Asrama or ashrama literally means a hermitage, a shelter, hut or a dwelling place for the ascetics. It also means a refuge or a resting ground. In the Vedic tradition asrama means a stage in the life of a human being. Hindu tradition recognizes four stages or asramas in human life, namely brahmacarya, grihasta, vanaprastha and sanysa. Of these people had the option to enter into all the four or the first three.
Not all people entered into the fourth stage. And among those who entered into it, a few resorted to it directly from the stage of brahmacarya without the intervening two stages. If life is a learning and evolving experience for the beings upon earth, the four stages become the four stages of a being’s learning and advancing process. From rebirth perspective, human life is the most precious because in a human body the beings are endowed with intelligence which enables them to discern truth and make wise decisions which may eventually lead to their liberation. Among all the species in the universe, only human beings have the ability to attain Brahman and enter into His immortal world. The asramas provide a great opportunity to prepare them in stages to reach that exalted status. In terms of duties and responsibilities, the four stages are not equal. If life is a sacrifice, the four stages are the four parts of a great sacrifice. If the lifespan of a human being is compared to a day, the first three stages constitute the day and the last one the night. The first three constitute the morning, the mid-day and evening sacrifices in which the worshippers make offerings to the sun and the fourth the night when one withdraws from all activity and prepares for rest. The symbolism and significance of the four asramas in human life.
| Asrama | Age | Presiding Deities | Aspects of Brahman | Knowledge |
| Brahmacarya | Childhood | Brahma and Sarasvathi | Viraj | Lower knowledge |
| Grihasta | Young Age | Vishnu and Lakshmi | Iranyagarba | Wordly knowledge |
| Vanaprastha | Middle Age | Shiva and Parvathi | Ishvara | Higher Knowledge |
| Sanyasa | Old Age | Ishvara | Brahman | Self-Knowledge |
| Asrama | Type of Sacrifice | Gain | Purushartha |
| Brahmacarya | Morning Sacrifice | Knowledge | Dharma |
| Grihasta | Mid-day sacrifice | Wealth and progeny | Artha and Kama |
| Vanaprastha | Evening Sacrifice | Wisdom | Moksha |
| Sanyasa | Internal Sacrifice | Liberation | Moksha |
| Asrama | Resting place | Main Duty | Supporting organ | Parts of Vedas |
| Brahmacarya | Gurukula | Study | Mind and senses | Samhitas |
| Grihasta | Svagriha | Sacrifice | Intelligence | Brahmanas |
| Vanaprastha | Forest dwelling | Contemplation | Breath | Aranyakas |
| Sanyasa | The world | Renunciation | Self | Upanishads |
A person is expected to perform different types of duties (shramas) during the four stages in order to attain moksha, the fourth and the highest aim of human life. Assuming that the life of an individual upon earth is about 100 years for each birth, each ashrama covers roughly a span of 20-30 years. In terms of time spent the four stages are neither equal nor the same for all individuals. The time spent in learning their respective professions varied from caste to caste and also in meeting their obligations as householders. Some castes were not required to enter into all the four stages. According to some even the Kshatriyas had the option to enter into only the first three. The Asrama dharma was not applicable to certain castes and women. According to the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, when Yajnavalkya decided to renounce worldly life, he entrusted the family matters to his two wives and went to the forests alone. Women undertook some responsibilities in the households and assisted their husbands in performing their duties, but they were not expected to enter into all the four stages as the men did.
Brahmacarya
The period falls approximately from the initiation ceremony (Upanayana) until the end of the studentship. In olden days, it usually began with the departure of the student to the house of his teacher following the upanayanam ceremony, which marked his birth as dwija or twice born. During this period young children were expected to enter a gurukula, live there under the care of a guru or learned master and become educated in the Vedas and other scriptures. The students had a responsibility not to abandon their education under any circumstances. Only death should separate them from their masters. They were not to stay anywhere else other than in the house of their teachers whom they had to obey all the time except in certain cases like actions (of the teachers) that led to the loss of their caste. They were also expected to observe austerities like not taking bath with hot water, not using perfumes or ornaments, in addition to practicing complete celibacy or brahmacarya. This was also the time during which a student became conversant with the academic aspects of dharma, the first aim (purushartha) of human life according to Hinduism. Some of these rules prescribed for the students in the gurukulas varied depending upon to which caste they belonged. If the teacher was a Ksatriya, the Brahmana students under him had some liberties. They were not expected to serve their master directly as the other students, such as fetching him drinking water or arranging for his bath or perform menial services in his household.
