Varṇāśrama Dharma: Duties of Varṇas and Āśramas

Varṇāśrama Dharma · varṇa-āśrama dharma, “the dharma of varṇa and stage of life”

Varṇāśrama dharma means the duties (dharma) that belong to each of the four varṇas (the classes of society: brāhmaṇa, kshatriya, vaiśya and śūdra) and to each of the four āśramas (the stages of life: brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa). It gives each varṇa and each āśrama its own duties, disciplines and ways of pūjā.

Besides the duties of each varṇa and each āśrama, there are duties shared by everyone, such as satya (truthfulness), śauca (purity) and ahiṃsā (not harming).

Per Mahābhārata

In Chapter 60 of the Mahābhārata‘s Śānti Parva, in the section called the Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva (the teaching on the duties of kings), Bhīshma gives a full teaching on varṇāśrama dharma. It closes the first large block of his teaching on rājadharma.

Bhīshma has already spoken about the saptāṅga (the seven limbs of a kingdom), shāḍguṇya (the six methods of foreign policy), the maṇḍala theory (the circle of neighbouring kingdoms) and the tradition of nītiśāstra (the science of statecraft). He now turns to the social order of dharma that the king is charged with protecting. He separates nine sāmānya dharmas, duties common to every varṇa, from the particular duties of each of the four varṇas, and he names the protection of this order as the king’s highest duty beyond his own person.

The King as Protector of Varṇāśrama Dharma

Bhīshma‘s teachings on rājadharma reach a basic principle in this chapter: the king’s most essential duty to society is to protect the varṇāśrama order. This is the framework of dharma in which each person lives according to their varṇa (social station) and āśrama (stage of life). Without this protection, saṃkara arises: the mixing of varṇas and the blurring of the lines of dharma. Bhīshma sees this as the worst social disaster a king can allow.

The story of Pṛthu in Chapter 59 has already shown this. When Pṛthu was consecrated as the first righteous king, he vowed: “I shall protect all worlds from the chaos of saṃkara. Righteousness I will uphold. Unrighteousness I will suppress.” Chapter 60 gives the content of the dharma that the king must protect.

The Nine Sāmānya Dharmas: Duties Shared by All

Bhīshma lists nine dharmas that are sāmānya, common to all human beings whatever their varṇa or āśrama. They are the basic moral commitments without which no person, and no king, can live a life of dharma:

Ahiṃsā: not harming; the basic commitment not to hurt any living being without need
Satya: truthfulness; speech that matches what is real and what one truly knows
Asteya: not stealing; not taking what belongs to another
Śauca: purity; cleanliness of body and cleanliness of mind and intention
Indriya-nigraha: control of the senses; the basic discipline of governing oneself
Dāna: generosity; giving as a regular practice, not as a rare act
Dayā: compassion; being moved by the suffering of others
Kshamā: forbearance; the ability to bear injury, insult and loss without striking back
Dhṛti: steadiness; the inner stability that keeps right action going through hardship

These nine are not only personal virtues. They are the moral groundwork for anyone who takes part in the varṇāśrama order. A person who breaks these nine cannot truly fulfil the duties of any varṇa, however carefully they keep its outer forms.

The Duties of Each Varṇa

Beyond the nine shared dharmas, each varṇa has its own duties, which make up its particular way of contributing to society as a whole. Bhīshma sets these out in Chapter 60.

Brāhmaṇa Dharma

The brāhmaṇa’s particular duties are to gather and pass on sacred knowledge. The brāhmaṇa exists to keep the whole Vedic tradition alive:

Adhyayana: studying the Vedas and the Vedāṅgas (the supporting subjects)
Adhyāpana: teaching the Vedas to qualified students
Yajana: performing yajñas (sacred fire offerings) oneself
Yājana: conducting the yajñas of others, especially the king’s
Dāna: giving to those in real need
Pratigraha: receiving gifts from righteous givers, which is the brāhmaṇa’s rightful means of living

The brāhmaṇa’s tapas (spiritual discipline), jñāna (knowledge) and ritual purity are not private possessions. They are held in trust for the whole of society. This is why Bhīshma stresses so strongly the king’s duty to protect brāhmaṇas: an attack on a brāhmaṇa is an attack on the whole structure of dharma that the brāhmaṇa keeps up.

Kshatriya Dharma

The kshatriya’s particular duties centre on protection, government and the right use of force:

Dāna: generous giving from the wealth gathered through royal power
Yajña: performing grand yajñas fitting for a king
Adhyayana: studying the Vedas, though not as deeply as the brāhmaṇa
Śastra-dhāraṇa: bearing arms and keeping up skill in war
Prajā-rakshaṇa: protecting the people (prajā); this is the kshatriya’s highest particular duty
Yuddha: fighting in battle when duty calls

Bhīshma’s teaching makes clear that a kshatriya who dies in battle defending his people reaches the same svarga (heavenly realm) as a brāhmaṇa who dies after a lifetime of tapas. The battlefield is the kshatriya’s yajña.

Vaiśya Dharma

The vaiśya’s duties are the duties of the productive economy:

Kṛshi: farming; working the land that feeds the whole janapada (country)
Gorakshā: protecting and breeding cattle, the foundation of Vedic ritual and of economic life
Vāṇijya: trade; the movement of goods that creates shared prosperity
Dāna: giving part of one’s business wealth to proper causes
Yajña: performing yajñas suited to the vaiśya

The vaiśya is the engine of the kingdom’s economy. The king’s kośa (treasury) depends in the end on the health of the vaiśya economy. A king who oppresses the vaiśyas destroys his own financial foundation.

Śūdra Dharma

The śūdra’s main dharma is sevā, service to the other three varṇas, done with contentment and sincerity and with the dignified aim of contributing to society as a whole:

Śuśrūshā: service; attending to the needs of the dvija (twice-born) varṇas
Kārukarya: skilled craftsmanship; making the goods that keep the economy going
Dāsya-karma: the many kinds of supporting work that keep up the homes, temples and courts of the higher varṇas

Bhīshma is careful to say that śūdra dharma, rightly fulfilled, is a complete path. The śūdra who serves with a pure intention and without resentment fulfils his dharma just as completely as the brāhmaṇa who studies the Veda. The dignity of a varṇa lies in how well its duty is fulfilled, not in the outward form of the work.

The King and the Varṇāśrama Order

Bhīshma‘s teaching places the king at the centre of the varṇāśrama order, yet not inside it in the same way as ordinary people. The king is:

Himself a kshatriya, bound by kshatriya dharma
But also the guardian of all four varṇas’ ability to follow their own dharmas
The one who guards against saṃkara, the blurring of varṇa lines through neglect, force or the breakdown of society
The one who punishes those who stop others from following their dharma

So the king’s rājadharma is a dharma above the others, one that allows all the other dharmas to work. When the king fails, it is not just government that fails; the whole order of dharma in the land collapses. This is why Bhīshma says again and again: “Of all dharmas, rājadharma is supreme — it is the support of the entire world.”

The Guru-Śishya Saṃvāda: Kālacakra and āśrama dharma (Aśvamedhika Parva)

In the Guru-Śishya Saṃvāda (the Brāhmaṇa-Gītā) in the Anugītā of the Aśvamedhika Parva, Brahmādeva turns from the teaching on the tattvas (the principles of creation) to a long teaching on the body (deha) as a kālacakra and on the conduct proper to each āśrama.

The body as a kālacakra (Chapter 45)

Brahmā compares embodied life to a kāla-cakra, a wheel of time. These are its parts:

buddhi (the intellect) is its sāra (essence)
manas (the mind) is its stambha (axle or pillar)
the indriya-samūha (the group of senses) are its bandhanas (fastenings)
the pañcamahābhūtas (five great elements) are its nemi (rim)

The wheel always stays within the “house” of the body. Jarā (old age) and śoka (grief) surround it. It is the birthplace of rogas (diseases), durvyasanas (bad habits) and duḥkhas (sorrows). It moves according to place (deśa) and time (kāla), sounding with the noise of śrama (toil) and vyāyāma (effort) as it turns.

It has a parimaṇḍala (a ring, like the ring around the moon), deeply fixed pegs (avakīlaka), and grooves cut by chāyā (shade) and ātapa (sunlight). The blink of an eye (nimesha-unmesha) throws it into vyākulatā (confusion). It is ghora (terrible), full of moha-jala (the tears of grief), ever turning and jaḍa (without life).

Measured by months (māsa) and half-months (ardhamāsa), its form is vishama (uneven). It appears now as a man (manushya), now as an animal (paśu), now in some other form. It roams the upper, middle and lower lokas alike. It is stuck in the mire (paṅka) of the holding back of action and knowledge that is born of tamas, and it is driven on by the force (vega) of rajoguṇa into both allowed (vihita) and forbidden (nishiddha) actions.

Ahaṃkāra (ego) and darpa (pride) kindle it. It follows the movement (pravṛtti) of the three guṇas in turn. Unfulfilled grasping (arati-grahaṇa) binds it. Duḥkha and mṛtyu (death) are its very life. Lobha (greed) and tṛshṇā (thirst) throw it into rises and falls. Its origin is the many-coloured ajñāna (ignorance, māyā). Bhaya (fear) and moha (delusion) surround it on every side, throwing all beings into delusion while it gathers kāma (desire) and krodha (anger) and ties them with the pairs of opposites (dvandvas) such as honour and dishonour (māna-apamāna).

This lifeless wheel in the form of the body, together with the devas, is the very cause of the creation (sṛshṭi), the dissolution (saṃhāra) and the knowledge of the tattvas (tattva-jñāna) of the whole world. A person who truly knows its coming forth (pravṛtti) and its turning back (nivṛtti) never again falls into moha. He is freed from every vāsanā (habit of the mind), every pair of opposites and all pāpa, and he reaches the parama-gati (the highest goal).

The householder, root of all āśramas (Chapter 45, continued)

Of the four āśramas (brahmacarya, gārhasthya, vānaprastha and sannyāsa), gṛhasthāśrama is the mūla (root) of all.

The gṛhastha dvija (twice-born householder) must master fully the vidhi and nishedha (what the śāstra commands and forbids). This alone gives lasting fame (sanātana yaśas). These are his duties:

First he completes his study of the Veda with the saṃskāras, keeping the brahmacarya-vrata.
Then he takes samāvartana and marries into a family of good qualities (guṇas).
He keeps his love (prema) fixed on his own wife alone.
He follows the conduct (ācāra) of good people (sat-purusha).
He is jitendriya (master of his senses).
He performs the pañca-mahāyajñas with faith (śraddhā) for the devas, the guests (atithis) and the beings (bhūtas). He feeds the devas and guests before he eats what is left.
He does the actions taught in the Vedas (vedokta karmas) with śraddhā, and gives yajña and dāna according to his strength (śakti).
He keeps his hands, feet, eyes, tongue and body from improper acts.
He always wears the yajñopavīta (sacred thread) and white clothes (śveta-vastra).
He keeps the niyamas of śauca and santosha, and the yamas of satya and ahiṃsā.
He gives dāna as he is able.
He always seeks the company of the śishṭa (the good and learned).
He masters the tongue (jihvā) and the organ of generation (upastha), and holds friendship (maitrī) towards all.
He always keeps by him a bamboo staff (veṇu-daṇḍa) and a kamaṇḍalu filled with water. He keeps three kamaṇḍalus: one for ācamana, one for washing the feet and one for śauca.

The brāhmaṇa has six vṛttis (ways of life), named here as adhyayana, adhyāpana, yajana, yājana, dāna and pratigraha. Of these, yājana, adhyāpana and pratigraha are the means of livelihood (jīvikā). Dāna, adhyayana and yajanānushṭhāna (keeping up the yajña) are done to earn dharma (dharma-upārjana). The wise (dhīra) brāhmaṇa householder who keeps all this without carelessness (pramāda), according to his strength, becomes fit to win svarga.

Brahmacarya-vrata-vidhāna (Chapter 46)

The brahmacārī:

studies according to his strength, keeping the maunavrata (the vow of silence);
puts first what is dear and good for the guru;
stays truthful (satya-vādin) and devoted to dharma (dharma-parāyaṇa);
eats only with the guru’s leave, and never finds fault with the alms food (bhikshānna) but regards it as havishya (pure food fit for offering);
keeps a steady seat (sthira-āsana) and fixed times for moving about;
performs agnihotra morning and evening;
carries a staff (daṇḍa) of māredu or moduga wood;
wears silk, cotton, deer skin (mṛgacarma) or cloth of ochre colour (gerua), a muñja-mekhalā and jaṭā;
bathes three times a day;
never puts aside the yajñopavīta;
stays devoted to the study of the Veda (vedādhyayana);
gives up lobha (greed);
offers tarpaṇa to the devas with śraddhā and clean water (śuddha jala).

Vānaprastha dharma (Chapter 46, continued)

The vānaprastha has become uttama-guṇa-yukta (full of the best qualities) and jitendriya. He wins the higher lokas and is not born again in this world.

He is a muni, purified by every saṃskāra and by brahmacarya. He leaves his attachment to home and village and settles in the forest. These are his observances:

He wears deer skin (mṛgacarma) or bark (valkala).
He bathes morning and evening.
He never again enters a village.
He honours guests (atithis) at the right time.
He lives on the forest’s fruits (phala), roots (mūla), leaves and śyāmāka grains, with its water and air alone.
He feeds guests and devas before he eats himself.
He keeps the maunavrata at meals.
He practises mitāhāra (eating little) and indriya-nigraha.
He holds maitrī towards all and is kshamāśīla (patient).
He leaves his beard, moustache and hair uncut.
He keeps agnihotra, study (adhyayana) and japa without a break.
He holds to satya and dharma with the greatest śraddhā.

By this the jitendriya vānaprastha wins svarga.

Sannyāsa dharma: the code of conduct (Chapter 46, continued)

Whether he comes from brahmacarya, gṛhastha or vānaprastha, one who wants moksha should, when he has finished the vānaprastha-vidhi, give abhaya-dāna (the gift of freedom from fear) to every being and take up sannyāsa, the giving up of all karma. He:

holds the happiness (sukha) of all beings as his own;
extends maitrī to all;
masters every indriya;
lives the life of reflection (mananaśīla) and of a muni (muni-vṛtti) on food that comes unasked, as it happens to come (daiva-prāpta);
begs only after the householders have eaten and their vessels are cleared;
is neither glad when bhikshā is given nor sad when it is not;
never stores more than he needs;
avoids places of honour and pūjā;
enjoys neither the bitter nor the sweet in his food, and eats only to keep the breath of life (prāṇa-dhāraṇa);
never begs beyond what is offered, and never harms another’s livelihood by his begging;
never shows his own dharma.

He wanders in lonely places. He sleeps in an empty house, a forest, a garden, at the root of a tree, on a river bank or in a mountain cave. In summer he stays no more than one night in a village, but in the rains he stays in one place. He walks only by daylight, looking at the ground with dayā (compassion) for all beings as he goes, slow in his step like an insect. He makes no saṃgraha (hoard) and forms no attachment to any place. He uses only water freshly drawn each day.

