- Period of formal education
- Till age 25
- Male leaves to stay with guru to get spiritual/practical knowledge
Second stage: "Grihastha"-householder stage
- Starts when one gets married and has to support family
Third stage: "Vanaprastha"- Hermit stage
- no longer a householder (grandfather now: children established their own lives
Fourth Stage: "Sannyasa"- Wandering Ascetic stage.
- completely devotes to god (virtually merges with god)
What is the human condition?
- We are subject to suffering due to the desires that we have and to remove these desires is to remove suffering from ones life and reach release from samsara(cycle of birth death and rebirth).
Where are we going?
- We are either going to achieve the ultimate goal of release from samsara (moksha) or we will be stuck in samsara.
- The placement of where one is on their next journey through samsara depends on karma. Acting according to ones caste enables better conditions for release from samsara by way on karma.
How do we get there?
- We achieve the goal of release from samsara or return to the cycle through karma and our actions.
- Hindus are to follow dharma or religious and moral duty and avoid pap (sin) by completing the duties of ones caste in order to rejoin Brahman (the ultimate reality)
- Moksha is achieved through various yoga or paths to liberation
- Bhakti yoga-path of devotion
- Jana yoga-path of knowledge
- Karma yoga-path of ethical actions
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