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An ashram is an isolated community center where Hindu practitioners seek deeper spiritual instruction from a guru or mystic. It is usually located in remote areas and provides a simple vegetarian diet and meditation. It can be a small cottage or a large modern structure with facilities for religious and secular education. Other religious orders have designed spiritual retreats based on the ashram model. Historically, ashrams have been used as training grounds for armies, including by Mahatma Gandhi during his resistance movement against the British.
In the Hindu religion, practitioners are encouraged to seek deeper spiritual instruction with a guru or other wise teacher. This often involves spending time with other believers in an isolated community center called an ashram. This center may also serve as the primary abode of a revered yogi, guru, or other mystic. While living in an ashram, the instructor and the believers all share a simple vegetarian diet and spend many hours in meditation.
The word is Sanskrit, although different sources provide different translations. It generally means hermitage or place of penance. Unlike the Christian practice of building churches in public areas, a Hindu ashram is almost always located in remote parts of the forest or mountain range, much like Buddhist or Christian monasteries. It is this simple environment, away from the distractions of modern life, which gives it its ascetic charm.
This is not to say that an ashram is necessarily a simple establishment. Indeed, it can be a small cottage with minimal facilities, but it can also be a large modern structure with dormitories, publishing houses and school buildings. Indeed, many Hindu children are routinely sent to a local ashram for religious and secular education, in the same way that Catholic schools provide an alternative to public education in the United States.
In recent years, other religious orders have studied the dynamics of a functioning ashram and have designed spiritual retreats based on that model. It would not be unusual to find a “Christian ashram” operating in a rural area of Western countries. Yoga practitioners can also meet in secluded meditation centers based on these principles.
While we may wish to see an ashram as totally separate from the political or military world, this has not historically been the case. Various leaders have used them as training grounds for their armies, much like the martial arts training provided by Chinese monasteries. During his successful resistance movement against the British, Mahatma Gandhi used several as operational bases while emphasizing non-violence according to Hindu precepts.
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