This can only happen when the individual is continually exposed to different situations and has to learn how to manage themselves and their interactions with a positive, creative and constructive state of mind. This is the lesson of Sri Swamiji’s teachings”. Swami Niranjan Saraswati

In 2010, Bihar School of Yoga will be conducting two fully residential Gurukul Lifestyle courses, each of six months duration. The first course commences 1st February and continues until July 25. The second course begins 1st August and finishes on January 25th 2011.

Following the traditional gurukul disciplines and principles of service, renunciation and compassion, the training given will focus on practical experience and application of the skills required for any balanced development in spiritual life.

Gurukul Lifestyle courses will be conducted in both Hindi and English medium and are open to Indian nationals and foreigners alike. The daily routine from 5.00am to 7.30pm is rigorous, and participants will need be physically fit and in good health. Both males and females between eighteen and sixty are welcome to apply.

To download the application form, click here, or for any enquiries write to Bihar School of Yoga, Ganga Darshan, Munger, Bihar, 811201 enclosing a stamped self addressed envelope for your reply.

The following trains stop at Jamalpur Junction.

From Kolkata

Train No.	Name	Arr. Jamalpur
3133	Sealdah-Varanasi Express	08.49 09.04
3071*	Howrah-Jamalpur Express	07.25

From Delhi

Train No.	Name	Arr. Jamalpur
2368	New Delhi Bhagalpur Vikramsheela Express	10.47
4056	Brahmaputra Mail	18.35

Alternatively catch any Express, Superfast or Deluxe train from Kolkata or New Delhi stopping at Kiul Junction. Kiul is about one and half hours from Ganga Darshan by taxi.

From Mumbai

Train No.	Name	Arr. Jamalpur
3448	Dadar-Bhagalpur Express	18.35
5648/5646	Guwahati Lokmanya Express	10.00

* Recommended

(Last updated January 2010)

Alternatively visit the Indian Railways web site for the latest information.

Bihar School of Yoga, Munger, is pleased to announce that a series of satsangs will be conducted by Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati on a regular basis at Ganga Darshan, Munger.

You are welcome to participate in this satsang series along with your friends and family. Please bear in mind that the programs are not yoga training programs, but an opportunity to spend time with Swami Niranjanananda.

Below are the Satsang Series program dates for 2010:

	February	25–28
	Chaitra Navaratri	March 17–20
	April	25–28
	May	24–27
	June	23–26
	August	5–8
	September	9–12
	Ashwin Navaratri	October 9–12

As accommodation in the ashram is restricted to members and students, a list of hotels and dharmashalas in Munger can be downloaded here.

Kindly contact the hotels directly to make arrangements for your stay.

Once you have booked your accommodation, inform Bihar School of Yoga, Ganga Darshan, Munger, Bihar 811201 by letter or fax of your arrival and departure dates and times, details of travel, number of people, including numbers of males, females and children, and their respective ages.

The Yoga techniques developed there are a synthesis of many approaches to personal development, based on traditional vedantic, tantric and yogic teachings in conjunction with contemporary physical and mental health sciences. Today, these techniques are taught by Bihar Yoga Bharati and also by Satyananda Yoga Academies in Australia and Colombia and through the programmes outlined below.

Bihar School of Yoga also guides yoga projects and medical research in association with prestigious hospitals, organisations and establishments. Programs made by Bihar School of Yoga are being used today in the education and prison Government sectors, in hospitals, by the Defence Services, private and public sector industries such as Indian Oil Corporation, Coal India Limited, National Thermal Power Corporation, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the Steel Authority of India, Hindusthan Paper Corporation, Hindusthan Copper Corporation and many more.
History

Bihar has a history and spiritual heritage that goes back to ancient times. Thousands of years ago, Bihar was the home of two great spiritual universities, Nalanda and Vikramshila. Its soil has been touched by the feet of Gautama Buddha. The first sound of Gayatri was whispered on Bihari winds. Mother Ganga herself bathed and caressed the shining bodies of Sri Rama and Sita. Mahavir, the founder of Jainism, and Valmiki, composer of the epic Ramayana, were nurtured in Bihar. Bihar gave the world its first republic. Ashoka, the greatest ruler of India, was born in Bihar.
The father of surgery, Sage Sushrata, resided in Bihar.

