*“Ashram”*

After learning from my Guru for many years, I realized that there isn’t really much to know — there is only the Self! Man runs around uselessly here and there, while life is actually about pausing and observing everything. To pause and observe means to stop within — to seek the inner Self!

One day, my Gurudev said to me, “A time will come when the responsibility of teaching will fall upon your shoulders. People will come here, and it will be your duty to guide them on the right path. Whatever I have taught you — it is not for you alone. You must share it. For that purpose, in the time to come, this place will become an Ashram. People from across the country and from abroad will come. Whoever I send to you, it will be your responsibility to guide them.”

I laughed and said to Swamiji, “You speak of people coming from other countries, but even people nearby don’t come here! Who here even understands spirituality or meditation?”

But the future was known only to God, so I stopped thinking about it and decided to simply focus on my work.

*“Ashram”*

Before learning about an ashram, it is important to understand what an ashram truly is — what its real meaning is. Without understanding the meaning of the word “ashram,” it’s difficult to grasp what it means to visit one, or what one is meant to gain from it.

So first, let us understand the true meaning of an ashram.

An ashram is a place where people go for spiritual or religious rest — a space where they practice deep self-realization.

It can be the secluded residence of a Guru or a center for spiritual training, where seekers engage in meditation and penance under the guidance of their Guru.

Freed from worldly attachments, they experience true peace and bliss. It is a place where one learns the real meaning of renunciation — where, sitting at the feet of the Guru, one understands the true path of this world and beyond it.

*“Ashram”*

This experience of mine goes back *20 years, to when I was **sixteen years old.*

That was when *my Guru, my Divine Master,* entered my life.

This experience connected to my life is vast—if I begin  to write about it, I could perhaps fill *many books.*

But Ashram is that one experience which connects *me to all of you, binds **you and me together, and also connects us to **my life’s mission.*

It was the beginning of my first step on the *spiritual path — 10th February 2005.*

Since that day, I have never looked back,

because I understood then that *life means to keep moving forward.*

The wheel of life keeps turning — you can neither stop it nor change it.

If there is anything you can change, it is *your own self.*

Panditji said, “Babaji, I have been serving here for 47 years!

Many years ago, my Guruji gifted me this Shaligram. I have been worshipping it here in this temple ever since. But when he gave it to me, he said one thing — ‘This Shaligram will one day go to a true devotee of the Divine Mother.’

Over the years, many saints and gurus have come here and asked me for it. But I never felt like giving it away, because my Guruji had told me — ‘When the time comes for the Shaligram to go, your heart will tell you.’

Babaji, till this day, that feeling never came. But this morning, when you entered the temple, my eyes went straight to the sacred mark (tilak) on your forehead. In that very moment, my heart said — ‘This Shaligram belongs to him!’ You are that devotee my Guruji spoke about. So, this Shaligram isn’t being given by me — it is the will of the Lord Himself. Now your bond with Lord Badrinath has been formed. You will have to keep coming here again and again.”