He keeps eight vratas without fail: ahiṃsā, brahmacarya, satya, saralatva (straightness), akrodha, freedom from dosha-dṛshṭi (seeing faults in others), indriya-nigraha and freedom from tale-bearing (akaiṇḍalya).

He avoids stubbornness and crookedness (kuṭilatva). He accepts only food that comes unasked, as it happens to come, without craving it. He takes only as much food (anna) and clothing (vastra) as keeping alive needs. He never begs on behalf of another. He never takes what belongs to another without leave, though when truly in need he may use mud, water, food, leaves, flowers or fruit that belong to no one. He takes up no craft, no gold, no hatred, no teaching (upadeśa) or lecturing (upanyāsa) and no hoarding. He treats every being with goodwill like nectar (amṛta-tulya) without forming close ties. He gives up completely the acts of blessing (āśīrvāda-karmas) and the acts of harm (hiṃsā-karmas), and does no act of loka-saṃgraha (public good), either himself or through others. He is content with little and holds the same feeling (sama-bhāva) towards things that stand still (sthāvara) and things that move (jaṃgama). He causes distress (udvega) to no being and takes it from none. Such a one, trusted by all beings, is declared to be the very knower of moksha-dharma.

He does not brood on the future, recall the past or dwell on the present. He waits for kāla (time) with his mind (citta) fixed in samādhi. He allows no fault-finding with the eye, the mind or the tongue. He does nothing improper, openly or in secret. He draws the indriyas back from their objects (vishaya) as a tortoise draws in its limbs. He weakens the senses, mind and intellect until they are still (nishcheshṭa), and so wins complete tattva-jñāna. He is not moved by the pairs of opposites: cold and heat (śītoshṇa), victory and defeat (jaya-apajaya), loss and gain (hāni-vṛddhi), pleasure and pain (sukha-duḥkha), profit and loss (lābha-alābha). He bows to none. He sets aside svāhākāra and agnihotra. He gives up ahaṃkāra and mamakāra (the feeling of “I” and “mine”) and gives no thought to yogakshema (getting and keeping things).

Without hope (āśā-rahita), without guṇas (guṇa-rahita), peaceful (śānta), unattached (anāsakta), without any support (āśraya-rahita), devoted to the ātman (ātma-parāyaṇa) and knowing the tattvas (tattva-jña): such a one is mukta (free) beyond all doubt.

The ātman is here described as without parts (avayava-rahita), without guṇa and karma, spotless (nirmala), steady (sthira), without sound, touch, form, taste and smell, without attachment (āsakti-rahita), without worry (cintā-rahita), unending (avināśī), divine (divya), and of one taste (ekarasa) within every being for ever. One who knows it thus never again meets death (mṛtyu). This inner tattva (adhyātma-tattva) is reached by none: not by the intellect, not by the senses, not even by the devas, but only by one who is rich in tattva-jñāna.

The jñānī (knower) should look to the world as if he did not know, and should let no act of his stain dharma. He should bear whatever disregard the world shows him, and never blame the dharma of the sādhus. Such a one alone is called a muni.

For the deeper philosophical end of this same teaching, the similes of the great tree (mahāvṛksha) and the two birds, the state beyond the guṇas (guṇātīta-bhāva), and the closing teaching on ahiṃsā and the order of the tattvas, the teaching continues in the same Aśvamedhika Parva.

Per Brahma Purāṇa

Chapter 222 of the Brahma Purāṇa gives an orderly teaching on varṇāśrama dharma. It stresses the six duties (shaṭkarmas) of the brāhmaṇa. It also gives a detailed sannyāsa-vidhi (the way of taking sannyāsa), which includes the rite of agni-samāropana.

The six duties of the brāhmaṇa

It names six required duties of the brāhmaṇa:

Adhyayana: study of the Veda
Adhyāpana: teaching the Veda to fit students
Yajana: performing yajña for oneself
Yājana: conducting yajña for others
Dāna: giving gifts
Pratigraha: accepting gifts from the pure

Together these six cover the whole work of the brāhmaṇa: the sacred duties done for himself and the services he gives to others.

The kshatriya and bhū-pālana

The chief dharma of the kshatriya is bhū-pālana: protecting and governing the earth, that is, the kingdom and the people in it. Training, fighting and protecting the subjects are his main way of keeping dharma. This is given together with dāna, adhyayana and yajana as duties he shares.

The vaiśya and the śūdra

The vaiśya has three dharmas: farming (krishi), keeping cattle (go-pālana) and trade (vāṇijya). The śūdra’s main dharmas are pāka-yajña (the offering of cooked food in household rites) and śuśrūshā (devoted service to the three upper varṇas).

The four āśramas

The order is brahmacarya, gṛhastha and vānaprastha:

Brahmacarya: student life in the guru’s house (guru-kula), keeping all the prescribed disciplines strictly.
Gṛhastha: the householder stage, with the full range of duties in the home, in ritual and in society.
Vānaprastha: the austerities (tapas) of forest life.

The sannyāsa section is different from the others. The way of taking sannyāsa includes the rite of agni-samāropana: taking in the sacred fire that the sannyāsin has tended through his householder and forest-dweller stages. In this rite the outer sacred fire is placed into the sannyāsin’s own body: the fire of Vāc (speech) into the mouth, and the digestive fire (jāṭharāgni) within the body. The outer ritual fire thus becomes an inner presence. This marks the full passing from outer ritual into a life of pure contemplation.

Per Vāyu Purāṇa

Chapter 8 of the Vāyu Purāṇa explains in detail how the order of varṇa (one of four social callings) and āśrama (one of four stages of life) came into being. It did not exist from the very start of creation. It arose in response to changing conditions in the Tretā Yuga, the second of the four ages of the world.

In the Kṛta Yuga, the first age, all beings had natural divine powers, and no formal system of dharma was needed. As those powers faded, farming, houses, cities and the organising of society became necessary, and with them the divisions of varṇa and āśrama. The Purāṇa presents varṇāśrama not as something forced on people without reason, but as a kind adjustment of dharma to what human beings can manage as the ages pass.

The Kṛta Yuga: Before Varṇāśrama

Chapter 8 describes the Kṛta Yuga this way:

All beings had mantraśakti, the natural power of mantra, without any practice or initiation.
Kalpavṛkshas (wish-fulfilling trees) stood everywhere, giving whatever was needed.
No farming was needed, and no buildings or shelter.
There were no varṇa distinctions; all beings were equal in ability and in their standing in dharma.
There were no āśrama divisions (brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa).

Dharma in the Kṛta Yuga was natural and effortless. Beings did the right thing by nature, because their minds were in tune with Ṛta (the order of the universe) without trying. The difference between the human and the divine was very small.

The Tretā Yuga: The Need Arises

As the Kṛta Yuga gave way to the Tretā Yuga:

The kalpavṛkshas slowly stopped giving on their own.
The natural mantraśakti of beings grew weaker.
Extreme weather appeared: cold, heat and rain.
People needed houses for shelter.
Food no longer grew by itself, and farming became necessary.
People needed to work together to survive.

These changes meant society needed to be organised. Without clear guidance from dharma, disorder would follow.

The Setting Up of the Varṇas

Once society needed organising, the four varṇas were set up. They were not a new creation, but a formal recognition of differences in ability and work that already existed by nature:

Brāhmaṇas: those whose nature leaned toward jñāna (knowledge), teaching and ritual — from Brahmā‘s mouth
Kshatriyas: those whose nature leaned toward protection, government and courage — from Brahmā’s arms
Vaiśyas: those whose nature leaned toward farming, trade and supporting society — from Brahmā’s thighs
Śūdras: those whose nature leaned toward service and support of the other three — from Brahmā’s feet

The Purāṇa stresses that these are not random divisions but natural parts of Brahmā’s own universal body. The four varṇas were already present in the vision of the first Purusha in the Purusha-sūkta. What the Tretā Yuga did was build a formal structure around these natural differences.

The Four Āśramas

At the same time as the varṇas, the four āśramas were set up as stages of life:

Āśrama	Stage	Length and setting
Brahmacarya	Student	From upanayana (sacred-thread initiation) through Vedic study; 12–24 years
Gṛhastha	Householder	From marriage through the birth and education of children
Vānaprastha	Forest-dweller	Stepping back from active household life; tapas (austerity) begins
Sannyāsa	Renunciant	Complete withdrawal; the tridaṇḍa (triple staff); focus on moksha (liberation)

The āśrama system was meant to make sure every stage of life was in line with dharma. No stage was to be skipped; going through them in the proper order builds the character and strength needed for the next one.

City Measurements and the Ordering of Society

Chapter 8 also gives measurements for the proper layout of cities in the Tretā Yuga:

Exact sizes for the sacred central area
The layout of the neighbourhoods of the four varṇas
Where to place the yajña-śālā (hall for fire offerings) and the house of the ācārya (teacher)
The ratio of fields to living areas

These measurements show town planning in harmony with the order of the universe. The city is a maṇḍala (sacred diagram) that expresses the principles of varṇāśrama dharma in its very layout.

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa

The seventh skandha (book) of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa gives the fullest teaching on this subject in the whole Bhāgavata. It is spoken by Nārada Maharshi in answer to a question from Yudhishṭhira, in chapters 11 to 15.

The teaching covers thirty qualities of sāmānya dharma (the dharma common to all human beings); the duties of each varṇa and each āśrama; the householder’s dharma, including the pañca mahāyajñas (five great daily offerings); the renunciant’s avadhūta ideal and the conversation between Prahlāda and Dattātreya; the value of santosha (contentment); five branches of adharma; three kinds of advaita (non-duality) as the crowning teaching; and the two paths after death, the Pitṛyāna and the Devayāna.

In the eleventh skandha Bhagavān Kṛshṇa teaches the same dharmas again to Uddhava, in Chapters 17 and 18. Across the whole Purāṇa one rule stands at the root of it all: for dharma practised by varṇa and āśrama, the full siddhi (fulfilment) is that Śrī Hari is pleased.

How the varṇas and āśramas came forth

Maitreya Maharshi tells Vidura that the four varṇas were born from the Virāṭ Purusha, the cosmic form of Bhagavān Vishṇu, together with their functions (vṛttis). From his mouth the brāhmaṇa was born together with the Veda, and so the brāhmaṇa is the chief among the varṇas and their guru. From his arms came the ruling function and the kshatriya who follows it, born as a portion of that Purusha to protect the people of the varṇas from thieves and other troubles. From his thighs arose the vaiśya function, the means of the people’s livelihood: the vaiśya carries on farming, the protection of cows and other work, and earns a living for the people. From his feet arose sevā-dharma, the dharma of service, so that all dharmas might be accomplished; in it, of old, the śūdra was born, and that sevā-dharma is dear to Śrī Hari. These varṇas, born from Śrī Hari, worship Śrī Hari, their guru, by performing their own dharma with śraddhā (faith), and so gain purity of the inner being. In the second skandha Śuka Maharshi gives the same picture to Parīkshit, and Brahmā to Nārada: the vaiśyas are the thighs and the śūdras the feet of the Virāṭ form.

When Brahmā began creation, the four Vedas came forth from his four faces, and with them the four āśramas, brahmacarya, gārhasthya, vānaprastha and sannyāsa, with their dharmas. Brahmā created the four pādas (feet) of dharma, vidyā, dāna, tapas and satya, and the āśramas with their vṛttis (ways of living), in the same order:

Brahmacarya: sāvitra, the three-day vrata a brahmacārī keeps after his upanayana; prājāpatya, the vrata kept for a year; brāhma, the vrata kept until his study of the Veda is complete; and bṛhat, the vrata kept as long as he lives.
Gṛhastha: vārtā, a livelihood the śāstras allow, such as growing crops; sañcaya, living by serving as yājaka at yajñas and other Vaidika karmas; śālīna, living on what comes without asking; and śilāñca, living by gleaning the grains left on the ground after the harvest and in the places where grain is sold.
Vānaprastha: the Vaikhānasas, who eat food from unploughed land; the Vālakhilyas, who give away the food they had as soon as new food comes; the Audumbaras, who live on the food found in whichever direction they face when they rise in the morning; and the Phenapas, who live on fruits that have fallen of themselves.
Sannyāsa, in order: the Kuṭīcaka, who stays in one hut in one place and keeps the dharmas of the āśrama; the Bahūdaka, who does little karma and lives chiefly by jñāna-nishṭhā (steadiness in knowledge); the Haṃsa, established in the practice of jñāna; and the Paramahaṃsa, the jñānī.

In the eleventh skandha, in the teaching of the nine Yogendras to King Nimi, Camasa Maharshi says that the varṇas and the āśramas, brahmacarya, gārhasthya and the rest, were born from the mouth, arms, thighs and feet of Śrī Hari through the mingling of the three guṇas; whoever in these varṇas and āśramas does not serve Īśvara, the antaryāmin who gave birth to all, and slights him, falls from the worth of a human birth and is born among beasts and birds.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 2; Skandha 2, Chapters 1, 5; Skandha 3, Chapters 6, 12; Skandha 11, Chapter 5

The Setting and the Question

After hearing from Nārada the full story of Prahlāda‘s life, Yudhishṭhira was filled with joy. He then asked Nārada a very important question: “O venerable one — you are literally the son of the Creator (Brahmā) and are especially honored among his sons on account of tapas, bhaktiyoga, and ekāgratā. I wish to hear about the eternal (sanātana) dharma of human beings as it is found within the customs of varṇas and āśramas — through which a person attains moksha, the supreme purushārtha. You know the secret supreme dharma.” (Tapas is spiritual discipline, ekāgratā is one-pointed focus, and a purushārtha is a goal of human life.)

Śuka Maharshi tells this to Parīkshit: the account of Prahlāda, who held in his heart Śrī Hari, the one who measured the world with great steps as Vāmana, is honoured in the assemblies of the good, and Yudhishṭhira, rejoicing in it, questioned Nārada again. He added that for knowers of the Veda like Nārada, Nārāyaṇa alone is the highest goal, and that only the good, compassionate and of peaceful nature, know that secret dharma.

Nārada replied: “I bow to Svāyambhuva Brahmā, who is the cause of all dharma. I shall speak the sanātana dharma I heard from Nārāyaṇa himself — the same Nārāyaṇa who, together with Nara (his aṃśa), was born of Mūrti (Daksha‘s daughter) through Dharma and resides at Badarikāśrama performing tapas for the welfare of all beings.” (An aṃśa is a part or portion of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa.)

