Madhuban
Sri Aurobindo Ashram Delhi Branch

About Madhuban
Madhuban is situated at a height of 5,000 ft above a picturesque village in the Kumaon range of the Himalayas. Madhuban is the place where the beekeeping association of India took birth more than 60 years ago.
The property was offered to the Ashram by a devotee in 2003 and is continuously being developed. The entire valley of Talla Ramgarh is a fruit bowl with pear, plum, peach, and apricot orchards.
Madhuban Sri Aurobindo Ashram is an extension of the Delhi branch of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Madhuban today is a calm environment for spiritual retreats, writers and artists residences, vedic chanting, nature treks, and a wholesome experience of living in a community set-up where work is done in the spirit of an offering to the Divine.
It is a space that beckons each one of us to pause and to connect to one's inner ecology amidst the abundance of flora and fauna that is in rhythm with seasonal changes.
The Mother called this valley,
"Sri Aurobindo's foothold in the Himalayas".
Our Inspiration
Sri Aurobindo and The Mother
Our Mission and Vision
"This Ashram has been created with another object than that ordinarily common to such institutions, not for the renunciation of the world but as a center and field of practice for the evolution of another kind and form of life which would in the final end be moved by a higher spiritual consciousness and embody a greater life of the spirit."
Sri Aurobindo
"Change yourself if you wish to change the world."
The Mother
Madhuban's vision:
Is one of being worthy of the faith that The Mother invested in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Delhi branch, when on 12 February 1956, for its opening, she sent a handwritten message:
"Let this place be worthy of its name and manifest the true spirit of Sri Aurobindo's teaching and message to the world. With my blessings".
In sync with the above, Madhuban's vision is to facilitate spiritual retreats for sadhaks and to work for the inhabitants of Talla Ramgarh, in the areas of integral education, health, and livelihood, in a framework that is ecologically viable, spiritually uplifting, and collectively focused on building inner harmony for all those involved in the process.

Madhuban's mission:
To strive to be an ecological community focused on principles of integral yoga; a space where each individual connected to it is able to be conscious of the aim of life for his/her own being and with the needs of the space, needs of the other co-habitants, and the larger vision of the space.

Our activities
Overview and Our Work
Overview
Facilities
Spiritual retreats
Social projects
Volunteering
We work from 6.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. towards our individual needs and community needs both.

All those living in the ashram as well as visitors to it need to be mindful of their own personal routines while being respectful of the community's fixed daily practices of:

1. @ 6.30 a.m. to 7.30 a.m. – Morning yoga /shramdan
2. @ 7.30 a.m. – Breakfast
3. @ 12.00 p.m. – Lunch
4. @ 4.00 p.m .to 4.30 p.m. – Collective reading
5. @ 4.30 p.m. – Tea break
6. @ 5.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. – Sports/physical fitness
7. @ 7.00 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. – Meditation
8. @ 7.30 p.m. – Dinner

Skill building for youth, vocational trainees within a fixed monthly schedule based on availability of volunteers and our permanent residents.

Office timings:
8.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.
1.30 p.m. to 4.00 p.m.
Our facilities
For all on a path of self-discovery and transformation, Madhuban is a space that facilitates a rhythm of quietude.
Our simple housing facilities include:
Rooms on a double- and triple-sharing basis + Dormitories

Community gathering spaces with provisions for:
1. Audio-video facility
2. Yoga
3. Outdoor gym
4. Badminton court
5. Trekking
Quiet sit-outs to watch our flora and fauna
Madhuban has organically grown to become a home that hosts groups of people who follow the spiritual path.
To apply to host or to participate in a retreat, write to: aurocamps@aurobindoonline.in

Voices about Madhuban:
Our group traveled from U.S.A. and stayed at Madhuban for a retreat with Tara didi.
From the moment I put my feet there, an overpowering calm, peaceful and strong spiritual vibration filled my being. The beauty of Madhuban, the exquisite fragrance of the flowers all around, the majestic mountains, and, above all, the simplicity, love, care and dedicated service from Anju didi and other members of the Madhuban community has made a deep impact on my heart.
I witness the concept of putting spirituality into action for the upliftment of local communities so beautifully in Madhuban.
Combine these with modern amenities and comfortable rooms, sattvik food at the Dining Hall, the time I spent at Madhuban has created a deep positive impact in me and I can't wait to come back and spend more time at Madhuban.

Amit Thakkar
USA
For me, each visit and each encounter with the beautiful and enchanting environs of Madhuban and of the Himalayas, are a joy and deepening of sense of sacred beauty and of oneness.
I feel truly blessed to have "discovered" this quite extra-ordinary place. As well, to be received here by everyone – in the kitchen, in the gardens, everywhere – with deep attention and abiding welcome, is the most hearting healing.
Thank you everyone indeed for making Madhuban my "home".


Sehdev Kumar
India
In Education:

We have adopted schools in the nearby villages and work closely with the state board and NCERT curriculum guidelines and books, with our background in integral education we weave in a framework of processes that aim to empower each stake holder around the child to be mindful of our three guiding principles of education and true teaching:
1. Nothing can be taught. The teacher is not an instructor or task-master; he is a helper and a guide. His business is to suggest and not to impose. He does not actually train the pupil's mind, but only shows him how to perfect his instruments of knowledge... He shows him how to acquire knowledge for himself.
2. The mind has to be consulted in its own growth. The idea of hammering the child into the shape desired by the parent or teacher is a barbarous and ignorant superstition. It is he himself who must be induced to expand in accordance with his own nature.
3. Work from the near to the far. Work from that which is, to that which shall be. The basis of man's nature is almost always in addition to his soul's past, his heredity, surroundings, nationality, country, the soil from which he draws sustenance, the air he breathes, and the sights, sounds, and habits to which he is accustomed.

