That which appears to be real, and yet, is not real—that is the Asat. Asat does not mean non-existence, like the horns of a human being. Here, the unreal is not of that category, because if a thing is totally non-existent, it will not be seen, and the question of ris-ing from it does not arise. The rise of the consciousness from one state to another becomes necessitated on account of there be-ing an element of the real reflected in the apparent. The world of unreality is capable of bebe-ing taken for reality, and therefore one gets involved in it. Certain characters of reality are visible in the world of unreality, and so there is a mix-up of two attributes. The appearance, as we call it, is not a total non-existence. It is a confusion, a kind of muddled thinking. ... Our individualities, our bodily personalities are immediately available examples of this confusion of thought, where the real and the unreal are mixed up, and we drift from one condition to another on account of not being able to judge what is what in our own cases. We have feelings which
are combinations of two aspects—the real and the unreal, the Sat and the Asat. We have a confidence that we are existing. We never feel that we are non-existent, not also that we are a moving flow, or we are apparent, or we are in a condition of process.
... Thus, the prayer is:—Asato mā sad gamaya: ‘Lead me from the unreal to the real, from the apparent to the Absolute, so that we shall be steadfast in that which is free from entanglement in appearances—space, time, and causal relations.’
Related words
Opposite: Sat
Sanskrit
asat - असन्
Ashrama
Variant spellings
ashrama ashram āśrama
Definitions General
Dictionary - Grimes
Āśrama — ... a halting place; stage of life; level; hermitage; “a place of striving” or ‘(a place of) nonwandering”; “a place that re-moves the fatigue (of worldliness)”
1. Some claim the word is derived from the verb root śram meaning “to become weary, tired, exhausted” plus the prefix a mean-ing “not.” Others claim the word is derived from the verb root śram meanmean-ing “to labor, toil, to exert oneself.” Thus the word means either “a place which is free from weariness and exhaustion” or “a place where one exherts oneself, with an emphasis on religious exertions.” There is a third possible interpretation which derives from the root śramaṇa (meaning “to wander”) and thus, an āśrama is a “place of rest or peace.”
2. There are four stages (āśramā) of life’s journey. They delineate the individual’s vertical ascent to liberation. These four are the student stage (brahmacarya), the householder stage (gṛhastha), the forest dweller (vānaprastha), and the renunciant {sannyāsā).
These emphasize the individual aspect of one’s personal development. They are stages of strife when selfishness is slowly but steadily rooted out.
3. The abode of a guru or saint. A monastic place of retreat where spiritual seekers engage in spiritual practices and study sacred teachings.
4. See varṇa.
Dictionary - Monier-Williams
āśrama
-a hermit-age, the -abode of -ascetics, the cell of -a hermit or of retired s-aints or s-ages;
a stage in the life of a Brāhman (of which there are four corresponding to four different periods or conditions, viz. 1st, Brahmacārin,
‘student of the Veda’; 2nd, Gṛiha-stha, ‘householder ‘; 3rd, Vānaprastha, ‘anchorite ‘; and 4th, Saṁnyāsin, ‘abandoner of all world-ly concerns’, or sometimes Bhikshu, ‘religious beggar’;
in some places the law-givers mention only three such periods of religious life, the first being then omitted);
a hut built on festal occasions;
a college, school; a wood or thicket
Wikipedia
Traditionally, an ashram (Sanskrit/Hindi: आश्रम) is a religious hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo.
An ashram would typically, but not always, be located far from human habitation, in forests or mountainous regions, amidst re-freshing natural surroundings conducive to spiritual instruction and meditation. The residents of an ashram regularly performed spiritual and physical exercises, such as the various forms of Yoga. Other sacrifices and penances, such as Yajnas were also performed. Many ashrams also served as Gurukuls or residential schools for children.
Narayana Guru tradition
Narayana. One hundred verses of Self-instruction
Ashram : A place of retreat for peaceful cessation of duties or ritualistic activities, where those who have become sanyasis or those who are initiates in such a path or way of life live in small self- sufficient communities, independent of the surrounding soci-ety, and with an universal outlook on life as members of an open world community. It may have been derived from A, prefix mean-ing up to the point of, and Shrama, effort, as Ashrams are places where all the preparatory stages to spiritual effort may be carried out in peace and seclusion.
