Asramas: The four stages of life
In the teachings of yoga a human life cycle is commonly divided into four stages corresponding to our human development and the responsibilities and expectations at each stage. They are:
Brahmacharya – the student stage of life
Grihasta – working life
Vanaprastha – the `forest` stage of withdrawal
Sannyasa – the period of renunciation before death.
Sometimes these periods are shown as equally divided with lengths depending on the expected life expectancy; thus 1 – 25, 25 – 50, 50 – 75 and 75 - 100. As dietary, medical and lifestyle sciences extend possible human life these figures become increasingly loose. At present few people live to 100 years old, but at least there is the expectation that hopefully we will make it into the final quarter. It is also obvious that we mature at different rates and so a degree of flexibility is desirable.
Brahmacharya is the first period of life. In this time we are exposed to the teaching of our parents, the community and the wisdom of mature men and women. The acquisition of factual knowledge for its own sake is not the primary aim, rather the way in which we can learn and learn how to use that knowledge wisely. In the ancient guru tradition a child (most often a boy) would go to live with a guru at the age of 12 for 12 years. In that time he would learn to serve the guru, and to rote learn many of the sacred texts. After their period of training boys would return to their family life and enter the second stage. In some cases spiritually advanced students would go straight into the stage of Sannyas. Brahmacharya is a period of celibacy.
Grihasta defines that period in life when an individual assumes family responsibilities. He would expect to marry, to have children and to accrue wealth sufficient to provide for his dependents both during this time and also when he ultimately leaves his wife and family to begin the period of preparation for and renunciation. Accumulation of wealth is not seen as antisocial but always there is the expectation that the individual would use wealth wisely and that his life continues to include his spiritual development.
Vanaprastha begins the time in life when an individual begins to withdraw from the world. In ancient India, covered with extensive forests and areas of wilderness, seekers on the spiritual path of sadhana would literally abandon their material belongings and family; walk out of the house with a minimum of things and find a remote place `in the forest` where their intense study of the scriptures and meditation would take place. Sometimes a man would take his wife with him. Life would be austere and without the normal comforts of a traditional home .
Sannyasa completes the stages of human life for the sadhaka. This period may be short or long depending on health and circumstances. The man, or woman, now leaves everything behind that may tie them to this human life. In the extreme this could mean a man discarding even the final cover of a cloth around the waist to wander naked. Rules of the various schools of sannyasa often forbade staying in one place for more than three nights. Accepting climatological conditions sometimes they were allowed to remain within the confines of a village in the winter. Food and any other bodily needs could only be obtained by begging, and then only sufficient for the one day. During the time of wandering the sannyas would travel throughout the Indian sub-continent to visit the principle pilgrimage sites associated with their chosen deity. Death was regarded as an escape from the mortal realm and the opportunity for reincarnation or moksha (release) from the cycle of births and deaths.
In the teachings of yoga a human life cycle is commonly divided into four stages corresponding to our human development and the responsibilities and expectations at each stage. They are:
Brahmacharya – the student stage of life
Grihasta – working life
Vanaprastha – the `forest` stage of withdrawal
Sannyasa – the period of renunciation before death.
Sometimes these periods are shown as equally divided with lengths depending on the expected life expectancy; thus 1 – 25, 25 – 50, 50 – 75 and 75 - 100. As dietary, medical and lifestyle sciences extend possible human life these figures become increasingly loose. At present few people live to 100 years old, but at least there is the expectation that hopefully we will make it into the final quarter. It is also obvious that we mature at different rates and so a degree of flexibility is desirable.
Brahmacharya is the first period of life. In this time we are exposed to the teaching of our parents, the community and the wisdom of mature men and women. The acquisition of factual knowledge for its own sake is not the primary aim, rather the way in which we can learn and learn how to use that knowledge wisely. In the ancient guru tradition a child (most often a boy) would go to live with a guru at the age of 12 for 12 years. In that time he would learn to serve the guru, and to rote learn many of the sacred texts. After their period of training boys would return to their family life and enter the second stage. In some cases spiritually advanced students would go straight into the stage of Sannyas. Brahmacharya is a period of celibacy.
Grihasta defines that period in life when an individual assumes family responsibilities. He would expect to marry, to have children and to accrue wealth sufficient to provide for his dependents both during this time and also when he ultimately leaves his wife and family to begin the period of preparation for and renunciation. Accumulation of wealth is not seen as antisocial but always there is the expectation that the individual would use wealth wisely and that his life continues to include his spiritual development.
Vanaprastha begins the time in life when an individual begins to withdraw from the world. In ancient India, covered with extensive forests and areas of wilderness, seekers on the spiritual path of sadhana would literally abandon their material belongings and family; walk out of the house with a minimum of things and find a remote place `in the forest` where their intense study of the scriptures and meditation would take place. Sometimes a man would take his wife with him. Life would be austere and without the normal comforts of a traditional home .
Sannyasa completes the stages of human life for the sadhaka. This period may be short or long depending on health and circumstances. The man, or woman, now leaves everything behind that may tie them to this human life. In the extreme this could mean a man discarding even the final cover of a cloth around the waist to wander naked. Rules of the various schools of sannyasa often forbade staying in one place for more than three nights. Accepting climatological conditions sometimes they were allowed to remain within the confines of a village in the winter. Food and any other bodily needs could only be obtained by begging, and then only sufficient for the one day. During the time of wandering the sannyas would travel throughout the Indian sub-continent to visit the principle pilgrimage sites associated with their chosen deity. Death was regarded as an escape from the mortal realm and the opportunity for reincarnation or moksha (release) from the cycle of births and deaths.
