Have you ever thought of abandoning your busy urban life for a while and moving to a secluded place where could possibly look for a better physical and psychological balance? Then an ashram could be a place to consider. An ashram, nowadays, is a quite elastic concept. With associations starting from a hippie style hostel in Asia where residents enjoy leisure time in groups, through any vacation package which includes some yoga, mediation or other type of Asian recreation activities to the concept of a rehab located in nature where one can fight with drug-, alcohol and other addictions or even diseases like cancer, to end with a spiritual hermitage or monastery.
There are many different variations of the word ashram, but one is for certain known – the ashram is an Indian invention. The word ashram (also as ashrama) comes from the Sanskrit root srama (giving the meaning of making an effort towards liberation) and in general the term describes a place of religious retreat, sanctuary and hermitage
The first time the word was officially introduced to the English reader was in only 1917 when the British science graduate William W Pearson published his Shantiniketan: the Bolpur School of Rabindranath Tagore book. The book narrated his experience at the school as an English and natural science teacher and his close relation with Rabindranath Tagore (A Nobel laureate, who reshaped Indian literature and art with Contextual Modernism).
In 1863, Tagore’s father found an ashram in Shantinketan, which William Pearson introduces to the English readers 54 years later as: “ A religious retreat, where those in search of peace might have an opportunity for quiet and meditation.“
In the same year, Mahatma Ghandi founded his first and probably the most famous ashram worldwide – the Sabarmati Ashram, also known as Ghandi Ashram. Ghandi chose the location with the argument that: “This is the right place for our activities to carry on the search for truth and develop fearlessness” and there he formed a tertiary school that focused on manual labour, agriculture and literacy.
Ghandi spent nearly 16 years of his life in dedication to the ashram, as Daily Express reports in its 31st June, 1933 issues: “ Gandhi has decided to vacate his ashram (seminary) at Sabarmati and start the mysterious ‘fresh sacred mission’ [civil disobedience]”.
In recent years, a number of ashrams have been established outside of India, commonly in the USA, Canada, Thailand and the Balearic Islands and often headed by Western spiritual teachers. Yet to cut it short, any place which helps you connect with nature and your inner peace might be your ashram, and Hindu or other traditions – whether recreational, religiously spiritual or cultural can only be an extra, but not a must.
