Life’s Four Stages

There are four stages of life according to the ancient yogic texts. They are:  brahmacharya (student), grihastha (householder); vanaprastha (retiree), and sannyasa (renunciant). 

You begin as a student with the focus of learning. This stage continues through your years of education. When you finish your schooling, you get a job and possibly start a family – this is householder. In this stage, you are focused on acquiring things and getting things done. 

Once you become a retiree, you focus on pleasures – doing the things you did not get done while being a student or householder. Retirement can be an active stage of life with a focus on having free time and and filling it with pleasurable pursuits.

Eventually, you reach the stage where your interest in the things that brought you pleasure wanes. You are naturally shifting into the fourth stage (renunication). The external world does not have the same appeal. You begin to focus inward – you are ready to discover who you really are. Life must be lived. As you go through the first 3 stages, spirituality takes a back seat. In the last stage of your life, it becomes the most important thing.

[Source:  Teachings by Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati, spiritual leader and master teacher at Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram in Pennsylvania. (C) 2014, S.T.C., Inc., All right reserved. Svaroopa® is a registered service mark of S.T.C., Inc.]