JUJERSA YOGASHRAM

History

        Jujersa Yogashram was founded by Swami Sadhanananda Giri Maharaj in the year 1977. The Ashram celebrated its thirtieth foundation day just a month ago. It is located at the village crematorium (smashan) opposite the Samadhi of a Muslim Fakir called Manik-Peer. 

        In January 1976, while on His way to Gangasagar mela,  Swamiji met some veterans of the village of Jujersa, at Uluberia. It was at their earnest request, Swamiji visited the village Jujersa for the first time while returning from Gangasagar in March, 1976. Villagers of Jujersa arranged His stay in the adjacent room of the Kali Temple beside the funeral ground of the village. Here He stayed till the month of May, 1976 and then returned back to His Gurudev’s Ashram at Telkota. After a few months, as per Swami Bhabananda Giri’s instructions, Swami Sadhanananda Giri returned back to Jujersa to build an Ashram & staying here permanently.

The old Ashram was a two room cottage, with a thatched roof. The present Ashram is the result of untiring effort of Swamiji to build a Sri Guru Mandir in  memory of his Guruji Swami Bhabananda Giri Maharaj. It is situated just by the side of the Old Ashram cottage.

Life at the Ashram, at the presence of our Sadguru reminds one of the sacred tradition of Ashram-centered life style in India advocated by the scriptures. It a heaven on earth, a place every person finds peace of mind. The air here is charged with serenity .

Activities

        A pioneering institution in practice & propagation of Kriya Yoga Jujersa Yogashram has carefully avoided wide publicity & the problems of plenty. The basic duty of every member of this Ashram has been self-elevation by rigorous & devoted practice of Kriya Yoga under the direct guidance of their Sadguru. Any person - belonging to any tier of the society & any religion - can come directly to the Ashram & meet Swamiji personally.

The Guru is so near & dear to the devotee here. They can present with any problem & any question - personal, philosophical or regarding the practice of yoga, sit face to face & discuss the matter with Swamiji. This direct communication between the Guru & the disciple - like the father & the son - is the base of our life. And after a few sitting we start realising how our feelings & thoughts, queries & doubts are being sensed by Sri Guru, the Great, even before we put them verbally. We become astonished to note how in His words, we find answers to our questions although they may not have been asked to Him. We have grown up to the firm belief that our life is best secured at His hands & so we avoid placing problems of the material world before Him, as we know by sincere devotion & dedicated practice of Kriya, any material problem - however grappling - will be controlled so that life moves on smooth & straight.

Extra-ordinary events - which are beyond explanation by simple arguments &  rationality - are a daily happening here. But Sri Guruji is very strict against any such expositions to allure others for the shake of only such miracles. Our Guruji has taught us to avoid any such aspirations for supernatural powers that are sure to come with sincere practice of Kriya. For us they represent another set of binding which must cross over to progress to our goal of complete emancipation.

The Ashram is very small. Only Swamiji & four to five disciples - devoted to the service of Sri Guruji & the assembled devotees - permanently stay here. The sole authority for granting the permission for staying at the Ashram is Swamiji himself.

Ashram Trust

        Disciples of the Ashram share the day to day responsibilities for running the Ashram. Performing selfless work in Guru's Ashram is a sacred tradition in India.

        A Trust has been created under the direction from Guruji a few years back to look after Ashram's legal & financial matters, as also for the smooth distribution of works to all disciples. The Trust is named as "Srimat Swami Bhabananda Giri Maharaj Srigurumandir and Sadhanananda Sadhanmamdir Trust". It is a registered with the Govt. as a Charitable Trust * has a Registered Charity  Number. Swami Sadhanananda Giri is the founder President of the Trust & very senior disciples are its members.

        As the Ashram is a very small one & the principal goal is the practice of Kriya,  the so-called 'social work' has been kept at running a Charitable Dispensary in the old Ashram cottage looked after by our physician members with facilities for both Homeopathic & Allopathic prescriptions. We have aspirations for doing something more without hampering our Kriya practice when adequate manpower is available. 

Membership of the Ashram

    The Ashram runs only on donation given by its members. Anyone who is initiated by Swami Sadhanananda Giri is considered to be a member of the Ashram from the date of initiation. One has to fill-up a simple one page form for membership & it has to be signed by the President of the Ashram & diksha Guru i.e. Swamiji himself. A member has to pay a minimum monthly membership fee of Rs. 10/- (Rupees Ten) only. This is the minimum rate of subscription. Someone willing to contribute more to the Ashram need permission from Guruji. 

