October-NovemberWhat Is Atma Jyoti Ashram? | The Yogis of Samsara
What Is Atma Jyoti Ashram?
From time to time people have asked for more information about the monastery than has been found on our website and blog. We have now updated the Ashram page on the website and the About Us page on the blog to include the following information, which we hope you find of interest.
Atma Jyoti Ashram is a small ashram for men located on a forested mountain on the edge of the Cibola National Forest in the East Mountain area near Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Monastic tradition
The ashram follows the monastic tradition of the Shankara Order of India, whose age is unknown, though it was put into its present shape (not founded) by Adi Shankaracharya, whom the Order dates as living in 500 B.C., but some as late as 500 A.D.
The Shankara Order is nothing like Western monastic orders, as there is no authoritarian structure. Shankara intended the order to be a free and voluntary association of sadhus, and not a monolithic institution. Consequently, membership in the order simply consists of being made a Swami by one who can trace his lineage to one of the centers of the Order.
Our sannyas comes from Swami Nirmalananda Giri, who was initiated into sannyas by Swami Vidyananda Giri at his ashram in Lahkanpur (Purulia District), West Bengal, on June 11, 1963. Swami Vidyananda was a sannyas disciple of Jagdguru Bharat Krishna Tirtha of the Govardhan Math in Puri.
Thus the sannyasis (monks) of the ashram are part of the Giri branch of the Order, which is spiritually connected to Jyotir Math, the northern center of the Shankara Order in the sacred city of Badrinath.
Monastic observance
As members of the Shankara Order, renunciation and spiritual discipline are the key characteristics of our ashram and its residents.
No ritualistic worship is performed, as Shankara insisted that sannyasis should never engage even in personal ritual worship.
Our spiritual cultivation consists of meditation and spiritual study.
Spiritual tradition
We place great emphasis on our adherence to the ancient, traditional philosophy and practice of Sanatana Dharma: the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Darshana (Yoga Sutras), and Sankhya Karika. We also place great value on the writings of Shankara, the supreme Advaitin. Our philosophy is outlined in the articles and books on our website.
We have no “spiritual leader” but the tradition of Sanatana Dharma. However, for the last fourteen years of her life (1968-1982), our ashram was under the direct supervision of Sri Anandamayi Ma, who was thoroughly traditional in all things. Since then we are basically on our own (Anandamayi Ma, one of the major spiritual figures in twentieth-century India, was first made known to the West by Paramhansa Yogananda in his Autobiography of a Yogi.)
Ashram routine
- Our ashram “day” begins at 3:30 a.m. with six hours of meditation (in two three-hour periods with an hour in between) and ends at 8:00 p.m.
- Each member engages in several hours of assigned work daily except for “rest” days.
- Our life is totally communal, all engaging in the same schedule with common meals and a common dormitory. (Visitors have their own quarters to sleep in.)
- We are vegetarians, never eating meat fish eggs, or anything that contains them to any degree. We also abstain absolutely from nicotine, alcohol, and mind-altering drugs.
- Simplicity of life is pursued as much as is possible in today’s technological world.
- Our ashram exists solely for the sadhana of its members. We have no outside activities, nor do we have programs in the monastery for non-residents.
Website
Our spiritual outreach consists of the Atma Jyoti website which we are continually developing.
The website has two aspects: practical and theoretical. The practical side includes instruction in meditation and various aspects of the yoga life. The theoretical consists of spiritual texts and commentaries on those texts.
The purpose of the theoretical aspect is to demonstrate that there is only one dharma: Sanatana Dharma. There are fragments of truth in the various world religions, but they can almost always be traced back to the historical influence of India, where the whole picture (purna dharma) alone can be found.
Some of those religions, such as Buddhism and Christianity, began as part of Sanatana Dharma but degenerated into sectarianism and separation.
It is our conviction that whatever the religious tradition, those who will return to their roots will return to Sanatana Dharma. As Mahendranath Gupta, the author of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, said in a conversation: “Undoubtedly there are good people in every land, but those people are aliens in those lands, and their faces are turned toward India.” This has been our experience and observation.