Grihasta Ashrama
Once a student returned to his home from the gurukula after completing his education, having developed his body and mind fully and became adept in the Vedic knowledge, he was entitled to get married and lead the life of a householder. The Hindu law books prescribed that as a householder a person should take the wife an equal caste who was not married before, who did not belong to the same gotra and who was younger than him. He should work in order to increase the wealth of his family and pay the religious debts he owed to his father, ancestors, rishis and other beings. He should take care of his parents and grand parents, children and wife by performing necessary duties of a householder towards his family in addition to performing his social duties such as preservation of dharma and varna, honoring the guests who came to the house and helping the poor and the needy. He should perform religious ceremonies and make sacrificial offerings as prescribed by the scriptures. He should also recite the Vedas, avoid the food of outcastes, approach his wife in proper season, wear the sacrificial thread, observe austerities as prescribed and feed the animals and the hungry. A householder pursued artha (second purushartha) and kama (third purushartha) in the prescribed manner during this period based on the knowledge of dharma (first purushartha) he gained during his studentship and prepared himself ready for the moksha the fourth aim of human life.
Vanaprastha Ashrama
This period began when one’s skin began wrinkling and one became a grand father. During this period a person was expected to move away from worldly matters and get himself ready for his spiritual journey to attain moksha (the fourth purushartha). He was to do this by delegating his duties to his children, leaving his family and possession behind and moving into a secluded place such as a hermitage or the forest . There he should live like an ascetic and spend his time practicing austerities, offering oblations, reciting the Vedas and the metaphysical treatises, and in the acquisition of the knowledge of the self. He should wear a garment made of cloth, skin or bark to cover his nakedness, wear his hair in braids, remain chaste, restrain his speech, actions and senses, subsist on wild growing roots, fruit and vegetables, honor the guests who visited his hermitage, give gifts but not receive any, bathe three times a day, promise safety to all beings and animals, sleep on the ground and so on. These observations were aimed at controlling ones mind, overcoming passions and developing detachment from the sense objects and preparing oneself for a more rigorous life as an ascetic (sanyasi). During this period a person might take his wife along with him only if the latter agreed to accompany him.
Sanyasa Ashrama
This is the final phase of human life during which a person should devote his life and activities in the pursuit of moksha (the fourth purushartha) or final liberation. Regarding the ascetic life, the following verses are quoted from the Vashista Sutras. The person has to wear a single garment or cover his body with a skin or with grass that has been nibbled at by a cow. He has to sleep on the bare ground. He has to stay at the extremity of the village, in a temple, or in an empty house, or at the root of a tree and frequently change his residence. He shall be an ascetic who lives constantly in the forest and constantly seek in his heart the knowledge of the universal soul. He has to live as a person, though not mad, appear like one out of his mind. He should subdue his organs of sensation and action, renounce all sensual gratification, fix mind in meditation on the Supreme Spirit, and be (wholly) indifferent (to pleasure and pain). He shall not wander about within sight of the village-cattle. He shall not wear any visible mark of his order nor follow any visible rule of conduct.
IMPORTANCE OF GRIHASTHA ASHRAMA
Introduction:
According to P. H, Prabhu, “after the course of study is over in accordance with the Dharmas laid down for the Brahmachari, he takes a bath , symbolic of his completion of that Ashrama course; so he now becomes a Snataka. He now becomes fit to enter the next Ashrama, viz., the Grihastha Ashrama.” This ceremony is technically called Samavartana. This is considered to be the most important period of tire life of an individual. It is believed that the future course of his life depends on this Ashrama, It is the test of his ability, wisdom, social morality and social adaptability. What he has learnt in theory is put into practice in the
Ashrama.
Objectives:
The objectives of Grihastha Ashrama highlight the excellence of Grihastha Ashrama. This is due to several reasons. First, as Gautama points out, the Grihastha Ashrama is the source of the other Ashramas “because the others do not produce offspring.” Second, Yajnavalkya correctly observes that this is only a stage in which all of the Purusarthas are jointly realized.
Thirdly, it is the opinion of all the writers that the family is basic to the Varna system. It provides the regulatory machinery for the strict enforcement of Vama informing its members of their duties, and imbuing them with the Varna spirit. These are some of the reasons why the householder stage is given a central place, and why the ethical codes governing it are invested unequivocally with divine authority. Thus, after spending 25 years as a Brahmachari and finishing his education, a man marries and enters the Grihastha Ashrama. According to Mann Smriti, as all creatures live by receiving support from the air, so other Ashramas subsist by relying for support on the householder and that as men belonging to all the three other orders (Ashramas) are supported from day-to-day by the householder along with gifts of food and sacred knowledge,. The householder is, therefore, the most excellent Ashrama. Manu reiterates the same sentiments under a different figure “just as all big and small rivers find a resting place in the ocean, so men of all Ashramas find support in the householder and the householder is declared to be the most good of all Ashramas by the precepts of the Veda and Smritis since he supports the other three. According to Mahabhartha, as all beings live on the support given by their mothers, so other Ashramas subsist on the support of the order of householder.
