Recently, my husband and I
visited an ashram near Bangalore. I
have always wanted to visit an ashram
merely for the experience.
‘Ashram’ as the word indicates is ‘without effort’. Living in an ashram, therefore, meant living without
effort or effortless living.
With such preconceived notions, I
visited the Sri Sri Ravishankar ashram.
I knew about its existence through neighbours and friends.
The drive to the ashram was effortless. We parked our
vehicle at the designated place. We were offered a vehicle ride around the ashram which we refused. A little walk,
we thought, would do well to our urban bellies!
As we turned around the corner of
the lane, the view was breath-taking. It was huge, green and well-maintained.
The forest cover was left largely untouched and the cement structures added
elegance to the greenery.
 |
| The largely untouched forest cover mesmerized us... |
A huge open air amphitheatre
invited us to explore the place further. As we walked through the ashram, we saw shops that sold books,
CDs, T-shirts and other utility items. But it was the Ayurveda products that
attracted our attention. After picking up a few of the items, we continued our
walk.
A mild drizzle and pleasant
weather made the walk absolutely enjoyable. The sight of a cafeteria made both
of us realise the familiar hunger pangs. Being ultra-modern in our lifestyles,
we wanted to choose the healthy food available to make up for the fatty sins
that we had committed during the past weeks!
Yet we were convinced by the
person at the counter that ghee, made from cow’s milk, added to the ‘good’
cholesterol which was more of a necessity than a luxury.
The idea was sold as was the pure
ghee dosa!
After spending more than an hour
walking through the rich green expanse provided by Mother Nature and maintained
by the volunteers at the ashram, we
went to a lotus shaped meditation hall. After spending a silent and peaceful
ten minutes there, we traced our footsteps back to our vehicle.
 |
| The lotus shaped meditation hall stood majestic against the darkening firmament! |
Our drive back home was not so
effortless, as the rain had intensified by then and the lack of road lights
made driving difficult. The experience at the ashram seemed effortless for us, but to maintain the place, the
volunteers were putting in immense effort.
 |
| The view from the lotus shaped hall was breathtaking! |
That brought me to ponder if the
word ‘ashram’ was, in some sense a
misnomer.
But perhaps to the volunteers,
serving others makes their own lives seem effortless! The served and the
serving perform their parts effortlessly and in that sense, it probably was an
apt name.
A bump on the rain-lashed road
quickly brought me back to reality. Many questions began bothering me during
the drive back home.
 |
| A brave attempt at capturing tranquility through the lens... |
The potholes on the roads and the
crumbling infrastructure have been crying out to us for long. They were in need
of ‘effortless servers’. When the ratio between the ‘serving’ and the ‘served’ is
skewed, living becomes a very conscious and tedious effort!