He then named the three roots of dharma:

Bhagavān Śrī Hari, who is himself the form of the Veda
The smṛtis (remembered teachings) of the great ṛshis who know the Veda
The karma through which the antaḥkaraṇa (inner mind) becomes prasanna (calm and clear)

Sāmānya Dharma: Thirty Qualities of a Dharmic Person

Nārada lists thirty qualities (triṃśat-lakshaṇas) that make up the highest dharma for every human being, whatever their varṇa or āśrama. By keeping them, a person pleases Śrī Hari, the Self of all (Sarvātmasvarūpa):

Satya: truthfulness
Dayā: compassion
Tapas: spiritual discipline
Śauca (bāhya and āntara): outer and inner purity
Sahana: forbearance and patience
Ātma-anātma viveka: telling apart the Self from what is not the Self
Manonigraha: control of the mind
Indriyanigraha: control of the senses
Ahiṃsā: not harming
Brahmacarya: chastity
Dāna: giving
Vedādhyayana: study of the Vedas
Ārjava: straightforward, honest conduct
Santosha: contentment with what comes
Sevā of mahātmās: service of great ones (mahātmās) who see Īśvara (Bhagavān Vishṇu) equally everywhere
Krama-indriya-bhoga-virati: gradually stepping back from activities tied to sense pleasures
Laukika prayatna nishphalatā darśana: seeing that all worldly human efforts are in the end fruitless
Mauna: silence
Ātmacintana: reflection on the Self
Prāṇibhyaḥ anna-pāna vitaraṇa: giving food and water to beings according to their need
Sarvabhūteshu Ātma-Īśvara-darśana: seeing all beings as the Self and as Īśvara
Śravaṇa: listening to the līlās (divine deeds) of Śrī Hari
Kīrtana: singing the glories of Hari
Smaraṇa: remembering Hari
Sevā-Pūjā: serving Īśvara and offering pūjā
Namaskāra: bowing down to Hari
Dāsya: being a servant of Hari
Maitrī: friendliness toward all
Ātmasamarpaṇa: complete offering of oneself to Īśvara
The thirtieth takes in the nine forms of bhakti as a whole: full surrender to Bhagavān Vishṇu

These thirty qualities are the sarvottama (highest) dharma for all people. Qualities 22 to 30 match the navavidhā bhakti, the nine forms of loving devotion. This shows that universal dharma and bhakti are not two separate systems but one.

Dharma by Varṇa

He in whom the saṃskāras such as upanayana have taken place without a break becomes a dvija (twice-born). For dvijas, yajña, study of the Veda and dāna are ordained, and for dvijas purified by birth and by karmas, the karmas of the four āśramas as well.

Brāhmaṇa

The six karmas (duties) of a brāhmaṇa who knows the Veda are:

Yajña-karaṇa: performing yajña (sacred offering)
Yājana: helping others perform yajña
Adhyayana: studying the Veda
Adhyāpana: teaching the Veda
Dāna: giving
Pratigraha: accepting gifts

Of these six, pratigraha is not fitting for a kshatriya. The livelihood of the brāhmaṇa who knows the Veda is of four kinds, each later one better than the one before: agriculture of many kinds and the like; śālīna, living on what comes without asking; yāyāvara, living each day on rice and the like obtained by asking; and śiloñcana, living by gathering the grains that fall to the ground when farmers thresh. A person should not take up the livelihood of a higher level except in times of distress; in distress all except the kshatriya may take up every kind of occupation.

Nārada names the ways of living by their old names. One may live by ṛta (gathering the grains fallen in the field) and amṛta (what comes without asking), by mṛta (begging daily) and pramṛta (ploughing the earth), or by satyānṛta (trade), but never at any time by śvavṛtti, “the dog’s livelihood”, serving a low person for one’s living. Neither the brāhmaṇa who knows the Veda nor the kshatriya should resort to that loathsome śvavṛtti, for all the Vedas are in the brāhmaṇa who knows the Veda, and the king is the svarūpa of all the devatās.

The eleven qualities of character of a brāhmaṇa are: manonigraha (mastery of the mind), indriyanigraha (restraint of the senses), tapas, bāhya-āntara śuddhi (inner and outer purity), santosha, sukha-duḥkha sahishṇutā (evenness in joy and sorrow), ārjava (straightforwardness), vivekajñāna (discerning wisdom), dayā (compassion), Śrī Hari nishṭhā (a mind fixed on Śrī Hari) and satya (truth).

Kshatriya

The kshatriya lives by protecting the people and collecting fair taxes. He does not practise pratigraha (accepting gifts). He takes tax from others, leaving out the knowers of the Veda, and that alone is his livelihood. His eight qualities of character are: yuddha-utsāha (zeal in battle), prabhāva (power and authority), dhairya (courage), dāna (generosity), mano-vijaya (victory over his own mind), sahana (patience), brāhmaṇa-bhakti (devotion to brāhmaṇas) and prajā-rakshaṇa (protecting and blessing the people).

Vaiśya

The vaiśya’s dharma is go-pālana (tending cattle), kṛshi (farming) and vāṇijya (trade), along with serving those who know the Veda. His five qualities of character are: bhakti to the devatās, the guru and Śrī Hari; the right pursuit of the three purushārthas (dharma, artha and kāma: right living, wealth and fulfilment of desire); āstikya (firm faith in Īśvara); kārya-śūratā (hard work at all times); and kauśalya (skill and ability).

Śūdra

The śūdra’s dharma and livelihood is serving those who know the Veda. His seven qualities of character are: vinaya (humility), bāhya-āntara śuddhi (inner and outer purity), nishkapaṭa sevā (service without deceit), mantra-rahita Īśvara-ārādhana (offering upāsanā to Īśvara even without mantras), not stealing what belongs to others, satya, and go-vipra-rakshaṇa (protecting cows and brāhmaṇas).

The dharma of women

For women, Nārada says, the husband is the deity. Serving the husband, being agreeable to him, serving his relatives and keeping his rules at all times are the dharmas of women. The sādhvī, the good wife, keeps the house swept, sprinkles fragrant things and draws raṅgavallīs (rangoli); every day she adorns herself and keeps the things of the house clean. With humility she fulfils her husband’s wishes, small and large, and, self-controlled, serves him lovingly at the proper times with true and pleasant words. She is content with what she gets and free of strong attachment to anything; capable, knowing dharma, truthful and pleasant in speech, attentive, and clean outside and inside. If her husband is not fallen, she serves him with love. The woman who serves her husband with the bhāvanā that he is directly Śrī Hari, as Lakshmīdevī serves Śrī Hari with Śrī Hari as her one goal, rejoices like Lakshmīdevī in Vaikuṇṭha, the loka of Śrī Hari, together with her husband in the form of Śrī Hari.

The mixed jātis

The livelihood of the mixed jātis, who are not thieves and do not commit pāpa, and who live outside the villages and cities, is fixed by their own kulas.

Dharma by svabhāva, and the slow growth of vairāgya

In every yuga the maharshis who saw the mantras (mantra-drashṭās) ordained dharma for human beings according to each one’s svabhāva (nature), in the form of the smṛtis; those who practise it have happiness here and in the beyond. Living by the livelihood his svabhāva fixes and practising his svadharma, a person should slowly give up even that karma born of his nature, go beyond the guṇas and become jīvanmukta, free while living. A field sown too much becomes barren of itself, and even the seed sown in it is lost; in the same way the mind, the home of desires, gains vairāgya after enjoying desires for some time, not all at once. If it enjoys only a few small desires it does not become calm, like a fire into which a few drops of ghee are poured. So, the text explains, while practising svadharma it is good to enjoy some desires in the gṛhasthāśrama, and lasting vairāgya grows in that way.

A Key Principle: Varṇa by Qualities, Not by Birth Alone

Nārada says plainly: “If the qualities (lakshaṇas) of one varṇa are found in a person born in another varṇa, that person’s varṇa should be determined by those qualities — not by birth alone.” So varṇa is not only a matter of heredity. It is tied to the actual qualities and svabhāva (inner nature) that a person shows.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 11

Āśrama Dharma

Brahmacārī (Student)

The brahmacārī must live in the gurukula (the guru’s home and school) with his senses under control, working for the guru’s good and humble like a servant (sevaka). His duties:

Morning and evening, he offers pūjā to the guru, to Agni (the sacred fire), to Sūrya (the sun) and to Śrī Hari, and does japa (repetition) of the Gāyatrī mantra at both sandhyās (dawn and dusk).
He studies all the Vedas and their Upanishads with the six aṅgas (supporting subjects: śikshā, vyākaraṇa, chandas, kalpa, jyotisha and nirukta), as far as he is able.
Morning and evening he goes for bhikshā (alms), offers everything to the guru, and eats only with the guru’s permission.
He wears a girdle of muñja grass, a mṛgacarma (deerskin) and a cloth, has jaṭā (matted hair) or a śikhā (tuft), and carries a daṇḍa (staff), a kamaṇḍalu (water-pot), the yajñopavīta (sacred thread) and darbha grass in his hand.
He avoids añjana (eye-black), abhyaṅgana (oil massage), ornaments, perfumes, garlands, meat and honey-wine.
Concerning women, a young brahmacārī must not deal with women beyond what is strictly needed. “A young woman is like fire; a man is like a vessel of ghee.” For this reason, even his dealings with his own daughter should be limited.

When his studies are complete, the brahmacārī offers guru-dakshiṇā (a gift of thanks to the guru). Then, with the guru’s permission, he may enter the gṛhastha āśrama (married life), go to the forest as a vānaprastha, take sannyāsa, or stay on in the gurukula as a naishṭhika brahmacārī (lifelong celibate student).

Chapter 12 gives more of his discipline. He speaks little and does the Gāyatrī japa with a one-pointed mind. When the guru calls he studies the Veda-mantras with great attention, and before and after study he makes sāshṭāṅga namaskāra (full prostration) at the guru’s feet. If at some time, when he has done wrong, the guru does not give him permission to eat, he fasts that day. He is of good conduct, eats moderately, is able and has śraddhā, and deals with women, and with men under the control of women, only as far as the work needs. He keeps far from talk about women, for the senses are very strong and draw away even the mind of a yati. A young brahmacārī does not let the young wives of the guru dress his hair, massage his body or bathe him, even with nalugu (a paste of turmeric and flour). He does not stay in a lonely place even with his own daughter, and even when not alone with a young woman he deals with her only as far as the work needs. Until a person knows his own svarūpa and is sure that all this, with the body, is only appearance, the sense of difference between woman and man does not leave him, and from it desire arises; so these rules must be kept. This teaching on guarding one’s śīla (conduct) is ordained for the gṛhastha and the sannyāsī too, but for the gṛhastha who lives with his wife, service of the guru and the like are optional. The brahmacārī also gives up massage of the body and looking at pictures of women, and besides his study he reflects on the meaning of the Veda. The guru-dakshiṇā is called here “the vara the guru asks for”.

The brahmacārī should see Śrī Hari, who is beyond all pramāṇas (means of knowing), in Agni, in the guru, in himself and in all beings. Śrī Hari pervades everything and has no need to enter anything anew, yet he appears as though he has entered all things in the form of the jīvas, who are his own aṃśas. The brahmacārī, the gṛhastha, the vānaprastha and the sannyāsī who live thus by rule come to know the ātma-tattva and attain Parabrahma as the ātmā.

Vānaprastha (Forest-Dweller)

Nārada tells the vānaprastha dharmas taught by the maharshis: the person given to reflection who practises them attains Maharloka, the loka of the maharshis.

The vānaprastha leaves the household and lives in the forest, keeping the three sacred fires.

Food: nothing grown in ploughed fields and nothing cooked on a fire; only sūrya-pakva phala (fruit ripened by the sun’s heat), and forest grains prepared as havis (oblation) for his homas (fire offerings).
Appearance: he wears jaṭā, leaves his hair and nails uncut, and carries a kamaṇḍalu, a deerskin, a daṇḍa, a mudaka cloth and a sruk (sacrificial ladle).
Endurance: he bears cold, wind, fire, rain and heat in his own body.
Length: twelve, eight, four, two or one year, as suits him. But he must not let too much kleśa (suffering) destroy his power of discernment.

He does not eat unripe fruit, nor even food that comes naturally out of its season, and as soon as new forest grain is got he gives up the old. He uses a parṇaśālā (leaf hut) or a mountain cave only to protect the sacred fires, and disregards the dirt in his hair, nails and beard. When illness or old age leave him unable to perform the nitya karmas or to inquire into the ātmā, he takes up vratas such as going without food.

The crowning practice of the vānaprastha is a step-by-step meditation of dissolving. He first places (āropa) the three fires within himself. Then, in meditation (bhāvanā), he dissolves every tattva (element of existence) back into its cause:

The senses into ākāśa (space); prāṇa and apāna (the in-breath and out-breath) into vāyu (air); the body’s heat into agni (fire); its fluids into jala (water); the rest of the body into pṛthivī (earth)
Speech into Agni; the hands into Indra; the feet into Vishṇu (Kāla); the organ of generation into Prajāpati; the organ of excretion into the Mṛtyu-devatā (the deva of death)
The ears into the Dik-devatās (devas of the directions); the skin into Vāyu; the eyes into Sūrya; taste into Varuṇa; smell into Pṛthivī
The mind into Candra (the moon); buddhi (intellect) into Brahmā; ahaṃkāra (the sense of “I”) into Rudra; citta (memory and feeling) into the Kshetrajña (the knower of the field); the jīva into Parabrahma
Earth into water, water into fire, fire into air, air into space, space into the jīva, the jīva into the Mahattattva (the great principle), that into Mūlaprakṛti (root nature), and that into Parabrahma beyond time

When everything that is not the Self has been set aside, what remains is the Ātman as pure awareness (śuddha-caitanya-svarūpa), not different from the imperishable Parabrahma. Knowing there is no second in it, the vānaprastha ceases from all actions, like a fire that has burned up its fuel.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 12

Sannyāsī (Renunciant) and the Avadhūta Ideal

A person able to inquire into the Self (ātmavicāra) should take sannyāsa. Meditating on the Ātman without a second, he lives as one who is nothing more than a body (śarīramātra) and moves about without desire. The sannyāsī stays only one day in each village, lives on food given as alms (bhikshānna), delights in being settled in the Self (ātmanishṭhā), wanders alone and serves all beings.

If he wears cloth at all, it is only the kaupīna (loincloth); apart from the daṇḍa and the marks of sannyāsa such as the japamālā he takes up nothing, and nothing he gave up when he took sannyāsa. With all desires quenched, he holds Nārāyaṇa alone as his supreme goal. The ātmā is beyond cause, effect and time; the sannyāsī sees the whole world in the ātmā, and in the Parabrahman that is not different from the ātmā, knowing that the world is superimposed (adhyasta) on the ātmā. At the junction of sleep and waking, when there is neither the covering nor the projection of ajñāna, he looks into the truth of the ātmā, and there he can recognise that bondage and moksha are only imagination: in truth the ātmā has neither. Death is certain for the body and its span uncertain, so he rejoices neither in life nor in death and only waits for Kāla, the cause of the birth and death of beings.