Visitors
The ashram has limited facilities for male visitors. There is no charge for staying here; instead we ask that visitors meditate (at least the second three-hour period) and work along with us, keeping the same schedule.
Joining the ashram
Those who are interested in becoming members of the ashram may contact us and express their interest.
Top left: front of Atma Jyoti Ashram; top right: ashram Siva shrine; below: ashram Krishna shrine
The Yogis of Samsara
Wandering through the internet some years ago I found the online text of a book entitled: The Seventh World of Chan Buddhism by Min Zhen Shakya. In it I found some incredibly insightful sections on the ways of samsaric (deluded and bound) human beings, including the fifth chapter called “Six Worlds of Samsara.” There I found an interesting delineation of various types of meditators according to their evolutionary level. For serious meditators this contains valuable information: first, so they can determine what class they fall into and work to get out of it, and second, to understand the truth about their fellow-yogis and respond to them accordingly. Anyone sincerely desiring to establish a yoga center or ashram for the benefit of humanity needs the information for the safeguarding of themselves, the sincere seekers, and–frankly–their valuable time that should not be thrown down the gutter-gullets of the unworthy.
We hope that this essay will be taken seriously and help worthy yogis avoid a great deal of hassle, confusion, disappointment and disillusion–as well as waste of their time.
–Swami Nirmalananda Giri
Six Worlds of Samsara
Spiritually speaking, human existence is divided into ten worlds. The first six of these worlds are depicted as segments of an endlessly turning wheel; the last four are seen as stories of a high mountain.
The six worlds belong to Samsara, the realm of illusion in which reality is distorted by an intervening ego.…
We speak of the six worlds of Samsara because of the six types of human beings who inhabit it. People are categorized according to the manner in which their ego accomplishes its distortion of reality. Each type or “world” represents a style of adaptation, a pattern of response or method of coping with the exigencies of life. Every individual, from the time of his infancy on, through trial and error determines which style suits him best and is most efficient in gaining him the attention and the status he craves. The six worlds, then, may be considered six basic survival strategies. (Their identification, incidentally, constitutes the oldest psychology system in history.)
In Buddhism, we learn to recognize these six strategies, not so that we may identify them in others, though that can be helpful if the observations are objective, instructive, and non-accusatory, but so that we may learn to identify them in ourselves whenever we use them to evade responsibility, to maneuver other people into acting in our best interests, to gain us whatever advantages we seek, and so on.
In the every day world of samsaric existence, every person in every society uses one of these strategies. But we shall first describe them as they are found in religious life. In monasteries, temple complexes and Chan Centers, monks and devotees who are still caught on the samsaric wheel are jokingly said to practice Six Worlds” Chan.
The six classifications are Hungry Ghost Chan, Devil Chan, Human Being Chan, Animal Chan, Titan Chan, and Angel Chan. Again, these are not Chan but are merely styles of adaptation used by egos that have religious pretensions. (In Japanese Zen these classifications are called, respectively, Gaki, Jigoku, Ningen, Chikusho, Shura, and Tenjo. In the Tibetan “Wheel of Life” the six classifications are Pretas, Hells, Men, Animals, Titans, and Gods.)
Human Being Chan.
This is the Chan of mundane affairs. The people who practice it are practical people who excel in improving earthly existence. In monasteries Human Beings are always involved in non-spiritual activities, doing jobs which they perform with exemplary efficiency. Their strategy is simply to become indispensable and it succeeds admirably since, invariably, they are fearless and proficient in all tasks which scare the wits out of Chan masters and other spiritual persons. They know how to fill out forms, handle media, arrange excursions, regulate crowds, collect fees, profitably manufacture and peddle religious articles and other souvenir items, compile mailing lists, and operate restaurants, bakeries, retreats, hostelries, etc. When it comes to developing monastery real estate and putting the bite on tourists, pilgrims and congregation members to pay for the improvements, Human Beings have no peers.