Types of Grihasthas:
The Dharmasastras divide householders into several varieties such as “Salina” and “Yayavara” The “Salma*1 is one who dwells in a house, is possessed of servants and cattle, has a fixed place and a fixed village and has grain and wealth and follows the life of worldly people. The “Yayavara” is one who subsists by the best of livelihood, viz., picking up grains that fall down when the corn that is reaped is taken to the house or threshing floor by the owner and who does not accumulate wealth or who does not earn his livelihood by officiating as priest, or by teaching or by accepting gifts.
- According to Manu the householders may be divided into four varieties viz., one who possesses enough to fill a granary or store filling a corn jar, one who collects as much as will satisfy his needs for three days, or one who makes no provision for the
tomorrow. - According to Yajnavalkya Smiiti Salina is of four varieties viz., one who maintains himself by officiating as a priest, teaching Veda, accepting gifts, agriculture, trade and breeding cattle, one who subsists by the first three out of the above six, one who
subsists by officiating as a priest and by teaching, one who subsists by teaching alone. - Again Vaidika Dharma Sutra divides householders into four classes. The first class (called Vartavrtti) maintains itself by agriculture, cattle rearing and trade; the second (Salina) observes various Niyamas, offers Pakayajnas (sacrifices of cooked food), kindles the srauta fires, offers the Darsa and Pumamasa sacrifices each half month, offers caturmasyas, in each half year, offers an animal sacrifice and each year the Soma sacrifice; the third (yayavara) is engaged in the six actions viz., offering
sacrifices, of havis and Soma, officiating as priest at such sacrifices, studying the Veda and teaching it, making gifts and receiving them, constantly attends his fires Srauta and Smarts, and gives food to guests that come to him; the fourth called Ghoracarika, one whose rules are awfully difficult to observe, is observant of Niyamas, offers sacrifices but does not officiate at others’ sacrifices, studies the Veda but does teach it, makes gifts but does not receive them, maintains himself on com fallen in the fields etc., is absorbed in Narayana, performs Agnihotra in the morning and evening.
Daily duties:
The Dharmasastras have prescribed three duties to the householders:
a) Nitya karma (the daily duties),
b) Naimittika karma (the duties on purpose),
c) Kamya karma (duties desired along with duties peculiar to one’s own Varna).
According to Dharmasastras, the Mitya karma (the daily duties) must take place every day. They divide daytime into eight parts and describe the duties that the householders have to perform in these eight parts of the day. Yajnavalkya Smriti prescribes the following daily duties (Nitya karma) for the householder:
- a) A householder should perform every day a Smriti rite (i.e., a domestic rite prescribed by the sacred law, Smriti) on the nuptial fire or on the fire brought in at the time of the partition of ancestral property. *
- b) He should perform a Vedic rite on the sacred fires.
- c) Having attended to the bodily.calls, having performed the purificatory rites, and after having first washed the teeth, a twice- bom (Aryan) man should offer the Morning Prayer.
- d) Having offered oblations to the sacred fire, becoming spiritually composed he should murmur the sacred verses addressed to the sun god.
- e) He should also learn the meaning of the Veda and various sciences.
- f) He should then go to his lord for securing the means of maintenance and progress.
- g) Thereafter having bathed he should worship the gods and also offer libations of water to the manes.
- h) He should study according to his capacity the three Vedas, the Atharva Veda, the Puranas, together with the Itihasas (legendary histories), as also the law relating to the knowledge of the self, with a view to accomplishing successfully the sacrifice of muttering prayers.
- i) Offering of the food oblation offering with the proper utterance, performance of Vedic sacrifices study of the sacred texts, and honouring of guests, these constitute the five great daily sacrifices dedicated respectively to the spirits the manes, the gods, the Brahmans the men.
- j) He should offer the food oblations to the spirits (by throwing it in the air) out of the remnant of the food offered to the gods.
- k) He should also cast food on the ground for dogs, untouchables and crows.
- J) Food, as also water, should be offered by the householder to the manes and men day after day.
- m) He -should continuously carry on his study. He should never cook for himself only.
- n) Children, married daughters living in the lather’s house, pregnant women, sick persons, girls as also guests and servants only after having fed these should the householder and his wife eat the food that has remained.
- o) Having risen before dawn the householder should ponder over what is good for the self
- p) He should not, as far as possible, neglect his duties in respect of the three ends of man, namely, virtue, material gain and pleasures, at their proper times.
- q) Learning, religious performance, age, family relations and wealth, on account of these and in the order mentioned are men honourned in society.
