Gurudev, Sometimes I feel like leaving the normal life and just come and stay in the ashram. What should I do?

Question - Gurudev, Sometimes I feel like leaving the normal life and just come and stay in the ashram. What should I do?

Gurudev @SriSriRaviShankar Ji - I would like you to live the normal life. I want to make the whole world into an ashram, and you want to leave the world and come to the ashram?

What does an Ashram mean? A place where you get some care, love, food for thought and some food for your stomach. So you can make your own homes ashrams. Invite people, give them some good knowledge and give them some food, and if you do this a lot, then every home is an ashram. I want people in the ashram to go out and start centers wherever they are, make their homes as lighthouse of joy, knowledge and love.

When will you come and stay here? What will you do? Even I don’t stay in one place. I keep travelling across the continents. So you don’t have to leave the world and come and live here, if you have some responsibilities. But you are most welcome to come and stay sometime, rejuvenate yourself and do some seva. When you think you can do better things here being in the ashram and contribute better to the society and not just for your comfort, then it is okay. I don’t want the ashram to be a place for lazy people who want to renegade, run away from everything and waste their time and be a trouble for everybody else.

Ashrams are there for 3 purposes

1) Learn what you don't know or teach what you know.

2) Seva (Selfless Service)

3) Deep Rest for the mind. When the mind is at rest and the body is working then Ashram becomes heaven.

Ashram is the place for people who want to do a lot for the society and don’t want anything for themselves. Then here is a place where they come and rest, and then go back and do some good work in society. If you have that much dedication to do work for the world and society then yes, this is the place for you. Your needs will be taken care