Whosoever may come here and do tapasya (meditation)
should, minimum, find the benefit of getting liberation.
This is not something one offers
as a promise to be fulfilled after death. No.
Liberation means something that
you should be able to experience here and now
in this life itself.
Well, this Kanha Shanti Vanam Ashram
is a very special place that we have.
And we somehow are witnessing
a miracle of Nature unfolding before our eyes
- that when you do love Nature,
and if you can do even a little bit of it,
Nature rewards you with manifold returns.
This place, this land that we witness
was a completely barren land, completely barren land.
Hardly, I would say, thirty or forty neem trees were there.
That is all, in six hundred acres of land, originally.
Then we decided to plant lakhs and lakhs of trees around here.
Many volunteers came for work.
This place is so dry
hat you do not get even five hundred ml of water,
which is even less than Rajasthan.
It was one of the driest areas of India
– Mahabubnagar District, it is called.
As soon as we started
growing these plants and bringing plants
which were supposed to be meant for felling,
we got them here, translocated,
and we would buy water from
surrounding villages and water them.
And we would tell all our Satsanghis (Heartfulness Practitioners) that,
“Wherever you are coming from,
whether you are coming by a train, or a plane, or busses,
or you are coming in your own private vehicles,
bring as much water as you can.
One litre, two litres, it does not matter.”
So, each one would plant one and water one
And within two years of this exercise,
the rain increased to 1200 mm,
then to 1800 mm, then 2400 mm.
So, we are able to see the Nature’s reward.
You can see the statistics.
Indian environmental agencies,
they do maintain statistics that in early 1970
how much was the rain,
each year if you see, especially in this area,
this place, this village.
Today if you measure the temperature of this Ashram,
the central location, or even the periphery,
and you measure the temperature of any place
just two kilometres away from it,
you can see a minimum of our to five degrees difference.
Humidity level also is very high.
We had only crows flying in this area earlier.
Now we have, at a minimum
I would say, seventy various species of birds.
They have made this place as their home,
which is a remarkable thing
to witness in just four years, I would say.
As I said, these trees,
they retain spiritual charge.
That is why we encourage people
to plant more and more trees wherever they are.
There is a nice story in Ramayana also.
there is a mention of Kakabhushandi’s ashram.
The specialty of this ashram was that
whoever entered that ashram found peace
And if you do your sadhana (spirital practice), tapasya (penance) there,
you will surely be liberated.
Liberation was assured in that ashram.
And similar dreams we are trying to nurture here
- that whoever may come here and do their tapasya should,
at a minimum, find the benefit of getting liberation.
This is not something one offers
as a promise to be fulfilled after death.
No. Liberation means something that we should
be able to experience here and now,
in this life itself.
So, with that spirit and with such a dream,
we like to nurture this ashram
where there is a lot of harmony.