandashram - June 1994

Rain & Visitors in Anandashram

June 15, 1994

Anandashram

Dear Parents,

Divya conveys her namaskars.

I am missing the simple Puttaparthi monsoon rains, where it just rains every few days, and usually only at nights. Even in Brindavan (Whitefield/Bangalore), rains usually only came after 4 PM, and ended by dawn the next day. But here in Kerala, ah! All day long, rain, rain, rain! We haven’t seen the sun in over two weeks! Every few hours the torrents turn to a drizzle only, but only for 15-20 minutes. Then again, hard and long stormy rains!

We have to hang clothes inside, on lines that are five feet above our heads. It takes skill to hold the 10-foot stick, balance the wet clothes on the tip of it, then throw it over the line and arrange it properly. Even then, clothes don’t dry completely even after 24 or 48 hours. Often, after morning bath, I have to dress in clothes that are still half damp. Funny to say, some days ago I found an old copy of Swami’s “Prema Vahini” in the library and in it He says that sanyasis should do tapas in wet clothes in winter, and standing in the rain in monsoons!

Another difference is that in Prasanthi, even during monsoons it is warm weather, and after each short rain the sun would shine again; here, it is quite cool so I sleep with socks and sweater, under several blankets. Not much tapas!

For nine years I just got occasionally wet. Here, I was dashing about in a thin cotton shawl – which got damp and dripping wet very quickly! Swami Satchidananda must have noticed because on June 3rd, Sri Ram came to me with a brand new folding umbrella and said, “See! Swami Satchidananda sent this to you as prasad!” I was touched of course, and very grateful! It is coming in very handy.

News from Prasanthi Nilayam is this: the Mandir compound looks like a graveyard they say, because all over it, deep holes are dug – I guess to put up pillars to support the new cement roof. Also the compound will be expanded. Work had to be stopped then re-started, as Swami changed the plans! He may have to remain in Brindavan until October or November, they say. Most Prasanthi Nilayam permanents are in Brindavan to see Swami.

The famous “old ladies shed,” by the Ganesh statue gate, has finally been torn down (after years of threatening that it would be). The elderly and crippled have been moved far away from the Mandir, in sheds behind the Round Houses, and they will build a garden in the space of the demolished shed.

Is it any wonder that from times past, truly serious spiritual aspirants have only gone to quiet forests and mountains to realize God? It seems to me that ashrams are started by saints after they have gotten realized by being in seclusion! For what are ashrams nowadays, but places where worldly people go to get “recharged batteries,” then return to the world. Alas! If I was born a man, I’d be in a cave by now.

Here, a group from Hyderabad have come. They are like a bunch of American tourists! They talk all the time, even during arathi and bhajans! They are fashionable, aggressive and well-fed. Our building has turned into a bazaar! I try to meditate in the evenings as usual, but it is like being in the sheds in Prasanthi Nilayam. I think of it as all God - which helps but doesn’t free me from the illusion of the world! Even Ramdas and Swami Satchidananda say that one may do the sadhana of trying to see all as God, but it is really not possible to have the actual experience until one merges in the Formless Absolute in samadhi. So the ashram seems more worldly lately, as more and more worldly people visit it, and I am wandering if there is any other ashram that is less accessible to people merely on a holiday.

Amway, hope you are all well and hope the house is coming up nicely!

Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu

Love,

Divya