India’s Amma Ashram
Within the walls of an ashram, resides a small community that is not totally different from the world outside those walls.
Amma's Ashram on the Kerala backwaters By Sonja Bjelland
The one I’m in now is actually larger than the town I grew up closest to.
Some 2,000 people live here at times in dorms towering up to 17 stories – thankfully with elevators.
It has a bank, laundry, stores, juice stand, etc.
But all the work is done by volunteers.
My jobs include serving one of the breakfast options and washing up dinner dishes from the Western kitchen. I’ll explain more on that later.
This is life in Amma’s ashram. Known as the “Hugging Mother” she is worshiped here as a saint. People pray to her and follow her advice.
In the last 30 years, she has built a following of volunteers who have donated millions, constructed thousands of houses and treated innumerable patients at hospitals and clinics.
On the coast of the Arabian Sea, the balconies look out on a blanket of palm trees and water. The 2004 tsunami devastated portions of this area and the evacuated ashram residents were serving food and providing aid within 24 hours.
Her point is that everyone should be loved equally. People wait for hours to be hugged by her and have told me it changed their life. I’ve met more Americans here than in the rest of my time in India combined. Many have lived in her ashram in San Ramon, Calif., as well. She actually only spends a few months a year here and the rest of the time is on the road, hugging the world.
This isn’t a yoga ashram, but it was on the way to my next yoga experience at the Sivananda ashram, south of where I am now but also in Kerala state. However, it does currently have a good yoga class but it’s for women only. The teacher pays a lot of attention to form and making sure we’re doing each pose correctly, which I appreciate. In the coming months, they are hosting four-day and two-week intensive yoga programs.
But yoga isn’t the only activity divided on gender lines.
Keeping with the conservative roots of this area, women and men do not swim together either and one must purchase a “swim dress” before entering the pool.
In the Indian side of the mess hall, men and women sit in separate groups. Yes, there are enough Westerners here we have our own restaurant. Of course, everyone crosses both sides. And the Western food is not included in the 150 rupee daily cost for room and board. That’s $3.33. But it’s nice to be able to get a pesto pizza for about a $1.25 when you really want one.
The Indian side is also not particularly nutritious. The veggies are cooked beyond retaining their vitamins and served with white rice so you get hardly any nutrients or fiber. The ashram’s website even recommends bringing multi-vitamins with you. I could practically eat a head of broccoli right now. Funny what you do and don’t miss when it’s gone.
And while every bit of life is about helping others selflessly, that doesn’t mean this place is immune to the human condition.
While I was serving breakfast, people complained about how full the cup was for the yogurt I poured. I’ve heard other Westerners complain about spats with co-workers and “oh, who will take over my job when I leave.” It’s the same personalities as in an office. The drama queen, the martyr, the workaholic. It’s just a different setting and an overriding tone of love.
