monestary's

are there monistary's in the america where one can go and live for a length of time, study, learn, pray, meditate....you know do the monk thing...and then leave again when they need to?

II'm a college student and the summer is the only time I have open for such a thing...at this point in my life I dn't really want anything except to be a monk or holy man or wondering wise guy...but due to college and loan debts and what not I can't see myself actually being 'free' to do stuff like that for another 10 years...so are there monestaries in this country where one could say spend a summer being a monk then go back to school in the fall?

 

Do a search for Self-Realization Fellowship, the spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda. I think they offer short term, no-commitment monastic programs for people who want what you do. You didn't said if you were looking for a Christian monastery or not, and this is the Hinduism section, so....

 

yeah I'm familiar with yogananda and his work.....

I'm not really looking for any type of sect or group....in my eye's they all have the same goal

 

Just finding a free-style nonaffiliated "monastery" might not be too easy. That's why I suggested SRF, they're not into conversion or hardliners when it comes to a particular religious approach.

 

Yeah...you could prob. live in one of the centres in California...you should def. look into that...

 

I'm not looking for a something nonaffiliated.....the religion doesn't matter..I'm open to exploring any path, as long as it goes up

 

Umm...then there is one in Canada...in vancouver...its a Buddhist monestary...Tibetan...only one in N. America...there was some article about a teenage girl who became a nun there on Beliefnet.com...

 

I often flirt with the idea of the self relization monstaries, then I remember my college loans and how often I masterbate (tantrically of course, the porn goddess are the divine mother) Kind of do what you do but remember me that Krishna said.


I wonder the policy on masterbation at SRF, they probably couldn't inforce any rule about it.

When I called them last time I never asked them about masterbation, but I did find out some things,

-you have to have gone through the SRF lessons for at least a year
-You take all these vows
-you have to be in a good money situation, IE, not in mine having to pay off all these loans... well I could just leave it all on my parents after all they co-signed, but I'm not a dick like that.
-They said if I am really serious about it, I should go hang out at this place they have for a few months and see if I enjoy the lifestyle before making a committment...

 

I don't know about the situation in the USA but here in England there are a number of Christian monastery's that do 'retreats' - you can go for sometime and join in the life of the monks. The Benedictine and Carmelite orders are active in this. You don't need necessarily to be either a catholic or a christian to go, and these days, many monks are into yoga, meditation and stuff.
They do usually charge, but will reduce or even waive the fee if you're poor.

ISKCON also usually welcome visitors and have a guest programme.

 

Ganja, you're familiar with all this stuff, and maybe you've already seen it, but there's a magazine called What Is Enlightenment that's Buddhist-oriented; all kinds of ads in there for Buddhist retreats. I think they have a web page as well.

Regarding Bill's suggestion about Christian places, up in your area of the country there are probably a lot more traditional Catholic or Orthodox monasteries than there are here in the Bible belt.

I checked into SRF's web page after the previous posts about it...they do seem pretty strict about previous SRF yoga practice for staying longer than a few days. The last time I looked at this, about ten years ago, they were more liberal.

Regarding ISKCON, the quality of the experience and accomodations will vary with the individual temple, some are more oriented to guest programs than others. Most are very open to people who want to try it out and spend some time as a resident...where I am this happens often and sometimes a professor or writer will come and spend a week or two.

Any of these organizations with a resident program is going to require you to have a physical exam including blood tests and to sign legal stuff. I'm sure they all forbid drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, and the Hindu/Yogic or Buddhist places usually don't allow tea or coffee, either...Christians may be more liberal on this. As far as interpersonal sex is concerned, celibacy is the rule; masturbation is also frowned upon but I guess ultimately in your own hands, so to speak.

 

so you're saying in the united state there are places that you can go stay at and do volunteer work and join in and learning in the meditation/prayer/yoga kinda stuff right? I'm in college too and have a lot of debt, but summers are open so I guess I'm looking for a teacher or guide for a few months a year while I'm not in school

 

My guess is yes, if you look around you should be able to come up with something that will work for you.