Satyagraha Ashram
May 20, 2024
When Gandhi and his followers returned to India from South Africa, they didn’t know where they would settle down. Within a few months, a location was found in Ahmedabad, in the province of Gujarat, where the Gandhis had lived previously and spoke the local language. On May 20, 1915, the Satyagraha Ashram was established in two houses on the banks of the Sabarmati River.
A constitution was drafted; six months later, it was revised slightly and shared with the public. There were six lifelong vows that the people who lived there permanantly—called Controllers—were expected to take, plus some subsidiary observances.
Vow of truth: It’s not surprising that this is the first of the vows. “No deception may be practiced even for the good of the country.”
Vow of nonviolence: “The follower of truth and nonviolence will offer satyagraha against the tyrant and win over the tyrant by love.”
Vow of celebacy: Gandhi claims it is “impossible to observe these [first] two vows unless celibacy too is observed.” I’m not clear how that follows logically, but married couples were welcome on these terms. Gandhi was nearly a decade into his own vow.
Control of the palate. Again, working backward, Gandhi suggests “it is difficult to observe the forgoing vows, more especially that of celibacy” unless “one has overcome the palate.”
Vow of nonstealing: Gandhi considers “it theft to use articles of food, dress, etc., which one does not really need,” since in many cases, taking more than one needs leaves less for others.
Vow of nonpossession: A minimalist lifestyle was also important. “If one can do without chairs, one should,” because “it is neccesary not to keep anything which may not be absoluely neccesary for the nourishment and protection of our body.”
For those not ready to make these lifetime vows, they were able to live in the Ashram as Novitiates, only bound to follow the rules while they were there. The third class of people living there (Gandhi uses the archaic term “inmates”) were Students. Although adults could join as students, this program was geared toward educating children. Besides learning the various languages, history, geography, arithmatic, algebra, geometry, and economics would be taught, along with observation of the various vows.
The days were structured from 5am to 7pm, with prayers, three meals, manual labor and school work. Lights were put out at 10pm; the first bell rung at 4am. After six months, there were nearly three dozen people living together in this voluntary community. Gandhi was still experimenting with Ashram rules; he started with two subsidary vows and added two more over the next six months. But I’ll write about them in another post.
Which of the six vows would you find easiest to observe?