SRI PREMANANDA ASHRAM
"In our Ashram it is not important what caste or religion you belong to. It is not necessary for me to know how much wealth or property you have, or what your academic qualifications are. It is a place for everyone to qualify for the spiritual life and to learn to live a simple life. Another purpose of our Ashram is to help needy and destitute children. The Ashram is a place of spirituality, giving service and doing good to fellow beings..."
Swami Premananda
Sri Premananda Ashram is situated 20 kms from Trichy on the Chennai-Madurai Road . Over the last 20 years the once desert-like area has been transformed into a great garden filled with numerous plants, bushes and trees. The buildings, which are built in a simple way with palm leaf or clay tiled roofs, are all set in the lush gardens.
There are 750 children and 100 adults living in Sri Premananda Ashram. The Ashram residents come from various cultural and religious backgrounds from Sri Lanka , India and western countries. All are giving service in various Ashram activities and participating in the spiritual sadhanas.
There is a canteen for visitors, visitor's rooms, administrative offices, a library, meditation room and a dispensary. There are dormitories for the children, a large kitchen and a dining hall are under construction.
In the Ashram Pooja Hall traditional rituals and bhajans (devotional singing) are conducted four times daily.
Every year the Ashram publishes a book with Swamiji's discourses. The Ashram also publishes a monthly magazine, which is translated in eight languages and sent to devotees all over the world.
Devotees from all over the world come to the Ashram for special festivals such as Mahashivaratri, Guru Poornima or Swami's birthday.
There are over 50 Sri Premananda Centres and Groups and 15 Youth Groups around the world , where devotees come together regularly, perform traditional rituals, practise meditation, sing bhajans or join together for service activities.
THE ASHRAM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Since its very beginning Sri Premananda Ashram has always been a place of charity and service to the poor and needy.
Children's HomePresently 750 children live in the Ashram. These children, some orphans and many who have only one parent, come from deprived backgrounds. In the Ashram they receive accommodation, food, medical care and a good education free of charge. The Ashram also runs its own small dispensary.
The Ashram runs its own High School for both the Ashram children and poor children from the surrounding villages. Started in 1994, it has been teaching these children from first to tenth standard with a very high success rate in public exams. Apart from School the Ashram also provides classes in classical singing, Bharatha Natyam (classical dance), art, yoga and music for the children.
The Ashram also sponsors its children to follow higher studies and courses including university degrees.
Service for the Local Population
The Ashram carries out restoration and cleaning of village temples, distributing food parcels and clothing to the poor, helping individual poor families to build houses or to start up their own income source, helping them to conduct their marriages and so on.