Dhyan Ashram- our Home

Amit Tigga, NSJ

In today’s fast paced world, it is often hard to find simple places of serenity where one can slow down, ponder and recharge one’s spiritual energy with a bit of guidance.  Dhyan Ashram is one of such rarities in Bengal.

It is located not far from the city of Calcutta.  Right when you enter its gates, the first thing you will notice is that its plain looking walls completely separate it from the outside world.  There is a touch of nature’s beauty everywhere in Dhyan Ashram.  There are five buildings in the campus surrounded by beautiful ponds and greenery.  If you are a retreatant, don’t lose heart by the shoddy looking buildings because you will be given the best in the house.

One of the main reasons why Dhyan Ashram is such a popular retreat house is the serenely beautiful environment of the whole campus.  The beauty of the silence of this place is breathtaking: a perfect ambience that will help you to connect with God.

During your stay at Dhyan Ashram you will come across many regular faces going around.  They can all mainly be divided into the following four groups.

First, you will notice our hard working and friendly workers.  Second, the most flashy bunch around (and at times noisy and irritating as well) are the juniors.  Coming in from different provinces and different parts of India, they make up quite an interesting and talented group of youngsters.  The third will be the small group of youngsters hanging around far away from the rest of the crowd.  These are the novices: angelic in appearance, drowned in prayer, and always willing to offer that extra help.  The fourth and the last bunch are the Jesuit fathers.  Don’t be fooled by their simple (and often shabby) appearances.  I can assure you that they are some of the most intellectual, jovial and loving persons you can come across around here.

Dhyan Ashram takes pride in giving Ignatian retreats based on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola.  Our fathers here are excellent retreat directors and counsellors.  They also hold quite an impressive record of turning devils into angels and that is the secret behind all the peace that you experience here.

The vegetation around the campus isn’t just for show.  Most of the fruits and veggies we munch down at meals are home grown.  Besides gulping down all this healthy food, we like to maintain our fitness as well.  For this we have good old fashioned physical sports and some regular manual work etched into our daily routines.  We sweat it out regularly on the basket ball and volley ball courts.

Well, to sum up, you will find that the special touch added to Dhyan Ashram is its Jesuit community.  We are like a big family helping and looking out for each other.  Whenever there is an opportunity, we always come together to mingle, share and pray.  That is why the most memorable experience that the visitors share about Dhyan Ashram is its simple, joyful and pious inhabitants.

Life in the Novitiate

Manish Tigga, NSJ

Novitiate is the time when a person with a desire to follow Jesus in consecrated life comes to deepen his/her deepest desire to follow Christ and he/she grows in this desire spiritually and mentally.  Many young Jesuits admit that they enjoyed and had many unforgettable experiences especially when they were in the Novitiate (that is to say about the time table , the activities in the novitiate, going out for ministries, learning to play musical instruments etc.)

If anyone desires to be a Jesuit, he ought to discern where God is really calling him to be.  This is what we learn, right from the beginning of the novitiate.  It is done through a method for being aware of our feelings and the movements of the spirit.  In the novitiate we are asked to maintain silence both from outside and inside so that we may be aware of our feelings, which will finally help us to grow in our spiritual journey.  “Deepen the inner silence, and find out your deepest desire”, is is what Fr master says all the time.

Anyway, that is about the basics of the novitiate.  Now, let me tell you about my life in the novitiate.  It is really a new life.  It feels as if I am in a new world, where I have a new and big family, where there are many fathers, brothers, taking good care of me.  They all make me feel at home.  But we novices also remember our own parents and family members in our prayer everyday and we also write a letter to them every month telling them that we are happy here (and there is nothing to worry about).

Apart from the spiritual matters, we also learn other things like games (I love playing basket ball, which, by the way, is often called a Jesuit game because it is a very popular game among Jesuits), playing musical instruments, singing, reading, swimming, and so on. But mainly in the novitiate we focus on our prayer life, and our growth according to Ignatian Sirituality day after day by the great help of Fr Master and Fr Socius.  And hoping that one day we would be Jesuits, the companions of Jesus.

The Ignatian Day

Manu Tomy, NSJ

If we look at the calendar we will find many feast days.  But the Christians look at the Ordo to find the feast days of the saints.  Each congregation has its special feast day.  For us Jesuits, the feast of our founder St Ignatius Loyola is a very important day.  This day is not just for us to celebrate and to enjoy among ourselves.  But it is a day to thank God for the work he has done through St Ignatius for us and for the church.

As in every year, we celebrated the feast of St Ignatius this year on the 31^st of July.  A good preparation always makes the feast more elegant and enjoyable.  Our celebration also was well prepared and planned for.  We started our preparation early enough.  One part of the preparation that touched me and many others was the nine days of Ignatian novena talks on the theme, “Ease in Finding God”.  These talks were given by some prominent Jesuits of our province.  I could attend only two talks but they gave me with lot of new information and helped me to understand some of the experiences of St Ignatius. I was also inspired by the eagerness of sisters of different congregations who came to listen to the God experience of St Ignatius.

The feast day Eucharist really put me into a good disposition.  It was through the words of Fr Sajeev, the main celebrant, that I and many others came to know a new face of Ignatius who was joyful and jovial.  All those who attended the Eucharist were invited to be joyful in the Lord and to find him in everything.  I was really touched and moved when I was wished a happy feast day by fathers because I could see the joy as being Jesuits on their faces.

Whenever we have important feast days we will have special time for games.  I was quite ecstatic about the games because that is an occasion when the novices and the juniors play together.  On the feast of St Ignatius, we had a friendly match.  That was a golden opportunity for us to enhance our companionship.

The cultural programme in the evening was a beautiful occasion for us to share our joy with others.  We had prepared a pretty good programme and it was a the joyful faces of the audience and their animated support that made us more confident.  We had over a hundred guests from our neighbourhood, especially from other formation houses.  Well, the audience’s appreciation did not make us proud; but helped us to discover that God can do great things through us.

I will always cherish this joyful day not only because of its external enjoyments but because it is a day to thank the Lord for calling me to be a companion of Jesus and a follower of St Ignatius.