उपनिषद् · Yājñavalkya p2
॥
देवनागरी
स होवाच याज्ञवल्क्यो ब्रह्मचर्यं समाप्य गृही भवेत् । गृहाद्वनी भूत्वा प्रव्रजेत्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
sa hovāca yājñavalkyo brahmacaryaṃ samāpya gṛhī bhavet | gṛhādvanī bhūtvā pravrajet
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
सः ह उवाच याज्ञवल्क्यःsaḥ ha uvāca yājñavalkyaḥand Yājñavalkya said
ब्रह्मचर्यं समाप्य गृही भवेत्brahmacaryaṃ samāpya gṛhī bhavethaving completed studenthood, let him become a householder
गृहात् वनी भूत्वा प्रव्रजेत्gṛhāt vanī bhūtvā pravrajetfrom the household, having become a forest-dweller, let him wander
अनुवाद
And Yājñavalkya said: having completed studenthood, let him become a householder; from the household, having become a forest-dweller, let him go forth to wander.
संस्करण
3bd69a4ce09c · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The usual order of the four āśramas, "shelters," is named: student, householder, forest-dweller, wanderer. It is worth saying a word about this arrangement, for it is, to my mind, the finest thing Indian antiquity devised about human life. Life is divided into four seasons, and each is assigned its own task: to learn, to maintain, to withdraw, to wander.
The merit of such a division is that it does not demand of every season what belongs to another. A youth is not required to be dispassionate; a householder is not required to renounce; an old man is not required to support a family. Let us add what stands behind this and is worth voicing.
Most human misfortunes come from being occupied with what does not suit one's age: a young man playing the sage and an old man clinging to affairs are equally out of place. The Vaiṣṇava side recognizes and holds the order of the four shelters; but she adds to it what is decisive for her, and the distinction is worth naming. The four āśramas are an outward arrangement: they define what a person does. Above them she places what does not depend on the season of life — service; and the Bhāgavatam says that the fulfillment of all the duties of one's āśrama, if it does not lead to devotion, is śrama eva hi kevalam, "labor alone, and in vain" (1.2.8).
Hence for her there is no requirement to pass through all four: what matters is not where a person stands, but where he is turned.