The sannyāsī must avoid:

Interest in śāstras that do not concern the Self, such as astrology and drama
Earning a living through horoscopes (jātaka) or trade
Living by employment
Debate and argument for its own sake
Taking refuge in any party, such as Vaishṇava or Śaiva
Gathering circles of disciples
Studying texts that do not help Vedānta
Founding large maṭhas (monasteries)

For the yati who sees Īśvara in all things with the feeling that all is the ātmā, the outward marks of sannyāsa are not the support of his steadiness in the ātmā; such a mahātmā may keep them or give them up. He does not wear marks that would lay bare his ātma-nishṭhā. Though master of his mind, he shows himself to people like a madman, like a foolish child, and, though learned, like a mute.

The conversation between Prahlāda and Dattātreya in Chapter 13 is the living example of the avadhūta ideal. It is described in its own section below.

Gṛhastha (Householder)

Nārada teaches Yudhishṭhira that the householder should do all the duties of his āśrama with the feeling (bhāvanā) of offering them directly to Vāsudeva, and should serve the mahātmās. With the wealth that comes by divine grace, he must perform the pañca mahāyajñas (five great offerings):

Deva yajña: offering to the devatās
Pitṛ yajña: offering to the pitṛs (ancestors)
Ṛshi yajña: offering to the ṛshis, through study and teaching of the Veda
Manushya yajña: offering to human beings, through anna-dāna (giving food) and hospitality
Bhūta yajña: offering to all beings

Nārada teaches that a person has a rightful claim only to as much wealth as fills his stomach. One who claims more becomes a cora (thief). His vision is universal: all beings, animals included, should be treated as one’s own children. The householder should share things to be enjoyed (bhogya-vastus) with dogs, wrongdoers, fallen people and all beings, according to their nature.

His decisive teaching on anna-dāna is that Bhagavān Vishṇu is more pleased by feeding a brāhmaṇa who knows the Veda (brāhmaṇa-bhojana) than by the āhutis (oblations) offered in a formal yajña.

Yudhishṭhira had asked how a householder like himself, whose mind is caught by the home, could easily reach the direct realisation of the ātmā. Nārada’s answer in Chapter 14 goes on. Whenever his daily duties leave him time, the householder listens with śraddhā, again and again, to the nectar of the accounts of Śrī Hari’s avatāras, in the company of people free from attachment. Body, wife and children will one day leave of themselves; as one who has woken lets go of a dream, he slowly gives up his attachment to them by the power of association with the good. He uses the body and the home only as far as there is need, and though free from attachment behaves among his people like an ordinary man, accepting without the sense of “mine” whatever his parents, children, brothers, relatives and friends do and wish. All his wealth, divine wealth from the rains and the crops, wealth from the earth such as gold, and wealth that comes suddenly, is brought of itself by Acyuta. He does not strain after dharma, artha and kāma, but pursues them only as far as daiva (the divine dispensation) makes them available, according to place and time. He includes even his wife in his service of all beings: the one who gives up attachment to woman brings even Śrī Hari, the unconquered, under his control. With the wealth of his own livelihood he worships Parameśvara in the forms of the devatās, ṛshis, men, beasts and birds, and in the ātmā; when he has all that a yajña needs, he worships Parameśvara with agnihotra and the other karmas by the method of the Kalpa-sūtras; and he honours the devatās, the knowers of the Veda, other men, and beasts and birds with what fits each, worshipping in them all the Paramātmā, the witness within them. Living on what remains after the pañca-yajñas, and giving up the feeling “this is mine” in all that remains, the discerning one attains the ātma-sākshātkāra that the mahātmās attain.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 14

The Conversation of Prahlāda and Dattātreya

In Chapter 13, Nārada tells of an ancient conversation between Prahlāda and Dattātreya Maharshi. Prahlāda was travelling through the worlds with his ministers to learn about the nature of beings. On the bank of the Kāverī river, on the slope of the Sahya Parvata (the Sahyādri or Western Ghats), he came upon Dattātreya lying on the bare ground. Dattātreya was living by ajagara-vṛtti, “the python’s way”: eating only what came to him by itself, and lying still like a python. Prahlāda, dear to Śrī Hari, could not tell from the muni’s acts, face, speech or any mark of varṇa or āśrama whether he was a siddha-purusha (a perfected one), so he honoured him with pūjā and made a sāshṭāṅga praṇāma, touching his head to the maharshi’s feet.

Prahlāda bowed down and put his questions to him:

You have a strong body, yet a body like that must come from wealth, and wealth needs effort. You make no effort. How do you have this strong body without effort and without any sign of enjoyment?
You are learned, able and clever. While the world is busy with its karmas, you stand completely apart. Why?

Dattātreya taught Prahlāda as follows.

On craving and saṃsāra. Tṛshṇā (craving) can never be filled by the objects of the senses. It only brings the jīva one birth and death after another. In this human birth, he saw couples performing karmas to remove suffering and getting the opposite, more suffering. So he stepped back from karmas. The human birth, he said, is the door to svarga by puṇya, to moksha by ātma-jñāna, to births as beasts and birds by pāpa, and again to a human birth by a mixture of the two; wandering through karmas, he had been given this human birth by the will of Īśvara.

The Self is a store of bliss. The Ātman is a treasury of bliss (sukha-nidhāna). When all activity stops, the bliss of one’s own true nature (Ātma-svarūpa-sukha) shines out. Pleasure comes only when the mind touches sense objects through the senses. Seeing this, Dattātreya lives through his prārabdha (the karma already set in motion for this life) without chasing pleasure, and stays happy. The ajñānī (one without knowledge) leaves the water, the bliss of the Self (ātmānanda), and runs after a mirage, the pleasure of the senses.

Two gurus from nature. Dattātreya learned his wisdom from two gurus in nature:

The honey-bee. The bee works hard to gather honey, only for someone else to kill it and take the honey. In the same way, stored-up wealth gets stolen, even at the cost of one’s life. From the bee, Dattātreya learned complete vairāgya (detachment) from all kāmanās (desires).
The python. The python moves for nothing. It waits for whatever comes by Īśvarecchā (the will of Īśvara) and stays content. If nothing comes, it lies still and patient for many days. From the python, Dattātreya learned santosha (contentment).

He spoke too of the rich: greedy, without control of mind, sleepless from fear and suspicious of all, always in fear of the king, thieves, enemies, their own people, beasts and birds, beggars and time, and even of themselves. The man of discernment gives up craving for long life and wealth, for from that craving come grief, delusion, fear, anger, attachment, helplessness and weariness.

The avadhūta’s evenness of mind. Sometimes there is little food, sometimes a lot; sometimes it is tasty, sometimes not; one person offers it with reverence, another gives it with contempt. Dattātreya accepts all of it with an equal mind. Sometimes he lies on bare earth, sometimes on a mattress in a palace. Sometimes he is naked like a piśāca (a wild spirit), sometimes adorned. He does not scold someone who insults him, nor does he heap praise on someone who honours him. He simply prays for their welfare, their moksha.

How to dissolve the sense of manyness. Dissolve nānātva (the sense of many separate things) into the movements of the mind (manovṛtti), those into the mind (manas), that into ahaṃkāra (the sense of “I”), that into māyāśakti (the power of māyā), and that into the direct experience of the Self (ātmānubhūti). Then, settled in the Self, stop the karmas that carry kartṛtva, the feeling of “I am the doer”.

Prahlāda listened to this with great joy, offered pūjā to Dattātreya, and with his permission returned home. Dattātreya had told him this most secret account of himself because Prahlāda had taken refuge in Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa; Nārada calls it the dharma of the paramahaṃsas.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 13

Santosha: Contentment as a Central Virtue

Chapter 15 comes back at length to santosha, contentment, as perhaps the single most important virtue after bhakti:

Even a poor person should not beg for wealth, whether to perform dharma or to make a living. The very desirelessness of the nishkāmī (one without selfish desire) provides a living, like the python’s, whose food comes to it by itself.
The wise person without kāmanās rests content in his own true nature. Where could the one who runs after sense objects, driven by lobha (greed), ever find that joy?
Just as feet in sandals feel no pain from pebbles, so the mind that is always content finds every direction full of happiness.
A brāhmaṇa who lacks santosha loses his varcas (spiritual radiance), vidyā (learning), tapas and kīrti (good name), and his jñāna (knowledge) surely leaves him.
Hunger and thirst end once they are satisfied. Even anger ends once its aim is reached. But lobha does not end even if one enjoys every direction of the world.

Five Branches of Adharma

Nārada names five kinds of conduct that look as if they belong to dharma but are really adharma:

Vidharma: action that puts one’s own dharma at risk, such as practices that go against one’s svadharma
Para-dharma: taking up the dharma meant for someone else, following a path not suited to one’s own nature
Upama: conduct opposed to the Veda, done for show without a basis in śāstra
Ābhāsa: a mere look of dharma; practices made up on personal whim, against the dharmas of the four āśramas
Chala: twisting the śāstra; reading Vedic statements to mean the opposite of what they intend

Those who fall from their āśrama

The gṛhastha āśrama is the root of dharma, artha and kāma. The bhikshu who first gives it up to take sannyāsa and then shamelessly enjoys those same dharma, artha and kāma eats his own vomit. The brahmacārī who has given up his vow of brahmacarya, the gṛhastha who has given up his nitya karmas, the vānaprastha who has given up tapas and enjoys the pleasures of the senses, and the sannyāsī who falls under the pull of those pleasures are the lowest in their āśramas. They only imitate the āśramīs, deluded, fallen into the māyā of Īśvara; one should show them compassion but keep away from their company. The jñānī whose inner being is purified by discernment knows his own svarūpa as Parabrahma; he has no sense of being the enjoyer, so for what would he again grow greedy for the senses?

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 15

The chariot of the body

Nārada gives the image the mahātmās teach. The body, made by Īśvara, is the chariot; the senses are its horses; the mind, lord of the senses, is the reins; sound, touch, form, taste and smell are the roads; buddhi is the charioteer; and the antaḥkaraṇa is the great tying rope. The ten prāṇa-vṛttis, prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, udāna, samāna, nāga, kūrma, kṛkala, devadatta and dhanañjaya, are its axle; dharma and adharma are its wheels; the jīva, who holds “I” and “mine” in the body, is its owner. The Oṃkāra is the jīva’s bow, the jīva is the arrow, and Parabrahma is the target.

The sādhaka’s enemies are attachment, hatred, greed, grief, delusion, fear, pride, conceit, dishonour, fault-finding, deceit, hiṃsā, envy, obstinacy, forgetfulness, hunger, sleep and the like. While this chariot of the body is under his control, he should serve the feet of the mahātmās, take Acyuta alone as his strength, sharpen the sword of discerning knowledge and conquer the enemies within; then, content in the bliss of his own svarūpa, his desires cooled, he can leave the body aside. But if he is careless, the wicked horses of the senses, with buddhi the charioteer, take the wrong road and throw him among the highway robbers, the pleasures of the senses, who cast owner, horses and charioteer into the dark well of saṃsāra, full of the fear of death.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 15

The Three Advaitas

Chapter 15 ends with what Nārada calls the crowning teaching: the practice of advaita (non-duality) in three ways.

1. Bhāvādvaita (Non-Duality in Understanding)

The seeming difference between kārya (effect) and kāraṇa (cause), like cloth and thread, is only apparent. It dissolves in the one reality that has no second. The variety of names and forms is real at the level of māyā but has no existence of its own apart from the Self. This vision of the oneness of all things is Bhāvādvaita.

2. Kriyādvaita (Non-Duality in Action)

All karmas done through mind, speech and body (mano-vāk-kāya) are offered to Parabrahma itself. This is Kriyādvaita. The bhakta does not act as an independent doer; all his actions are surrendered to Bhagavān Vishṇu and done in his name. The action remains, but kartṛtva, the sense of being the doer, dissolves.

3. Dravyādvaita (Non-Duality in Possessions)

In the vision of the sādhaka (spiritual practitioner), there is no distinction of “mine” and “others'” in matters of artha and kāma (wealth and pleasure). This applies to oneself, one’s wife, children, relatives and all beings. All substance is one. This is Dravyādvaita.

By practising these three advaitas together with bhakti to Bhagavān Vishṇu, the householder can reach the same moksha as the sannyāsī. As Nārada declares: “O Dharmarāja! That person who worships Bhagavān Vishṇu with bhakti, performing these karmas and others prescribed by the Veda — even remaining in the gṛhasthāśrama — will attain the svarūpa (moksha) of that Īśvara.”

Before that promise Nārada gives the rule for the householder’s means: whatever thing, got by whatever means and from wherever, is not forbidden to a person at his place and time, with that alone he should carry on his work, and except in times of calamity he should not go near forbidden things. Closing his teaching, Nārada says that the dharma of the gṛhasthas he has described destroys pāpa, and that gṛhasthas who follow it easily reach the goal that sannyāsīs reach. He tells Yudhishṭhira that he is greatly fortunate, for the hidden Parabrahma lives in his house in human form as Śrī Kṛshṇa, whom even Rudra and Brahmā cannot describe, and who is to be worshipped with bhakti, with silence and with the giving up of all desires. Śuka Maharshi tells Parīkshit that Yudhishṭhira, overflowing with love, worshipped both Nārada and Śrī Kṛshṇa, and Nārada took his leave.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 15

Pitṛyāna and Devayāna: The Two Paths After Death

Pitṛyāna (the Path of the Ancestors)

Some people are devoted to pravṛtti-karma, action in the world. They perform ishṭa (Vedic rites such as the agnihotra, the new-moon and full-moon ishṭis, the cāturmāsya, the paśu-yāga and the soma-yāga) and pūrta (public good works such as building temples, rest-houses, wells and feeding halls). After death, such a person receives a sūkshma-rūpa (subtle body) formed from the āhutis they offered, and travels the Pitṛyāna path through these stages:

Homa-dhūma (the smoke of the fire offering)
Rātri (night)
Kṛshṇa paksha (the dark fortnight)
Candraloka (the world of the moon)

When the puṇya (merit) is used up, the deva-body fades. The jīva comes down in rain-water and enters plants. It lives in subtle form in grain, becomes food for a man, takes the form of retas (seed) in his body, and is born again through a woman. This is the cycle of rebirth.

Devayāna (the Path of the Devas)

A sādhaka devoted to nivṛtti (turning away from worldly action) carries out a full dissolving, in meditation (bhāvanā-vilayana), of every form of karma into ever subtler levels: actions (kriyās) into the lit-up senses (indriyas), those into the mind (manas), that into speech (vāk), that into mātṛkā (the source of all syllables), that into Oṃkāra, that into the bindu (anunāsika, the nasal sound), that into nāda (resonance), that into the sūtrātman (the prāṇa-tattva, the principle of life-breath), and that into Parabrahma.

After death, such a sādhaka travels the Devayāna path through these stages:

Agni (fire)
Sūrya (the sun)
Diva (day)
Sāyaṃkāla (evening)
Śukla paksha (the bright fortnight)
Pūrṇimā (the full moon)
Uttarāyaṇa (the northern course of the sun)
Hiraṇyagarbha-loka

In Hiraṇyagarbha-loka he dissolves, step by step, Viśva (awareness of the gross body) into Taijasa (awareness of the subtle body), and that into Prājña (awareness of the causal body). Then he recognises the pure Ātman that is beyond all three upādhis (limiting coverings). Settled in this knowledge of the Self, he attains moksha and is never born again in saṃsāra.

