🌟 Sanatana dharma
These duties never change and apply to everyone: truthfulness, non-harm (not hurting living things), self-control, kindness and respect for others. A Hindu is expected to follow them at every age.
Hindu Beliefs about Life and Death » Dharma and the Four Ashramas
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 1, 2.2 (Hinduism)
- What dharma means and the two kinds of duty: sanatana dharma and varnashrama dharma
- The four ashramas, or stages of life, and the duties and goal of each
- The four aims of life
- How far the ashramas are followed today, and how dharma leads towards moksha
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Unlock This CourseDharma: living rightly
The lesson What Is Life For? Meaning, Purpose, Salvation and Liberation explained that religions answer the question of life’s purpose with a goal and a way of living. The lesson Moksha and the Three Margas showed that Hindus see moksha as the final goal of life. But what should a person do in the years before that? The Hindu answer is: live by dharma. Dharma gives everyday life its meaning and purpose, because living rightly is part of the journey towards moksha.
Key terms:
- Dharma (recap from Avidya and Maya: Why People Go Wrong in Hinduism): duty and right living. The word is often linked to the idea of ‘holding together’, because living by dharma holds a person, a family and society together.
- Sanatana dharma: the eternal duties, the same for every Hindu. Examples are telling the truth and not harming other living things. Many Hindus also use ‘Sanatana Dharma’ as another name for Hinduism itself.
- Varnashrama dharma: the duties that belong to a person’s own place in society and their own stage of life.
- Ashrama: one of the four stages of life. (The Edexcel spec prints this word as ‘asharma’.)
Two kinds of duty
🧭 Varnashrama dharma
These duties depend on who you are and where you are in life. A child’s duties are not the same as a grandparent’s. The duties linked to a person’s position in society are explained in Varna, Caste and Gandhi’s Salt March. This lesson looks at the part linked to stages of life.
The Bhagavad Gita teaches that it is better to do your own dharma imperfectly than to do somebody else’s dharma well (Gita chapter 3). This means each person has duties that are truly theirs.
The four ashramas
Hindu tradition describes life as four stages. Each has its own duties and its own goal. Together they make a pattern for a whole life.
📚 1. Brahmacharya: the student
Learning is the main duty. A young person studies, learns the Hindu teachings, respects their teacher (guru) and parents, and practises self-discipline. The goal is to gain knowledge and good character.
🏡 2. Grihastha: the householder
A person marries, has children, earns a living honestly, looks after the family and welcomes guests. They also support the other stages of life by giving food and help. The goal is to serve family and society and to enjoy life in a proper way.
🌳 3. Vanaprastha: retirement
When the children are grown, a person slowly steps back from work and family business. They spend more time on prayer, study, pilgrimage and advising others. The goal is to loosen their attachment to possessions and worldly life.
🧘 4. Sannyasa: the renouncer
A person gives up home, belongings and personal ties to live simply, often as a wandering holy person called a sannyasi. The goal is to concentrate fully on moksha. Childlessness, Contraception and the Sannyasi looks at the sannyasi’s way of life.
The ashramas are not a race. Each stage prepares for the next. A person who rushes into sannyasa without having learned and served as a student and householder is, in the traditional view, missing something.
The four aims of life
Hindu teaching also names four aims (goals) that a person may rightly seek:
- Dharma: doing what is right.
- Artha: wealth and security, earned honestly, so you can care for yourself and others.
- Kama: pleasure and love, such as joy in family, friendship, music and beauty.
- Moksha: liberation, the highest aim.
Artha and kama are not bad. They are good aims as long as dharma guides them. The householder stage is where most of them are lived out. Moksha is the final aim that the other three point towards.
How dharma leads towards moksha
Hindus believe actions have results (karma, from Samsara, Karma and Reincarnation in Hinduism). Living by dharma builds good karma and loosens selfishness, which is how a person can slowly move beyond avidya. By doing duty at each stage without clinging to the rewards, a person is prepared for the last stage, when moksha becomes the main focus. In this way dharma links everyday life to the highest goal.
Are the ashramas followed today?
Hindus give different answers.
- An ideal pattern more than a rule. Very few Hindus follow all four stages exactly, and tradition does not force anyone to. Most see them as a guide: learn first, then work and raise a family, then gradually give more time to prayer and service.
- Women. In traditional texts the stages are described mainly for men, and a woman’s duties were usually linked to her role as wife and mother. Today many Hindu women study, work and lead religious lives in their own right, and some become sannyasinis (women renouncers).
- Hindus outside India. In places such as the UK, Hindus often work, study and raise families in busy modern settings. Retirement may mean helping grandchildren, volunteering at the mandir (temple) or visiting India on pilgrimage, not leaving home for a forest. Few become sannyasis.
Common mistakes
- Thinking dharma just means ‘religion’. It means duty and right living, which is wider.
- Mixing up the stages. Brahmacharya is the student, grihastha the householder, vanaprastha retirement, sannyasa renunciation.
- Saying every Hindu must become a sannyasi. The stages are an ideal pattern, and most Hindus never reach the fourth.
- Writing that artha and kama are wrong. They are valid aims when guided by dharma.
- Saying all Hindus follow the ashramas in the same way today.
Exam-style question
(a) Identify three of the four ashramas in Hinduism. [3 marks]
(b) Choose one religion. Outline two teachings about how living rightly gives life meaning in this religion. [4 marks]
(c) Choose one religion. Explain why there are different attitudes to the stages of life in this religion. [6 marks]
(d) ‘A person can find the purpose of life without leaving their family.’ Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks]
Model answer
(a) 1. Brahmacharya, the student stage (1). 2. Grihastha, the householder stage (1). 3. Vanaprastha, the stage of retirement (1). (Sannyasa is also correct.)
(b) Hinduism: Hindus follow sanatana dharma, eternal duties such as truthfulness and non-harm (1), which they believe give daily life a moral purpose (1). Hindus also follow the duties of each ashrama (1), for example studying as a student and caring for the family as a householder, which prepares them for moksha (1).
(c) Hindus have different attitudes because the stages are an ideal pattern, not a strict rule. Some traditional Hindus, especially those who value renunciation, hope to follow all four stages and see sannyasa as the best preparation for moksha. Many other Hindus accept the first three stages but do not expect to leave home, because being a good householder and carrying out their duties to family and society is a way of living by dharma. Attitudes also differ with circumstances. Women’s duties were traditionally linked to home, though today many Hindu women study, work and may become sannyasinis. Hindus outside India often live busy modern lives, so retirement may mean helping family or the mandir, not leaving home.
(d) Plan. For: the householder stage is itself an ashrama and a stage of dharma, so serving family is part of the purpose of life; the Gita teaches doing duty without clinging to the results (karma marga), which can be done at home; the four aims include artha and kama, which are good when guided by dharma; most Hindus never become sannyasis, yet follow Hinduism fully. Against: the tradition says moksha is the highest aim and sannyasa is the stage fully devoted to it; some Hindus believe family ties keep people attached to the world; non-religious people would say that purpose can be found in other ways, or that the question of purpose is not needed at all. A possible conclusion: for most Hindus the purpose of life can be pursued within the family, because dharma at the householder stage leads towards moksha, though some will always see renunciation as the most direct route.
Exam tip
For a question about the stages of life, name each stage in its Hindu word and give its duty or goal. A list of terms without a duty or goal scores very little.