Hindu Ashrams/Organizations
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Hindu Ashrams/Organizations
Customs of Hinduism
Four Ashrams / Stages in Hinduism
In Vedic times, the normal human life was regarded as eighty-four years,
consisting of four sections of twenty-one years each. The first twenty-one
years is called the "Brahmacharya ashram", the stage of youth or
learning, which requires a certain discipline, guidance and purity for its
full flowering.
The second twenty-one years, from ages twenty-one to forty-two, is called
the "Grihastha ashram" or householder phase. This is the main time
for having children and raising a family, as well as for working and
fulfilling our duties to society.
The third section of twenty-one years, from ages forty-two to sixty-three is
the "Vanaprastha" or the hermitage phase. This is a time for return
to contemplation and for guiding society in the distance.
The fourth and last section from sixty-three to eighty-four is the "Sannyasa"
or renunciation phase. The person, now an elder full of wisdom, inwardly
aims to renounce all the outer goals of life. He also becomes a teacher of
the spiritual knowledge and no longer partakes in social or political
concerns.
In this we see that only twenty-one years are allotted for the outer duties
of life. Three-quarters of life is to be devoted primarily to spiritual
study.