Sample from the Fall 2004 issue of Integral Yoga Magazine
Sri Swami Satchidananda’s Vision of Yogaville
Shortly after Sri Gurudev arrived in the United States, he began talking about his vision of a Yoga community — a village of Yogis. This would be an prototype, a model, an experience, and a healing cooperative. This would be an environment that nurtured and nourished transformation at the deepest level.
Soon, the dream unfolded in several different locations and then in 1979, Sri Gurudev established Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville, Virginia. In honor of the 25th anniversary of Yogaville, we published a booklet by Sri Gurudev entitled: Heaven on Earth–My Vision of Yogaville. Here are some selections from this new booklet now available from Shakticom
…My vision of Yogaville is a little heaven on the earth. It is a village filled with people who follow the Yogic principles. Everything conducive to Yoga will be seen there. Our goal is to make a beautiful Yoga community.
Heaven is a place where love–and nothing but love–flows. There, we see real cosmic, universal love. Everybody is tied to that cosmic love. People love each other as they would love themselves.
There is only “ours.” It’s God’s home, and all feel that they are just children in that home. It’s a collective life. Like parts of the same body, cells of the same body. Even if one part gets hurt all other parts will look into it. If your toe gets hurt, your eyes will immediately look into that. Your hands will go there to clean the wound. Every part takes care of that. That’s how people live in heaven. If we can live that way, certainly we will make a heaven here. That is exactly what the Yogic life means–living a collective life, rising above the little, self-centered life. We share the joy of everybody; we share the pain of everybody.
Our humble ambition in Yogaville is this: Let us make a better world in our miniature world here. Let us give up selfishness. Let us learn to live clean, healthy, happy lives. Let’s not allow anything that could disturb our physical health or mental peace.
Yogaville is a village of health. Many say that the moment you walk into Yogaville you feel something very different. The entire Yogaville area is permeated with some special vibrations. –H. H. Sri Swami Satchidananda
Read the rest of this article in the Fall 2004 issue of Integral Yoga Magazine.
