The Role of Ashrams in India

THE ROLE OF ASHRAMS IN INDIA Beloo Mehra This paper was published in Sraddha (Nov 2015), Vol 6 (2), pp. 109-120. Ashrams, as spiritual retreats are a magnet for visitors seeking for the spirit of India. Certainly, the practice of tirtha-yatra or pilgrimage has been an element of Indian social life since ancient times and nowadays remains the mainstay of the domestic tourism industry. There is little doubt that India also continues to attract large numbers of travelers from various parts of the world seeking to experience spiritual India. Visiting ashrams is an important part of such religious and spiritual tourism. A few months after I first moved to Pondicherry, the home of the world-famous Sri Aurobindo Ashram, I was asked to prepare a presentation for a group of visiting tourists from Italy. This was not an ordinary group of tourists, they were a group of students and teachers who were serious practitioners of yoga-asana, meditation and other spiritual practices and were on a visit to India with a specific purpose of experiencing a bit of ‘spiritual India’. The topic of my talk/presentation was – The Role of Ashrams in India. This article is based on some of the thoughts I had penned down for this talk. Summer 1947. Just a few weeks before the much-awaited independence of India won after a long freedom struggle against British Empire. Freedom had been won, but at a heavy price of the partition of India. A small group of people with three young children, the youngest being a boy of 13, were among the millions of families who would be forced by the bloody and dangerous times to leave behind almost everything they owned and migrate from what is now known as the nation of Pakistan to the newly divided India. This particular family’s intended destination was an Ashram near the holy town of Haridwar. 1 The reason they decided to go to this Ashram was simple: this was the only place in what was a foreign India to them that the grandfather in the family could call ‘home.’ This was the place where the family would literally take ashray, refuge from the treacherous journey across the border, refuge from the horror and misery of those times. Here they lived for almost 7 years till they could afford to build a home for themselves. In this Ashram lived a saint, who was the guru for my great grandfather. The 13-year-old boy is now my father who still remembers those first years he spent at the Avadhoot Mandal Ashram near Haridwar. Many Roles of an Ashram As the above story suggests, the Sanskrit word ashray – refuge or shelter – may partly describe the role of an ashram. In one sense, an ashram may be a place where one finds some type of refuge and protection from the troubles of world, a place of retreat for body, mind and soul. The term ‘ashram’ is literally derived from the Sanskrit word srama, which may mean religious or spiritual exercise, or more broadly, to do labour, to work for one’s spiritual release or liberation. It is important to note that srama or work forms the foundation of life in an ashram. This suggests that in order to attain something, including spiritual growth and self-development, one has to struggle and put in sincere effort, do serious labour and practice discipline. More generally, the word ‘ashram’ is used to describe a spiritual community or institution, usually established by a self-realised and enlightened sage or guru. Today, the term also refers to an intentional community formed primarily for spiritual upliftment of its members, often headed by a religious or spiritual leader. There are innumerable ashrams in India (and elsewhere) ranging from the homes of gurus to large, purposefully built establishments with resident populations of disciples of specific spiritual traditions, lineages and paths. The word ‘ashram’ often conjures up the image of a hermitage where saints, sages and their disciples live in peace and tranquility amidst nature. In other words, a refuge or retreat from the world. Traditionally, ashrams were usually located far from human habitation – far from the maddening crowd, so to speak – in forests or mountainous 2 regions, amidst tranquil natural surroundings conducive to spiritual instruction, contemplation and meditation. To this day the Himalayan terrain is full of ashrams and hermitages where residents and guests participate in the practice of various spiritual disciplines and exercises. Asana, Pranayama, structured instruction in spiritual philosophy, satsang, kirtans, chanting, swadhayaya, self-study are some of the main practices in which residents of an ashram may engage. A simple, communal lifestyle in which everybody contributes according to their ability and aptitude is often the basis of collective life in most ashrams. Like in the ancient times, many of the present-day ashrams also serve as gurukulam or residential schools for students of a spiritual discipline or path. However, many of these schools are not exclusively meant for spiritual instruction, education in many so-called secular subjects is also imparted in these ashram schools. Many of the modern ashrams also provide various other services