ASHRAM. The term ashram or ās'rama is derived from the Sanskrit root śram, meaning "intense exertion." It refers to both the mode of life associated with religious striving and the abode of those so engaged. As a mode...

An Ashram in ancient India was a Hindu hermitage where sages lived in peace and tranquility amidst nature. Today, the term ashram is usually used to refer to an intentional community formed primarily for spiritual upliftment of its members, often headed...

Seven years is a mythically satisfying timescale for an epic journey and Anita Desai's new novel Journey to Ithaca has been seven years in the writing. In her last, Baumgartner's Bombay (1988), the themes of cultural isolation and assimilation were neatly anatomised, and the...

The first time Ree Goldman attended the annual yoga festival at the Baba Siri Chand Yoga Center in Millis, she was so moved by the experience that less than a month later she went on a three-week spiritual journey to India. "I had...

As a spiritual guide to followers worldwide, Sri Chinmoy spread a message of peace through his lectures, his writings, his meetings with world leaders like Pope Paul VI and Nelson Mandela.The charismatic but quirky Chinmoy didn't stop there: There was weightlifting — followers claimed the...

As a spiritual guide to followers worldwide, Sri Chinmoy spread a message of peace through his lectures, his writings, his meetings with world leaders like Pope Paul VI and Nelson Mandela.The charismatic but quirky Chinmoy did not stop there: There was weightlifting — followers claimed...