Ashramas

Traditionally the life of a Hindu is divided into four Āshramas (phases or stages; unrelated meanings include monastery).

The first part of one's life, Brahmacharya, the stage as a student, is spent in celibate, controlled, sober and pure contemplation under the guidance of a Guru, building up the mind for spiritual knowledge . Grihastha is the householder's stage, in which one marries and satisfies kāma and artha in one's married and professional life respectively (see the goals of life) . The moral obligations of a Hindu householder include supporting one's parents, children, guests and holy figures . Vānaprastha, the retirement stage, is gradual detachment from the material world . This may involve giving over duties to one's children, spending more time in religious practices and embarking on holy pilgrimages . Finally, in Sannyāsa, the stage of asceticism, one renounces all worldly attachments to secludedly find the Divine through detachment from worldly life and peacefully shed the body for Moksha.

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