such as hospitals and Ayurvedic treatment centers at no or nominal cost, some also engage in a number of charitable and philanthropic activities such as running orphanages and shelters for people in distress. Most ashrams also have guest houses for visitors. Ashrams have been a powerful symbol in Indian history. Most Hindu kings are known to have had a rajguru, royal teacher, a sage who would advise the royal family in religious or spiritual matters, or in times of crisis. A world-weary emperor going to his guru’s ashram and finding solace and tranquility is a recurring motif in many Indian legends and folktales. The goal of a royal visit to an ashram was not always tranquility. Many a times the purpose was to receive specific instruction in some particular art, especially warfare. This is an interesting point because it suggests that many of the sages and highly learned rishis in ancient India were also great authorities in various ‘secular’ realms, some of them were also great scientists and experts in the development and use of highly sophisticated weaponry. This contradicts the usual stereotype that India was only the land of world-negating spirituality and all rishis and sages of India focused exclusively on attaining Moksha and escape from the mundane, temporal world. The tradition tells us about the ashrams of sages such as Vashishtha, Viswamitra, Agastya and others, where people of all social classes would visit and relevant sciences 3 and subjects were taught to them according to their aptitude and needs. In the Ramayana, the young princes Rama and Lakshmana go to Rishi Vishvamitra’s ashram to protect his yajñas from being defiled by emissary-demons of Ravana. After they succeed in their mission, the princes receive martial instruction from the sage, especially in the use of divyāstras (highly sophisticated and rare, heavenly-inspired missile weapons). Many years later when Rama, Lakshmana and Sita are exiled to live in forest for 14 years, they would again visit several ashrams of the well-known sages of the time. As per the Bhagavata Purana, Sri Krishna was a resident-student at the ashram of sage Sandiipani, where he gained knowledge in both intellectual and spiritual matters. In the Mahabharata, we learn of the Pandavas who after losing their kingdom and entire possessions in the dice-game spent many years of their exile term visiting and living in different ashrams. The key role of an ashram in ancient as well as in modern India is that it serves as a center for organizing individual and collective life around spiritual pursuit and inner seeking. In his book, The Renaissance in India and Other Essays on the Indian Culture, Sri Aurobindo writes: “The whole root of difference between Indian and European culture springs from the spiritual aim of Indian civilization….A spiritual aspiration was the governing force of this culture, its core of thought, its ruling passion. Not only did it make spirituality the highest aim of life, but it even tried, as far as that could be done in the past conditions of the human race, to turn the whole of life towards spirituality.” (CWSA, Vol. 20, p. 178) This characteristic of Indian tradition and culture – that of spirituality being the highest aim of life and turning of all life towards spirituality – was and continues to be visibly represented by the institution of ashram. Presence of a Guru or enlightened Master represents the soul of the ashram, and the disciples and devotees gather around it surrendering the responsibility of their external life and inner development to the Master. In traditional lineages, after the physical passing of the guru, someone among the chief disciples takes the place of the living guru (generally as per the Guru’s declared wish) and the tradition continues, and most likely renews itself in the presence of the new guru. 4 In traditional ashrams, there is typically a special process of initiation for the entry of new members, and often it is the guru who has the final say in the matter. Ashrams in India are generally understood as abode of sanyasins, renunciates and ascetics, those who have given up the worldly life and all worldly pursuits and are pursuing a specific spiritual path or order. Ashrams provide a physical, psychological and spiritual center for these aspirants. A deep, psychological unity and a strong sense of community of seekers pursuing the same aim in life are important advantages offered by the collective living experience in an ashram. In the past, in most ashrams in India only men were allowed to join, and an emphasis was placed on leading a celibate life. This tradition continues to this day in many ashrams. Some spiritual masters allowed women to join the ashram community, but even there some type of segregation was practiced, so men and women devotees would not interact freely outside of the regular ashram activities like satsangs, kirtans and pujas. The householder devotees of the gurus in these ashrams were not typically living in the ashram community and would only occasionally visit the guru and the ashram. Many of them, however, lived in the vicinity of the ashram to soak in