Hindu Ashrams and Hindu Organizations

Santhigiri Ashram
 

Santhigiri Ashram is the training center for anyone to come in, understand and assimilate the gist of the teachings of Nava Jyothi Sri Karunakara Guru, through a path oriented in action, in other words by doing karma -correct mode of action. The age old concept was that the deliverance -mukti-, beholds only the ascetics, such as yogis, rishis -sages-, avadoothas, etc., engaged in specialized spiritual practices, performances, asceticism, etc. A cohesive pattern engulfing every activity known to man, elevation from one activity to another, fully after accomplishing the previous ones, with the rights and wrongs of them, constituted by the vasana -subconscious inclinations and habit patterns created through experience- of the individual; the embossing of all these in the soul, is only essential in this period, but was never known to man. No karma or activity can be said to have been fairly and squarely accomplished in totality, unless that has been dedicated to the Almighty God. There are activities undertaken to fulfill the needs of the family, near and dear, their well-being, etc. Secondly, we come across people who are engaged in their chosen sphere of action, for a cause with total disregard for the safety, security and well-being of their family, friends, relatives and their own self. This may be a permanent frame of mind as in the case of some fanatics, those pursuing a political or other philosophy, patriotism, etc. It may also be a spur of the moment thing, as always seen in the wars as supreme sacrifice, etc. Such men though not many are yet available, but the third part consists of an activity for the Will of God, to prevail in and pervade the World as a whole.

    The self or other men made philosophies, men’s desperate clinging to the material things or the men themselves do not matter. But the intention to redeem their souls and to present them as the foot soldiers who are not trained to slay the fellow men, but are engaged in the unenviable task of cleansing the souls of their fellow men, if not at least ending up as an instrument in that process, is the cause to establish the Santhigiri Ashram.

    Nava Jyothi Sri Karunakara Guru as always made a humble beginning with a small thatch roofed hut barely of twenty square feet. Now it has more than 1500 inmates from all walks of life, bulk of them are volunteers, who get their barest necessities, only in exchange for most grueling tasks for most of the day. The self imposed discipline to accomplish the existing work is a phenomena worth seeing to be believed. This is necessary not just to eke out a living, or to establish an order, held dear to one in the world, but a humble surrender, a selfless sacrifice on the altar of the Will of the Supreme -"for thine to be done as per thy wishes."

    Free food and accommodation are provided to all people who visit the Ashram. The Ashram is registered under charity organizations by the government of India.

Charitable feeding

    The Santhigiri Ashram provide daily free food to more than one thousand people, who include the inmates, devotees, visitors and the poor. The hundreds of thousands of rupees spent for this purpose, are mainly from the voluntary donations of the devotees. Since the very cooking of such food, is done as a divine act of prayer, it helps in the spiritual purification of those who partake the food.

Hospital Complex
    The services of all the mayor systems of medicine in the World -Ayurveda-, Siddha, Homeopathy, Allopathy- are available at the Santhigiri Hospital Complex. Treatment is provided by doctors, who are efficient in their respective areas of specialties. Effective and genuine medicines and preparations- are provided to the patients. Besides providing dental treatment, panchakarma treatment based on Ayurvedic and Siddha systems are available. The medical care available at Santhigiri, has become widely known for its efficacy and effectiveness, being attested by all those who had personally experienced benefits of the services.

    The staff of the Hospital Complex are no sticklers to the ‘rules.’ They shy away from no work. It is not at all uncommon for nurses washing the dirty linens, mopping the floors and engaging in sanitary duties.

Ayurveda and Siddha Manufacturing Units
    The sanyasins -renouncers- and sages, carry out their activities in this World by using their bodies as the instrument. A healthy body makes a person capable of effectively practicing his Dharma -Divine Law- and karma -positive actions. The Ayurvedic and Siddha systems originated with this objective of providing good health to the sanyasins, but later those systems became a blessing for the whole World.

    At Santhigiri, genuine Ayurvedic and Siddha medicines, are manufactured by blending our ancient tradition with modern methods. The production and distribution of these medicines, all involve a divine invocation. This involvement of Divine Grace contributes to the cure of diseases, as evident from the experiences of several people.

    The Santhigiri Ayurveda and Siddha Vaidyasala, produces more than 600 medicines, some of them in accordance with the directions of the saints and sages, who have unveiled the mystery of nature, to bring out a method of curing the sick.

    People have become sick by the sins they have amassed in their present and past sojourn in the Earth. The karmic aspect, some of the sins so accrued also have to be inherited by the healer and hence, he has to do more than his share, to work out the karmas (or the other too) and to transmit the evil effect through the Guru to the Almighty. For this, a fervent prayer and a grueling karma in combination is necessary, and hence the Santhigiri Hospital Complex presents a strange sight to one who is not well versed in this subject.

    The Ayurvedic and Siddha medicines manufactured in the Ashram are rated No.1 in the country. Ashram has developed medicines for the total cure of cancer, arthritis, sinusitis and other ailments. There is an Ayurvedic hospital in the Ashram, and one at Olassery, Palakkad District, Kerala State, South India.

