Attracting Qualified Young Men to Join the Order II INDIVIDUAL PROBLEMS OF MONASTICS

Attracting Qualified Young Men to join the Order

BANERSHAR SHIVA LINGA

Attracting Qualified Young Men to

Join the Order

If we look at the world scene today, we can see that monasticism is on the decline in most parts of the world. Especially in the West, the number of young people joining monastic orders has already decreased very much. As a result, many of the monastic institutions are finding it difficult to run those institutions with the existing monastic manpower. Our monastic Order is not at present facing this problem. But with the large-scale use of computers, our activities are becoming more and more sophisticated. To manage such activities we need the help of properly qualified and competent monks. Young men with necessary competence can be attracted to monastic life only if they are assured that they can make their life meaningful and attain spiritual fulfillment by becoming monks of the Order. To make this assurance real we have to provide a favorable environment, inspiration, proper training and guidance

Ma Bhabatarini (Kali)

to our monastics wherever they are. This should be taken up as the immediate need of the Sangha on a priority basis.

The first step in this direction is to be taken at our Probationers' Training Centre. The importance of the Training Centre in the spiritual elevation of the Sangha and in preparing the minds of the monastics to lead a well-integrated and fruitful spiritual life cannot be exaggerated. The Training Centre is the nursery where, in the words of P.B. Shelley, "nurslings of immortality" are raised

Sri Sarada Devi

INDIVIDUAL PROBLEMS OF MONASTICS

Till now we have been discussing the collective problems of our Sangha as a whole. We now turn to our individual problems. These problems are so diverse, personal and innumerable that they cannot be discussed in detail here. We can make only a few brief observations about some of them.

Swami Shivananda

Health Problems

The first category consists of health problems. Every Sannyasin must learn to keep his body healthy so that he may carry on his struggles for God-realization, and also so that he may not become a burden to others, especially to the Sangha. In recent years owing to wrong food habits, wrong ways of living and working, 'life-style disorders' have become more common among Sadhus. We should develop a yogic attitude towards the body. As the Gita instructs us, the whole body must be brought under the control of the pure sattwik Will, known as sättwiki dhriti (--- Bhagavadgita 18.33)