Ashramas: The Four Stages Of Life

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Upanishads elaborated the social doctrine of the four ashramas (stages of life). This concept is an attempt at harmonizing the conflicting tendencies of Hinduism into one system.

It held that a member of the three higher classes should first become a chaste student (brahmachari); then become a married householder (grihastha), discharging his debts to his ancestors by begetting sons and to the Gods by sacrificing; then retire as a vanaprastha, without his wife, to the forest to devote himself to spiritual contemplation; finally, become a homeless wandering ascetic (sannyasin). The situation of the forest dweller was always a delicate compromise that remained problematic. And was often omitted or rejected in practical life.

Caste System

The religious sanction and framework given to the caste system in India have made it a particularly powerful social tool – a rebellion against caste becomes a rebellion against religion, with consequences in this and future lives – and has been a factor in its remarkable endurance to this day.

The caste system appears to have evolved some time after the arrival into northern India of the Indo- European tribes known as the Aryans, a nomadic people, around 1500 BC, after the collapse of the Indus Valley civilization.

The Hindu scriptures teach that there are many Gods, incarnations of Gods, persons of God and that everything is God, Brahman. In spite of the belief that the self (atman) of all living beings is actually Brahman, an oppressive caste system evolved in which the Brahmins, the priestly caste, possess spiritual supremacy by birth. They are the teachers of the Vedas and represent the ideal of ritual purity and social prestige.

On the other hand, the Sudra caste are excluded from religious status and their sole duty in life is “to serve meekly” [1] Manava Dharmasastra 1.91 ( The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol.20, p.553 ). the other three castes and their thousands of subcastes.

Varnas

The Aryans divided human society into four groups (varna, the Sanskrit word for color).

The four varnas, in descending order of status are:

children”(Srimad Bhagwatam). For the ordinary Hindu, the main aim of worldly life lies in conforming to social and ritual duties, to the traditional rules of conduct for one’s caste – the karma path.

Those who performed the most menial tasks, such as the sweepers, and those who collected waste, were left out of the caste system altogether, becoming outcastes or Chandalas.