Christian ashrams are para-church
communities existing independent of the institutionalized churches, yet related
to certain denominational church traditions and orders. For example, the Saccidhananda Ashram of Bede
Griffith is "affiliated to the Camadolese branch of the Benedictine order
with full freedom to follow its own path in fidelity to Indian tradition."[1] The Christu-Kula Ashram was established under
the guidance of the National Missionary Society.[2] Even now, the founders of Christian ashrams
continue to remain faithful members of their respective denominational
traditions, while carrying out the activities of the ashrams.
Christian ashrams are not anti-church
institutions, but independent, indigenous communities which spontaneously
emerged in response to the missiological challenges in India. Since many churches in India appeared to be
Western cultural colonies, they lost their power to influence the Hindu society
or to disciple the Hindus with the gospel.
In response to this problem, Christian ashrams were established and
began to witness to the power of the gospel by living the gospel in the context
of the cultural traditions of India.
Ashrams also contextualized the gospel in terms and forms intelligible
to the Hindus.
Christian ashrams are a great asset to the
Church and the cause of Christ in India.
The Christian spirituality manifested in Christian ashrams is a great
source of inspiration to many Hindus who are not attracted by the religious
life as modeled and directed by the churches.
The Christian life of prayer, contemplation, and service demonstrates to
the Hindus what it means to be the Church, the Body of Christ, in the context
of India. Arnulf Camps calls Christian
ashrams "a new way of being a Church or a new form of Christian
togetherness"[3]
which often draws people to Christ. In
addition, Christian ashrams bring renewal in the life of the church in
India. As the ashramites who are trained
in various spiritual vocations return to their local churches, they help these
churches to grow also in spirituality.
Another benefit is that both ministers and lay persons can make use of
the ashram facilities for their spiritual pursuits.
The word ashram still has great attraction
to Indian people because of its connection with the ancient hermitages of the
rishis who lived a holy life of prayer and meditation in the community with their
disciples. Therefore, the name ashram
should not be carelessly used for just any Christian institution as is often
the case presently in referring to orphanages, hospitals, or other social
service units of the Church. Hindus are
offended when the word ashram is misused or when ashrams are established with a
purpose of proselytism. Instead, Hindus
would be more favorably impressed if the Christian ashrams would preserve the
principles of Hindu ashrams.
Ashram Principles
All Hindu and Christian ashrams are not the
same in their objectives even though they are more or less using many of the
same broad principles. For example,
while both may differ from each other on their emphasis of certain principles
and forms of expression, most share common principles such as spirituality,
simplicity, non-violence, fellowship, and selfless service.
Spirituality
"Spirituality" refers to the
spiritual aspect of life which is focused on knowing, realizing, or experiencing
God. It is basically a life that is
lived in devotion to God, or lived in awareness of the indwelling God. In Hinduism, this spirituality is expressed
in such forms as contemplation, prayer, devotion, silence, the guru-shishya
relationship, an ascetic life, chanting of God's names, worship, bhajan,
and pilgrimage. All these activities are
done with the aim of liberating the soul from the cycle of karma-samsara,
or attaining self-realization.
On the other hand, Christian spirituality is
centered around Jesus Christ, and one's duty to God and society. It consists of seeking God through prayer,
study of Scripture, worship, witness, and service. Christian spirituality is based on one's
response to the redeeming love revealed in the historical person of Jesus
Christ. The aim is not to attain
salvation, but to express the salvation they have already experienced through
the saving power of Christ.
Christian spirituality also has prophetic or
eschatological elements because it is centered around faith in the soon-coming
of Christ. This faith motivates and
shapes a Christian's life in the world, causing a person to express love for
God by living a holy life of renunciation, prayer, martyrdom, persecution, and
witness on account of parousia and the Kingdom of God. Thus, Christian spirituality is different
from Hindu spirituality for the latter is based on a pessimistic view of life,
history, the world, and the inner reality of self and its identity with God.
The purpose of Christian ashrams is to
express Christian spirituality using Indian or Hindu forms, and also to adopt
Hindu spiritual methods in order to enrich the Christian experience of
God. A Christian ashram with its
emphasis on simplicity, devotion, contemplation, service, and community life
will not only enrich one's spiritual life, but also will provide a strong
foundation for Christian witness among the Hindus. If Hindu spiritual methods such as silence,
contemplation, chanting, bhajan, and Scripture reading are followed in Christian
ashrams in addition to promoting Christian values such as service, fellowship,
and witness, then Hindus will be attracted to know and experience this
God.
Amalorpavadass, an Indian Catholic
theologian, observed that a Christian ashram is "one of the best means for
promoting authentic and meaningful spiritual life which is fully Indian and
fully Christian."[4] The Christian ashram can provide Hindus with
the deepest spiritual experience of God's love revealed in Jesus Christ. It can also provide an opportunity for them
to know Jesus who lived a simple life and identified Himself with the common
people. Hindus will be greatly attracted
toward the Christ of an ashram than a church.
Simplicity
According to Indian tradition, simplicity is
an expression of one's spirituality. In
Hindu ashrams, simplicity is demonstrated by a life of renunciation and
asceticism aimed toward personal holiness and salvation. Hinduism believes that attachment to material
things is evil and a hindrance to the service of God. Further, in the context of India's cultural
perspective, simplicity has a deeper meaning of expressing one's identity with
the poor and spiritual people of India.