Santhigiri Vidya Bhavan (School)
    Development of culture which blends the rich tradition of our ancient sages and the dynamism of modernity, will lead us to the useful treasure houses of knowledge. Education aims to induce among the students, the virtues required for the complete development of man. Santhigiri Vidya Bhavan -school- aims to achieve this. The Ashram runs an English Medium Residential School, while giving proper emphasis to Malayalam, as well as the national language Hindi. The institution which helps in the transfer of the grand tradition of Santhigiri to the new generation, functions now at the school level. Efforts are being made to start a college, offering professional courses which, indeed, is the need of the time.

    The schools and colleges of the World, have audacity to claim that their duty is to make people efficient, and it is not their cup of tea to ensure that this efficiency is used to constructive and creative purposes. The Guru conceived of Santhigiri Vidya Bhavan -school- to be run by the selfless sacrifice of the staff members, who will not merely preach but practice. The time will come, if not to all, but at least the few of its alumnae, to ponder over the force that prompted their mentors to take up this extremely exhausting hours task, to make them what they are. Not to speak of their karma -actions- consolidating itself into a many faceted sacrifice, which will make the followers to metamorphose into warriors of God, shaping the students to willingly enter into the crucibles for the redemption of self and others.

    Like this, beginning with the most menial of the tasks, to the highest in the hierarchal order, people have to be trained to think, to aspire to struggle hard, achieve the fruit and earn the right to transmit all these, to the better suited and stronger hearted next generation. That precisely is the aim, goal and reason for establishing it to run it, based on compassion for the humanity, and not to institutionalize and ingest rules and laws, based on suspicion and doubt towards the fellow men.

Publication Division
    The dissemination of the messages of the tradition is a duty-bound program of Santhigiri Ashram. The publication division make available to the readers at a moderate price, the divine works by the Guru as well that of the disciples, who imbibe and express the wisdom they receive. The first phase of modernizing the printing plant is almost completed.

    Publications of the Ashram are available in the Ashram’s book shop:

Monthly spiritual magazine - Malayalam

Ummini Thanka (News Paper) - English & Malayalam

The Handloom Textile Unit
    A handloom textile production unit, run by women, effectively function making clothes, that are widely recognized for their simplicity and quality. The Ashram thus preserves and promotes one of our ancient traditions.

Spices Production Unit
    The Bhagini Nikethan produces all kinds of curry powders and spices, and makes them available to the consumers at a moderate price. These products have by now achieved a reputation for cleanliness and purity. The users of the products from this unit are convinced that the spices offered are of excellent quality, making them indispensable for good cooking.

 

Dairy Unit
    The Dairy unit of Santhigiri Ashram has become a model establishment in milk production field. All the cattle here, are cared for with loving and meticulous attention. This approach which helps in the production of rich milk, has gained much public attention.

Herbal Garden
    Medicines are essential for saving life as well as for preserving health. To ensure the availability of genuine medicines, adequate quantities of their ingredients have to be produced. The preservation of herbs and other medicinal plants, is particularly significant in an age when man’s ignorance and recklessness, have caused immense damage to the environment, causing the disappearance of many useful herbs. All sorts of medicinal plants and herbs, including the extremely rare species, are planted and cared for in the herbal garden. The expansion of this garden is also envisaged.

The Sanyasin Order of the Ashram
    The sanyasin -renouncer- order at Santhigiri, aim to shoulder the heavy responsibility of preserving the Dharma -Divine Law- of our tradition. It is based on traveling on the Dharma path with sacrifice and renunciation, accepting all the tribulations involved in it, utterly dedicated to meditation and the tapas -religious austerities- for wisdom. The sanyasins of this tradition, are called jnana thapaswis, and the sanyasinis -female renouncers-, jnana thapaswinis.

    Even at the ancient times, women were given adequate consideration in the field of spiritualism, and there were greats like Maithrai and Gargi, as evident in our epics. But the ages of degeneration that followed, witnessed the expulsion of women from their glorious position, and they were forced to traverse to the darkness of ignorance.

    The objective of giving sanyasa diksha -renouncer’s initiation- to women, is to uplift them in the spiritual field, giving them the opportunity along with men. This marks a great development in the history of spiritual evolution of mankind.

How to reach Ashram
    Santhigiri Ashram is situated on a beautiful hillock, 24 Kms. away from Trivandrum city, capital of Kerala, South India. Government buses and private taxies are available to reach Ashram.

    The address is Santhigiri Ashram,

P.O. Koliakode,
Via. Venjarammod (Pothenkode),
Trivandrum- 695607, Kerala, India.
Tel No. +91 471 419313 or 419056
Fax No.+91 471 419076,

Santhigiri Ashram's Branches

· Alappuzha (Alleppey) Kottayam ·
· Bangalore Kozhikkode (Calicut) ·
· Ernakulam (Cochin) Madurai ·
· Idukki (Amaravathi P.O.) New Delhi ·
· Idukki (K.P. Colony) Palakkad (Palghat) ·
· Kanyakumari Pathanamthitta ·
· Wayanad ·

 

       

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