the spiritual ambiance of the community. The Guru of the Ashram The Presence of the Guru is indeed the soul of an Ashram. In India the spiritual quest or seeking for the Divine generally begins with a journey for the search for a guru. As Sri Aurobindo writes in one of his letters – “The Guru is the Guide in the yoga. When the Divine is accepted as the Guide, He is accepted as the Guru.” (CWSA, Letters on Yoga -II, Vol. 29, p. 192) It is the presence of the guru, the spiritual energy and force of a self-realized master that is generally the starting point for the foundation of an ashram, a community of people attracted to the teachings of this master, the methods of spiritual sadhana taught by him or her. The psychological comfort and a sense of deep relaxation one may experience in the presence of the master or when surrounded by the special force, energy 5 or vibration of the place where the master lives are generally what keep bringing the individual back to that guru. Those who are deeply attracted to the guru’s teachings and feel a sense of ‘call’ to follow the path of the guru may over time decide to form a community with other seekers on the path, giving birth to an ashram. The organizational structure of such a form of community is developed and refined over time as and when needs emerge. What is generally asked of the disciples is a complete surrender to the Guru. Sri Aurobindo was once asked a question – “What makes the surrender to the Guru so grand and glorious as to be called the surrender beyond all surrenders?” Through his response to this question, Sri Aurobindo gives us the deeper reason for surrender in these words: “Because through it you surrender not only to the impersonal, but to the personal, not only to the Divine in self but to the Divine outside you; you get a chance for the surpassing of the ego not only by retreat into the self where ego does not exist, but in the personal nature where it is the ruler.” (p. 193) However, he also makes an important distinction between surrender to the Divine and surrender to the Guru when he writes: “In surrendering to the Guru, it is to the Divine in him that one surrenders – if it were only to a human entity, it would be ineffective. But it is the consciousness of the Divine Presence that makes the Guru a real Guru, so that even if the disciple surrenders to him thinking of the human being to whom he surrenders, that Presence will still make it effective.” (pp. 193-194) It is therefore, the Divine Presence of the Guru that becomes the primary reason for the deep sense of psychological shelter or refuge one feels in an ashram. Another important point to emphasize when speaking of ashrams in India concerns the diversity of spiritual paths, lineages or sampradayas, traditions and teachings that are at the center of these institutions. This diversity is an inherent 6 characteristic of Indian spirituality. Yet this diversity is meaningful only when seen as a multitude of paths leading to the One and the Oneness that pervades all. This Unity in Diversity is a key aspect of Indian spiritual culture, and when combined with an equally significant aspect, namely, maximum spiritual freedom to approach the Divine, it has resulted in an unbroken chain of pursuit for spiritual knowledge. The result has been a large number of gurus, enlightened masters and teachers offering a large number of paths and practices. The process by which a seeker finds the right guru is often a deeply personal one, and something that is generally not explainable through logic. It will be perhaps correct to say that in most cases it is not the seeker who finds the guru, but rather the Divine through the Guru or the Divine in the Guru who seeks out his or her disciples and facilitates a sort of meeting of souls. However, in some cases people may also end up choosing a guru simply because their parents or grandparents were aspirants on that particular path. It will be quite appropriate here to listen once again to the words of Sri Aurobindo: “All true Gurus are the same, the one Guru, because all are the one Divine. That is a fundamental and universal truth. But there is also a truth of difference; the Divine dwells in different personalities with different minds, teachings, influences so that He may lead different disciples with their special need, character, destiny by different ways to the realisation. Because all Gurus are the same Divine, it does not follow that the disciple does well if he leaves the one meant for him to follow another. Fidelity to the Guru is demanded of every disciple, according to the Indian tradition. “All are the same” is a spiritual truth, but you cannot convert it indiscriminately into action; you cannot deal with all persons in the same way because they are the one Brahman: if one did, the result pragmatically would be an awful mess. It is a rigid mental logic that makes the difficulty but in spiritual matters mental logic easily blunders; intuition, faith, a plastic spiritual reason are here the only guides.” (p. 194) By continuing to keep alive the tradition or path started by a guru, the ashrams have served an important role in