“One who knows both Pitṛyāna and Devayāna — using śāstra as his eyes — is not deluded even while living in the body.”

The Uddhava Gītā (Skandha 11)

Skandha 11 of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa contains a complete and authoritative account of the duties of varṇa and āśrama, from the student’s first initiation to the renunciant’s final withdrawal, taught by Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself to his friend Uddhava as part of the Uddhava Gītā. In this teaching the framework is more than a way of organising society. It is a spiritual structure meant to prepare every person, at every stage and in every role, for the final realisation of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. In it the four varṇas are social orders, based on a person’s qualities and work, and the four āśramas are the stages of life.

Uddhava asked Śrī Kṛshṇa for the dharma he had once taught Brahmā in his Haṃsa form, a dharma that had almost disappeared from the world of men, for no one but Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches, practises and protects dharma. Pleased, Śrī Kṛshṇa said that the question was a means to moksha for those who keep the varṇāśrama dharmas. In the Kṛta Yuga at the beginning of the kalpa, he said, the people had one single varṇa, called Haṃsa; they were fulfilled (kṛtārtha) from birth, and so that yuga is called Kṛta.

Uddhava Gītā: the four varṇas

The four varṇas came forth from the Virāṭ Purusha, the universal form of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, from whose body the whole order of the universe and of society was born:

Brāhmaṇas — born from the face (mouth) of the Virāṭ Purusha; keepers of sacred knowledge, the Vedas, and the rites that keep the universe in order
Kshatriyas — born from his arms; keepers of protection, government, and the right use of force in service of dharma
Vaiśyas — born from his thighs; keepers of trade, farming and the production of what sustains life
Śūdras — born from his feet; keepers of service, crafts and the practical upkeep of society

Each varṇa has its own svadharma, its proper work and discipline. The main principle is this: one’s own svadharma is sacred, however humble it may look, while another’s dharma, however grand it may look, is not one’s own. Doing one’s own svadharma with inner detachment and dedication to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa is the highest ārādhanā open to anyone.

Śrī Kṛshṇa says that śīla (conduct) is the mark of each varṇa. From his heart came brahmacarya, from his waist gārhasthya, from his chest vānaprastha and from his head sannyāsa, and the natures of the varṇas and āśramas match the place they were born from, lower from a lower place and higher from a higher. The vaiśya’s nature is faith in the words of the śāstras, steadiness in dāna, not deceiving others, serving the knowers of the Veda, and never thinking “enough” while gathering wealth. The śūdra’s nature is serving the knowers of the Veda, the cows and the devatās without deceit, and being content with what that brings. The natures of those without varṇāśrama dharma are impurity, untruth, theft, denial of Īśvara, enmity without cause, craving for enjoyment, anger and greed.

Uddhava Gītā: the four āśramas

Brahmacarya: The Student

The brahmacārī (student) receives the upanayana saṃskāra (sacred-thread initiation) and enters the guru’s home. His disciplines are:

Full reliance on and service to the guru, who stands for Bhagavān Kṛshṇa
Rising before the guru, going to sleep after him, and never sitting while the guru stands
Daily agnihotra (fire offering), sandhyāvandana (prayers at dawn and dusk) and Vedic study
Bodily restraint: celibacy, moderation in food (eating only what is received as bhikshā, alms), and avoiding all decoration of the body
Self-control in speech, mind and body
Seeing the guru as a form of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa; no fault-finding with the guru is allowed
At the end of study, offering the gurudakshiṇā (parting gift to the guru)

In Chapter 17 Śrī Kṛshṇa gives these rules of the brahmacārī. He does not clean his teeth or wash his clothes for adornment, and his seat is not red. He keeps silence while bathing, eating, doing homa, doing japa and voiding, and does not cut his nails or hair. Brahmacarya is a vrata: he never knowingly lets his seed fall, and if it falls he bathes, does prāṇāyāma and does japa of the Gāyatrī. He serves the ācārya as one lower: when the ācārya walks he walks behind, not far off; when the ācārya lies down he lies down near him; when the ācārya sits or stands he stands near with joined hands. Holding unbroken brahmacarya and giving up enjoyments, he lives in the gurukula until his learning is complete. Those who are not gṛhasthas do not look at young women, touch them, chat or jest with them, and do not look at animals and birds in union.

Gṛhastha: The Householder

The gṛhastha (householder) is the base on which all the other āśramas depend, because beings in every stage rely, directly or indirectly, on what the householder offers. His main duties are:

The pañca-mahāyajñas (five great daily offerings): to the devas (agnihotra), to the pitṛs or ancestors (tarpaṇa, water offerings), to the ṛshis (Vedic study and teaching), to all beings (giving food and shelter), and to guests (atithi-pūjā)
Welcoming guests; a guest who leaves unfed is a failure of the household
Supporting everyone who lives in the household: wife, parents, children and servants
Earning a living by honest means suited to one’s varṇa
Restraint, with sexual life limited to one’s own spouse
Contentment, compassion toward all living beings, and pūjā of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as Īśvara (the Ruler of all)

The householder who fulfils these duties without pride, offering every action to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, gains puṇya (merit) both in this world (laukika) and in the next (pāralaukika). The householder who uses his wealth only for himself, like a yaksha guarding treasure, comes to ruin in both worlds.

Śrī Kṛshṇa’s teaching in Chapter 17 adds this. The brahmacārī who wishes to become a gṛhastha marries a girl fit for him, without faults, of his own varṇa and younger in age; after that he may, in order, marry girls of the following varṇas. All who have had upanayana are entitled to yajña, study of the Veda and dāna, but only the brāhmaṇa receives dāna, teaches the Veda and conducts yajña for others. The brāhmaṇa who lives with a contented mind on grains fallen in the fields and the market follows a great and spotless dharma, and offering his mind to Śrī Kṛshṇa he gains moksha while living at home; whoever lifts up a knower of the Veda who suffers in poverty and has one-pointed bhakti, Śrī Kṛshṇa lifts out of danger as a boat lifts one out of the sea. As the leader of an elephant herd protects himself while protecting his herd, the king carries his people across dangers like a father. In distress the kshatriya may live by the vaiśya’s work, by hunting or by teaching like a brāhmaṇa, but never by serving the base; the vaiśya may live by the śūdra’s work, and the śūdra by artisans’ work such as weaving mats; once the distress has passed, no one lives by a blameworthy livelihood.

Śrī Kṛshṇa names the gṛhastha’s five daily yajñas: brahma-yajña, the study of the Veda; deva-yajña, honouring the devatās with homa; pitṛ-yajña, honouring the pitṛs with piṇḍa-dāna; bhūta-yajña, giving food to beings; and manushya-yajña, giving food to men. Devatās, pitṛs, beings and men are all his forms, so the gṛhastha worships them every day according to his means. The meeting of the jīva with children, wife, friends and relatives is like the meeting of travellers in a rest-house, or the relations in a night’s dream; separation from all comes with the body. Reflecting so, the gṛhastha lives in his house like a guest, without “I” and “mine”, and such a one is jīvanmukta. Having had children and worshipping Śrī Kṛshṇa with bhakti through the karmas of his āśrama, he may remain a gṛhastha, or become a vānaprastha or a sannyāsī. But the gṛhastha whose heart is scattered by the vāsanās of saṃsāra, never satisfied with enjoyments and thinking only of wife and sons, dies and is born as a beast or bird, without discernment.

Vānaprastha: The Forest-Dweller

When the householder’s children are settled and his hair begins to turn grey, the right time for vānaprastha (forest life) has come:

Slowly giving up household comforts and withdrawing to the forest or an āśrama
Sleeping on the ground; eating only what the forest provides and the śāstras (scriptures) allow
Tapas of growing strength: facing the seasons (hot sun, cold water, rain), fasting and simple living
Keeping up the agnihotra with materials gathered in the forest
Living on roots, fruits and leaves, not on stored grain
Offering śrāddha (rites) to the ancestors and continuing Vedic study
The body is to be made austere, but not deliberately destroyed. The purpose of tapas (austerity) is to purify the antaḥkaraṇa (the inner instrument of mind and heart), not to show how much one can endure.

In Chapter 18 Śrī Kṛshṇa describes the vānaprastha’s tapas. He does not attend to his hair, beard or teeth, immerses his body in water three times a day and sleeps on the ground. In summer he does tapas among five fires, four around him and the Sun above; in the rains he bears the streams of rain; in the cold season he stands in water up to the neck. The knowers of the Veda prescribed for him, as for the gṛhastha, the agnihotra, darśa-pūrṇamāsa and cāturmāsya. The vānaprastha wasted by tapas, his veins showing, reaches Maharloka and from there reaches Śrī Kṛshṇa, whose very nature is knowledge. This hard tapas is a means to moksha; there is no greater fool than one who spends it on the tiny enjoyment of saṃsāra.

Sannyāsa: Complete Renunciation

The sannyāsī (renunciant) has set aside every mark of āśrama and social identity. He is the bare ātman (self) walking in a body:

Dressed only in kashāya (ochre cloth) or a kaupīna (loincloth), carrying only a daṇḍa (staff) and begging bowl
No fixed home; wandering alone through the world
Living on alms taken from no more than seven houses a day, accepting whatever is given without choosing
Neither happy when food comes nor sad when it does not
Never speaking of past or future, only of the living present of the ātman
Controlling all five jñānendriyas (senses of knowing) and the manas (mind) through inner absorption in Bhagavān Kṛshṇa
Seeing Bhagavān Kṛshṇa in all beings and all situations
Like a child, playing freely. Like a madman, speaking without worrying about society. Like a dull person, untouched by reputation. Like an ox, following dharma without reacting to kicks or blows.

The highest sannyāsī has given up even the outer signs of his āśrama — no ochre cloth, no staff — and moves unseen and unrecognised through the world, absorbed in the ātman.

Śrī Kṛshṇa tells how sannyāsa is taken: the one without desire worships Śrī Kṛshṇa, gives everything he has to the ṛtvik, places the fires within his own prāṇa through the prājāpatya-ishṭi, and takes sannyāsa. When a knower of the Veda takes sannyāsa the devatās, thinking “he will pass beyond us to the supreme abode”, raise obstacles before him in the form of wife, son and the like. Except in distress he keeps nothing of what he renounced but the daṇḍa and the kamaṇḍalu. The seven houses at which he begs belong to the four varṇas, leaving aside the blameworthy, and are not fixed beforehand. He goes to water outside the village, does ācamana, sprinkles the food to purify it, gives to any who ask, and eats the rest in silence. For bhikshā he enters cities, villages, cowherd hamlets and groups of pilgrims, wandering an earth full of holy kshetras, rivers, mountains, forests and āśramas. Food from grain gleaned in the fields purifies the inner being and brings moksha quickly, so he begs again and again at the āśramas of the vānaprasthas. One established in the ātmā, the virakta (dispassionate one) and the desireless devotee of Śrī Kṛshṇa are beyond injunction and prohibition, and may wander leaving aside the āśramas and their marks. The sannyāsī does not delight in the Veda’s praise of rites done for desires, does not act against the Veda, does not rely on bare logic, and takes no side in pointless disputes. Getting bhikshā or not getting it is in the hands of daiva, so he is not dejected when he finds none nor glad when he finds it; yet he makes effort for food, for if he keeps his life and with that strength inquires into the ātmā, he gains ātma-jñāna and is freed.

The wise man who has gained vairāgya but has not yet learned the way to reach Śrī Kṛshṇa goes to a guru who is a śrotriya, and until the direct realisation of Parabrahman serves Śrī Kṛshṇa in the form of the guru with śraddhā, never looking for faults in him.

Uddhava Gītā: the common dharma under every varṇa and āśrama

Beneath all the varṇas and āśramas, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa declared a shared ground of dharma:

Brahmacarya: restraint of the senses, as suits one’s āśrama
Satya: truthful speech
Ahiṃsā: not harming, as a principle for all
Śauca: purity of body and mind
Santosha: contentment with what has been given
Maitrī: friendship and compassion toward all living beings
Upāsanā of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa: ārādhanā of Īśvara as the goal of every āśrama

These qualities are not optional extras to any āśrama. They are the spiritual heart that gives the formal duties their meaning.

In Chapter 17 Śrī Kṛshṇa lists the dharmas fit for those of all āśramas: outer and inner purity, ācamana, bathing, sandhyā-upāsana, straightforwardness, visiting tīrthas, japa, not touching what should not be touched, not eating what should not be eaten, not speaking with the wicked, seeing Śrī Kṛshṇa in all beings, and control of mind, speech and body. One may go from a lower āśrama to a higher one, but Śrī Kṛshṇa’s one-pointed devotee should not be without an āśrama, nor go from a higher to a lower. In Chapter 18 he adds that for the gṛhastha who lives with his wife, brahmacarya means not looking at any woman but his wife.

Uddhava Gītā: the goal of varṇāśrama

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa made it plain that the whole structure of varṇāśrama dharma is not an end in itself. It is a preparation for the inner life of bhakti (devotion) and jñāna (knowledge). Once a person has done their duties in each āśrama — or even before finishing them, if viveka (clear discernment) awakens — the highest aim is to know the ātman and to realise Bhagavān Kṛshṇa directly.

The one who worships me by carefully doing his own dharma without attachment will soon gain firm devotion (dṛḍha-bhakti) to me. And the one who has firm devotion will, through it, know my nature directly.

