The Ashram and the Gurukula

Overview

Recall questions on what an ashram is and was, the gurukula, and the stages of life traditionally connected with ashram living.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is an ashram?

   Model answer

   An ashram is a community gathered around a teacher or a discipline, where people live a simple religious life together.

2. 2

   What was an ashram like before the twentieth century?

   Model answer

   It was usually a hermitage away from towns where a sage lived with a small group of disciples in simplicity, study and austerity.

3. 3

   What was a gurukula?

   Model answer

   It was a residential school in which pupils lived in the teacher's household, serving him while learning scripture and skills.

4. 4

   Which stages of life were traditionally connected with ashram living?

   Model answer

   The forest dweller and the renouncer stages, and the student stage in the teacher's household.

5. 5

   Why were ashrams established away from towns?

   Model answer

   Distance from trade, family and distraction made the detachment and long hours of meditation the discipline required possible.

6. 6

   How did ashrams change during the twentieth century?

   Model answer

   Many became organisations with publishing, charitable work, registered funds, international branches and courses for short-stay visitors.

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