providing a continuity to the tradition or lineage. At the 7 same time they facilitate and encourage aspirants of that tradition and devotees of that guru to continue their individual journeys of inner seeking while benefitting from the spiritual and psychological comfort provided by a collective life with other individuals pursuing the same aim in life. A Few Examples Let us now take a look at some of the famous ashrams in present-day India to illustrate some of their key roles. These examples illustrate the outer organizational diversity of the ‘institution’ called ashram, while at the same time highlighting the inner oneness of the deeper purpose or role served by an ashram. But before we go to our examples, a small note about the so-called ‘secular’ ashrams of modern times is in order. These days one also sees ashrams built for specific purposes such as providing homes for elderly people. These vridha-ashrams are now growing in number as the old system of joint family is breaking down and more and more older people are finding themselves alone and unable to take care of themselves. Homes built for street children and other oppressed sections of society are also sometimes given the name of ashram as they provide the function of offering refuge and shelter to the homeless and the abandoned. The world-famous Belur Math1, the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, has now become a place of pilgrimage for people from all over the world, professing different religious faiths. Sanctified by Swami Vivekananda and several other illumined monks of Ramakrishna Order, the Belur Math premises include the main monastery, several temples and offices of the Mission. The Ramakrishna Order of monks came into existence in 1886 with the blessings of Sri Ramakrishna. The Order stands as a symbol of the eternal truths of Religion, when defined most widely and universally as a Godward search, realized and embodied by Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, and their message of harmony of religions, divinity of the soul, renunciation and service. 1 http://belurmath.org/ 8 Today, the Ramakrishna movement has become a great worldwide force for promoting equality and brotherhood in India and abroad. In today’s world the ideals of mutual respect, goodwill and brotherly feelings towards one and all have great relevance. Another factor contributing much to the appeal of this movement is the rational approach it brings to bear upon every vital problem of life. The ideal of selfless service as a means of God-realization also attracts many people to the Ramakrishna movement. The Art of Living International Center in Bangalore started by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is an important center for spiritual retreats, yoga and meditation classes, and other related workshops. Additionally, it offers schooling opportunities for rural children and also other rural development programmes. The Ashram’s educational programme known as Ved Vignan Maha Vidya Peeth, provides free holistic education through its more than 400 schools serving more than 40,000 students2. The ashram also has a unique Gurukul, or Heritage School3 which serves to promote the traditional knowledge systems and Vedic studies. Students at Heritage School are provided an education that caters to the needs of the students in modern times and lays great emphasis on the traditional Vedic methods of teaching. The Center also has an Agama Pathshala, a school dedicated to train the students from all over the country in the Dravidian style of temple worship as enshrined in the Shaivic traditions, while at the same time receiving general education and computer training. In Amritapuri4, the ashram-city founded by Ma Amritanandmayi popularly known as Amma, in addition to all the facilities catering to the usual roles of an ashram one also finds institutions dedicated to higher technical learning and modern healthcare, all started by the Amma’s Ashram. A few words may also be said about the famous Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi, where he stayed from 1915 to 1933. This ashram is a witness to many important historical events, perhaps the most famous being that it was from here that Gandhiji started the Salt March or Dandi March – his protest against the salt tax of the British government. A British prison was located near the site of the ashram, and on another side was a crematorium. When Gandhiji first visited the place – the site itself was a wasteland 2 http://www.artoflivingschools.org/ http://www.artofliving.org/gurukul-rekindling-ancient-knowledge 4 http://www.amritapuri.org/ 3 9 full of snakes – for assessing if it was suitable for carrying out his work, he is said to have remarked, “This is the right place for our activities to carry on the search for Truth and develop Fearlessness – for on one side, are the iron bolts of the foreigners, and on the other, thunderbolts of Mother Nature.”5 During the construction of the ashram, an order was issued not to kill the snakes. A few other notable examples include Sri Ramanashram6 in Tiruvannamalai and Sri Aurobindo Ashram7 in Pondicherry. While