CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN EXPERIMENTS IN ASHRAM LIFE

Abstract

Several authors and religious persons-chiefly those who chose new ways of approach to induism-have focussed attention on homeless existence (ashram life). Klostermaierl raises the question whether homeless existence in India is still a way of living which is suitable to our time. He characterizes a sannydsi as a homeless pilgrim, as someone who is all the time on the road and denies himself everything in order to reach the infinite. The author refers to the difficulties in accepting the holy man who is a homeless. The sannydsi in India and the religious in the West are faced  with the same difficulty. At times the homeless are highly respected, at other times they are looked down upon with contempt. An Indian homeless will be confronted with these perils. In his considerations Klostermaier centres the problem around the contemplative monk, who devotes himself fully to prayer.