These worthy people become Buddhist devotees or monks because they appreciate the many ways in which their lives are improved by the Buddhist way of doing things. Human Beings generally believe that Chan is more a way of life than a religion and, as such, they value it for the poise which its meditation cultivates, for its healthful low-cholesterol diet, for its stress-free environment, for the orthopedic excellence of its sleeping mat, for the intelligence, variety, and non-fanatical decency of its followers, for the comfort of its loose, natural-fiber clothing, and so on. They do not neglect spiritual matters. Sometimes they concern themselves with which mantra produces the most salubrious effect upon the nervous system or which chant most inspires joyful fellowship. Sometimes more is involved. They may have ambitious sex lives and word may have reached them that there are techniques in Buddhist Yoga which when successfully employed can prolong an orgasm for twenty minutes. This is nothing if not self-improving and so they rush to join a Zen or Chan center.
Human beings simply do not understand that Chan is Buddhism and Buddhism is a religion, a religion of salvation. Though Buddhism may well provide for such ancillary functions, it is not a health club or a social center, a guild, an arts and crafts studio, a sanitarium, a study group, a philanthropical society, a boarding house or a profit making enterprise. The aim of Buddhism is not to cope with earthly existence but to transcend it, not to gain material comfort but to dispense with the notion of it, not to enhance or to rehabilitate reputations, but to be born anew without earthly identity in the glorious anonymity of Buddha Nature. Being a good fund raiser is a little off the mark.
Titan Chan.
In mythology, Titans were the crudely powerful ancestors of ancient Greece’s more genteel gods. And following in that tradition, people who practice Titan Chan have a brutish, sadomasochistic approach to religion. They are strict disciplinarians who can go no other way but “by the book.” Whether inspired by martyrs, crusaders or drill-sergeants, they are convinced that their commitment to Buddhism and to the welfare of the monastery exceeds everyone else’s. And they truly believe that the indices of that commitment are pain, sweat, discomfort, deprivation, and compliance with a code that would make the KGB blush.
Even though Titans are noticeably hard workers and reap considerable–if grudging–praise for their efforts, they still find it necessary to glean a last measure of satisfaction by denigrating the work of others. Though they grouse and nit-pick in differing verses, the chorus is always the same: “If you want something done right you have to do it yourself.”
As Titans understand religion, evil can be purged and goodness acquired by a variety of colorful ordeals. In addition to their daily rituals of sacrificing themselves in the performance of chores, they will, with all due fanfare, undertake prolonged fasts the difficulty of which is greatly lessened, they will modestly note, by considering the slop manufactured by the present kitchen crew; or they will take vows of silence, a tactic which allows them to glower, scribble, hiss or otherwise graphically mime their criticisms.
During the leg-stretching, walking period that mercifully divides a long meditation session, Titans will remain seated in perfect posture demonstrating that they never abuse others more than they abuse themselves. In Japanese meditation halls one monk is assigned the duty of keeping everyone alert. He prowls the aisles with a long stick and if he catches someone nodding, he whacks him on the shoulder. These blows are rather bracing and should anyone decide for himself that he requires this stimulant to keep awake, he bows to this fellow and is flogged accordingly. Needless to say, Titans bow repeatedly. Witnessing their battery does not conduce to tranquillity though it is considerably more relaxing than having one of them on the other end of the stick.
Traditionally, in Chinese Buddhism, after completing seminary training, both men and women novitiates go through an ordination ceremony during which three or twelve cones of burning incense are placed on the crown of their shaved heads. When these cones burn down they sear the scalp leaving permanent scars. At some later time the newly ordained priest might decide to repeat this cone-burning ordeal as a special penance or offering of some kind. Titans, of course, are among this practice’s most enthusiastic followers. Much like college football players who get little stars glued on their helmets to advertise their meritorious acts, Titan monks can have their scalps decorated with little round burn scars. (In Guangdong province, I met an old monk who had a few dozen more than the obligatory three or twelve. He laughed about them, attributing the excess to youthful exuberance. “Much like tattoos,” he said with some regret.)
To strangers, i.e., anyone who has not yet proven lazy, incompetent, spineless or immoral, Titans can be surprisingly congenial. But their initial friendliness is only a beachhead from which they will later stage attacks of righteousness. Intimidating martyrdom is not a strategy for winning close personal friends; but it does succeed in gaining attention and status.
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