Chapter II

Sawan Ashram

The creation of this Ashram is in itself a great miracle. It was built in hardly one and a half month's time by unskilled hands in a most skilful way. The rich and the poor, the young and the old, as well as the Master Himself, worked alike day and night, on this noble venture. Raised up by people who were anything but masons and assisted by housewives, it reveals the inspiring power of the Master.

Except the Lord who built the house, they labour in vain who build it.

The Ashram stands in healthy and quiet surroundings quite away from the busy life of the metropolis (Delhi – India). It is not a mere conglomeration of brick and mortar, but is an embodiment of live and active principles on which life of the Spirit can thrive and fructify. It spreads over more than two acres of land. On one side there is a row of quarters for the Sadhaks or spiritual aspirants. Some of them are settled here in a spirit of selfless service of the Sangat (Brotherhood) and to serve the cause of the Master; while others come and stay temporarily so as to be imbued with the charged atmosphere of the place which helps in imbibing ennobling sentiments and developing the Inner Life under the personal guidance of the Master.

The Ashram has no distinctive colour of this or that religion. One is simply struck by the sheer absence of ritual and ceremony. There is nothing in the form of a temple or a place of worship – the reason being that man himself is a real and living temple of God who exists in everything.

Ye are the temple of the living God.

1 Corinthians 3:16

Again,

God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him, must worship in spirit and in truth.

St John 4:24

The whole world is in fact a manifestation of the Supreme Being, and loving devotion sanctifies the place where it kneels in humility.

This world is the abode of the True One, and the True One verily dwelleth in it.

Nanak

Satsangs or spiritual discourses are delivered to congregations of thousands in the open, under thne clearf blue sky, with green turf tu squat upon. As a shelterv against the inclemencies of weather – heat and rain – an oblong space on the right has just been covered with a simple cantilever roof overhead.

The Master holds weekly Satsangs on Sundays for about two or three hours, wherein He expounds in lucid terms the theory of the Inner Practical Science from one or the other of the Scriptures. He in fact needs no references from the scriptural lore, but these come to Him as handy aids to convince the majority of the persons of this or that religion. The Master takes His text at random from one of these Scriptures, so as to take each one from the line of least resistance and by apt quotations from Al-Koran, the Holy Bible, the Gita, the Upanishadas, the Vedas, the Holy Granth or any other sacred books. Thus He presents an integrated view of the subject, from different angles. The teachings of the Masters, one and all, converge equally on the salient features of the Spiritual Science. In spite of seeming differences, all rest on then bed-rock of Spirituality. Again, He has an inimitable way of engaging the attention of huge congregations that breathless silence prevails all through this talks and one takes no count of time. Such indeed is the magnetic influence of His thought-provoking talks that come so naturally of themselves to Him and well out from the mighty and limitless reservoir within Him.

Besides weekly Satsangs, there are special monthly Satsangs, just before Initiation into the practical lessons in Spirituality, which are usually given on Monday following the first Sunday of each month. These talks are generally very elaborate so as to bring home the abstract Truths to the layman and on the following day those who are really after Truth are put on the Way and given some first-hand experience however little it may be, to begin with.

Again three times during a year, Bhandaras or Anniversary programmes are arranged on the occasions of the birthday and the day on which the Great Master Sawan Singh Ji retired from this world and the birthday of the present Master. On such occasions elaborate programmes are chalked out and the spiritual subjects are trashed threadbare, side-light is thrown on the lives of the Saints and their teachings are expounded in detail for the benefit of huge audiences running into several thousands.

Visitors throng the Master, day and night, they come from far and near with their troubles, temporal and spiritual, and people who come to attend the spiritual gatherings – for all of them and for the convenience and comfort of the temporary sojourners in the Ashram a free common kitchen is run daily and a simple vegetarian meal is served to all alike, at fixed hours. A well with a persian wheel at the top serves as a reservoir of cool and refreshing water both for drinking and bathing purposes. A motor has also been laid for raising the water to the ground level and there is a small masonry tank above for proper and easy distribution.