Bihar gave birth to Aryabhatta, the ancient mathematician, and Chanakya, the father of economics. Sage Vatsyayana wrote the Kamasutra, the treatise on love, while in Bihar. The Ashok chakra adorning the national flag of India originated in Bihar. Bihar gave the world its first yoga university. The epicentre of many social, cultural and spiritual revolutions lies in Bihar. Bihar is blessed to be the karma bhoomi of Swami Satyananda Saraswati the modern yogic visionary and reknowned sage.

Ganga Darshan Yogashram stands on a hill overlooking the Ganga river, in Munger, Bihar, 175 km from Patna, the state capital, and 500 km from Kolkata. Against a backdrop of natural splendour, surrounded by beautiful gardens, Ganga Darshan Yogashram commands a majestic 180-degree panoramic view of the Mother Ganga as she sweeps through green paddy fields, fertilizing, energizing and purifying the surrounding areas.

The river Ganga is the symbol of yoga, the soul’s journey to unite again with the supreme. At Ganga Darshan Yogashram, a new vision of yogic life is inspired, making it a spiritual oasis in the 21st century.
In the ancient past, the site of Ganga Darshan Yogashram was the seat of King Karna of Mahabharata fame. Here he performed great acts of tapasya (austerity and sacrifice) sadhana, (spiritual endeavour) and daan (unconditional giving) which are still remembered today.

Here, Sri Swami Satyananda Saraswati had the vision of Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswati blessing him at exactly the same time that Sri Swami Sivananda left his mortal body in Rishikesh. It is the site where he perfected his sadhanas and had the vision of the future role of yoga for humankind.

Ganga Darshan Ashram
Lifestyle & Routine

An Ashram is not a temple or monastery, or a place for sannyasins or the guru, it is an embodiment of simple living, where one can develop a positive attitude and an understanding of selfless service. It is a place of inspiration because it does not teach or preach; it exhibits and you imbibe what is applicable to you.

Countless people have been inspired at Ganga Darshan Yogashram through the medium of yoga, sannyasa, guru’s grace or heavenly blessings and through contact with this hallowed place. Today Ganga Darshan Yogashram is a modern day gurukul, embodying yoga, the essence of spiritual life.

Events held at Ganga Darshan Yogashram on a regular basis throughout the year for all sadhakas, devotees and well-wishers include chanting of:

Mahamrityunjaya mantra for universal health (every Saturday)
Shiva Mahimna Stotra (every Monday)
Saundarya Lahari (every Friday)
Akhanda Bhagavad Gita Path (twice monthly on Ekadashi)
Sundarkand for removal of obstacles (monthly on Poornima).

Other celebrations include:
Basant Panchami – the foundation day of Bihar School of Yoga
Guru Poornima – the full moon of July, a day of rededication
Navaratri – a twice yearly celebration of Goddess Durga, the Cosmic Mother (March/April and September/October)
Sivananda Janmotsav & Swami Satyananda Sannyasa Diwas – which celebrates the birth of Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswati and the sannyasa initiation of Sri Swami Satyananda Saraswati (September),
Hanuman Chalisa – chanting on 1st January

Ashram Routine
Below is the current ashram timetable.

4.00 am
Wake up and personal sadhana

5.00 am
Classes start at 5 am. Timings change as per winter or summer season.

6.00 am
Breakfast

6.30 am
Between 6:30 and 7:30 am there is seva yoga for all visitors and residents.

7.30 am
Departmental seva yoga is assigned to individuals in administration, maintenance, publications, transcriptions, art, gardens, kitchen, etc.

11.00 am
Lunch

12.00 am
Time from 12.00 am to 4.30 pm is devoted to classes or departmental seva yoga.

1.30 pm
Afternoon tea

4.30 pm
Gardening

5.30 pm
Dinner

6.30 pm
Kirtans (mantra chanting and singing) and Satsangs (discourses and discussions).

7.30 pm
Private study or sadhana in one’s own room.

8.00 pm
Gates of residential buildings close.

8.30 pm
Lights out.

Observance of Mauna (silence) is obligatory at all meal times
and from 6 pm to 6 am.

