Building Your Community Is Building The Dharma
S.S. Guru Roop Kaur Khalsa
Prosperity Paths Editor
Planning your community’s growth develops spirit. We have been researching the demographics of the ashram communities that are thriving and prospering in the United States and Canada. There are five larger Sadh Sangats, seven large Sadh Sangats, five medium Sadh Sangats and 51 small Sadh Sangats living in ashram settings. Seventeen of these communities are large enough to host an Administrative Council system. All of the large Sadh Sangats provide tremendous outreach either through yoga centers or community outreach. Eleven of the twelve larger Sadh Sangats have community properties where sangat members may choose to live in proximity. Four out of five of the large Sadh Sangats have schools for the children.
The large Sadh Sangats have stayed intact and prospered because of a commitment to community development and a receptive planning process. It is interesting to note that if any one of these elements is missing the size of the community drops dramatically. Defining your vision, establishing your plan, delineating your process, streamlining your systems are the necessary steps.
These steps are by products of the system defined by the Siri Singh Sahib in the Administrative Council Constitutional Structure. We, as his Community Development staff are here to support and provide training for your processes. In addition, we will consistently feature Ashram Communities in Prosperity Paths, like we have in this issue.