Our ashram has multiplied and we now span two houses in Red Hill. The second house is in Argyle St, 459 metres away from our original facility, according to whereis.com.au.

There are currently 15 residents across these two ashrams. Argyle St is all ladies, and Red Hill is our “landing pad” facility.

We preannounced the ashram initiative on the 22nd of April, and signed off on the 2nd of May.

Last night we held our Saturday Summit, where the residents of both facilities convene to reflect and share their victories and challenges of the past week, and to take part in our weekly Leadership Development sessions. This week we covered Commitment - the thing that carries you through to completion after the initial enthusiasm that inspired you to start has long gone.

John Maxwell talks about the “Edison Method” - Thomas Edison would call a press conference to announce a wonderful new product, then he would go into his lab and invent it. Preannouncing helps to develop commitment. When your plans are public the pressure is on to deliver.

During the construction of Atma Yoga we hit a point where the majority of the team were adamant that we needed to delay the opening by one week. After all the effort that we had put in, pushing ourselves to our limits, and even after all the miraculous occurrences, they realized that it wasn’t going to be possible to finish in time. However, I was just as adamant that we were going to open on that date.

“I’ve publicly committed to March 11th as the opening date - internationally. I am not going back out there to tell people that we have failed. We must succeed.”

It was a miracle, and we opened.

Oftentimes we commit to something, but then later on, disillusioned, or rather overcome with illusion, we give it up. The force of the material nature overcomes us and we lose sight of the guiding star that inspired us to strike out in the first place. In the darkness of this night we lose hope, and can sometimes give up - “whimsically renouncing”.

This is why public vows are important. The vows of initiation before the spiritual master and the sacred fire - the vows of marriage. It doesn’t matter how you feel later on - you made a vow - now go through with it.

These public vows help to overcome the vagaries of the mind, to become immunized to a certain extent from the deception of circumstances and “how you feel right now”. Your feelings are unreliable. After weeks of work and little sleep we were all depressed and exhausted. But a vow had been made, and it would be completed. In marriage, in study, in any undertaking, at some point your inspiration will waver. As Maxwell explains, our commitment is tested when things take longer than anticipated, and when they are more difficult than anticipated. Having made a public commitment then helps us to stay on track.

Commitment is an important quality to have as a leader. As you preannounce and consistently deliver, your credibility increases. If you preannounce and fail, similarly your credibility diminishes. After a few of those, you either disqualify yourself completely as a leader, or you learn valuable lessons about realistically gauging your own abilities and limitations (which includes those of your team), and the measure of the environment.

As Sun Tzu puts it in his Art of War: “Know yourself, know your enemy, and you will not know defeat in 100 battles.”

Canakya Pandit says that unrealized plans should be shared with a few only. That’s one point of view. I personally find myself inspired by Arjuna’s example. On the battlefield he publicly vowed: “Tomorrow I will kill Jayadratha or I will enter into the fire!” Of course, his brother Yudhisthira had something to say about Arjuna’s impetuousness - “Why didn’t you just decide to do it, without saying anything! Now they will do everything they can to stop you!”

In spite of all their attempts to stop him, however, Arjuna came through with the goods. Word.