DISCOVER JAMALPUR

Jamalpur in Bihar’s Monghyr Disrict has one of the most remarkable Railway Workshops in the World, and the largest in India. Not even the US of A can surpass India’s mammoth railway network, the busiest in the world.

Jamalpur is a city and a municipality in Munger district in the Indian state of Bihar.

Jamalpur on the district map of Bihar

Jamalpur is best known as a very large workshop on the East Indian Railway, employing over 30,000 people at one time. The town was established during the British Raj and the cultural hub at that time was the Railway Institute. The Railway Institute was huge – it had its own movie theatre, a six-lane swimming pool, eight tennis courts, four billiard rooms and a bowling lawn. Its dances were renowned and railway folk came from all over the East India Railway (EIR) to attend.

The mission of Ananda Marga is to help individuals achieve complete self-realization and to build a social structure in which the physical, mental and spiritual needs of all people can be fulfilled. Ananda Marga contributes to the process of individual development by providing instruction in meditation and other yoga practices on a non-commercial basis.

Waterfall

Waterfall The waterfall is not a regular feature during the rainy season and usually a deer species known as neelgai in the local dialect is found near the same.The waterfall is approachable from the water works which supplies the railway colony.This waterfall is on a decline and the natural beauty is slowly tarnished as a result of unbriddled blasting at the stone quarries and also due to widespread deforestation for firewood.

Just down the Gymkhana avenue is the golf course that is frequented by the Railway and Army officers. The annual ITC Golf tournament is held here.

The golf course also has the grave of an Englishman who was killed by a tiger. The grave of the tiger is not very far away.

Previously this was of 9-hole now developed to 18 hole, marked as a standard golf course. This club is registered to the Indian Golf union. Players from all corners of the country like to play and enjoy the nature. This golf course is having natural beauty with hills, water resevior, tanks and water fall in the rainy season Greenary attracts the visitors.

Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering (IRIMEE) is located at Jamalpur in the Munger district of Bihar, on the Patna-Bhagalpur rail route, about 8 kilometres from Munger town. During the era of Mahabharata, Munger was the capital of Anga Pradesh ruled by Karna…

The Special Class Railway Apprentices’ (SCRA) scheme was started in 1927 to meet the demand for engineers on the EIR (East Indian Railway) and on the GIP (Great Indian Peninsular) Railway.Special Class Railway Apprentices’ (SCRA)…

Another, possibly apocryphal account, though, has it that one of the Agents of the EIR Mr D W Campbell, was annoyed that the fitters and workmen of the then Howrah workshop were spending too much time away from their work in places of recreation in Howrah, and resolved to move the workshop facilities to a place far away where there would be no such distractions.

At first the Jamalpur shops were merely repairing locomotives and also assembling locomotives from parts salvaged from other, damaged locomotives. By the turn of the century, however, they had progressed to producing their own locomotives. The first one, CA 764 ‘Lady Curzon’, was produced in 1899.

Jamalpur has always had extensive workshop facilities. In 1893, the first railway foundry in India was set up there. It also had a boiler workshop for repairing and building boilers. Today it has foundry and metallurgical lab facilities, extensive machine tool facilities, etc., in addition a captive power plant of 5MVA, making it fairly self-contained. It used to have a rolling mill of its own (set up in 1870, now closed – the Rolling Mill and the Nut & Bolt Shop were closed down in 1984).

In addition to various repairs of wagons, coaches, cranes and tower cars, and locomotives, Jamalpur Workshop also undertakes repair and (small-scale) production of permanent-way fixtures. It also manufactures some tower cars (Mark II, Mark III) and break-down cranes of 10, 20, and 140 tonne capacities, besides various kinds of heavy-duty lifting jacks.

Finally, it also manufactures wheelsets for coaches and wagons. In the past it was a significant supplier of cast-iron sleepers as well. Starting in 1961 it produced several rail cranes. It has also produced electric arc furnaces, ticket printers and other ticket machines (slitting, counting, and chopping). The high-capacity synchronized lifting jacks known as ‘Jamalpur Jacks’ were also produced by this workshop.

The school attached to the Jamalpur workshops eventually became the IR Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.

Jamalpur Workshop (History)