From 1953 to 1954, she shared a house with British Quaker Marjorie Sykes at the ashram in Sevagram, where Sykes served as principal of "Gandhiji's Basic Education" program, training teachers to promote Gandhian social reforms and educational experiments.

One, an 8-year-old named Chuyia (Sarala) is dropped off an ashram for widows.

IN THE WINTER OF 1968, Lewis Lapham was sent by the Saturday Evening Post to an ashram at the foothills of the Himalayas to examine the confluence of cultures: The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement, was about to boogie with the Beatles, all four of whom, especially a zealous George Harrison, were intrigued enough to journey to Rishikesh, India, to listen to what he had to say.