Śrī Kṛshṇa closes: “O Uddhava, you asked how a bhakta joined to his svadharma reaches me, the Parabrahman. I have answered your question.” Later in the same skandha Uddhava holds that kriyā-yoga, the pūjā of Śrī Kṛshṇa, benefits every varṇa and āśrama and is the best means of moksha even for women and śūdras.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapters 17–18, 27

Varṇāśrama through the rest of the Bhāgavata

The Purāṇa returns to varṇa and āśrama again and again, in the order of its skandhas:

Vyāsa‘s compassion. Seeing that the people to come would lack śraddhā and strength, Vyāsa reflected on a means of good for all the varṇas and āśramas (Skandha 1, Chapter 4).
The kingless land. Śamīka Maharshi grieves that in a land without a king the Vedic Ārya-dharma and the conduct of varṇa and āśrama perish, the thirst for artha and kāma grows, varṇa-saṅkara (the mixing of varṇas) arises, and men become like dogs in enjoyment and like monkeys in fickleness (Skandha 1, Chapter 18).
Beyond rebirth. Brahmā tells Nārada that naishṭhika brahmacārīs, vānaprasthas and yatis have no rebirth and reach the Jana, Tapas and Satya lokas above the three worlds (Skandha 2, Chapter 6).
The householder as a boat. Kaśyapa tells Diti that as a sailor crosses the sea by boat and ferries others across, the gṛhastha with his wife crosses hunger and thirst and carries the other three āśramas (Skandha 3, Chapter 14).
Kardama and Manu. Kardama Maharshi says that for the gṛhastha āśrama the wife is a kāmadhenu (the wish-fulfilling cow), and tells Svāyambhuva Manu that if he did not tour the earth, the boundaries of dharma made by Śrī Hari, which support the keeping of varṇa and āśrama, would be scattered by the wicked (Skandha 3, Chapter 21).
Kings who entered vānaprastha. The Saptarshis earned great puṇya by the dharma of vānaprastha; Uttānapāda, seeing his age, went to the forest in vairāgya to inquire into the ātma-tattva (Skandha 4, Chapter 9); Dhruva went to vānaprastha (Skandha 4, Chapter 13); Pṛthu in the tapovana took up the severe tapas dear to vānaprasthas, guarding his niyamas (Skandha 4, Chapter 23); and King Yuvanāśva, childless and grieving, entered vānaprastha with his hundred wives (Skandha 9, Chapter 6).
Purañjanī’s praise of the household. In Nārada’s account of Purañjana, the young woman tells Purañjana that the gṛhasthāśrama holds dharma, artha, kāma, the joy of sons and fame, and that naishṭhika brahmacārīs, yatis and others who live alone cannot even imagine these fruits (Skandha 4, Chapter 25).
Not bound by the household. Nārada tells King Prācīnabarhi to leave the gṛhastha’s talk of pleasures and take up nivṛtti step by step (Skandha 4, Chapter 29); and Bhagavān Vishṇu tells the Pracetas that for one who acts with discrimination of dharma and adharma and spends his time in thought of Bhagavān Vishṇu, even the gṛhastha āśrama is no cause of bondage (Skandha 4, Chapter 30).
Jaḍa Bharata’s teaching. Jaḍa Bharata tells King Rahūgaṇa that the Veda teaches the gṛhastha’s yajñas at length, full of arthavāda (words of praise), and that the Paramātma-tattva is not gained by tapas in water or amid five fires, by yajña, gifts of food, or gṛhastha duties such as getting children (Skandha 5, Chapters 11–12).
Bhārata Varsha. Nārada, with the people of Bhārata who keep varṇa and āśrama, serves Nara-Nārāyaṇa with great bhakti, and the people of the varṇas who do their own duties there may attain moksha (Skandha 5, Chapter 19).
Hiraṇyakaśipu‘s order. Hiraṇyakaśipu orders his followers to burn the lands where knowers of the Veda keep varṇāśrama dharma and where there are cows, and to cut down the trees (Skandha 7, Chapter 2).
Śrī Kṛshṇa to Nanda. Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Nanda that the Veda is the brāhmaṇa’s livelihood, protection of the earth the kshatriya’s, vārtā the vaiśya’s and service the śūdra’s (Skandha 10, Chapter 24).
The gopīs. For Śrī Kṛshṇa’s sake the gopīs set aside worldly propriety, the Vedic rules of the gṛhastha āśrama and their own kin, out of their bhakti (Skandha 10, Chapter 32).
The last word. Sūta Maharshi tells the ṛshis of Naimisha that the labour in the practices of varṇa and āśrama, in tapas and in study, is very great, yet from it come only fame and wealth; but by singing, hearing and remembering the qualities of Śrī Hari, the lotus feet of Śrīpati are never forgotten (Skandha 12, Chapter 12).

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapters 4, 18; Skandha 2, Chapter 6; Skandha 3, Chapters 14, 21; Skandha 4, Chapters 9, 13, 23, 25, 29–30; Skandha 5, Chapters 11–12, 19; Skandha 7, Chapter 2; Skandha 9, Chapter 6; Skandha 10, Chapters 24, 32; Skandha 12, Chapter 12

Per Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa gives a short but complete summary of this dharma in Chapter 25, taught by Mādālasā to Alarka. It sets out the main duties and the means of livelihood of each varṇa, and the discipline of each stage of life.

The four varṇas

Mādālasā teaches the following to Alarka in Chapter 25.

Brāhmaṇa

The brāhmaṇa has three main dharmas: dāna (giving), adhyayana (study of the Vedas) and yajña (the fire ritual). These three are required. No fourth duty takes their place. In a time of emergency (āpat-kāla) a temporary change is allowed.

The brāhmaṇa has three means of livelihood: performing yajña for others (yajña-karaṇa), teaching (adhyāpana) and accepting gifts (pratigraha).

Kshatriya

The kshatriya has the same three main dharmas as the brāhmaṇa: dāna, adhyayana and yajña. The extra duties that mark the kshatriya are yuddha (war, the protection of the realm) and anugraha (governing and protecting the subjects). The kshatriya’s livelihood is the management and protection of the kingdom.

Vaiśya

The vaiśya shares the three main dharmas of dāna, adhyayana and yajña. The extra duties and the means of livelihood of the vaiśya are paśu-pālana (keeping animals), vāṇijya (trade and commerce) and krishi (farming).

Śūdra

The śūdra has three main dharmas: dāna (as far as he is able), yajña (taking part in ritual) and sevā (service to the other three varṇas). The śūdra’s means of livelihood are śilpa-karma (craftwork), vipra-sevā (service to brāhmaṇas), paśu-poshaṇa (care of animals) and small buying and selling.

The four āśramas

Brahmacarya (the student stage)

After upanayana (the thread ceremony) the student lives in the guru’s household. He keeps these observances:

svādhyāyana: daily study of the Veda
agni-śuśrūshā: tending the sacred fire
snāna: ritual bathing
bhikshāṭana: going out to collect alms
he gives the alms to the guru first
he eats only with the guru’s leave
he does the guru’s tasks
he stays always at the guru’s side
he sleeps near the guru
he keeps perfect brahmacarya

If the student has not completed the brahmacarya stage by graduation (samāvartana), he may stay on as a naishṭhika-brahmacārī (a student for life) in the guru’s household or with the guru’s family.

Gṛhasthāśrama (the householder stage)

The householder is the axis on which all the other āśramas rest. They are all sustained by his yajñas and his gifts. He must keep ṛtu-kāla-dharma. He must perform the pañca-yajñas (five daily yajñas) as far as he is able. After he has fed the pitṛ-gaṇas (the ancestors), the devatā-gaṇas (the devas), the atithis (guests), the jñātis (kinsmen) and the bhṛtyas (servants), he may eat what is left. The householder’s main practical duties are set out more fully in Chapter 26 of the Purāṇa.

Vānaprasthāśrama (the forest-dweller stage)

The vānaprastha offers homa (fire offerings), bathes at the three times of the day, wears jaṭā (matted hair) and nāra-cīras (bark garments), keeps up the practice of yoga all the time, and serves the community of forest dwellers. This stage purifies the karma that remains and prepares him for the last āśrama.

Sannyāsa (renunciation)

This is the last āśrama, taken after the vānaprastha stage. The sannyāsin has given up all possessions, attachments and duties to society. The chapter does not describe the sannyāsa stage further, but it names it as the fourth and final stage of the āśrama system.

The common virtues of all āśramas

Mādālasā ends her teaching on the āśramas with eight virtues. They are the common dharma of all four āśramas and belong equally to every stage of life.

Satya: truthfulness
Śauca: purity, inner and outer
Ahiṃsā: not harming
Anasūyā: freedom from envy
Kshamā: forgiveness
Ānṛśaṃsya: freedom from cruelty, compassion
Akārpaṇya: freedom from meanness
Santosha: contentment

These eight cut across varṇa and āśrama. They make up the basic human dharma.

Per Agni Purāṇa

The Agni Purāṇa teaches varṇāśrama dharma in Chapters 151, 153, 160–162 and 166. It speaks of it again in the teaching on kingship, in Chapters 225 and 238.

Duties common to all, and duties of each varṇa (Chapter 151)

Pushkara teaches Paraśurāma the varṇa-āśrama-sārvajanya-dharmas: the duties common to all, and the duties of each varṇa. The teaching is given as the essence of what Manu and the ancient ṛshis practised to gain both bhukti (enjoyment) and mukti (freedom), and of what pleases Bhagavān Vāsudeva and the supreme devas.

Sārvajanya-dharmas (duties common to all varṇas and āśramas):

ahiṃsā (not harming)
satya (truth)
bhūta-dayā (kindness to all beings)
anugraha-buddhi (a mind that helps others)
tīrtha-yātrā (going to holy places)
dāna (giving)
brahmacarya
freedom from mātsarya (envy)
pūjā of the devas and of brāhmaṇas
guru-śuśrūshā (service to the guru)
listening to all teaching on dharma
pitṛ-pūjana (honouring the ancestors)
rāja-bhakti (devotion to the king)
always understanding things only through the guidance of excellent śāstras
kaurya-varjana (freedom from cruelty)
patience
āstikya-buddhi (faith in the scriptures and in the next world)

Duties of the brāhmaṇa:

yajana: performing yajña for oneself
yājana: having others perform yajña
dāna
adhyāpana: teaching the Veda and śāstra
pratigraha: accepting gifts
svādhyāya: study of the Veda

Duties shared by the kshatriya and the vaiśya: dāna, adhyayana and yajana.

Duties of the kshatriya: pālana (governing) and daṇḍa-dhāraṇa (punishing the wicked).

Duties of the vaiśya: krishi (farming), go-saṃrakshaṇa (protecting cows) and vāṇijya (trade).

Duty of the śūdra: śuśrūshā (service) of the three upper varṇas, or the practice of various śilpas (crafts).

Upanayana marks the second birth (dvijatva) of the three upper varṇas.

The Purāṇa also speaks of mixed varṇas (saṃkara-jāti). In anuloma unions the father is of a higher varṇa and the mother of a lower one; the children are reckoned by the mother’s rank. In pratiloma unions the father is of a lower varṇa and the mother of a higher one; the children fall into various middle groups. Each group is given its own work. The cāṇḍāla carries out the execution of condemned criminals. The sūta drives chariots (sārathya). The māgadha gives praise (stuti). The cāṇḍāla must wear garments taken from the cremation ground and must not touch members of the other varṇas. Those who give their lives for cows and brāhmaṇas, or for women and children, rise to a high state even if they were born in a low birth.

Brahmacarya-āśrama-dharma (Chapter 153)

Pushkara describes the dharmas of the āśramas, beginning with brahmacarya.

Saṃskāras before the thread. The garbhādhāna saṃskāra is performed at the proper ṛtu-kāla: after the sixteenth night, leaving out the first three nights, and preferring the even nights for a son. When the pregnancy is known, the puṃsavana is performed before the child moves in the womb. The jātakarma is performed before the navel cord is cut. The naming ceremony (nāmakaraṇa) comes after the sūtaka (the period of birth-impurity) ends. Names end in “Śarma” for brāhmaṇas, “Varma” for kshatriyas, “Gupta” for vaiśyas and “Dāsa” for śūdras. The cūḍākaraṇa follows the custom of the family.

Upanayana. For brāhmaṇas it is in the eighth year (counted from birth or from conception), for kshatriyas in the eleventh and for vaiśyas in the twelfth. Upanayana after the sixteenth year gives no benefit.

Belt, hide and staff. The mekhalā (sacred belt) is made of muñja grass for brāhmaṇas, prataṃda for kshatriyas and valkal for vaiśyas. The hides prescribed are those of the deer (mṛga), the tiger (vyāghra) and adar-ma, in that order. The staffs (daṇḍas) are of palāśa, pippala and bilva wood.

Asking for alms. The brahmacārī who collects bhikshā says “Bhavati bhikshāṃ dehi”, with the word “Bhavat” placed at the beginning for brāhmaṇas, in the middle for kshatriyas and at the end for vaiśyas.

Bhavati bhikshāṃ dehi

Women. For women, all the saṃskāras except upanayana are done without mantras. Only vivāha (marriage) is done with Vedic mantras.

Graduation. After he has finished the study of the Veda and given dakshiṇā to the guru, the student takes the samāvartana-snāna. Or he stays for life as a naishṭhika-brahmacārī in the guru’s home.

Vānaprastha-āśrama (Chapter 160)

The vānaprastha is described by these marks:

jaṭā (matted hair)
agni-hotra
sleeping on the ground
wearing mṛgājina (deer skin)
living in forests
living on milk, tubers, forest grains and fruits
giving up pratigraha
bathing three times a day (trisavaṇa-snāna)
brahmacarya
deva-atithi-pūjā (honouring devas and guests)

A householder who has been blessed with a grandchild should leave for the forest at once. There he may live alone or with his wife for the third part of his life. As long as his body has strength, he performs pañcāgni-tapas (sitting among five fires) in summer, stays in the open air in the rains, and wears wet clothes in winter. This is hard tapas in every season. He should never return to the gṛhasthāśrama, but go straight on towards sannyāsa.

Sannyāsa and yati-dharma (Chapter 161)

Pushkara teaches the dharma of the yati (the sannyāsin) as the highest path, which brings jñāna (knowledge) and moksha. One should take sannyāsa on reaching the fourth quarter of life. A firm and mature person may take sannyāsa on the very day that vairāgya (detachment) arises.

The brāhmaṇa first performs the Prājāpatya-yajña with full dakshiṇā, including all the Vedas, and takes the fires into himself. Then he leaves his home. The sannyāsin travels alone. He enters villages only to collect food. He carries a kamaṇḍalu (water pot), lives at the root of a tree, wears worn-out clothes and keeps the same mind towards all. He never longs for death and never clings to life.

Bhikshā is received in five ways:

mādhukara: collected like a bee, a little from many houses
asaṃkalpita
prākṛṇīta
ayācita
tātkālikopapanna: whatever is obtained at that moment

The sannyāsin uses his hands as his pātra (bowl).

The ten marks of dharma named for the sannyāsin are: sthairya (steadiness), kshamā (patience), mano-nigraha (control of the mind), not taking the wealth of others, indriya-nigraha (control of the senses), humility, jñāna, satya and akrodha (freedom from anger).

Four kinds of sannyāsin are named: Kuṭīcaka, Bahūcaka, Haṃsa and Paramahaṃsa. Each is higher than the one before.

The five yamas are prescribed: ahiṃsā, satya, asteya, brahmacarya and aparigraha. The five niyamas are also prescribed: śauca, santosha, tapas, svādhyāya and Īśvara-pūjā.

Prāṇāyāma is of two kinds: sagarbha (with japa and dhyāna) and agarbha. Each has three parts: pūraka (breathing in), kumbhaka (holding the breath) and recaka (breathing out).