The routine duties of the householder are thus mainly concerned with rituals, procreation, conjugal functions and social duties.
Purposive and Desired duties:
The purposive and desired duties of a bachelor are concerned with his ethical awareness, values, knowledge, and social purpose.
a) The mention of the five daily sacrifices shows a broadening of ethical awareness. The institution of gifts (dana) and the warm reception to the guest shows that the main virtue of the householder was social. His values are concerned with three cardinal aims: Dharma, Artha, and Kama. While Man.u Smriti overlooks Kama, Yajnavalkya Smriti gives it equal value along with Dharma and Artha. Thus it presents a more integral outlook. Among the values which added to the respect of the householder, Learning, including both intellectual and ethical knowledge, stood first. It was followed by performance of religious duties, age, family relations and wealth. It may be noted here, that several Dharmasastras proclaimed Artha as the highest value for the householder, while some other give place to learning. It may be agreed that of these two views, the latter was more devalued. Even Dharma at every stage required Artha, at least for social purpose. Dharma involving spiritual values was given the highest position. It was the most necessary requirement for acquiring high social status.
b) Yajnavalkya Smriti has given a detailed description of the householder’s duties of his wife. He must be solely devoted to her, having become one through sacramental bonds; he must satisfy her sensuous yearning, only refraining from sexual intercourse on inauspicious days. Care of the wife is essential because through her the householder begets sons whereby the family is continued both in time and in eternity.
c) The purposive and desired duties include social duties also. Thus the Dharmasastras prescribe to the householder, the actions to be done on getting from bed till going to bed. Rules are prescribed about answering calls of nature, Sauca or cleanliness of body and mind. Acamana or sipping water, Dantadhavana or brushing the teeth, Snan or bath or general cleanliness of the bath, Tarpana, clothes to be worn on different occasions, making marks on tire forehead after bathing, Samdhya, Homa, Japa, etc. Among Mahayajnas are included Nryajna or Mausya Yajna meaning honouring of guests. Thus Yajan has a humanistic meaning. Universal kindliness is the general attitude towards the guest. Another significant prescription is concerning Dana or gifts. It is a special feature of Grihastha Ashrama, The Dharmasastras give a detailed description about the typed of gifts, differences between Dana, Yag and Homa. Persons fit and unfit to be donees, types of donations etc. gifts of land is not favoured. Gifts of horses is ensured in some words. All can make gifts including women and Sudras. Gifts can be of three kinds: Nitya or daily gifts, Naimittika or purposive gifts and Kanya or desired gifts. Making gifts in secret is eulogised. Certain gifts are forbidden. Proper times for making gifts are specified. Generally gifts are not made at night. Gifts at time of eclipses, Sankranti, on Ayana days are specially recommended, proper places for gifts are specified . Various articles of gifts were connected with different presiding deities. The general procedure of making gifts to Brahmanas. Spending money for marriages of Brahmanas and settling them in house is highly eulogised. Temples and Brahmanas are particularly recommended for gifts. Sixteen Mahadanas are prescribed. Gifts of cow was highly extolled, books, hospitals, etc. kinds of invalid gifts were specified along with explanations for accepting such gifts. On some occasions gifts become irrevocable. Detailed rules are given about founding of temples and dedication of wells and other charitable work. Charity is considered more meritorious than sacrifices.
The Dharmasastras prescribe detailed rules about food and meals concerning their kinds, Occasions, preliminaries, postures, procedures, types etc. Besides equally detailed rules are prescribed about sleeping, sexual intercourse, period of menstruation and the duties of the kings in 24 hours. Thus it is clear that the Dharmasastras have prescribed rules for the householder in great details.
Conclusion:
In the Hindu social organisation, Grihastha Ashrama has been considered as a turning point in the life of an individual . One finds that Shanti Parva of Mahabhartha discusses the significance of this Ashrama, .when Yudhisthra decided to become a Sanyasi in disgust against the worldly life . It is believed that it is in this Ashrama that that Dharma, Artha and Kama exist together and these can be used of Moksha. Similar praises about Grihastha Ashrama are found in Smriti literature as well . It is this Ashrama, which lends support to other three Ashramas. Since Grihastha Ashrama combined Dharma, Artha and Kama,
therefore, it can be used as a stage for Moksha, even if there is no opportunity for passing through other stage. He says, “Thus it is said that in the Grihastha Ashrama alone can the three Purusharthas be practiced together, and the three debts rinas can all be discharged satisfactorily.” This Ashrama is also important because a person could learn to live in adjustment with the others. He is also to learn to sacrifice, selflessness, live life of pity and also that of sympathy. Then another cause of importance is that tire Brahmachari, the Vanaprashti and Sanyasi all knock at the door of Grihastha for alms and charity and for promoting all religious and social activities.