Tag: India

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Sai Geetha Ashram is set in a sprawling area of bountiful land, home to over a hundred species of rare plants and trees. These have been carefully sourced from different parts of India and countries abroad. This life-giving piece of earth has “Dhanwantari Trees” – those that impart health, “Divine Trees” that ensure prosperity in life and “Nakshtra Vrikshas” (Birth star trees) those that fulfill our sincere and legitimate desires. Circumambulating all these trees bestows the desired result. Ensconced among these trees are sacred idols of Ganesha, Hanuman and Garuda which occupy pride of place and fulfill our honest wishes. These hallowed abodes are entitled “Abhaya Murthula Kshetra”, “Garuda Kshetra”, “Draupadi Kshetra” and the holy shrine of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba.

At Sai Geetha Ashram, worship takes on a whole new meaning and fervour. Located far from the madding crowd, this unique Ashram is truly a home-coming for the seeker of the four-fold path namely Dharma (discharge of duty), Artha (acquiring wealth), Kama (gratification of desire) and Moksha (final emancipation).

Sai Geetha Ashram provides scope for attaining Divine Inspiration and the elevation from a lower plane to a higher truth. The name of the Ashram has been conferred by Sadguru Babaji to encompass and embrace the divine message of Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi.

Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi was an Apostle of Love, Compassion and Humility. He sought to dispel the dark of ignorance and scatter the shadows of ill-feelings rampant among people, by lighting lamps of wisdom in each soul through His divine words. The so-called Fakir who begged for alms and who also distributed “Vibhuthi” (Sacred Ashes) among people, constantly reminds us by His deeds of the brevity of life and that death would reduce us all to ashes and dust. We should serve mankind because service to man is service to God.

Ahimsa

Ahimsa literally means nonviolence, to do no harm. The word is derived from the Sanskrit root hims - to strike, himsa is injury or harm, a-himsa is the opposite of this, i.e. non harming or nonviolence.

But the term holds a much more profound significance: According to the Hindu scriptures, below violence lies love and when violence is removed, this love uncovers. Therefore Ahimsa means love but in the most profound and universal significance. Gandhi strongly believed in this principle as the main foundation of civil disobedience and resistance.

Satyagraha

Satyagraha which means "Soul Force", "truth force", or "holding on to truth," is a comprehensive and spiritual philosophy and practice of nonviolent resistance that was developed and conceived by Gandhi.

In traditional violent and nonviolent conflict, the goal is to defeat the opponent or frustrate the opponent’s objectives, or to meet one’s own objectives despite the efforts of the opponent to obstruct these. In satyagraha, by contrast, these are not the goals. The Satyagrahi’s object is to convert, not to coerce, the wrong-doer. Success is defined as cooperating with the opponent to meet a just end that the opponent is unwittingly obstructing. The opponent must be converted, at least as far as to stop obstructing the just end, for this cooperation to take place.

The theory of satyagraha sees means and ends as inseparable. The means used to obtain an end are wrapped up in and attached to that end. Therefore, it is contradictory to try to use unjust means to obtain justice or to try to use violence to obtain peace.

Gandhi asked satyagrahis to follow the following principles (Yamas described in Yoga Sutra):

• Nonviolence (ahimsa)
• Truth — this includes honesty, but goes beyond it to mean living fully in accord with and in devotion to that which is true
• Non-stealing
• Chastity (brahmacharya) — this includes sexual chastity, but also the subordination of other sensual desires to the primary devotion to truth
• Non-possession (not the same as poverty)
• Body-labor or bread-labor
• Control of the palate
• Fearlessness
• Equal respect for all religions
• Economic strategy such as boycotts (swadeshi)
• Freedom from untouchability

On another occasion, Gandhi listed seven rules as essential for every Satyagrahi in India:

• must have a living faith in God
• must believe in truth and non-violence and have faith in the inherent goodness of human nature which he expects to evoke by suffering in the satyagraha effort
• must be leading a chaste life, and be willing to die or lose all his possessions
• must be a habitual khadi wearer and spinner
• must abstain from alcohol and other intoxicants
• must willingly carry out all the rules of discipline that are issued
• must obey the jail rules unless they are specially devised to hurt his self respect

Gandhi also proposed a series of rules for satyagrahis to follow in a resistance campaign:

• harbour no anger
• suffer the anger of the opponent
• never retaliate to assaults or punishment; but do not submit, out of fear of punishment or assault, to an order given in anger
• voluntarily submit to arrest or confiscation of your own property
• if you are a trustee of property, defend that property (non-violently) from confiscation with your life
• do not curse or swear
• do not insult the opponent
• neither salute nor insult the flag of your opponent or your opponent’s leaders
• if anyone attempts to insult or assault your opponent, defend your opponent (non-violently) with your life
• as a prisoner, behave courteously and obey prison regulations (except any that are contrary to self-respect)
• as a prisoner, do not ask for special favourable treatment
• as a prisoner, do not fast in an attempt to gain conveniences whose deprivation does not involve any injury to your self-respect
• joyfully obey the orders of the leaders of the civil disobedience action
• do not pick and choose amongst the orders you obey; if you find the action as a whole improper or immoral, sever your connection with the action entirely
• do not make your participation conditional on your comrades taking care of your dependents while you are engaging in the campaign or are in prison; do not expect them to provide such support
• do not become a cause of communal quarrels
• do not take sides in such quarrels, but assist only that party which is demonstrably in the right; in the case of inter-religious conflict, give your life to protect (non-violently) those in danger on either side
• avoid occasions that may give rise to communal quarrels
• do not take part in processions that would wound the religious sensibilities of any community