The Devotees

Devotion is not a role, nor a function; it is an inner calling, a profound surrender that rises from the heart. Within the path we uphold in the Ashram, devotees are not students. They do not seek learning through mental or academic structures. They are not here for knowledge, but for communion.

A devotee does not question, calculate, or measure. A devotee resonates with the essential. Their connection emerges from inner recognition, not from external teaching. It is a relationship from soul to soul—one that cannot be explained, only lived.

However, a student may become a devotee. This happens when learning transcends the framework of information and becomes transformation. When practice is no longer performed out of a need to understand, but from the joy of surrendering to what is.

Devotion demands no belonging. It asks for no titles, no validation. It is a silent flame that burns in those who feel that the purpose is not to receive, but to offer everything.

Devotion and Service

Authentic devotion naturally expresses itself through service. It is not a duty, nor an obligation. It is the spontaneous movement of inner love. The devotee, feeling deeply aligned with the purpose of the path, desires to take part in its sustenance—not for recognition, not for merit, but from the invisible urge to give oneself.

For many, service becomes fertile ground for the purification of karma. By offering their time, energy, and skills, devotees begin to untie inner knots that can only be loosened when the self steps aside. Yet this is not done with the intention of spiritual advancement. Service is not performed to attain something, but because true love inevitably finds form in action.

For swamis and for gurus, the service of devotees must never become a tool for personal gain. That would be a distortion of the sacred purpose that unites those who walk together. Service is not to enrich the teacher, nor to expand an institution. It exists to support the community in harmony, to preserve a space where the teachings may bloom, where simplicity, humanity, and essence remain alive.

True expansion is not measured by numbers or structure, but by the depth of surrender and the purity of intention. That is why every gesture, every task, every quiet offering made by a devotee holds immeasurable value—not for what it produces outwardly, but for what it transforms within.