Hinduism Stages of Life

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS FROM THE READING

What are the Stages of Life in Hinduism and how do they relate to the four aims? Where do you place yourself? Can an individual occupy different stages at once?

According to Hinduism, people follow various paths as they try to fulfil their desires. Essentially, individuals are different and they also move through different stages. The stages are made up of four phases which dictate how people conduct themselves as well as how they relate to one another. In the first stage, a person is viewed as a student. It is important to note that in this stage, a student’s main role is to grasp all that which was taught by the teacher and learn. This is where the student acquires character and his or her habits cultivated. At the end of this stage, a student is supposed to have acquired all the skills that would help him or her be effective and good in life. The next stage involves a householder which begins with marriage whereby attention is given to the three fronts of life. These are; community, vacation, and family. The third stage of life involves retirement which in most cases comes after the first grandchild is born. The final stage of life, which Bhagavad Gita defines as the most important stage in life, involves the realization by a person that his joy rests in being united with God. This stage is known as recunciation. On this front, a person devotes himself to the way of God according to Hinduism.

The four stages of life relate to the four aims of life in that at any stage, a person accomplishes what they want in life. For instance, the first stage, which is the life of a person as a student relates to the two aims of life which constitute the path of desire. Essentially, a person learns so as to be equipped with skills and knowledge to pursue pleasure and succeed in life. According to Hindu, a person should follow or seek success and pleasure if that is what they believe they want. Through knowledge, skills, and following a certain career path, an individual can be able to fulfil her desires in life. In this stage, a person can also pursue the path of renunciation through spiritual growth - whereby the said person will learn about self-discipline, contentment, self-control, and other habits such as truthfulness.

The second stage of life, which involves marriage, also relates to the path of desire as an individual tries to give attention to the three fronts of life. Essentially, when an individual pays attention to family, he is primarily fulfilling the desire of pleasure. When participating in community affairs, an individual is fulfilling his duty of being sensitive to the needs of others and being compassionate. The third stage of life relates to both the path of desire and the path of renunciation. Essentially, a person tries to discover who they are during retirement whereby they could work on philosophies so as to find the reality about life through yoga. On the other hand, a person can discover who they are by pursuing economic gains. In Hindu, the said philosophy is based on spiritual practices such as spending time in ashrams, going to pilgrimage, reading the scriptures, and giving back to the community through volunteering. The fourth stage relates to the fourth aim of life which is recunciation. As an individual tries to realize his joy, he devotes himself to spiritual growth by following the way of God. In this case, the said individual realizes about God through knowledge, through love and devotion, through intellectual work or devotion, or through psychophysical experiments that involve mental exercises and meditation.