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carry out guru's instructions." Has she stayed put in the Munger ashram all these years because of guru's wishes? "It is not that I am living here against my wishes. I adore this place,
and if I have my way I would like to spend my whole life here. But I am at the disposal of the guru to send me to any place at any time."
The Hindustan Times
7.11.93
A VISION REALIZED
Munger, a small congested town in North Bihar, has its history and legends. A wandering sadhu on arriving here experienced a divine vision. It is said he was resting on a hillock on the banks of the Ganga when the river goddess appeared to him in a dream. He woke to find himself completely drenched with the river water. The wandering sadhu was Paramahamsa Satyananda, one of the foremost inspirers of the yogic renaissance. It was he who founded the Bihar School of Yoga on the same hillock where he received the vision. Mythology has it also that the Mahabharata's Karna used to donate 50 maunds of gold each day sitting on top of the same hillock. The hillock stands even today as a place of sanctity and decorum. Sprawling across it on an area of over 16 acres is the Bihar School of Yoga, founded in 1963. Since its inception it has attracted world-wide attention. In the early days the yoga school was a small institution on the side of the hill, but with the rapid increase in the number of people coming for yogic training, more
land was acquired on the hill in 1987. The new ashram and yoga school that came up was appropriately named Ganga Darshan. The legend of the divine vision of its founder apart, the site offers a magnificent vision of the mighty Ganga. Ganga Darshan is one of the largest and most modern institutions of its kind in the entire country. There are over 160 rooms to accommodate individual students as well as their families. A spacious kitchen with dining halls provides simple vegetarian food. The seven storey main building houses offices, classrooms, a research library and research center. The school also has its own printing press.
Ganga Darshan has beeen organized along traditional ashram-gurukul lines. There are no servants, and as each inmate has to participate in karma yoga, they themselves cook, wash dishes, clean their rooms and look after the garden. The sanctity of the place is so well maintained that the entire ashram is spotlessly clean and everything appears in perfect order.
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