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:''Ashrama redirects here. See Ashram for the Hindu hermitages.''
An '''Ashrama''' (''āśrama'') in Hinduism is one of four stages in an age-based social system as laid out in the Manu Smrti and later Classical Sanskrit texts.
Under the Ashram system, the average human life was regarded as hundred years, consisting of four sections of twenty-five years each. The individuals would start out as students, become householders, give up their homes to be hermits, and finally give up all worldly concerns to become ascetics.^[1].

The Ashram system

Ashram or stage	Age	Description
''Brahmacharya'' (student life)	0-24	The person lives with a spiritual teacher (guru) and practises strict celibacy, a life of moral restraint and devotion to meditation.
''Grihastha'' (household life)	25-49	The person heads a house-hold and seeks ''artha'' (money) and ''kama'' (pleasure and love). This is the period for having children, raising a family, working and fulfilling one's duties towards the society.
''Vanaprastha'' (retired life)	50-74	The person lives partially gives up material desires and guides the society in the distance.
''Sannyasa'' (renounced life)	75-100	The person dedicates his/her life to spiritual pursuits (''moksha''), and no longer partakes in social or political concerns.

The Ashram system is believed by the Hindus to lead to a fulfillment of the four aims of life, namely Dharma (righteousness), Artha (wealth), Kama (desires, passions, emotions, drives) and Moksha (salvation).

Contents

References

See also

External links

References

1. Ancient India Religion

See also

★ Varna in Hinduism

External links

★ The Four Ashrams

★ Living the Four Ashrams of Life