Four periods of time
defined the first years of training within the monastery. After acceptance, the sadhaka was given half a year to adjust to his new-found life, to meditate and learn his mantra, all the while given the best of care. After two passages of Earth around the Sun, he was introduced to the culture of inwardness and taught about his animal lineage, how it influenced his future pattern and expressions of service and relationship in the monastery. After three years had passed, he was guided in pragmatic individual training by a senior monastic. In his fifth year he received responsibilities of his own, being expected to perform his known duties productively. These days and months and years were those of training, discipline, learning and testing. Failure was not an option at all. Aum§