The Ashram Living Experience

In June of 2010, I found myself at a crossroads. I needed, space and distance from my life. I needed time for myself to rediscover the person that had been completely swallowed by the demands of life.  Not being a person that understands subtlety, the universe used the painful circumstances in my life, to give me a not so gentle push to do something different. The old saying of a "two by four to the forehead" comes to mind.

I needed a place to go and always wanted to have an experience of a monastic type. Of course, as all spiritual seekers do to find their path, I used Google. I was very surprised to find that there was an ashram in, what seemed to be, the middle of nowhere Texas. I was also surprised that I could go and live there for a month for only $457.00. I decided that that was where I was headed.  I packed my bags and left before my brain had a chance to catch up and talk me out of it.  That is how this former Southern Baptist girl stumbled into Siddhayatan - completely backwards.

I had never met an Enlightend Being before, so I had no idea of what to expect. The day after I arrived, I met Acharya Shree Yogeesh. Having been born and raised in the south, it took the entire first week for me to pronounce his name correctly. As with all things, he was kind and patient. I was a bit skeptical at first, but in very short order, I realized that he was the “real deal”. The warmth and kindness I saw in his eyes and felt emanating from him is something I could not deny. I knew, within a few days that this man was truly enlightened. He never intruded or inserted himself or his opinions into the problems I was wrestling with. He waited with great patience until I was ready to be taught. His anecdotes and stories, to me, were a mixture of  the parables I had read in Bible  and the funny stories I heard my grandfather  tell as I was growing up. The lessons he taught, and is still teaching me, were real, accessible, truthful and filled with spiritual insights, not religious dogma.

Daily Life & Lessons Learned

My days began with self initiated practice of exercises I learned from Acharya Shree Yogeesh. Then came the morning mantras and breakfast with all of those present at the ashram. Due to my status as a living program participant, I helped with meal preparation and clean up of most all meals. After breakfast I was given my work assignment for the day. The first day, I was there, I was assigned the task of pulling weeds in the garden along with a man from Zimbabwe. In the program, you just never know what you will be assigned that day or with whom you will be doing it. We would work for two to three hours until it started getting to hot. Then we would retreat to our cabins for some reflection time before lunch.

Lunch was at 12:30 and I often had a hand in helping, even though the first week I had no idea what I was eating.  I had never cooked Indian food before and certainly not vegetarian food. It was my belief, that if something did not die, then it simply was not a meal.  However, the food was wonderfully delicious or “tasty” as my roommate from Germany would say. I fell in love with the varieties of vegetables, fruits, rice and various types of beans, Indian spices, and all of the different ways of cooking them.

After lunch, if I did not have class that day, I would spend the afternoon reading, exercising, walking the grounds or spending time in personal reflection or meditation. During the busier weeks at the ashram, spiritual conversation and sharing of experiences with people from all cultures and walks of life was always a welcome way to spend my time.

At 3:30 P.M. everyday was tea time. Chai tea made with milk, tea, spices and fresh ginger was something I looked forward to. Tea was followed by more time to myself until it was time to help prepare dinner.

Mantra’s were at 6:30, then dinner. Dinner time around the table at the ashram was always fun. The conversations at dinner were always interesting and I almost always left afterwards with a piece of knowledge or understanding of something that I did not posess when I sat down to eat. In the evenings, I was left to walk the grounds or practice any of the spiritual lessons I had learned. One of my favorite things to do, was to practice the mantra’s or some form of meditation as I watched a beautiful sunset across the rolling hills of the ashram. If I wanted company, there were always others watching the sunset. If not, then there was plenty of space to have alone time.
When the sun set it became what I called “country dark” at the ashram. It was dark on top of dark. There was no light pollution to interfere with spectacular show that was put on by nature every night. For me, the nights were filled with star gazing and counting the numerous falling stars that could be seen across the vast expanse of Texas sky. A sky so expansive, that it never failed to remind me of just how small I really was and how infinite and perfectly astounding the Universe was. The moon, stars and inherently peaceful environment of the ashram made me feel as though I were caught and balancing somewhere between heaven and earth in a place where the rules of time and space did not apply.

As I laid down to go to bed at night, spiritually full and physically exhausted, I could only smile and marvel at the fact that, for me, there are no coincidences, and the place I thought I had “stumbled into” was the place I was supposed to be all along.

- Lori, Florida