The forty-eight saṃskāras (Chapter 166)

Chapter 166 sets out the framework of śrauta and smārta dharma. It lists forty-eight saṃskāras. A person who keeps them all fully reaches Brahma-loka. They are:

garbhādhāna, puṃsavana, sīmantonnāyana, jātakarma, nāmakaraṇa, annaprāśana, cūḍākarma and upanayana
the four brahmacaryāśrama-vratas
samāvartana-snāna
vivāha
the five pañca-mahāyajñas: for the devas, the pitṛs, men (manushya), beings (bhūta) and Brahma
seven pāka-yajña-saṃsthās
the three pārvaṇa-śrāddhas, with the ashṭakās
the four seasonal rites of śrāvaṇī, āgrahayanī, caitrī and āśvayuja
the seven haviryajñas: agny-ādhāna, agni-hotra, darśapaurṇamāsa, cāturmāsya, āgrahaṇeyeshṭi, niruḍha-paśu-bandha and sautrāmaṇī
the soma-saṃsthās: atyagnishṭoma, ūkthya, shoḍaśī, vājapeya, atirātra and āptoryāma

The eight ātma-guṇas (qualities of the self) are dayā (compassion), kshamā (patience), anasūyā (freedom from envy), anāyāsa (freedom from strain), māṅgalya (auspiciousness), ākārpaṇya (freedom from meanness), aspṛhā (freedom from craving) and śauca (purity). The person who has all eight reaches svarga.

Varṇāśrama dharma in the teaching on kingship (Chapters 225, 238)

Teaching Paraśurāma the duties of kings, Pushkara says that the king must maintain the devatās and the brāhmaṇas and give them dāna, and look after the welfare of the distressed, the orphaned, the aged, widows and women. The protection of varṇāśrama dharma and the honouring of munis are the duties of kings. The king must trust no one, but he may trust munis; and by proper means he must make others trust him.

In the rāja-nīti that Śrī Rāma taught Lakshmaṇa, which Agni Deva tells Vasishṭha Maharshi, always keeping one’s own varṇāśrama dharma is named in the conduct of the mahātmās, together with not censuring the works of others, compassion for the distressed, sweet speech with everyone, readiness to help one’s friends even at the cost of one’s life, bearing the harsh words of others, freedom from envy when others prosper, and keeping the bond with kinsmen unbroken.

Per Skanda Purāṇa

Nārāyaṇa gives a full teaching on varṇāśrama dharma in the Vāsudeva Māhātmya, a part of the Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa (Chapters 20–23).

Here the teaching is presented as the svadharma (one’s own proper duty) side of Ekāntika Dharma, the path of single-minded devotion. A devotee carries out the duties of his varṇa and āśrama not as goals in themselves but as service to Vāsudeva. The teaching begins with twenty duties common to everyone (sādhāraṇa dharma). It then covers the duties and ways of earning a living of brāhmaṇas, kshatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras, and then the four āśramas: brahmacārī (student), gṛhastha (householder, including the duties of women and widows), vānaprastha (forest-dweller) and sannyāsa (renunciation, with its four kinds). The guiding idea is that all these duties find their fulfilment in the pūjā of Vāsudeva.

The Setting

The teaching begins with a request from Nārada. He asks Nārāyaṇa to explain the Ekānta Dharma “by which Vāsudeva, the Ātmā of the universe, is always pleased”. Nārāyaṇa replies that Ekāntika Dharma is undivided devotion to Bhagavān Vishṇu together with knowledge of one’s own dharma. He then says:

At the beginning of the kalpa this dharma was declared by me to Vivasvān. I shall pass on that very ancient dharma to you, O ṛshi.

This makes clear that knowing one’s own duty is not separate from Ekāntika Dharma but a part of it.

Twenty Duties Common to All (Sādhāraṇa Dharma)

Nārāyaṇa declares these duties common to all human beings, whatever their varṇa:

Ahiṃsā — non-injury; the first and highest duty; not bearing ill will, even in the mind, toward any living being, whatever the provocation
Satya — truth; speech that causes no harm to living beings
Tapas — austerity; cutting down one’s enjoyment even of things the scriptures allow
Śauca — purity, of two kinds: outer and inner
Asteya — not taking what belongs to others, whether in their absence or by trickery
Brahmacarya — proper control of sexual life
Saṃyama — restraint of passions, desires, greed and anger
Dāna — gladly giving wealth to a worthy person
Santosha — contentment with whatever comes by fortune
Ahiṃsā in sacred settings — giving up all injury at holy places, in yajñas (fire offerings) and in religious acts
Jāti-dharma — avoiding acts that cause one to fall from one’s community
Indriya-nigraha — restraint of the hands, feet, stomach, sexual organ and speech
Avoiding wine and meat and all vices
Keeping away from adultery
Kula-ācāra — keeping the good traditional practices of one’s family
Ekādaśī Vrata — fasting, with ten prescribed restraints, on both eleventh days (ekādaśī) of each fortnight
Janmāshṭamī Vrata — properly keeping the vrata (vow) of Śrī Hari’s birthday
Ārjava — straightforwardness
Sat-sevā — service of sants (holy people)
Acts of devotion to Bhagavān Vishṇu — eating only after sharing food as the rules prescribe

This list counts the Vaishṇava observances of Ekādaśī and Janmāshṭamī as duties for everyone.

Duties of the Varṇas

Brāhmaṇas: Their natural duties are calm, self-control, forgiveness, purity, faith in the Vedas, devotion to Bhagavān Vishṇu, tapas, knowledge of Brahman and worldly knowledge. They earn their living by teaching, performing yajñas, and accepting gifts from pure people (this last only in hard times). Four other ways of living are also allowed, in order of lessening merit: gleaning ears of grain, constant begging for alms, settled householder life, and farming. Only in real emergency may they take up the living of vaiśyas or kshatriyas, but never that of a caṇḍāla (outcaste).

Kshatriyas: Their duties are bravery, courage, generosity, strength, dignity, being a refuge for others, protecting cows, brāhmaṇas and sants, and performing yajñas. As kings, they must protect their subjects, establish dharma on earth, and punish those who deserve it. Their living is the profession of arms and the protection of dharma. In an emergency they may follow a vaiśya’s living or go about in the guise of a brāhmaṇa, but they must never serve a lowly person, since that dims their radiance.

Vaiśyas: Their duties are faith in the Vedas, acts of charity, service to holy people and brāhmaṇas, tireless effort in gaining wealth, and diligence. Their four ways of living are farming, trade and commerce, tending cows, and lending money at interest.

Śūdras: Their special duty is faithful service, without fraud or deceit, to the twice-born, the devas and cows. Their living is money earned through service; in an emergency they may follow the living of craftsmen.

One instruction applies to all varṇas: people of all four should keep company with holy people and never with bad people. Keeping good company leads to moksha (liberation); keeping evil company leads to naraka (a place of suffering after death). Holy people are those who have overcome passion, anger, craving for tastes, pride, jealousy and hypocrisy, and who are devotees of Vishṇu.

Duties of the Brahmacārī

The celibate student should live in the house of his teacher and study the Vedas. He should be pure, with his senses controlled and his anger held back. He should tend the sacred fire morning and evening, go out to beg alms, perform sandhyā (twilight prayer) three times a day, and perform pūjā to Vishṇu daily. He should be wholly devoted to serving his teacher.

Particular rules:

Keep silence while bathing, eating, tending the fire and doing japa (repeated chanting).
Do not trim the nails or cut the hair.
Be sincere toward the teacher.
Keep completely away from all contact with women: not looking at, touching, speaking to, playing with or combing the hair of any woman. Apart from the sacred images of the devas, he should never touch even a wooden figure or a painting of a woman.
Wear and keep the standard items: waistband, deerskin, staff, kamaṇḍalu (water-pot), white clothes, sacred thread and rosary.

Brahmacarya is of four kinds: Prājāpatya, Sāvitra, Brāhma and Naishṭhika. After finishing his education, if he is free of worldly attachment, the student may become either a sannyāsī (renunciant) or a naishṭhika (lifelong celibate). In the Kali Yuga, the naishṭhika vow is thought too hard; the student should become either a vānaprastha or a gṛhastha.

Duties of the Gṛhastha

The householder should first finish his education, give his teacher the guru-dakshiṇā (parting gift), perform the samāvartana ceremony (marking the end of studies), and then marry a girl suited to his family: younger than him, healthy, without masculine features, and free of pāpa.

Daily routine: bathing, twilight prayers, japa, homa (fire offering), recitation of the Veda, pūjā of Vishṇu, tarpaṇa (water offerings to departed ancestors), vaiśvadeva (offering food to all the devas before meals) and welcoming guests. With wealth earned honestly he should do good works as he is able, feed those who depend on him, and remain unattached.

Holy places for religious acts:

Gaṅgādvāra, Mathurā, Naimishāraṇya, Kurukshetra, Ayodhyā, Prayāga, Gayāśiras, Purī and Vārāṇasī
The āśrama of Pulaha (Śālagrāma) and the āśrama of Kapila (Siddhapur)
Śrīraṅgam, Prabhāsa, Kuśasthalī (Dvārakā), Siddhapada, Pushkara lake, Raivata mountain (Girnār), Govardhana and Vṛndāvana
The seven Kulaparvatas (principal mountain ranges)
Great rivers such as the Bhāgīrathī, Yamunā, Sarasvatī, Godāvarī, Sarayū, Kāverī and Gomatī

Auspicious times:

The two ayanas (the sun’s turning points) and the vishuva (equinoxes)
Eclipses of the sun and moon
Vyatīpāta and Vaidhṛti (special yogas of the calendar)
All auspicious nakshatras (lunar mansions), from Śravaṇa onward
The twelfth and eleventh tithis (lunar days)
The first days of manvantaras and yugas
The new-moon day
Full-moon days that fall on the month’s own nakshatra
The four Ashṭakā days
The day of one’s own birth-star
Kṛshṇa‘s birthday (the ashṭamī of the dark half of Śrāvaṇa)

Śrāddha (rites for the ancestors): to be done in the dark half of Bhādrapada, on kshaya days (anniversaries of death), at holy places, and on parvan days, for one’s parents and their relatives. It teaches clearly that meat must never be served at a śrāddha:

All the ancestors, who are most merciful, are satisfied by non-injury to all beings in thought, word and deed.

Two brāhmaṇas should be fed for rites to the devas and three for rites to the ancestors (or just one for each); the number should not be increased.

The months especially suited to religious observance are Kārttika, Māgha and Vaiśākha, and the four-month Cāturmāsya period.

Duties of Women

Women whose husbands are living should always serve their own husband as a deva, obeying him even if he is old, ill or poor. They should keep the house clean, speak what is true and also pleasant, stay pure, and be wholly devoted to serving their husband in all religious rites. They should avoid fickleness, too much greed, anger, stealing, violence and the company of the irreligious. They should perform pūjā to Ramāpati, the husband of Ramā (Vishṇu), while holding firmly to single-minded devotion to their husband. They should never be independent and self-willed.

Widows: A widow should always serve Vishṇu, looking on him as her husband. She should never listen to or speak of sexual matters. She should not touch a man unless he is a very close relative. She should give up all objects of pleasure, eat only once a day, wear no fine cloth woven with gold or silver, wear no ornaments, and not sleep in the daytime or on a bed. She should regularly keep observances such as the kṛcchra and cāndrāyaṇa fasts, and avoid all evil company and lonely places.

Duties of the Vānaprastha

The forest-dweller may go to the forest with his wife, if she is willing to serve him, turned away from pleasures and fond of tapas; or he may go alone after arranging for her support. He should build a hut for the sacred fire but stay outside it himself.

In summer he should do pañcāgni-sādhana: sitting surrounded by four fires with the sun as the fifth.
In winter he should stay in water.
In the rainy season he should stay out in the rain.
His food should be grain that grows wild in the forest, roots or fruits; he should not accept grain from ploughed land.
He should let his hair, moustache, beard and nails grow untrimmed.

Forest-dwellers are of four classes: Phenapa, Audumbara, Vālakhilya and Vaikhānasa. Depending on his bodily strength, one may stay in the forest for twelve, eight, four, two or one year before taking sannyāsa. If one has intense vairāgya (detachment), sannyāsa is helpful; otherwise one stays a vānaprastha for the rest of life.

Duties of the Sannyāsī and Its Four Kinds

After renouncing according to the rules, the sannyāsī should wear a small strip of cloth for modesty and a patched garment, and carry a staff, a gourd water-pot and a cloth for straining water. He should not beg at the same house every day, should never crave tasty food, should eat once a day in small amount, and should generally accept alms from forest-dwellers.

He should always perform pūjā of Vishṇu and eat only what has first been offered to Vishṇu. He should quietly repeat the twelve-syllable mantra (Oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya) or the eight-syllable mantra (Oṃ nārāyaṇāya namaḥ). He should not tell lies. He should study true, faithful scriptures on bondage and moksha (liberation), and come to know the real nature of his own self and of Śrī Hari.

It names six faults to be especially avoided: desire, greed, craving for tastes, attachment, pride and anger, because these lead to saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death). A renunciant should never stay where he often hears or sees women.

The duty of renunciation for devotees of Vāsudeva is declared to be his service, day and night. For those with deep knowledge, not one moment passes without being spent in one of the nine kinds of bhakti (devotion).

The four kinds of sannyāsa, by degree of detachment:

Kuṭīcaka — lives in a hut built by his sons or in his own house, and begs at the homes of his sons or relatives; the least detached
Bahūdaka — carries three staffs, a water-jar and ochre robes, and begs at seven houses
Haṃsa — stays no more than one night in a village and five nights in a town; lives on cow’s urine or dung, or keeps the cāndrāyaṇa fast
Paramahaṃsa — stays under a tree or in a cremation ground; wears one garment or none; bears calmly all pairs of opposites such as pleasure and pain; treats all beings alike; the highest stage of sannyāsa

The Goal: All Duties Lead to Vishṇu’s Realm

Nārāyaṇa concludes:

A brahmacārī and a sannyāsī who are steady in their own duties go to Brahmaloka. Forest-dwellers go to the world of the ṛshis, and householders to svarga. All those who follow with devotion the duties offered to Vishṇu reach the realm of Vishṇu after death.

The worlds reached through the duties themselves pass away in time: svarga for householders, Ṛshiloka for forest-dwellers, Brahmaloka for those steady in their āśrama duties. The realm of Vishṇu, reached when all these duties are offered to him, does not pass away. This rise from passing worlds to the lasting one is the very shape of Ekāntika Dharma.

Per Kūrma Purāṇa

The Kūrma Purāṇa gives a full teaching on varṇāśrama dharma, spoken by Bhagavān Kūrma (Nārāyaṇa in the form of the tortoise avatāra) to the gathered ṛshis and to King Indradyumna.

According to this teaching, Brahmā set up the system at the beginning of creation at the wish of Vishṇu, and the whole order is upheld by the māyā (enchanting power) of Bhagavatī Lakshmī. The text also teaches that the Trimūrti (the three divine forms) — Brahmā, Vishṇu and Mahādeva — are the one Parameśvara (the Supreme Being) appearing through the three guṇas (qualities of nature): rajas, sattva and tamas.

How the Varṇas Arose

The four varṇas came forth from the body of Brahmā, the Pitāmaha (grandfather) of all worlds:

Brāhmaṇas from his mukha (mouth)
Kshatriyas from his bhuja (arms)
Vaiśyas from his ūru (thighs)
Śūdras from his pāda (feet)

Brahmā set up this order to support yajña (sacred fire offering) and the dharma of the universe. The three upper varṇas, called dvijas (twice-born), were created to perform and keep up the yajña. The śūdra varṇa was set up for service.

