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LAUDATO SI, FRATELLI TUTTI AND ASHRAM LIFE

The 37th annual National Ashram Aikya was held from the 2nd of October to the 8th of October 2022 at Saccidananda Ashram , the Hermitage of the Most Holy Trinity, Thannirpally, Kulithalai, Trichy.  This Ashram was founded in 1950 by a French Catholic  priest, Abbe Jules Monchanin (1895-1957) who took the Sannyasa name, Swami Parama Arupi Ananda (= the Bliss of the Supreme Spirit) , and Dom Henri Le Saux  OSB (1910-1973), a French Benedictine Monk who took the Sannyasa name, Swami Abhishiktananda (= the Bliss of the Anointed).  Their intention was to found a contemplative community which would be fully Indian and fully Christian. They built the ashram buildings by hand in solidarity with the poor of the locality. Both of them were proponents of Hindu-Christian interfaith dialogue. Monchanin died in 1957, and Henri Le Saux  wanted to embrace a hermit’s life in Uttarkashi , and so, Fr. Bede Griffiths OSB (Swami Dayananda = the bliss of compassion), a British Benedictine monk, came over to Trichy  in 1968 and took up his abode here until his death in 1993.  Some batches of our Novices,  in the past, were taken there for a contemplative Ashram experience for a week or two.  

There were nearly 40 Ashramites present for the meeting. We spent 3 days reflecting on the encyclical, Fratelli Tutti and its impact on Ashram life,  and  and 3 days sharing on issues and matters related to the Ashram Aikya Movement in India. 

 Characteristics of an Ashram

What is an Ashram and what are its characteristics? It is a dwelling place for God-seekers and God-realized persons.  It is a spiritual centre characterized by simplicity of life and closeness to nature. It is generally located in  secluded places - forests, hills, mountains, river side, etc.  Simplicity of life means, not allowing your wants to become your needs. Living a simple life implies living by the minimum of needs.  An Ashram is characterized by love, peace, compassion, prayer, silence. It adopts an eco-friendly lifestyle. It is an open house welcoming all peoples without discrimination.  It is not tied down to any established religion; it is dharmatita, just like the fourth stage of life, Sannyasa is also dharmatita. Ashram life and sannyasa life-style go together. It is not busy with worldly pursuits and preoccupations; it is lokatita. It transcends the world and all caste divisions (varnatita). Its central concern is God-realization.  

Ashrams and Vows

The values and concerns expressed by Pope Francis in his Encyclicals  - Laudato Si (2015) and Fratelli Tutti (2020) - are very much embodied in the Ashram tradition of India. The Hindu, Buddhist and Jain Sannyasis and Sannyasinis live by the five great vows (Pancha maha vritas), namely, Ahimsa (non-injury, sensitivity to every form of life), Satya (truthfulness, honesty, integrity), Asteya (non-stealing, living with the minimum of needs) Aparigraha (non-hoarding; voluntary sharing of resources with those in need) and Brahmacharya (contemplation of God, constant remembrance of God, living and moving in God, chastity/celibacy or ‘pure conduct’).

Gandhiji added six more vows to the above list. They are Sarva bhaya varjana ( to be fearless), Sarva dharma sama bhava (to have equal regard for all religions), Svadeshi (commitment to one’s neighbour), Shramadan (voluntary manual work/ bread labour), Asvada (control of one’s palate) and Asparsha (overcoming untouchability).  

In the light of the two encyclicals of Pope Francis  – Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti- a few more vows could be added to the Ashram life from the Christian perspective, which are also present in the Indian tradition (in the Bhagavad Gita), such as Lokasamgraha/ Lokakshema (caring for the earth and creation, cosmic fraternity as highlighted in Laudato Si), Sahodara-sahodari bhava (treating everyone as brother and sister, (Vasudhaiva kutumbakam = ‘the World is One Family’), establishing a human fraternity transcending all borders as highlighted in  Fratelli Tutti), Sarvodaya (working for the welfare of all), Antyodaya (preferential care for the least and the lost), Dharmasamsthapana (establishing righteousness and truth, the Kingdom of God on earth), and Atmanivedana (Surrendering to God’s Will, which was the central concern of Jesus – doing the Will of the Father. Cf. John 4,34; 5,30; 6,38; Mat. 12, 48-50). 