the former may be seen as a highly traditional ashram, with a schedule for various religious activities and spiritual practices for the residents and students of the ashram, the latter is a very different ashram in the sense that here we find no obligatory practices, no rituals, no compulsory meditations or systematic instructions in Yoga. A Few Words on Sri Aurobindo Ashram Sri Aurobindo himself once wrote about the organic ‘development’ of the Ashram in a letter: “There was no Ashram at first, only a few people came to live near Sri Aurobindo and practice Yoga. It was only sometime after the Mother came from Japan [in 1920] that it took the form of the Ashram, more from the wish of the sadhaks who desired to entrust their whole inner and outer life to the Mother than from any intention or plan of hers or of Sri Aurobindo.” (CWSA, Vol. 36, pp. 102-103). Situated in a busy city of more than a million people this Ashram can not really be considered a quiet place of retreat but a vibrant center of life in a modern urban setting. But allow me to make this statement a bit more personal. I recall the time when I was going through what may be called as a state of ‘indecisive turmoil’ about moving to Pondicherry – of course, I wasn’t going to be part of the Ashram as such, but undoubtedly the move to Pondicherry was led by an inner call to be closer to the Ashram here, to be in the spiritual ambiance of this city where Sri Aurobindo had lived for 40 years. Though my inner decision was actually made 5 http://www.gandhiashramsabarmati.org/en/about-gandhi-ashram-menu.html http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/ 7 http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ 6 10 spontaneously, on one particular evening outside the gate of the Ashram school, it was my rational mind that needed some convincing. That process happened over the next two years. During this mental turmoil period I once had a conversation about it with one of my teachers. And his words still echo in my ears. I paraphrase below what he told me back then — “If you are looking for peace and quiet, you shouldn’t move to Pondicherry. Because Pondicherry Ashram is not a place to come if someone is looking for peace, it is a place meant to help you see all that is imperfect and false and distorted and insincere in you. Where is the room for peace in such a process? It is a place that will force you to begin a deep and sincere in-search. But if you yourself aren’t aspiring enough for such a process, circumstances will definitely arise in life that will compel you to go through an inner heat of sort (after all, the word ‘tapas’ or ‘tapasya’ itself means intense heat). It is a place meant to help people awaken to a true life-affirming spirituality, spirituality in this life and this world, not as a retreat away from life and world. It is a place to do some serious work on yourself, the inner you, which is not really a peaceful process most of the time.” And eight years after I moved to Pondicherry, I can most comfortably say – how correct he was! Heat is the first thing that comes to mind now when I think of what it is like to be in Pondicherry. And I am not speaking of the hot Pondicherry weather, but the fiery heat that is generated from an intense process of going within, every time a life circumstance or situation forces me to dig deeper and deeper. The deep lessons learned through such a process, lessons about myself and the manifold imperfections of my outer nature, difficult and often discomforting though some of these lessons maybe, are worth the effort and the heat. But of course, if we dig deeper we find that the search for that inner peace is not separate from an intense heat-generating in-search, an intense inner journey to know ourselves more and more, in all our parts and their movements. 11 A few important details about Sri Aurobindo Ashram • Non-religious, non-political, non-philanthropic. Vibrant center and field of practice of Integral Yoga. • A dynamic institution with a vision to establish a viable selfsufficient community of individuals where each individual had freedom to follow his or her own line of development while at the same time contributing to the general upliftment of the community and the larger body of humanity. As also mentioned on the Ashram’s website8, the dynamic character of the community reflects the life-affirming aim of Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga. The Mother had once called the Sri Aurobindo Ashram a veritable laboratory to work out the future society. “[L]ife in Sri Aurobindo Ashram is organised around its central objective, viz., development of consciousness. This effort involves the study and exploration of consciousness at all levels of life. It is a serious practice of the discipline or yoga of integral consciousness, within and without, by each individual. This means a continuous effort at becoming aware of oneself in every activity of the mind, heart, life-force and the very body. Simultaneously, one seeks to become aware of consciousness in things around and to relate oneself to it. This is done at the physical level, the pranic