Welcome to Kashi Ashram

Welcome to Kashi Ashram
An ashram is a hermitage, a holy sanctuary, or the residence and teaching center of a saint, teacher or guru that
often includes lodging for students. The grounds at Kashi include temples and shrines dedicated to many of the
world’s religious and spiritual traditions.
Kashi is an international interfaith community whose
purpose is to awaken a radical awareness about one’s
spiritual self and the issues that face the world today. We
believe that an awakened soul is a catalyst to change the
world.
The teachings of Kashi are based on kindness, compassion and service, embracing the sacred practices of
many traditions. With roots in Hindu philosophy, the teaching exemplifies the ideal that all paths followed with a
pure heart lead to one’s own God within.
Ma Jaya
Sati Bhagavati
Kashi’s founder, Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, is an internationally renowned spiritual leader and teacher. She is known for her
compassionate work with death and dying, her commitment to service, and her advocacy of human rights, religious
freedom and interfaith understanding. An accomplished artist and prolific author, Ma Jaya serves as a
Trustee of the Parliament of the World’s Religions.
Neem
Karoli Baba
Baba is an affectionate name for Ma Jaya’s guru, Neem Karoli Baba, a Hindu saint who taught his students to
“Feed everyone, love everyone and serve everyone.”
Swami
Nityananda
Swami Nityananda’s teachings of the Chidakash, the space of the detached but loving
and compassionate heart, are central to the teachings of Kashi.
Ramana Maharshi &
Shirdi Sai Baba
Ramana Maharshi and Shirdi Sai Baba are two spiritual Masters whose teachings have been
influential in the teachings of Kashi.
Mother Mary and Mother Kali
Shrines to many of the world’s religions surround the sacred Ganga pond at the center of Kashi.
Hanuman Temple
Lord Hanuman is the Hindu god of service and humility.
Jewish Shrine
and
Buddha Garden
Christ &
Mary
Christ appeared to Ma at the beginning of her spiritual awakening.
He told her to “teach all ways, for all ways are mine.”
Mahavidya Labyrinth
The outer stones of the labyrinth symbolize Mother Kali in the form of the ten Mahavidyas. The middle stone represents God
the Father in the form of Stanu, or light. The labyrinth is based on the ancient design at Chartres Cathedral in France.
Guru Hargobind
g
Gurdwara
Ma with
i
Siri Singh Sahib
A Gurdwara or ‘home to the Guru’, is a Sikh temple which houses the sacred writings of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
Ma has often taught alongside the late Siri Singh Sahib, who is the founder of Sikh Dharma in the West.
Life in
Community
Kashi is a residential spiritual community and is considered an “intentional community,” of which there are thousands
around the globe. This means that people choose to live together do so around a common purpose.
There are five residences on the Kashi grounds; there are also numerous
participants who live in the surrounding area who visit regularly and take
part in projects and activities.
Bathing in the water of the sacred Ganga pond is considered to be very auspicious.
Growing up in
community
Since Kashi was founded in 1976 there have been hundreds of children that have been born and raised at Kashi.
Weddings
Ma has blessed many relationships, gay, straight, and everything in between,
saying that she only sees the love between two people and that the soul has no gender.
Seniors
Many seniors have lived at Kashi and been involved with our daily life.
We are currently working on developing an Adult Living Facility to be built and operated on Kashi grounds.
Passing
g of Loved Ones
Life, birth and death
are all embraced
deeply at Kashi.
Particularly through
our work with people
with AIDS, the sacred
Ganga pond is now
home to the ashes of
hundreds of loved
ones.
Ashes & flowers on the Ganga
Darshan
Teachings
g and
Intensives
Darshan is the time when a spiritual teacher
shares his or her wisdom. Everyone is
welcome to attend Darshan with Ma Jaya
Jaya,
which usually includes an interfaith service
and meditation on Saturday evenings.
Each year there are also 4-6 weekend
intensives around the country with Ma Jaya.
Ritual
Life at Kashi is blessed with ritual and color. Fire pujas provide us with the
opportunity to burn that which we want to get rid of, as well as purification.
Order of Sannyasin
A Swami is a renunciate who has been initiated into a path of dedicated service to
humanity. Swamis or Sannyasin are the keepers of the Kashi spiritual lineage.
Spiritual
Practices
Those students that live at Kashi practice celibacy, vegetarianism, ahimsa (non violence), meditation and
yoga. However, students who participate in activities at Kashi are not required to adhere to these spiritual
practices.
Kashi Center for Advanced Spiritual Studies offers workshops, retreats and classes
with a depth and breadth of teachers and traditions.
Kashi
Rainbow
Kashi’s view of interfaith embraces people of all lifestyles and sexual orientations as well as religions.
Kashi Rainbow is the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender group based at Kashi with members all around the
country.
The River Fund Service Work
The River Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities,
especially people affected by HIV/AIDS. The River Fund was established by Ma Jaya and has grown to include
programs in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and Africa. It is a model for compassionate care giving;
thousands of people are touched daily through its outreach programs.
Feed Everyone
Los Angeles • New York • Florida
Atlanta • Chicago
Young Man with AIDS
Last Visit to Kashi (above)
(
)
Inspired by Ma Jaya, Kashi and the River
Fund has worked with people living with
AIDS for more than 20 years. By visiting
hospices, hospitals, and running the River
House where people with AIDS could come
to live and die, many thousands have been
embraced and cared for.
Memorial Boardwalk
Many loved ones, especially those we
have known who have died of AIDS, are
remembered at the Memorial Boardwalk
which leads down to the Sebastian River.
Ma’s Orphans
Centre,
Uganda
The River Fund helps support Ma’s Orphans Centre in Uganda, where more than 900
children, mostly orphaned by AIDS and civil war, are taken care of and educated.
Kashi
Interfaith
Outreach
Two of the major international interfaith organizations that Kashi has worked with on an ongoing basis for many years are the
Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions and the United Religions Initiative. Kashi has made many wonderful lifelong
friends and been involved in great work with these groups.
Please join us in celebrating the diversity among us.
Peace
Parliament
P
li
t off World’s
W ld’ Religions
R li i
Chicago, 1993
Parliament of World’s Religions
Barcelona Spain 2004
Barcelona,
Parliament of World’s Religions
South Africa, 1999
The Sacred Ganga