Building a Community of the Heart: Reflections on Sat Yoga Ashram’s 17th Anniversary

“We must create an ashram,” said Shunyamurti casually one morning. The statement wasn’t expressed as a demand or an instruction but meant simply as a statement of fact. It was received without question or second thought.

“Of course. That’s a splendid idea! We’ll create an ashram.”

A few uttered words, arriving unexpectedly from God-only-knows-where, changed everything. When one is open, when the soul is ready, life can change course unexpectedly in a moment.

It’s unlikely that anyone present in Sat Yoga at that time could have imagined that “co-founding an ashram” (much less “transcending the ego”) would be anywhere near the top thousand options as their life goal. God, taking pity on Shunyamurti, likely enjoyed a good belly laugh as He looked down upon a dozen hugely disparate souls gathered in a suburb of San José, Costa Rica, privately wondering to themselves what had happened and what seeming madness they were embarking on! How could one explain to one’s (Catholic, Jewish, atheist, etc.) parents, family, and friends, who for decades had held out higher hopes for one than striving to become a yogi on a remote mountain? “It’s not what we do!” undoubtedly thought many bewildered family and friends. This was a stern first test as to whether the soul would override its own ego’s narratives and the skepticism of significant others.

Creating and residing in an ashram is putting one’s life on a cross, ceaselessly.

There is the horizontal aspect of the phenomenal undertakings, our physical so-called reality. After a few years of searching for a suitable property that would serve the sangha’s needs, the first sangha members took the momentous step of standing on a remote hilly pasture amid waist-high grass and understood, “This is it!” End of discussion. Sandwiched in that moment between the congestion of San José’s urban sprawl, where we’d begun our journey together, and then afforded the 70 hectares of rugged mountainous forests and pasturelands before us, there was no turning back.

The years that followed were dedicated to planting, experimenting, learning, building, meeting, dreaming, installing, imagining, consulting . . . and maintaining. Few had experience in the essential tasks at hand. Building comfortable cabins with bamboo posed a wonderful testing ground for the multiple personalities involved. Hiring the heavy equipment to improve and construct the laterite roads through the ashram required more time and money than anticipated. Planting thousands of trees and food crops in mostly clay soil and contending with the ashram’s extreme climate (over five meters of annual precipitation) posed severe challenges. By working in small committees, hiring the best consultants in their respective fields, and carefully coordinating and prioritizing our work, we achieved something remarkable.

So it goes for each being dedicated to serving Sat Yoga, regardless of the seva performed. One-on-one sessions with the ashram’s Atmanologists are performed in person and online. Shunyamurti’s teachings are recorded, edited, archived, and posted online regularly for any listener in the world to listen to and absorb. Literally thousands of Shunyamurti’s downloads are made freely available to the world in video, audio, or print format—a rare beacon of wisdom for raising planetary consciousness. Nutritious, flavorful meals are served daily with astounding creativity and variety, relying heavily on the harvest of the day. So it goes in so many endeavors—music, agriculture, caring for thousands of trees, beekeeping, painting, animal husbandry, healthcare, first aid, ham radio, teaching . . . and, of course, meditation, reading, meditation, journaling, and meditation—all this in a community that is probably as close to an approximation of a selfless human beehive as can be found. Each nivassi (ashram resident) is integral to the functioning of this living organism yet is afforded ample privacy and solitude. And the glue that binds? Love.

There is also the vertical purpose for residing in an ashram. An ashram is a unique gathering of souls—one whose purpose is to raise the vibratory consciousness of the community . . . and, ultimately, to offer an escape route to all out of the chaos that is Kali Yuga through union with the Divine. Here, largely removed from the daily pressures of life and the kaleidoscope of propaganda we are otherwise subjected to (what to buy, what to believe, whom to hate, how to live, and which oligarch to pledge our lives to), silence reigns. Beauty shines at every turn through gardens, flowing water and distant vistas, mist and sunshine. Smiles predominate. The words of sages reverberate everywhere. It’s said that we create our dream and at the same time are dreamt by it. The Sat Yoga Ashram is where beings assemble to dream the impossible and, in self-reinforcing circuitous ways, strive to manifest That.

The Sat Yoga Ashram defies convention. An ashram largely subsists on a love economy (selfless giving), breaking from the profit-motivated paradigm of greed we have been spoon-fed since birth. No ego will ever build an ashram, we’re told; God alone can achieve that. Sat Yogis strive to be worthy of God’s grace and allow His miracles to unfold as He wills. The extended Sat Yoga community opens its mind, its knowledge and skills, its labor, its purse. No matter how modest, all that has been achieved individually and collectively represents struggle—likely uncomfortable personal growth and sacrifice—without recognition or applause. Ultimately, what’s left is a community of the heart. This is Sat Yoga, a community seeking resonance with the Truth of our Being.

It’s understood that few will choose the life of an ashram nivassi. The demands of one’s karma for most are too imposing to allow that, even as the pressures of Kali Yuga (modern life) accumulate. Yet, one need not abandon one’s earthly obligations to join this sangha in Costa Rica. As Shunyamurti recently explained to an online member:

“Remember this. Wherever you are, if you are in a state of love of God, it’s an ashram. You don’t need to be here physically. And the only vow you need to take is to give your heart and mind and will to God, so that your life is lived as a server of God, which means one who brings peace into the world . . . one who recognizes that everything is perfect because all is a product of God. We are in the mind of God right now. There’s nowhere else one can be. The whole universe is the imagination of God. God is everywhere and in everyone and everything. And you are that . . . ”

The Sat Yoga Ashram, your ashram, is in service to all. Embarking now on its seventeenth year, there is no looking back with nostalgia, nor can there be plans for the future. The ashram abides according to Lord Shiva’s will.

What more could there be to live for?

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