Vanaprastha Ashrama
This period began when one's skin began wrinkling and one became a
grand father. During this period a person was expected to move away from worldly
matters and get himself ready for his spiritual journey to attain
moksha (the fourth purushartha). He was to do this by delegating his
duties to his children, leaving his family and possession behind and
moving into a secluded place such as a hermitage or the forest . There he
should live like an ascetic and spend his time practicing austerities,
offering oblations, reciting the Vedas and the metaphysical treatises,
and in the acquisition of the knowledge of the self. He should wear a
garment made of cloth, skin or bark to cover his nakedness, wear his
hair in braids, remain chaste, restrain his speech, actions and
senses, subsist on wild growing roots, fruit and vegetables, honor the
guests who visited his hermitage, give gifts but not receive any,
bathe three times a day, promise safety to all beings and animals,
sleep on the ground and so on. These observations were aimed at
controlling ones mind, overcoming passions and developing
detachment from the sense objects and preparing oneself for a more
rigorous life as an ascetic (sanyashi). During this period a person might
take his wife along with him only if the latter agreed to accompany
him.
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