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The various departments that make up the Sivananda Ashram have essentially one purpose in mind, whatever their outward responsibility may be-namely to serve the ongoing spiritual mission of Swami Sivananda. It is not as if the Ashram residents serving in these departments were merely carrying out day-to-day duties brought on by the job at hand. Rather, for them work is Karma Yoga ("selfless service") and is guided by the awareness that the goal of life is God-realisation. Even taking into account the tremendous amount of practical aid that is being rendered and the vast numbers of people being served, it is this simple dictum that informs every activity: "Work is worship, dedicate it to God; renounce the false sense of being the doer." Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy
Press ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy Press The Academy course was instituted during the early years
of the Ashram, and serves the purpose of instructing students of all ages
who come to the Ashram to be educated in Yoga, Vedanta, philosophy, ethics
and meditation. The various courses are taught by senior Swamis in the
Ashram as well as by visiting professors. There are generally three courses offered each year (traditionally March-April, May-June, and August-September) at the Ashram to men who are Indian citizens, between the ages of 20 and 50. Applicants who are Graduates are preferred, but more importantly they should have a keen spiritual aspiration and deep interest in the practice of Yoga and Vedanta. Applicants should also be fluent in English and be of good health. Over the two-month duration of the course, the students will have a comprehensive course of study including class in the History of Indian and Western Philosophy, Philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali's Yoga System, Asanas, Pranayama, and Meditation among others. For further information one should contact: Registrar (Enclose on-line registration form….)
Two of Swami Sivananda's greatest interests in his mission
of service were providing books for spiritual dissemination, as well as
food for all who were hungry. As regards the latter, he once said in the
early years of the Ashram when there were hardly 30 residents, "One
day, the line of people being served at the Dining Hall will stretch from
here to Laxman Jhula (a distance of two kilometers)!" Well, that
prediction has proven true!
The SPL is responsible for processing orders for Divine
Life Society publications, and then packing and posting these book orders
to the recipients. An on-going catalogue of around 150 titles is maintained,
primarily of Swami Sivananda, Swami Chidananda and Swami Krishnananda,
along with a few other authors. Many of the titles are available in bookstores
throughout India, and a catalogue is available if a person wants to order
directly from SPL. The prices for the books are extremely reasonable.
For visitors to the Sivananda Ashram, SPL maintains a bookstall in the
Ashram itself. The Free Literature section distributes books and other
publications at no charge to deserving seekers the world over.
The Hospital provides free medical care to poor patients
throughout the region. Facilities and services such as surgery, eye care
and cataract operations, women's care, pediatrics, an X-ray unit, 30-bed
patients' ward, laboratory, pharmacy, outpatient care and rural medical
aid are rendered by three senior doctors, attending physicians and a dedicated
staff. The Hospital charges no fee for any of the services.
The Reception Office looks to the needs of the many visitors and guests who have come to the Ashram for retreat, study, Yoga training and for spiritual guidance. A number of different kutirs (buildings) are located throughout the Ashram with rooms available for the use of guests. Some rooms have attached baths and kitchen facilities, while other rooms have access to toilet and bathing facilities in close proximity. Beds, mattresses and sheets are provided, along with blankets in the winter period. The Ashram can accommodate up to 300 guests at any given time. A person wanting to stay in the Ashram should write well in advance of their coming to secure lodging, as space is very limited. More information on staying in the Ashram is provided at: If You Are Visiting the Ashram.
One of the most important departments of the Ashram is
the Mandir Dept., which supports and conducts the various worships at
the temples located in the Ashram. The Viswanath Temple, Samadhi Shrine,
Bhajan Hall as well as three smaller temples/shrines are administered
through this department. For many residents and visitors, the worships
(pujas) are very important aspects of their spiritual practice. Three
worships each day as well as an hour session of chanting is held at the
Viswanath Temple. Morning meditation, various pujas, a weekly pada puja
as well as the evening Satsang are held in the Samadhi Shrine. The Akhanda
Kirtan ("the unbroken chanting of a mantra for world peace")
has been going on in the Bhajan Hall uninterruptedly for 59 years.
One could simply be astounded by the way in which things have grown up around the person and service network created by Swami Sivananda. Beginning in the early days of the Ashram, when few books were available and there was no money for book acquisition, the Library was quite small. It has in the meantime grown into a prominent centre for Vedantic and philosophical literature. Most incredibly, the Library has now 18,000 volumes-almost every one of which was donated by a devotee or well wisher. The collection is primarily of books in English, but includes a large number of books in Sanskrit and Hindi as well as the other major Indian languages, and editions in most of the European languages. Visitors are welcome, and the Library is open 9-11 am (8-11 in summer) and 2-4 pm every day except Sunday.
The Divine Life Society has four centres for the treatment of leprosy around the Rishikesh area. Over 190 patients are being served-in some cases not only with food, shelter and medical care but also with productive employment.
The Divine Life Society provides charitable services
for the poor and those in great need. This service may come in the form
of food, shelter, medical aid, relief work, as well as any gesture of
charity that would relieve the suffering of people. Also included in this
outreach is natural calamities relief work which funds and supports disaster-related
services, such as after the massive and deadly Orissa cyclone of 1999.
The humble kutir (cottage/hut) by the Ganges where Swami Sivananda lived during his days in Sivananda Ashram has been preserved and remains open to the public. One can tour through the kutir oneself and also view the various books, clothing, and household items that were there in Gurudev's time. One can also sit quietly during the day in meditation. An Arati is held outside the kutir at 5:30 each evening. There is also a bathing ghat just below if one would like to bathe in the holy Ganges!
A fairly recent addition to the legacy of Swami Sivananda is a museum/art exhibit that portrays Gurudev through life-size clay figures in various scenes taken from his life story. The Darshan Mandir is located just beside the Gurudev's Kutir and visitors are welcome.
When one examines the life of Swami Sivananda and the
fearless way he fastened on to any means of spiritual uplift, one understands
why he felt compelled to use modern technology in every way possible to
benefit as many people as possible. We have now moved into a world of
worldwide communication and computer-based information that the people
of Gurudev's time could never have imagined. The Sivananda Ashram now
has a state-of-the-art audio-visual department that is dedicated to preserving
the audio, pictorial and film legacy of Swami Sivananda and his senior
disciples.
The most recent addition to the departments of the Ashram is the photo preservation section. Approximately 4,000 photographs of Swami Sivananda have been collected and stored at the Ashram, and this department has undertaken the tasks of putting the photos into digital form and also bringing out pictorial volumes using these same photos. |
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