Ashram

From Sunday November 7

The first sight we visited in Varanasi was an ashram. When I read this on the schedule I envisioned someone like this guy only sitting cross-legged in the lotus position on a canopied dais, chanting Hare Krishna mantras with George Harrison until he noticed our reverent approach to his perch. He would then stop his chant and give us a spiritually uplifting discourse on how to live our lives earning lots of good karma and find our way to everlasting enlightenment. Maybe we would even get a string tied around our wrist. I certainly didn't expect what we found. I don't think Reid expected it either.

I think most of us are familiar with the word ashram meaning a Hindu community or retreat that includes a holy man or guru. Our experience in the Varanasi ashram was so different from this definition that, after returning to the States, I searched for alternative definitions. Most websites defined ashram as I understood it. I found one, The FreeDictionary.com, that added a second definition: "a house that provides accommodation for destitute people." We toured the second type of ashram.

It would have been interesting to see the first type of ashram; however, touring the alternative gave us an unexpected insight into how a society without a hint of a social safety net deals with its aging population. We were in an Indian old-folks home. Maybe retirement community would be a better term, since there were no nurses or physical therapists, and residents cooked their own food and mostly cared for themselves. Our guide explained that people came here after their useful lives were over and if they had no family to care for them. Some of them outlived their families; some were estranged. It did sound eerily like what American families struggle with when their parents deteriorate beyond the capacity of their children to help them. The residents divest themselves of their possessions (it was unclear if they gave what they had to the ashram) and moved into the ashram, where they had a place to live and be cared for for the rest of their lives.

There is a religious aspect to living here; the expectation is that the residents live their lives in meditation and prayer. The ashram had its own temple as well as a Lingam and Yoni shrine to honor the god Shiva and goddess Shakti. The whole enterprise is funded solely by donations, which are very much appreciated, thank you.

I must admit that touring the ashram was about as comfortable as taking a guided tour through an American nursing home. I didn't want to peer at and photograph the residents like they were exhibits in a zoo but it was just so damn interesting.

(Hint on viewing pictures: I just discovered that clicking on the picture expands it into a bigger view.)

I have a few more pictures on Flickr, if you want.