St. Francis of Assisi and Ashram life 

We can draw some inspiration from St. Francis of Assisi. He ‘left Assisi’ and embraced the life of the ‘minores’ (the lesser ones) outside Assisi - the peasants, the beggars and the lepers.  He wanted to live the Gospel as literally as possible in the world among the (poor) people. Theologically we speak of living the Gospel radically, prophetically, counter culturally, etc. He did not use these theological terms but obeyed the Lord wholeheartedly. When God’s Will was revealed to him through the Gospel texts (Mt. 19,21; Lk 9,3; Mt. 16,24 – sell all, take nothing, and follow Me), he cried out exultingly, “This is what I wish, this is what I seek, this is what I long to do with all my heart”. Overflowing with joy he hastened to fulfill that salutary word he had heard…. (Cf.1 Celano 22). Aren’t Ashrams, small religious communities, living among the people, one of the effective ways of living the Gospel and witnessing to Jesus? St. Francis was not a priest or a monk or an Abbot. He called himself a friar minor, a lesser brother. He did not build monasteries or abbeys but friaries. Friaries (of those days) in many ways resembled the Ashrams of India.    

 Ashrams must not become big institutions. They are to be small communities of 3 or 4 members living among the people. Such Ashrams are to be multiplied in India and distributed to the villages and remote areas where the Gospel has not been preached. Jesus used to tell the people who wanted to keep him from leaving them, “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose” (Lk 4,43. Cf. Mk 1, 37-38). He was a wanderer and a pilgrim. “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head” (Lk 9,58). Many Religious are held up in the cities and tied down to their institutions, and a comfortable lifestyle. Originally, starting of educational institutions was thought of as a “praeparatio evangelica”, an entry point  for proclaiming the Gospel.  How do we look at our institutions today? Are they at the service of the Gospel or at the service of mammon? 

 An Ashram lifestyle provides the opportunity to live the Gospel with undivided attention. It is embracing the lifestyle of the marginalized people, people on the periphery. It will serve as an inspiration for the church to be the church of the poor, not only in theory but also in practice. The church in India does not seem to have much spiritual or religious significance to the Hindus and people of other faiths. All peoples acknowledge and appreciate the church for its social, medical and educational services.  Ashrams could be effective means to reveal the spiritual nature of the church, the simplicity of the manger. We must ask ourselves, why is India, a spiritual country, not accepting the Gospel, the Good News? Why is there so much anti-Christian propaganda? Is India against Christ and His Gospel?  Or, is it against Christianity as an institutionalized religion in its ‘foreign dress’?  Why is it that the Christian community is only 3% of the Indian population even today? 

 Gandhiji used to say that much of what passes as Christianity is a negation of the Gospel! “I like your Christ, but not your Christianity”. Christian nations seek wealth and fight most wars.  “The Christians above all others are seeking after wealth. Their aim is to be rich at the expense of their neighbours.” What the people of other faiths in India see might be the rich institutions the Church possesses, and not clearly enough a life according to the Gospel. 

The central concerns of the Ashrams today should be the care of creation (cf. Laudato Si) and building up a true human fraternity with all peoples without borders (cf. Fratelli Tutti).  Laudato Si must be given concrete expression by spending time to relate with nature -  animals and birds, trees and plants, tilling the earth and growing things, setting time aside to silently admire the sun rise and sunset, cloudy days and starry heavens, etc.; finding time not only for works in the rooms or offices under the functional lights but also time to sit down tranquilly before a fire or an oil lamp or the rising sun.   Both the encyclicals must generate in us the consciousness that all human beings and all creatures are our brothers and sisters (saha-udara, saha-udari - born of the same Womb) without borders.  The sky above and the earth beneath is the cosmic womb, and God  the Maker of heaven and earth, is the Ultimate Womb, and we are all His children. The God of the Chosen People  is the God of all peoples. All distinctions and discrimination based on class, caste, gender, etc. must be overcome.   Every man and woman is created out of love and made in God’s image and likeness (cf. Gen 1,26). “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” (Jer 1,5). We were conceived in the heart of God, and for this reason “each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary”. Cf. Laudato Si 65.

Saint Francis of Assisi, the ‘saint of fraternal love , simplicity and joy’, ‘who sowed seeds of peace and walked alongside the poor’ undertook a journey at the time of the Crusades to meet  Sultan Malik-el-Kamil in Egypt (in 1219) which ‘demonstrated the breadth and grandeur of his love, which sought to embrace everyone’  transcending differences of origin, nationality, colour or religion (Cf. FT 2 & 3) tells the friars who wish to go among the Saracens and other nonbelievers, to go and live among them spiritually in two ways: one way is not to engage in arguments or disputes, but to be subject to every human creature for God’s sake, and to acknowledge that they are Christians. Another way is to proclaim the word of God when they see that it pleases the Lord (Cf.Rule 1221, Ch.16).

 Our recent Documents of the Order tell us that we are lesser brothers, pilgrims and strangers, contemplative fraternities, sent out to the peripheries as brothers and lesser ones, etc.  I think these and other radical ideas and ideals can be realized in India by following a simple Ashram life-style, by being faithful to ‘Lady Poverty’, and living in fraternal communion with all peoples - fratelli tutti.

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