level, the emotional level, the mental level and the spiritual. Whatever the form of activity, it is geared to this aim; its practical, outer results are consequential. Following the motto, “All Life is Yoga”, every single activity is invested with this significance: to become conscious and raise its quality in the subjective existence along with an effort to inject this motive in the activities of everyday life. The community life proceeds on these lines of growth of 8 http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/saa/index.php 12 consciousness in every field of exertion. Support systems have been evolved through the years, which ensure that things are done with due regard to the presence of consciousness in every form and individual effort is poured in to lift up the levels of consciousness, subjectively and objectively.”9 Sri Aurobindo Ashram is also unique in another regard. Unlike most traditional ashrams in India, right from the beginning the Ashram admitted women members. Women and men members participate in all Ashram activities with no restrictions of any sort. In fact, the Ashram community also includes hundreds of children who are studying at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (which is based on the philosophy of Integral Education, from early childhood education to undergraduate level). These children generally come from the families of devotees living near or around the Ashram, or from other parts of India. Another important characteristic of Sri Aurobindo Ashram is that here sadhaks are left free to determine the course and pace of their sadhana in accordance with their own natures, though it is understood that they have accepted Sri Aurobindo and the Mother as their gurus. But since there is no ‘living’ guru in the Ashram, the sadhaks are supposed to look for guidance within and by trying to get in touch with the Higher Consciousness. Work as an offering to the Divine is an essential aspect of the Yoga, and all members of the Ashram do a certain amount of productive work each day in one or another of the Ashram’s departments.10 Yoga of Works: Karma Yoga • • The Ashram includes a “full spectrum of activities: agricultural farms, dairies, poultry, bakery, laundry, flower gardens, food and clothing services, engineering and construction, hand-made paper and other cottage industries, high-quality furniture production, two large printing presses issuing publications in 14 languages, and others. In 1950 the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education was opened which now receives students from all over the world for kindergarten through college level and includes a large library of English, French, German and Indian 9 http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/research/research.php literature, a theatre for drama and dance, dormitories and fully equipped 10 http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/saa/departments.php gymnastic, field and aquatic facilities for a complete program of physical education. 13 To conclude, a few words from the Mother and Sri Aurobindo will reveal a bit more about what makes Sri Aurobindo Ashram rather unique among most of the Ashrams in India. “Here we do not have religion. We replace religion by the spiritual life, which is truer, deeper and higher at the same time, that is to say, closer to the Divine. For the Divine is in everything, but we are not conscious of it. This is the immense progress that man must make.” (The Mother, CWM, Vol. 13, p. 110) “The As[h]ram is not a religious association. Those who are here come from all religions and some are of no religion. There is no creed or set of dogmas, no governing religious body; there are only the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and certain psychological practices of concentration and meditation, etc., for the enlarging of the consciousness, receptivity to the Truth, mastery over the desires, the discovery of the divine self and consciousness concealed within each human being, a higher evolution of the nature.” (Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Vol. 36, p. 531) In light of the above it must be clarified that the reference to the “teachings” of Sri Aurobindo here by no means suggests any exclusive, limiting or narrow worldview. In fact, those who have read even a little bit of Sri Aurobindo know for a fact that his dynamic and futuristic vision of Life, Existence, Truth, Reality, Spirituality, and Everything is perhaps the widest, highest and deepest. There is no exclusivity or narrowness there of any kind. More on his teachings may be read at: <http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/yoga/index.php> 14 REFERENCES Sri Aurobindo, The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo (CWSA), Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust. - Volume 20, The Renaissance in India and Other Essays on Indian Culture - Volume 29, Letters on Yoga – II - Volume 36, Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest The Mother, Collected Works of the Mother (CWM), Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust. - Volume 13, Words of the Mother – I 15