Gurukula

The word gurukula means house of the guru in Sanskrit . The word describes the traditional Indian education and training method, according to which the student lived in the house of his teacher (guru), served him, and was instructed by him in the practical life context.

This type of learning was not only valid for practical activities (crafts), but also for intellectual and spiritual disciplines (Vedas, singing, temple dance, yoga ). Especially with the latter, the teacher's "household" often became a monastery-like community ( ashram ), in which the students lived together in a monastic manner and received spiritual instruction.

Like many traditional Indian terms, this was also applied to modern (own) institutions by newer religious or spiritual organizations. The Christian missionary Christian Friedrich Schwartz taught Prince Serfoji (later known as Serfoji II) and another, somewhat older student, Vedanayagam, now known as Vedanayagam Sastriar, according to the Gurukulam approach in Tiruchirappalli .

In the International Society for Krishna Consciousness , the word “Gurukula” denotes boarding schools , in which the children of the followers of this community were housed separately from their parents.