Nitya. Meditations on the self
Ashram - A spiritual commune very much like a monastery or convent.
Descriptions General
Encyclopedia of Hinduism
The Sanskrit ashrama was a place for ascetics to perform austerities (practices of renouncing bodily and psychological comfort), usually at a distance from and in isolation from the larger world (shram, means to exert oneself strongly). In later times the word came to designate a place organized for spiritual practice, a refuge where devotees could pursue their paths. Most often the ash-ram would be under the tutelage and guidance of a particular guru or lineage of teachers. Isolation is no longer the determining factor of an ashram, though many are still deliberately sited away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Mees. The Revelation in the Wilderness
Hindu tradition abounds with teachings based on the Four Elements. ... The Four Asramas, or stages and ways of life, are based on the Elements. They are Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sannyasa. The first applies to the period of growth and education. The second is the period of life as householder, as pater-and materfamilias. It is the emotional stage. The third pe-riod is that which pertains to the Element Fire, the mental plane. The Vanaprastha has traditionally “to live in the forest” and “to nourish the sacrificial fires”. The forest is a symbol of the mental plane. It is “the wilderness”. The Fire has ultimately to become
“the sacrificial fire”. The last stage, Sannyasa, that of renunciation, is the spiritual stage of Air. In traditional teachings, there is an intimate relationship between the symbolism, the rites, and the recommended way of life. The mental plane is symbolically “the wilderness”, where “the wild beasts” of the urges and tendencies of the “animal-man” roam about. And it is actually true that the best environment for the subjugation of those “wild beasts” is in the retreat of a forest, away from “the world”, where the mind is sweetened and harmonized by consorting with actual wild animals. In the Tevijja Sutta the Buddha characterizes the philosophiz-ing of some learned Brahmans as a “waterless desert” and a “pathless jungle”. The terms are not used merely as vivid “figures of speech” but constitute very exact symbols as the context signifies.
Wikipedia
Ashrams have been a powerful symbol throughout Hindu history and theology. Most Hindu kings, until the medieval ages, are known to have had a sage who would advise the royal family in spiritual matters, or in times of crisis, who was called the rajguru, which literally translates to royal teacher. A world- weary emperor going to this guru’s ashram, and finding solace and tranquility, is a recurring motif in many folktales and legends of ancient India.
Sometimes, the goal of a Gita Pilgrimage to the ashram was not tranquility, but instruction in some art, especially warfare. In the Hindu epic Ramayana, the protagonist princes of ancient Ayodhya, Rama and Laxman, go to the Rishi Vishvamitra’s ashram to protect his Yajnas from being defiled by emissary- demons of Ravana. After they prove their mettle, the princes receive martial instruction from the sage, especially in the use of enchanted weapons, called Divyastras (Sanskrit Divya: enchanted + Astra: mis-sile weapon; the Sanskrit word ‘astra’ means mismis-sile weapon, such as an arrow, as opposed to ‘shastra’, which means a hand-to- hand weapon, such as a mace.) In the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna, in his youth, goes to the ashram of Sage Sandiipanii, to gain knowledge of both intellectual and spiritual matters.
Sankara tradition
Sankara. Atmabodha, tr. Nikhilananda
The Hindu view of life, as conceived in the Vedas, is spiritual. It has a spiritual end designated as mokṣa, or Liberation. Material enjoyments, which are necessary and legitimate at certain periods of life, should be so regulated that in the end they may lead men to the attainment of the Highest Good. ... Nevertheless, in the lower stages of evolution the appetite for material things cannot be ignored. If this appetite is suppressed or inhibited, an unhealthy condition is created affecting both man’s body and his mind.
The Hindu philosophers want us gradually to transform the inclinations of the senses, will, and mind, so that they may become man’s helpers in the attainment of his spiritual end and not remain his enemies. The various divisions of individual and social life as described in the Vedas and the Puranas bear out the ideal of man’s spiritual destiny.
