Rikhiapeeth Experience: A journey into yourself

The Rikhiapeeth Ashram: A legacy of Swami Satyananda Saraswati

By

Kamini Bobde

There are tragic contradictions in this bewildering world. Soulful paintings of an  artist live on to bewitch and enthrall the world, but the artist himself cuts off his ear and finally shoots himself leaving behind the un-bridged abyss between the beauty of his art and the wretched suffering of his life.

Why these unfathomable tragedies?  James Baldwin writes, “ It has always been much easier ( because it has always seemed much safer) to give a name to the evil without than to locate the terror within: the labels change, the terror is constant.”

So how does one bridge the gaping chasms between the head, heart and hand. Where does one find a place and people who have knit these desperate selves into a harmonious whole. Or at least are attempting to do it. And most important who have found the secret road to sanity and peace in the everyday life they lead.

I think I recently travelled to one such place. It is the Rikhiapeeth Ashram on the outskirts of Deoghar town in Jharkhand.

Swami Satyananda performing austerities in Rikhiapeeth Ashram

Exactly ten years back I was taught Swami Satyananda’s  system of Yoga.

It threw me out of gear with my terms & tools of engagement with the world. Thus far it was mostly worship of the intellect. Sipping pages and pages of philosophies of Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and so many others. But, then nothing from the charmed world of words helped me to live life itself.

But with yoga experience came first and then the perplexed, intellectual in me ran to my world of books to understand what was happening. The intellect became secondary to experience.

And from day one, Yoga to me has been books by the Bihar School of Yoga that have provided the practical, rational and scientific aspects of Yoga. The books by the trinity of Swami Satyananda, Swami Niranjananada, Swami Satyasangananda, who are the light and force behind the Bihar School of Yoga and Rikhiapeeth Ashram, have guided my practice and understanding the principals, the science and the spirituality of Yoga.

But, I had never visited Bihar School of Yoga in Munger or Rikhiapeeth Ashram in Jharkhand.

Therefore, my first visit to Rikhiapeeth Ashram was also my first experience of living in an Ashram.

Here a life style is lived which temporarily strips you of layers of masks and the many props you lean on in life. Such thoughts gathered around me as I gradually waded into the Rikhiapeeth Ashram routine and celebrations of Ahswini Navritri in September of 2017.

Rikhiapeeth Ashram is not a picturesque place. Just a barren piece of land on the outskirts of Deogarh town in Jharkhand. But Swami Satyananda set foot on this land and said, “This is Chittabhoomi of Maa Parvati. I will be here.”

That day was Sept, 23, of 1989. Swami Satsangi ( as Swami Satyasangananda is called), who was with him then said, “ There was nothing here. No electricity, no water or any kind of development. And look at what it is today!”

Indeed! Rikhiapeeth Ashram is now a huge complex spread over 3 kms and under its benign and mighty presence the whole area has been uplifted. People from all over the world descend on Rikhiapeeth Ashram to learn Yoga, to participate in the spiritual rituals of havan, yagnas and other festivities.

Rikhiapeeth Ashram which continues to grow and attract followers is yet another example of the power of a self established in itself.

After all, what did Swami Satyananda do here? Did he organise the media to get publicity? Did he give talk shows? Did he display his Yoga by demonstrating some impossible poses? Did he display spiritual powers of materializing things from thin air? Did he set up a commercial empire? Did he network with the who’s who or the powers that be?

No!

Here he lived the life of a hermit. Within a week of settling in Rikhia, he started his spiritual practices in seclusion and isolation. He remained immersed in his spiritual practice, his sadhana. The rare times when he did give darshan or allowed people to see him, on the exit gate was the terse message, “Do not come back.”

Yet, people came. Prosperity and plenty came. And years after he took Samadhi on Dec 5, in 2009, the pull and power of his spirit continue to attract people and prosperity. While he remained immersed in his sadhana, Swami Satsangi along with other sanyasis were his hands and feet in translating his wish of serve, love and give and in building the Ashram.

