The Ashramas (Stages of Life)
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| Stages of life - The four Varnasharma Dharma |
Brahmacharya is the first
stage of life, which is lived in the observance of the vow of perfect
continence and celibacy under the guidance of a preceptor and dedicated
especially to the study of the Vedas and other scriptures. It is a life of
probation and strict discipline. The Brahmacharin is an adherent to the
principle of non-violence (Ahimsa), Truthfulness (Satya), self-restraint
(Brahmacharya), non-covetousness (Asteya), non-acceptance of gifts
(Aparigraha), purity and cleanliness (Saucha), contentment (Santosha) ,
austerity (Tapas), sacred study (Svadhyaya), and service of the preceptor (Guru
Seva). These are the constituent factors in the life of a Brahmacharin. He
shines with spiritual splendour (Brahmavarchas), which he earns by way of
self-control, and on account of this glowing nature of his personality he is
termed a fire-lad (Agni-Marmaka).
While the stage of the
Brahmacharin is particularly devoted to the accumulation of Dharma, the life of
the householder is for the preservation of Dharma, the earning of Artha and the
fulfilment of Kama. He puts into practice the knowledge gained during the
period of Brahmacharya. Artha and Kama should be directed by Dharma. This rule
is a great scientific prescription for sublimation of desire, as different from
its suppression, regression or substitution. The householder is regarded as the
hub of the wheel of life, round whom the welfare of the society revolves. His
is a life of a balance of forces – social duty, personal desire and spiritual
aspiration. This is the general rule for a householder belonging to the
Brahmana class in society.
The Kshatriya has the special
duty of subscribing to the administration of the country by military service
and the governmental system. The Vaisyas, or the trading community, and the
Sudras, or the serving class, have their duties of providing for the economic
harmony and needs of the country and the labour that is required for the
sustenance of society. The classification of society into four castes is not to
be taken in the sense of a rigid mechanical isolation of groups by virtue of
birth and heredity alone, but a logically developed co-operative system of
living instituted for the preservation and prosperity of the whole society
through division of labour based on the quality of persons and the proportion
of the contribution that people can make for its solidarity in accordance with
their aptitude, knowledge and capacity. Svabhava (one's inherent nature)
determines Svadharma (one's duty as an individual in society).
The third stage of life is of
the Vanaprastha and is devoted to the duty of disentangling oneself from the
attractions of the world. Artha and Kama do not any more interest the mind
which seeks only the final blossoming of Dharma into the flower of Moksha
through austerity (Tapas) and inward worship (Manasika-Upasana). The
consummation of this discipline is in Sannyasa, or complete renunciation of
worldly duty and desire, and living a life devoted to the highest meditations
on the Absolute described in the Upanishads.
Though, originally, the order
of Sannyasa as envisaged in Manu Smriti and the Mahabharata constituted a
purely spiritual condition into which the Vanaprastha entered, and it had no
linkage with any special tradition, the order of the monk gradually developed
into a system (Sampradaya) by which the renunciates in different groups were
related to one another by the allegiance they owed to their own particular
orders, and thus formed a section of society devoted to a voluntary discharge
of the obligation of the dissemination of knowledge, in addition to the
individual duty of spiritual meditation.
In its true spirit, Sannyasa
is a spiritual state, and not a social classification, in which established one
learns the art of depending on the Supreme Being by withdrawal of interest from
the particular sources of support in the world. This condition is, however, not
suddenly reached, and four stages even in the order of Sannyasa are recognised.
In the first three stages, called the Kutichaka, Bahudaka and Hamsa, the Sannyasin
lives in fixed residences – but in an increasing degree of freedom from the
need for comfort – and the stages are distinguished by the increasing intensity
of restrictions, in an ascending order, which the Sannyasin imposes on himself.
The fourth stage is of the Paramahamsa, who is absolutely free from all the
wants of a personal life and lives mostly a life of absolute self-dependence
devoted to pure meditation. There are said to be two other stages, called the
Turiyatita and Avadhuta, wherein fixed one does not pay attention to creature
comforts and is satisfied with anything that comes to him of its own accord and
remains mostly in a state of consciousness lifted above the body and its
surroundings.
Sannyasa is also said to
originate from four causes. A Vairagya-Sannyasin is one who enters the order
being prompted by the latent impressions (Samskaras) which direct him to take
such a step. A Jnana-Sannyasin is one who takes to the order due to his grasp
of the import of the scriptures, after a deep study of them, and being
convinced thereby of the existence of the spiritual ideal. A
Jnana-Vairagya-Sannyasin is one who resorts to Sannyasa after deep learning and
also having seen the normal enjoyments of life. A Karma-Sannyasin is one who
embraces the order having passed through the stages of the Brahmacharin,
Grihastha and Vanaprastha, gradually. But he who takes to Sannyasa directly
from the stage of Brahmacharya is called a Vairagya-Sannyasin. One who takes to
it for acquiring spiritual knowledge is a Vividisha-Sannyasin. One who embraces
Sannyasa being compelled by impending death is an Atura-Sannyasin. One who
takes to Sannyasa with a feeling that there is nothing except the Absolute is
an Animitta-Sartnyasin.
But Sannyasa is, in the end,
as observed above, not one of the modes or orders of social life but a
condition of consciousness in which it realises its spiritual absoluteness. Man
becomes one with creation, being freed from the bondage of attachment,
convention and anxiety. The soul fixes itself in the Infinite and knows nothing
other than it. The duties of the Brahmacharin, Grihastha and Vanaprastha are
progressive stages of self-sublimation and self-transcendence which reach their
fulfilment in Sannyasa.
The plan of life arranged into
the four stages is a systematic endeavour for the conservation and
transformation of the vital, intellectual, moral and spiritual aspects of human
nature towards the purpose of the attainment of Moksha, or liberation in the
Absolute. It is the process of integration not only of the individual but of
the family, community, nation and the world at large, through the expression of
the great preservative force tending to universal solidarity – Dharma. The
great hymn of the Veda, the Purusha-Sukta, makes the four aspects of the caste
system limbs of the Supreme Being, thus teaching that the organic structure of
society is knit into a single fabric with the threads of diversified
personalities.
Here is the philosophical
background of the ethics of co-operation by which the Universe is maintained.
The four Varnas (castes) and the four Asramas (orders) are classifications
based on the three properties (Gunas) of Prakriti – Sattva (equilibrium), Rajas
(distraction), and Tamas (inertia) in their different permutations and
combinations. The four Asramas are the stages of the progressive overcoming of
matter by spirit, externality by universality.
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