“Make harmony your priority. A rebellious spirit may win you points now and then, but in the end it will destroy your peace of mind and inner attunement, and will in addition disturb others – all to no avail. Peace and harmony are the foundations of the spiritual life.”
— Swami Kriyananda, advice to monks
Swami Kriyananda envisioned a Hermitage monastery where monks would live and serve together. He wished for Ananda monks to have their own work or businesses to support them in that group service. At various times he gave monks the task of helping to spread the Kriya teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda.
Guru Kripa Forest Hermitage is being established based on that vision. It also incorporates Kriyananda’s principles on architecture and design, and living in harmony with nature and each other. Ananda communities have proven his approach for householders and families.
Ananda Monastery Lifestyle
Monastery monks, 2023
Ananda monastery monks have dedicated their lives to seeking God, free from family and other worldly ties. They have fully committed themselves to a life of discipleship and renunciation. This discipleship includes sadhana, seva, training, and an ever-deepening attunement to God and our line of Gurus.
Swami Kriyananda brought a positive approach to renunciation, where renunciates give all of their life energy, time, thoughts, and actions to God. It is very different from old models of renunciation, which are defined by what renunciates don’t do. Small, smoke-filled huts, renouncing external conveniences, and a poverty-driven life are not part of that positive approach. Instead, monks will live in light-filled buildings that support the expansive work they have been given to do.
A monastery is a community of monastics who live, meditate, and serve together. Because of the closeness of that community, it requires a high degree of harmony and cooperation.
Meditation
Monastery life revolves around daily group meditations, meals, and seva. Monks are expected to attend the daily scheduled meditations. In addition, there will be individual meditation time in the privacy of one’s room. This is time to develop an individual relationship with God, rather than only as a group. That is why Kriyananda wanted his monks to live in separate kutirs and not under one roof. Public spaces and private personal spaces are both needed.
Seva
Seva is mostly done with other monks, rather than as part of the larger Ananda Community. Swami Kriyananda wished the main service for monks to be the spreading of Yogananda’s Kriya Yoga teachings, and for monasteries to have their own self-sustaining businesses. Guru Kripa Forest Hermitage will balance online and mental work with some daily gardening and other chores.
The monastery is currently managing three of the main Ananda Sangha pan-India departments. This involves numerous webinars and classes every week, Zoom meetings with other Ananda departments throughout India, and regular contact with Kriya Yoga students receiving training through Ananda Sangha.
Meals
Meals are generally eaten in silence, a guideline given by Paramhansa Yogananda for his monks.
Simple Living
Yogananda taught the practice of “plain living and high thinking,” rather than the poverty practiced in older monasteries. This means that the monk’s residences will not be the stereotypical small dark monastic rooms with low ceilings. They will be full of light and space, with room for monks to have a desk, a small meditation space and altar, and personal storage space — all inside their kutirs or bedrooms.
Learn about the monks’ extensive Monastery Seva.
“Especially in the beginning of the spiritual life, Yogananda told us, it is better to mix little or not at all with worldly people. For it is essential that one’s heart be strengthened to prepare it for making this heroic gift to God of every desire, every thought, every emotion. No weakling could even possibly make so total a self-offering. Cowards quickly fall by the wayside.
“None who enter the spiritual path for its superficial glamour alone can survive tests that have no other purpose than to assault the devotee’s every natural inclination. The more completely one can identify himself with an attitude of complete self-surrender, the more likely he is to succeed in his spiritual search.”
— Swami Kriyananda
