Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Hinduism. Today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Hindu cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, similar to a studio, yeshiva, iʿtikāf or dojo.
Etymology
The word ashram (also ashrama) comes from the Sanskrit root srama which means "to toil", the a prefix indicates the negative, therefore ashram means "not to toil".
Overview
An ashram would traditionally, but not necessarily in contemporary times, be located far from human habitation, in forests or mountainous regions, amidst refreshing natural surroundings conductive 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 gurukulas, residential schools for children under the guru-shishya tradition.
Sometimes, the goal of a pilgrimage to the ashram was not tranquility, but instruction in some art, especially warfare. In the Ramayana, the protagonist princes of ancient Ayodhya, Rama and Lakshmana, go to 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 divine weapons. In the Mahabharata, Krishna, in his youth, goes to the ashram of Sandipani to gain knowledge of both intellectual and spiritual matters.