The Ashram's financial matters are looked after by a treasurer who is a senior disciple. The yearly audited financial accounts are presented to the members in the General Body Meeting.

The Ashram has never focused on large scale operation! Only the minimum requirement to serve the Guru & also His devotees are arranged here. 

Donation from members

As a grown up child feels elated to be of any service to his father, the same is also seen here. If a disciple gets an advice from Guruji for any duty or help, he feels blessed & performs it with full interest. It is also true that everyone is astonished to find how without even an iota of trouble a seemingly tough work is done successfully. One becomes aware of the constant presence of the Gurusakti with & around him, however far he may be from Guruji. This in turn helps to generate conviction on his mind upon the Gurusakti to allay any fear of failure in sadhana.

Donation from non-members

We frequently receive emails expressing willingness for donation to the Ashram. Usually the Ashram does not accept donation from someone unknown to us.  One has to visit the Ashram & meet Swamiji personally at least for some days & then decide about this matters. Donation from non-members of the Ashram is only accepted after receiving permission from Guruji.

Gurudakshina

It is true that a sanyasi accepts anything which is given out of respect to him. This is an age old tradition of India and a compulsory ritual for all religions. Hence, request for accepting donations is also very frequent.

But the high prevalence of degraded Guruparampara (the sacred tradition of the enlightened Masters) in the Internet has prompted us to go against this established custom - at least over the Internet. There are many organisations overtly accepting donations over the net bringing down or equating the dignity of the spiritual practices to a commodity which can be purchased! We feel there should be some exceptions to this trend. How can there be any idea of a course fee etc. between the relation of the Guru & the disciple. This relationship is the most sacred in the universe. Any attempt to disregard brings dishonour to the very person himself.

Material matters are never a priority at Jujersa Yogashram. It is sadhana & nothing else. We get a resemblance of the traditional Ashrams of of India - like that of Maharshi Raman or Kathiababaji. Those are our ideals.

Ashram's Principle - to be satisfied with the minimum

        It is not uncommon to meet a spiritually minded person who have been disappointed by the request for an excess donation or material help in different spiritual centres. Such episodes are very painful to all of us. Being in close proximity to the Guru, we confirm that the primary aim of a sadhaka should be self-elevation through rigorous practice & nothing else. Acts of establishment of large institutes were prohibited by Lahiribaba himself. He himself lived a common man's life to give the teaching to all of us to maintain utmost secrecy during the years of spiritual practice. Establishment of a large set up brings financial burdens to an organisation & to its members. This is also a form of binding which proves to be a definite obstacle to sadhana. Hence at Jujersa Yogashram, we see Guruji advising us to be satisfied with the minimum requirement at the organisation level. In this way we are able to reduce the need of finances as well as that of costly time.  The saved time is utilised for sadhana under the guidance of the Sadguru. Every one here gets astonished to find the high level of discussions on spiritual matters between the disciples. After all that is the reason why we have all assembled here.

We are also free from hurting the sentiments of a devoted soul by asking for financial favour! Members of the Ashram are always cautious about their attitude to a new devotee or an inquisitive soul. We can not forget that the society knows about a Guru through the attitude of His disciples . They are the reflections of the sublime achievements of their own Guruji.

Guest House

        The Ashram now has a double storied Guest House built at its eastern corner. This is meant for staying of the members of the Ashram coming from distant places. More information on the Guest House will be added shortly.

Is there any other centre of Jujersa Yogashram?

        Jujersa Yogashram does not have any branch or auxiliary centre. Till today Swami Sadhanananda Giri has not allowed any of His disciples to impart initiation to others. Although it is true that some of His senior disciples are well prepared to become Acharya, Swamiji, we feel is allowing them to become more mature by offering some more time.

        Sometimes Guruji visits His disciples' house at distant places on invitation from the disciple. Many people of those places meet Him there.

        We do get emails from many persons around India requesting for any information on nearby centres where they can learn Kriya  Yoga. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, Jujersa Yogashram cannot forward any advise on such requests.

        We only advice one to search for his Sadguru & to follow the advices of Sadguru. For 'there can't be your Guru & my Guru. Guru is ONE & only ONE.