Ashrama | Hinduism | Britannica

Ashrama, also spelled asrama, Sanskrit āśrama, in Hinduism, any of the four stages of life through which a Hindu ideally will pass. The stages are those of (1) the student (brahmacari), marked by chastity, devotion, and obedience to one’s teacher, (2) the householder (grihastha), requiring marriage, the begetting of children, sustaining one’s family and helping support priests and holy men, and fulfillment of duties toward gods and ancestors, (3) the forest dweller (vanaprastha), beginning after the birth of grandchildren and consisting of withdrawal from concern with material things, pursuit of solitude, and ascetic and yogic practices, and (4) the homeless renouncer (sannyasi), involving renouncing all one’s possessions to wander from place to place begging for food, concerned only with union with brahman (the Absolute). Traditionally, moksha (liberation from rebirth) should be pursued only during the last two stages of a person’s life.

Ravana, the 10-headed demon king, detail from a Guler painting of the Ramayana, c. 1720.

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Hinduism: Ashramas: the four stages of life

European and American scholars have often overemphasized the so-called “life-negating” aspects of Hinduism—the rigorous disciplines of Yoga,…

Ashrama, familiarly spelled ashram in English, has also come to denote a place removed from urban life, where spiritual and yogic disciplines are pursued. Ashrams are often associated with a central teaching figure, a guru, who is the object of adulation by the residents of the ashram. The guru may or may not belong to a formally constituted order or spiritual community.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Matt Stefon, Assistant Editor.

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