Welcome to Swarga Dwar.
BY Rev. Fr. Carlo Torriani PIME
Swarga Dwar is an ashram, but it is some how an unusual ashram. Ashrams are places of prayer and reflection. In the ashram, there is always a Guru. In SD the guru is REALITY, that means, whatever you see around you. You see leprosy patients who live a serene life, not begging but working to produce their food. They are here because they have been rejected by society. So, what kind of society is out their where we come from? Jesus too had been rejected by society. A society that rejects is not surely the kingdom of God. We pray every day: "May your kingdom come on earth". But we still keep rejecting people create by God. THIS IS THE MESSAGE AND CHALLENGE OF THIS ASHRAM.
Did we never ask ourselves why people reject leprosy patients? I think that is because they are the image of death. More than any other disease, leprosy which disfigures the body, recalls to us death. And we are all afraid of death. That is the reason why we do not want to see the image of death: THE LEPROSY PATIENT.
But look at the people around here, look at their faces: they are serene, they live in peace. They tell us that death is simply Swarga Dwar, the GATE OF HEAVEN, the beginning of happiness, and the complete liberation.
In which ever way we define or describe "heaven", it is our future. Death is the door to our future. Death is the most sure and real thing of our life on earth. It is for all, not even Jesus escaped from it. If we live in this consciousness, we live in Reality. Only by building up on reality we do build for the future. In this way, we come to know that leprosy patients are like prophets, because they speak to us about Reality. i.e. God. Prophets are not only those who speak by words but also by their deeds. So it was with the prophets of the Old Testament. Isaiah (20,2) was asked to go naked. "Three years earlier the Lord had told Isaiah, son of Amos to take off his sandals and the sackcloth he was wearing. He obeyed and went about naked and barefoot. When Ashdod was captured, the Lord said, " My servant Isaiah has been going about naked and barefoot for three years. This is a sign of what will happen to Egypt and Sudan. The emperor of Assyria will lead away naked the prisoners he captures from those two countries". Jeremiah (27), has to carry a yoke and Hosea (1:2) has to marry a prostitute in order to give a message in the name of God. Leprosy patients with their deformities and with their serene acceptance, tell us that death is the Gate of Heaven. This is the main message of this ashram. But there are other messages; some of them had been written on the walls.