Swami Satsangi who was personally instructed into yoga & the esoteric practices of Tantra by Swami Satyananda, is today, one of the rare woman Pittaddhishwari, Head of an Ashram. If Swamiji establsihed Sathyam and Shivam here, Swami Satsangi completed it by adding Sundaram.

There is a unique blend of beauty in austerity in the Rikhiapeeth Ashram. Yoga is perfection in action. And one gets glimpses of this as one sees the seamlessly beautiful way in which everything moves in the Ashram from dawn to dusk.

When you stay in the Ashram and follow the routine of being up by 4 am and in bed by 8pm after a day of Yoga, chantings, pooja and seva, it is not only this, but the subtle spiritual power that pervades the very air that you breathe, that brings you closer to nothing other than your real self.

Three simple words, serve, love and give. But, most difficult to do. This is exactly what we received in simple no frills fashion.

The stay, food was pro-bono. There are no oblique suggestions of any kind to donate. No sign boards, donation boxes, or sale of books, etc. There is no branding, selling or commercialization.

The high point of my stay was getting an audience with Swami Satsangi. She was initiated into sannyas in 1982. and has borne the mantle of Pittadhipati after Swami Satyananda took Samadhi. I had just finished reading her monumental work, “The Ascent”, a treatise on Vijnana Bhairava Tantra. Swami Satyanada’s writes about her, “ This work is much more than a translation of Vijnana Bhairava Tantra by a student or scholar of Tantra: It is a work based on the personal experience of a sannyasin who has dared to uphold the lofty values of tyaga ( reninciation), vairaga, ( non-attachment) and samarpan ( surrender). These are the kavach or armour of a sannyasin, with which he marches ahead towards the fragrance of atma anubhutti or self realization.”

On the first day itself, I had given a request to meet Swami Satsangi. On Sept 23, the day of Rikhyapeeth Agaman (the day when Swami Satyananda came to Rikhia), we were told, that she would be meeting us. I was overjoyed. It was like meeting in flesh and blood someone you have read, imbibed and admired.

She met a handful of us on the verandah of a kutir next to the Alakh Bara, even as her two Alsatian dogs barked and paced up and down behind a fenced space. She was in a reminiscent space. It was exactly 29 years back on this day that she and few others had accompanied Swami Satyananda to what is today the Rikhiapeeth Ashram.

I asked her what was the turning point in her life. How did she happen to take up sannyas?  She replied, “I was the usual, happy young girl, doing all the regular things, like partying, travelling, in short, the normal things. But, when I met Swami Satyananda, everything changed. My life turned 180 degress. I think it was some past life connection. The earlier me just died. Even today, I cannot relate to that girl. It’s like something that was in another life and my sannyas life was like being born anew.”

I asked her how one could overcome the ego? Was it possible to do so without a Guru?

She said, it is not advisable to do it without the guidance of a Guru. It can be dangerous to try to kill your ego, it is part of your antakarna ( inner self). You can become rudderless without the ego.”

On asking if she could still give some technique on how a person living a worldly life can manage the ego, she said, “ Yes there is. It is seva. Service is a good ego cleanser. When you do something for someone else, you automatically subdue the ego.”

One could go on sitting there listening to her. But, she had had a full day.

The bucket list of life and its longings is long. No place or experience has the sway to pull for a repeat as the list keeps getting exhausted and filling up anew.  But, Rikhyapeeth has created in my heart the longing to come back to learn to live simply with simple needs. To shed the layers and layers of masks to finally face myself.

Yes, in many ways it was a journey into one’s own self.

And so to get introduced to yourself, a visit to an Ashram like Rikhiapeeth is a must  for those looking to touch new points in their own being.

( Rikhiapeeth ashram can be reached by trains which go to Jasidih Junction(Devgarh town) from where it is a 30 min drive. Or by flight to Calcutta or Patna and then by trains which go to Jasidh or drive down to the Ashram. You need to inform the Ashram by mail or by call. www.rikhiapeeth.in)