Therefore, a life of simplicity is essential to an ashram community.
The principle of simplicity is expressed in
various forms in Hindu ashrams. Indians
consider simple dress as the most important mark of simplicity and
spirituality. The ashramites wear simple
Indian dress suitable for work and in accordance with the climate and
weather. The color of their dress
depends on the type of the ashrams to which the ashramites belong. Generally, the gurus and disciples wear kavi[5]
in Hindu ashrams. Some Christian ashrams
such as the Saccidhananda Ashram of Bede Griffiths also follow this
practice. The Protestant ashramites,
such as of the Christukula Ashram, wear white khadi[6]
dress. Other
forms of simplicity include the food eaten and the places where ashramites
live. Ashramites eat simple vegetarian
food consisting of rice, dhal, salad, and fruits. Their dwellings are simple huts constructed
with mud or bricks. They sleep on the
floor and walk barefooted. Some modern
Hindu ashrams have adopted some new facilities; however, they retain the basic
simplicity of an Indian lifestyle[7]
which would also include the principle of non-violence.
Non-violence
The Indian term used for non-violence is ahimsa. The aspects of ahimsa are compassion,
reverence for life, respect for nature, forbearance, self-suffering, and
non-retaliation. Hindu sages and
Buddhists in the past laid great emphasis on this principle. Gandhi advocated this principle in his ashram
and practiced it at the cost of his personal life.
The active part of non-violence is love,
forgiveness, doing good to one's enemies, and resisting evil with good. At the same time, non-violence does not mean
submission to evil, wrongdoing, or injustice.
It is resistance to evil by satyagraha which is the force of
truth or the force of love.[8] Non-violence, in this sense, is the same as
the Christian principle of love taught by Jesus Christ. M. K. Gandhi practiced non-violent methods
such as non-cooperation and passive resistance in his political life to obtain
freedom for India from the British.[9]
Fellowship
The idea of
fellowship in the Hindu ashram is
different from the concept of fellowship described in the
Bible. The Bible
explains fellowship in terms of relationship between believers within the
Church. In Hinduism, fellowship is
viewed in the context of the
relationship between the guru and his disciple known as
guru-bhakti.
Guru-Bhakti
The Guru-shishya relationship is the
basic prerequisite of any Hindu ashram.
Guru-Bhakti is the term used for the relationship a disciple has toward
his guru. It is the highest virtue and
an essential prerequisite for a shishya to become a future guru. This relationship between the guru and the
shishya is also vital to the spiritual enlightenment of the disciple.
The relationship begins when individuals are
drawn closer to a religious teacher and accept him as guru by completely
surrendering themselves to his authority.
This relationship with the guru is not like a relationship between a
seminary teacher and his student. It is
a kind of mystical relationship in which the disciple is born in the heart of
his guru. The guru becomes the spiritual
father, with the disciples serving their guru with love, devotion, and complete
obedience. At the end, they are
transformed into his character and led to the higher levels of spiritual
understanding[10]
or enlightenment. This type of
guru-bhakti is absent in Christian ashrams, because Christians do not recognize
anyone as guru except Christ. Therefore,
the concept of koinonia or fellowship is prevalent in Christian ashrams.
Koinonia
Koinonia is the Greek term used for
fellowship in the Bible. It means
"sharing in."[11] Although the early believers still maintained
their contact with Judaism, they identified themselves as a distinct group by
their unique fellowship.[12] Fellowship was expressed by the visible
activities of breaking bread, prayer, and the sharing of goods in the early Church (Acts 2:42, 44f;
4:32). The early Christians were
inspired to have this kind of fellowship because of their spiritual experience
with God through the Holy Spirit. The
Christian ashram is an attempt to realize the same fellowship in the context of
India.
Christian
ashrams emphasize the ideals of fraternity, equality, justice, and unity in
faith and experience. They advocate
these principles in order to develop fellowship among the ashramites. These ideals are also expressed in terms of
social service in the society.
Service
The idea of service in Hindu ashrams is
different from the concept of service prevalent in Christian ashrams. The disciples in traditional Hindu ashrams
think service in terms of the duty to the guru and the work in the ashram. According to Manu Smrithi, serving the
guru was one of the prerequisites for attaining supreme bliss.[13] In ancient Hindu ashrams, disciples collected
firewood, attended livestock, and gathered roots, fruits, and vegetables. However, the idea of serving the larger
community was absent in the traditional Hindu ashrams. Lately some modern Hindu ashrams have adopted
this aspect of service from Christian missions.
On the other hand, service in Christian
ashrams is mainly directed toward the community as an expression of the love
the believers have found in Christ. It
is based on the belief that Jesus came to serve and save the lost, so His
disciples need to do the same. The Greek
word diakonas is used in the New Testament to refer to the service
rendered to the people within the church.
However, the concept of diakonas is applied in the larger context of the
community in Christian ashrams.
Christian ashrams, in addition to contemplation, encourage the
ashramites to participate in community service. Christian ashrams also operate
clinics, orphanages, schools, and community development services to express
their Christian love.
Thus far,
I have discussed some of the principles related to an ashram's life and its
services. Now I would like to explain
some of the key concepts related to Hindu ashrams and values in Hindu society.
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