Vedic thought earmarks a normal human life span into four stages, the Ashramas. Briefly, these are:
i. Brahmacharya: Student
ii. Grihastha: Householder
iii. Vanaprastha: Retiree
iv. Sanyas: Ascetic
There must surely exist innumerable treatises on Ashrama Dharma with all the teleological questions it raises and I am scant qualified to attempt something so recondite. However, I have though often about making sense of these stages of life in a contemporary setting.
We can do no more than speculate about the way a neonate perceives and comprehends the world he is born into. It would be reasonable to suggest that as he grows, quite quickly, into infant, then baby, toddler and so on, he progressively widens her understanding and starts sprouting little tendrils of engagement that will strengthen into bonds of relationship with that world.
We will jump, jump cut- if you like cinematic vocabulary, to the other end, when at the end life is extinguished and, in a metaphoric sense, all those bonds that connected the person to the world are irreversibly snapped.
How does the journey play out?
Brahmacharya is Empowerment. Unlike many animal species that are born with a full complement of instinctual capabilities that will progressively express themselves to enable efficient survival, Homo Sapiens needs a supportive and nurturing upbringing before being able to function autonomously. Brahmacharya makes this mandatory. After allowing the first seven years for a carefree childhood and plenty of parental indulgence, the child begins a period of study with a Guru that shall transform the untrained innocent into a competent adult.
Grihastha is Enrichment. The child having grown into a capable adult must now harness her skills to social and economic wealth. ‘Kama’ and ‘Artha’ define this stage of life. ‘Kama’ is aesthetic, sensory pleasure. It is also the obligation to procreate and ensure continuity of the family, and by implication, the community into another generation. ‘Artha’ is economic productivity. It behoves the householder to create wealth and be the provider for the needs of the household. Wealth is not just material possession but also new knowledge created in the pursuit of household responsibility. The Grihastha builds economic and intellectual capital.
Vanaprastha is Repayment. The Grihastha having discharged his obligations to ‘Kama’ and ‘Artha’ must now ensure that the knowledge, the intellectual capital he has acquired is preserved and passed on. The practitioner now becomes the Guru to another generation of Brahmacharis. In so doing, he repays the obligations he acquired as a Shishya in the first Ashrama of his life. The Gurudakshina that the Grihastha parent provides for his Brahmachari child keeps the wheels of the Gurukul running enabling the Vanaprastha Guru to persevere at his job of preserving and enhancing the knowledge of the community by transferring it to a new batch of eager minds.
Sanyas is Renunciation. All worldly duties having been discharged as required by the Ashrama Dharma, the by now aged and frail Vanaprastha can shed all connections to the transient and quotidian and return to a higher pursuit, of the divine and eternal. The Sanyasin is bound by no restraint that the first three Ashramas impose and is free to seek the greatest liberation, from the cyclical law of Karma.
Look at the journey once more. Through childhood and Brahmacharya, the individual is caught up with himself and his own preparation for adult responsibilities that will surely follow. The family and the community expect little from him except dedicated pursuit of education. Graduating into Grihasthashrama, the individual must grow outward to encompass responsibility for his personal and professional ‘family’ in pursuit of the prosperity and continuity of both. At the next stage, the sphere of influence extends even further as the Vanaprastha becomes a guru to youngsters from the entire community expanding beyond the confines of the personal and professional ‘Griha’. At the final stage, though, life comes a full circle and the Sanyasin starts a final journey inward. To discover (or uncover-after all they are always there) great truths that because of their universality may be found in the innermost recesses of the being.
On an entirely prosaic level, the Ashramas also demonstrate great wisdom about social psychology. Before parental indulgence can lead to pampering, the child is sent away to practice the stern austerities of Brahmacharya. When the austere brahmachari could slip into premature Vairagya or disillusionment with worldly matters, Grihasthashrama beckons and brings with it the earthly delights of Kama and Artha. These indulgences are not permitted to overpower and corrupt the grihastha as he is conscious of his future responsibilities as a vanaprastha. Only at the very last stage do all fetters, quite appropriately, fall away.
Vanaprastha Ashrama deserves a little more attention, particularly in its relevance to contemporary times. Whatever profession we choose becomes our personal Lakshmi, the bestower of tangible and intellectual wealth. While we may enjoy the tangible fruit, it is incumbent upon us to share, and thereby multiply, the intellectual capital we accumulate. Strengthening our industry bodies by active participation, talking to students of all ages, particularly those who wish to pursue the same profession, taking on pro-bono roles in professional development organisations; all these are excellent options for people at the peak of their careers. Regrettably, very few step up to these responsibilities and risk destroying the intellectual capital that they have so assiduously accumulated through their working years.
It appears that ancient seers everywhere had similar insight. Look at what the very first book of the Bible, Genesis 9:7 exhorts the people of the Book, “And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein”. What a wonderful way to summarise the responsibilities of Grihastha and Vanaprastha Ashramas in just a single sentence.
