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The Ashram Grows

SADGURU Papa! Then I remembered your words in this connection, “You achieve victory only when you fight from a fort but not when you are fighting in the open plains.” This is perfectly true. I had remained at home and was coming to you now and then and doing Sadhana. So it became possible for me to attain the goal because you gave me, while living in the world, such a strength of mind that public slander and mockery did not touch me, and you made me do only such work as would enable me to realise your eternal Being. But you made these Sadhakas renounce their homes as soon as you gave them the aspiration to realise you and so they were fighting in the open spaces. Therefore they met with defeat. If you had prompted them to renounce the home only after knowing that the home and the universe are one, they would certainly have attained success. So I felt that it would be beneficial for the Sadhakas to come and stay with us for some time and, after learning the ways of Sadhana for spiritual realisation, go home and remember you constantly.

O Papa, the protector of devotees! I came to know that you were enacting all this play in order to give me experience. So, unless you choose to reveal yourself in anybody, it is not possible for him or her by mere pressure from others to be absorbed in your eternal Being.

O compassionate Papa! Therefore, I did not at all wish that the Ashram should grow and expand more and more. If anybody talked about the expansion of the Ashram I would get angry. Even when you planted a seedling in the Ashram grounds, I was opposing you. Because, if the Ashram took a wider form and trees grew up in it, it would not be possible for us to do all the work of looking after them and we might have to engage workers for the purpose. If we appointed such workers we would have to pay them wages. This again would not be possible for us and thus, without gaining any benefit, we would be burdening ourselves with debts. Besides, if we expanded the activities of the Ashram, the devotees who are sending monetary help would think why we, who have renounced everything should take up activities of this nature. The ultimate result would be that their faith in us would wither away.

O Papa, the giver of peace! When devotees offer you with reverence money and other things, looking upon you as Guru or God, such offering would be conducive to their spiritual uplift. When you give away such moneys and things to others who are to you none other than Ram Himself, they will also be benefited spiritually by receiving such gifts from you if they look upon you with reverence. “Blessed is he who gives and blessed is he who receives.”

O Papa, who pervades everywhere! In spite of my arguing with you to the contrary, the Ashram automatically went on expanding. When I was absorbed in some other kind of work in the Ashram, if anybody came with plants and offered to set them in the Ashram grounds, you, who are fond of gardening, would agree to it. Seeing your zeal I would remain quiet. In this way, friends came one by one and planted all kinds of seedlings in the Ashram compound, which was really to your liking. Of the plants there were flower plants and plants of the mango, jackfruit, coconut, cashewnut and other kinds of fruit.

O all-pervading Papa! Many of your devotees were coming to the Ashram from various parts of India and abroad. Since there was no proper arrangement for their stay, they could spend only a day or two and that too with difficulty. Therefore, you from within prompted some of the rich among them to propose to construct at their cost, guest-houses for their use when they came to the Ashram for a period of stay. At other times these guest-houses could be used by other visitors. It was not possible for you to refuse this offer. Ere this, when I told you not to expand the scope of the Ashram you had agreed. You are the mother of all your children in the world, and as such you could not but fulfil their wishes. Besides, many householders, who are your forms, told you that they gained much peace when they stayed in the Ashram, and also informed you by letters that on their return many changes for the better had taken place in their lives.

So I consented to their proposal of constructing guesthouses so that the householders and the Sadhakas who spent some days with us might be benefited. The buildings came up one after the other and became useful and convenient for the visitors who came here for a few days.

O Papa, the ocean of compassion! Thus, as the number of people coming to the Ashram increased, their children used to cry for milk in the mornings. The Ashram could not provide them with milk when they wanted it. As we had to get the milk from a distance of three miles, it would reach the Ashram only by about 8.30 in the morning. All the devotees in the Ashram used to get tired of waiting for it. It caused you also a good deal of trouble. Now, you in the form of a local devotee, came forward to present the Ashram with cows and also offered to build a cowshed for their accommodation. Although we were against the idea of expanding the Ashram, yet, owing to unavoidable causes, we had to fall in with his views. Consequently, he built a cowshed and gave us two cows, of which one was a milch cow with a calf. Thereafter, you in the form of another devotee dedicated to the Ashram a cow and a calf and also a she-buffalo. We also purchased a cow and a she-buffalo. In course of time, as the number of cows multiplied, we planned to increase the area of the cowshed. When the number of cattle increased further, we had to construct a big Goshala. Now the number of cattle has risen to seventy, of which some are bulls and buffaloes and the rest cows and calves. We have since been selling bulls and also giving away as gifts a number of she-calves and bulls to deserving persons.

O all-pervading Papa! At the beginning, the Ashram had no electric lights. As the visitors increased in number and there was trouble from snakes wandering in the Ashram compound, we had to use petromaxes instead of kerosene lanterns. Even these, not having served the purpose, some devotees proposed to have an electric plant installed for electrifying the streets and the Ashram houses, and we gave our consent. So now as there are electric lights, devotees can walk about freely at nights on the roads inside the Ashram compound. Moreover, because of the electric power we can work the water pumps for supplying water to the Ashram buildings, and a flour mill for making flour from rice and wheat. These machines were presented to the Ashram by some devotees. Now electric power is being supplied by the Government.