The establishment of spiritual ashrams or communal colonies is an enterprise of which, we hope, we shall never be guilty. Such institutions usually find an enthusiastic response from persons who like to join cranky cults, indulge in endless tea-table talk, and worship leaders suffering from inflated egos. We however are working for those who have understood that it is better to worship God in solitude than in a public hall or church and who believed us when we constantly repeated that institutions invariably end as the greatest obstructions to the progress of genuine spirituality. Their material expansion is usually taken as a sign of the expansion of spiritual influence whereas actually it is a sign of the expansion of spiritual rot. Just as the League of Nations erected magnificent million-pound buildings as its headquarters only a short while prior to its total collapse, so these institutions flourish externally at the cost of their internal life. We ask those who have faith in our teaching to keep clear of spiritual organizations.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest > Chapter 4 : Organized Groups > # 71
