What and who is Antevasin?

Antevasin is a Sanskrit word that I came across a few years ago. It loosely translates as "One who lives on the border.", which describes a person who is an in-betweener or you can call it a border-dweller. An antevasin is a scholar who lives in the sight of two worlds, but is looking toward the unknown.

Gilbert describes an antevasin as follows:

“So I saw it during my last week at the Ashram, I was reading through an old text about Yoga, when I found a description of ancient spiritual seekers. A Sanskrit word appeared in the paragraph: ANTEVASIN. It means, ‘one who lives at the border.’ In ancient times, this was a literal description. It indicated a person who had left the bustling center of worldly life to go live at the edge of the forest where the spiritual masters dwelled. The antevasin was not of the villager’s anymore-not a householder with a conventional life. But neither was he yet a transcendent-not one of those sages who live deep in the unexplored woods, fully realized. The antevasin was an in-betweener. He was a border-dweller. He lived in sight of both worlds, but he looked toward the unknown. And he was a scholar.”