In accordance with the above, Madhuban tries to celebrate the human spirit through the following:
Camps for village education
Computer literacy for village youth
Music and art classes for village women
Knitting and stitching workshops for village women
Garbology classes for village schools

A school we work with.
Livelihood:

1. Stitching unit:
Stitching classes are regularly held for village girls. Courses are of three to six month duration. Post-training employment is given in our own stitching unit to those who qualify as seamstresses; for those who want to become entrepreneurs, support is given to set up their own small-scale business.
2. Knitting unit:
A group of village women, comprising mostly mothers of our school children, meet every Tuesday and hone their skills for knitting woollens. They now make and sell their finely knitted mufflers, shawls, socks, capes, and baby suits through the ashram. The money they make is collected and accounted by them. The ashram has supported this enterprise by building their skills, giving them a room with a view, and providing opportunities for travel to see more organised skill work in places such as Auroville and Delhi.
Ours is a young community initiative and we look for volunteers who are themselves looking at personal growth opportunities by working around the needs of our vision and mission in the areas of:

1. Education:
For primary village schools that we have adopted

2. Skill building for youth in areas of:
Computers
English
Carpentry
Electrical
Gardening
Food preservation
Knitting
Stitching
Art and craft

3. Sustainable ecology initiatives, maintenance and optimisation for efficiency of:
Solar panels
Garbage
Water-harvesting and drip irrigation
Mulching and vermi-composting pits
Flower gardens and nursery
Fruit and vegetable orchards
Poly house
Cow-keeping

Please know that:
Volunteers need to commit for a minimum of 1 working month.
Please fill the form attached and mail it to: outreach@aurobindoonline.in, contact@aurobindoonline.in
On being accepted, you will be given an orientation and attached to a department for a minimum of 6 hours' work daily.
Boarding and lodging will be provided on a sharing basis for those applying for one month; for those staying longer, a single room facility will be given.

See what our volunteers say about Madhuban:
Madhuban, what is it about for me? Beauty: the ocean of flowers spilling thin amrita in the air. Love: we offer our work there at the Divine's feet and the Mother gives us Her support and Grace. Presence: the eternal breath of the Himalayas and the embrace of the Lord...
Like the silent mountains one wants to be quiet there and when I think of Madhuban, I feel I can't speak much, because it is necessary for you to be there to experience it's silence. But in order to be there, you need to hear the quiet ringing of the bell in your heart, which gently calls you...
Madhuban, I am waiting for our new meeting.

Julia
Russia
I stayed in Madhuban for a month, doing volunteering for a full time week.
The ashram is very beautiful itself due to nice location and lots of flowers flourishing in the gardens, atmosphere is calm and peaceful as this is the very nature of the Himalayas hills. This is a good place to stay and pause, to be with yourself and deepen into Sadhana. As a volunteer I had an amazing opportunity to participate actively in the life of the community. What I found is that people there are very open, welcoming and collaborative, I was blessed to find some new friends there.
If you have this opportunity to come to Madhuban and stay there as a volunteer: I believe this is a good investment of your time and efforts since it gives back much more than you give to it.


Nadya
Russia
What can I say? Madhuban is my home!

Purvi
India
Nature around us
A valley in the foothills of the Himalayas that is seasonally changing to herald new beginnings and emerging of new plant, bird and crawly creepy animal life that sings, chirps, buzzes in a rhythm that is uniquely in symphony with cycles of natural life.
If you are coming to stay indoors, than you can from your room look at spectacular views of the trickling river in the summer, clouds dancing in the mountain dales during monsoons, trees laden with fruit between summer and monsoon, orange to yellow hues of our trees and vines in autumn, flowers of myriad hues in spring, and winter bare nature in all its rugged beauty.
Our SCHEDULE
Special Days of Spiritual Significance and Activities
21 February
Darshan Day and the Mother's birth anniversary; all-day program
29 February
Day of the Supramental Manifestation
24 April
Darshan Day: the Mother's final arrival in Pondicherry; all-day program
7 June
Relics Enshrinement Day at Madhuban; all-day program
13 August
Birth anniversary of Shri Surendra Nath Jauhar 'Faquir'
15 August
Darshan Day: Sri Aurobindo's birth anniversary; all-day program
17 November
The Mother's Mahasamadhi Day; collective silent meditation
24 November
Darshan Day and Siddhi Day; march-past and satsang
5 December
Sri Aurobindo's Mahasamadhi Day; collective silent meditation
31 December
Mid-night meditation
Contact and location
+91 5942 281 215
aurobindomadhuban@gmail.com
Talla Ramgarh Road, Ramgarh, Uttarakhand 263137, India
From New Delhi to Kathgodam, and then to Talla Ramgarh, after reaching Talla Ramgarh, look for Madhuban after the Talla market
Our Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the following organisations for being our support system in terms of being connected to our vision and mission for Madhuban:
This site was made on Tilda — a website builder that helps to create a website without any code
Create a website