Let us state briefly the four stages into which the ancient Hindus divided the lifetime of the individual. The first known as brah-macarya, covered the period of the young man’s study. He was at that time called a brahmacâri, a celibate student who lived with his teacher, practising such disciplines as chastity, obedience, and austerity. He studied the Vedas and particularly participated
in sacrifices and ritualistic worship. He was taught orally. Living in a forest retreat away from the complexities of the city, he led a very simple life, looking after the teacher’s cattle, chopping wood for his sacrificial fire, and spending a great part of the time close-ly observing Nature. It was a life of detachment and aloofness from the world. The pupil committed to memory the texts of the Ve-das. After completing his education, he took his leave and the teacher said to him: “Do not deviate from truth, do not deviate from the daily recitation of the Vedas.”
During the second stage the youth embraced the householder’s life, known as gārhasthya, and himself was called a gṛhastha. In company with his wife he performed various sacrifices and rituals described in Samhita and Brahmana portions of the Vedas. As a citizen he performed his civic duties according to his position in. the Hindu-caste system, as priest, military man, or trader.
But secular duties could not keep him bound to the world for ever. As a result of experience and observation he gradually be-came disillusioned about the glitter of the outer world. He longed for inner peace. As the signs of old age crept in, he entrusted his worldly duties to his children and retired into the forest (araṇya) with his wife. He entered upon the vānaprastha stage and became known as a vānaprasthi, or forest-dweller. He was still, in the technical sense of the term, a householder and, as such, had to perform certain daily sacrifices obligatory for all but the monks. But as it was not possible for him to procure in the forest all the ingredients for such sacrifices, the Vedas laid down for him symbolic worship. He meditated on the symbolic meaning of the vari-ous phases of a sacrifice and thus reaped the fruit of its actual performance. To give an illustration: The Vedas enjoined upon all householders the daily performance of the Agnihotra sacrifice, which required several material ingredients. But the forest-dweller meditated on the various functions of the prāṇa, or life-breath, and regarded these as spiritual counterparts of the different ingredi-ents...
The last stage of the lifetime of the individual, known as sannyasa, or monastic life, was entered into by those forest-dwellers who totally gave up the world in search of Truth and Freedom. They then became bhikṣus, wandering monks, or sannyasis-world-re-nouncers. The realization of the Supreme Truth has been described as the “flight of the Alone to the Alone”. The last stage of life is to be walked singly. Relinquishing all longing for material happiness both here and hereafter, as well as the desire for self-grati-fication through progeny, wealth, or heavenly bliss after death, these monks practised total renunciation, both inner and outer. As the ultimate ascent is steep and the lofty air extremely rarefied, they not only left behind material possessions but also stripped themselves of ego and desires. ... They were outside all castes and beyond all social conventions. They gave up the sacrifices and ritualistic worship prescribed for the other three stages. They lived a life of freedom, which they had earned through strict observance of religious and moral laws. They were the spiritual teachers of men and were shining examples of peace and detach-ment. But by no means is a sannyasi a selfish person. His life is dedicated to the service of all, irrespective of caste or creed.
The sannyasis studied the Upanishads, the concluding parts of the Vedas, which describe the Knowledge of Brahman, or the Absolute, and the disciplines for Its attainment. By the spiritually-minded Hindus they were naturally held in the highest esteem for their purity, detachment, unselfishness’ and utter devotion to Truth. As the burning tip of the wick shows that a lamp is ablaze, so, likewise, the presence of these free souls at the top of Hindu society demonstrated that its social life was functioning well. Though in general the life of the Indo-Aryans in ancient India followed this pattern and the monastic life was the natural culmination of the three previous stages, yet an aspirant for Truth might become a monk at any stage. An injunction of the Vedas declares: “The day a man is seized with a spirit of dispassion he should forthwith renounce the world.” The Vedas speak of young men and women who took the vow of renunciation without going through the stages of the householder’s and the forestdweller’s life.
A brahmachari had to read all the Vedas, though the Samhitas really moulded his life. Likewise, the householders followed the injunctions of the Brahmaṇâs, the forest-dwellers those of the Āraṇyakas, and the monks those of the Upanishads.