The tradition of the Manusmṛti is called on here. Svāyambhuva Manu, himself a form of Brahmā gifted with sarvadṛshṭi (all-seeing vision), declared the dharmas to the world. The ṛshis, beginning with Bhṛgu, heard these teachings and passed them on.

The Duties of the Four Varṇas

Brāhmaṇa: Six duties (karmans) are laid down for the brāhmaṇa:

Adhyayana — studying the Veda
Adhyāpana — teaching the Veda
Yajana — performing yajña
Yājana — performing yajña for others
Dāna — giving
Pratigraha — receiving gifts

The brāhmaṇa’s essential qualities are śama (calm of mind), dama (control of the senses), tapas (austerity), śauca (purity), kshānti (patience), ārjava (straightforwardness), jñāna (knowledge), vijñāna (realised wisdom) and āstikya (faith in the Veda and in Īśvara).

Kshatriya: The kshatriya shares three of the brāhmaṇa’s duties — giving, study and performing yajña. As the protector of dharma, he must also punish wrongdoers and fight enemies in battle.

Vaiśya: The vaiśya also shares giving, study and performing yajña. In addition he is responsible for kṛshi (farming), go-rakshā (caring for cattle) and vāṇijya (trade).

Śūdra: The śūdra’s dharma is śuśrūshā, devoted service to the three upper varṇas. Śilpakarma (crafts and skilled handwork) and pākayajña (simple household rites) are also allowed to the śūdra as a way of living.

Virtues Shared by All (Sāmānya Dharmas)

Manu laid down certain dharmas common to all four varṇas:

Patience (kshānti)
Control of the senses (indriya-nigraha)
Compassion (dayā)
Generosity (dāna)
Freedom from laziness (nirālasya)
Renunciation (tyāga)
Straightforward conduct (ārjava)
Freedom from envy
Pilgrimage to holy tīrthas
Truthfulness (satya-vāditva)
Contentment
Faith in the Veda and in the Deva (āstikya and śraddhā)
Non-violence (ahiṃsā)
Pleasant speech

The Four Āśramas

Brahmā set up four āśramas — gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa and brahmacarya — in the order that keeps the world going.

Brahmacarya (the student): study with the guru (adhyayana), living with and serving the guru (gurukula-vāsa), sandhyāvandana (prayers at the junctions of the day), aupāsana (the daily household fire rite) and bhikshā (living only on alms).

Gṛhastha (the householder): agni-kārya (keeping the sacred fire), atithi-pūjā (honouring guests), performing yajña, dāna (giving), devapūjā (pūjā of the devas), daily Veda study and śrāddha (rites for the ancestors). The gṛhastha is described as the base on which all the other āśramas rest: the brahmacārī, the vānaprastha and the sannyāsī all depend on the householder for their support.

Vānaprastha (the forest-dweller): living in the forest, homa (fire offering) with materials from the forest, living on fruits and roots, study, tapas and saṃvibhāga (fair sharing of what one has).

Sannyāsa (the renunciant): bhikshā (living on alms), mauna (silence), deep dhyāna (meditation), tapas, and a higher knowledge and detachment (jñāna-vairāgya). The highest kind of sannyāsī is the yogī-sannyāsī who has reached ātma-sākshātkāra, direct experience of the Self.

Kinds Within Each Āśrama

The text carefully lists sub-groups:

Sannyāsīs are of three kinds: jñāna-sannyāsīs, veda-sannyāsīs and karma-sannyāsīs.
Yogīs are also of three kinds: bhautika-yogīs, sāṅkhya-yogīs and āśrama-yogīs.

The āśrama-yogī holds the highest inner attitude (bhāvanā), the pārameśvarī-bhāvanā, the sense of Parameśvara in all.

The Role of Lakshmī as Māyā

At the dawn of creation, Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa directed Lakshmī Devī, who is the very form of mahā-māyā (the great enchanting power), to cast her spell over the universe and keep the varṇāśrama order in place.

She was told to keep away from her spell only those who have jñāna-yoga (the path of knowledge), indriya-nigraha (control of the senses), brahma-nishṭhā (steadiness in Brahman), satya (truth), dhyāna (meditation) and detachment. She was especially to spare those brāhmaṇas devoted to yajña, tapas, Veda study, japa (repeated chanting), homa and devapūjā. All the rest of creation she was to draw into saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death). Through her power alone did Brahmā, Śiva and all the devatās receive their own powers.

The Trimūrti and the Three Guṇas

It clearly teaches the Trimūrti in the setting of varṇāśrama:

The Paramātmā, through joining with the three guṇas — rajas, sattva and tamas — becomes Brahmā, Vishṇu and Maheśvara in turn.

Form	Guṇa	Work
Brahmā	Rajas	Creation
Vishṇu	Sattva	Keeping the world in being
Śiva	Tamas	Dissolution

These three are bound to one another and cannot be separated; each honours and depends on the others. The text says:

I am the protector of this world; Śiva, who holds the trident, destroys it at the time of pralaya. Brahmā, Vishṇu and Maheśvara are the Trimūrti — three forms of the one supreme Purusha.

Three Marks of Devotion

The text describes three marks (cihnas) worn by devotees of the three forms of the Trimūrti:

Śaiva devotees: three horizontal lines (tripuṇḍra) of white bhasma (sacred ash) on the forehead
Vaishṇava devotees: the trident (śūla) mark drawn with gandhodaka (scented water)
Brāhma devotees (those who approach through Brahmā): the tilaka mark on the forehead

Each mark is said to hold within it the threefold truth of the one Parameśvara.

The Path to Moksha Through Varṇāśrama

The text is clear: “No one can reach moksha by breaking this dharma.” Dharma holds up the whole universe, both the unmoving (sthāvara) and the moving (jaṅgama).

The four purushārthas (aims of human life) — dharma, artha (wealth), kāma (desire) and moksha (liberation) — all flow from dharma. Artha arises from dharma; kāma arises from artha; and moksha itself is reached only through dharma.

The final path it describes is karma-yoga (the yoga of action) joined with jñāna (knowledge): offering every action as brahmārpaṇa (an offering to Brahman). By this the practitioner reaches naishkarmya-siddhi (the perfection of actionless action) and finally becomes a jīvanmukta, one liberated while still alive.

The Lokas Reached by Each Varṇa and Āśrama

Who	Loka (world) reached
Brāhmaṇas who keep their duties	Prājāpatya loka
Kshatriyas who do not run from battle	Aindra loka
Vaiśyas who follow their dharma	Māruta loka
Śūdras who give service (sevā)	Gāndharva loka
Ūrdhvaretaskas (the 18,000 celibate ṛshis) and celibate brahmacārīs	The same as the loka of the Saptarshis
Gṛhasthas	Prājāpatya loka (by Brahmā‘s decree)
Sannyāsīs who have mastered the mind	The loka of Hiraṇyagarbha
Yogīs	The undying place of amṛta called Vyoman

Per Garuḍa Purāṇa

In Chapter 107 of the Ācāra Khaṇḍa of the Garuḍa Purāṇa, Sūta Mahāmuni tells Śaunaka and the ṛshis gathered at Naimishāraṇya what Parāśara Maharshi once taught his disciple, Vyāsa Maharshi.

Parāśara’s teaching is presented as an older witness to varṇāśrama-dharma. It is especially suited to the Kali Yuga, the present age. It shows how dharma adjusts across the four yugas (ages of the world), and what stays the same through all of them.

Dharma Returns in Every Cycle

Parāśara began with the largest view of time. At the end of every kalpa (a vast cycle of creation), called kalpānta, everything is dissolved. At the start of the next kalpa, the manvādi-ṛshis (the ṛshis at the start of each age of Manu) recall the Vedas from memory and set up again the dharmas of the brāhmaṇas and the other varṇas. So dharma is not a human invention or a code that happened to arise in history. It is revealed again in each cycle, rooted in the eternal Veda and passed on through the ṛshis.

Dharma in Each Yuga

Parāśara taught that the main rule of dharma differs from yuga to yuga, as this Sanskrit śloka (verse) says:

Tyajed deśaṃ kṛtayuge tretāyāṃ grāmam utsṛjet Dvāpare kulam ekaṃ tu kartāraṃ tu kalau yuge

Kṛta (Satya) Yuga: if a pāpātman (wicked person) lives in a country, the ṛshis leave that entire country
Tretā Yuga: the whole village is left if a wrongdoer lives there
Dvāpara Yuga: only the wrongdoer’s kula (family) is left
Kali Yuga: pāpa (wrongdoing) has spread so widely that only the wrongdoer himself (the kartā) can be shunned; the family, village and land cannot all be given up

This teaching matches the response to wrongdoing to the conditions of each age. In Kali, the rule has been adjusted not because the ideal has changed, but because pāpa is sārvabhaumika (spread everywhere). If people shunned whole groups, there would be no one left to live in the world.

In Kali Yuga, Dāna Is the Highest Dharma

Parāśara declared that in Kali Yuga, dāna (giving) is dharma above all else. Pāpa and curses fill the age; the complete purity possible in Satya Yuga cannot be reached. What remains within everyone’s reach, and still brings great merit, is giving freely with śraddhā (faith).

The Six Daily Duties

Parāśara taught that every person, whatever their varṇa, must do six acts, called kṛtyas, every day to keep a life of dharma standing:

Sandhyā – the prayers and practice (upāsanā) done three times a day
Snāna – bathing
Japa – repeating a mantra
Homa – offering into the sacred fire
Deva-pūjana – pūjā of the deva
Atithi-satkāra – honouring the guest

These six are the minimum that living by dharma requires. Parāśara noted that in Kali Yuga even an ācāravān brāhmaṇa (one firmly established in right conduct) is rare, let alone a fully realised sannyāsī (renunciate). The six daily duties are the path open to everyone who cannot reach that height.

The Duties of Each Varṇa in Kali Yuga

Parāśara confirmed the main duties of each varṇa, suited to the age:

Brāhmaṇas must not give up adhyayana and adhyāpana (study and teaching). These are the pillars of their dharma and must not be dropped for convenience.
Kshatriyas must defeat wicked enemies and protect the people as they would protect their own children.
Vaiśyas must carry on farming, trade and cattle-keeping honestly, and must not use wrongful means to gain wealth.
Śūdras must support the other three varṇas sincerely and help the land to prosper.

The Farmer’s Dharma

Parāśara gave particular duties for those who farm the land. From the harvest, the farmer should give:

One-sixth to the rājā (ruler) as tax
One-twentieth to the deva (deva-arpaṇa, an offering to the deva)
One thirty-third to brāhmaṇas

This three-way sharing cleanses the pāpa that comes with farming, called kṛshi-hiṃsā-pāpa: the harm that cannot be avoided to living beings when the soil is tilled. Not giving these portions, which amounts to avoiding tax and avoiding offerings, is declared equal to theft (caurya-tulya-pāpa).

In addition:

Sesame and ghee must not be sold, since these are sacred and are kept for yajña and dāna
The Bali-Vaiśvadeva homa must be done daily to remove the pañcasūnā-dosha: the five kinds of unintended harm that a gṛhastha (householder) causes through cooking, grinding, sweeping, using the water-pot, and the mortar and pestle

Āśauca by Generation

Āśauca is the period of ritual impurity that follows a death in the family. Parāśara confirmed the rules of āśauca. He gave the period of impurity after a relative’s death according to how many generations apart the relative is:

Relationship	Days of Āśauca
Up to the 4th generation	10
5th generation	6
6th generation	4
7th generation	3

For a child who dies in a far-off land, it is enough to bathe on hearing the news.

For the loss of a pregnancy, the āśauca lasts as many days as the month of pregnancy. Loss before the 4th month is called garbhasrāva. Loss after the 4th month (and before 6 months) is called garbhapāta.

When a Woman May Take Another Husband

Parāśara taught five situations in which a woman who has been promised in marriage may rightfully accept another husband:

If the intended husband has gone abroad and will not return
If he has died
If he has taken sannyāsa (renunciation)
If he is found to be a napuṃsaka (impotent)
If he has become patita (fallen from his dharma)

In each of these cases, the woman is free to seek another match. This ruling shows the principle that a woman’s wellbeing and her life of dharma are not to be sacrificed for a marriage that cannot be fulfilled.

Conduct Towards Animals, and Atonement

Parāśara confirmed that killing certain sacred birds (the haṃsa or swan, śuka or parrot, krauñca or crane, cakravāka or ruddy goose, kukkuṭa or rooster, and mayūra or peacock) brings pāpa that calls for one day and night of upavāsa (fasting). Killing a four-legged animal (other than a cow) calls for standing in tapas for one full day while doing japa of the Gāyatrī mantra.

He also confirmed the scale of prāyaścitta (atonement) for killing a person of each varṇa that Yājñavalkya had taught, and so ended his teaching on dharma.

Per Narasiṃha Purāṇa

Chapters 57 to 61 of the Narasiṃha Purāṇa give the fullest teaching on varṇāśrama dharma in the whole text. The teaching comes from the ṛshi Hārīta. It was passed on through Mārkaṇḍeya and finally told to King Sahasrānīka by Sūta Mahārshi.

The text covers the svadharma (one’s own proper duties) of all four varṇas — brāhmaṇa, kshatriya, vaiśya and śūdra. It gives the full daily routine of the brahmacārī (student); the dharma of the gṛhastha (householder), including ācamana (ritual sipping of water), snāna (bathing), sandhyāvandana (prayers at dawn and dusk), atithi-pūjā (honouring guests) and Gāyatrī-japa; the forest life of the vānaprastha; the code of the yati (sannyāsī, renunciant); and the yoga-sāra, a summary of moksha (liberation) through knowledge and action together. Throughout, the text declares that Bhagavān Narasiṃha is pleased with those who follow their own dharma.

Brāhmaṇa Dharma (Chapter 57)

Hārīta teaches the marks of a true brāhmaṇa, one who deserves the name:

Daily sandhyāvandana, japa (repeated chanting), homa (fire offering) and recitation of the Veda
Teaching the Vedas to students and performing Vedic yajñas
Keeping full ārjava (straightforwardness) and śauca (purity) in body, speech and mind
Accepting gifts only from worthy people, and never from the unrighteous
Keeping control over the shaḍ-varga, the six inner enemies: kāma (desire), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (delusion), mada (pride) and mātsarya (envy)
Daily Vishṇu-pūjā and devotion to Bhagavān Narasiṃha
One who does these duties with bhakti (devotion) reaches Brahmaloka and finally mukti (liberation) by Narasiṃha’s grace

Kshatriya Dharma (Chapter 58)

A kshatriya king must rule the people by dharma (dharmeṇa prajāḥ pālayet).
He must study the Vedas and perform yajñas as the śāstra (scripture) teaches.
He must give dāna (gifts) to brāhmaṇas in a spirit of dharma.
He must be faithful only to his own wife.
He must master nītiśāstra, the science of government, including sandhi (treaties) and yuddha (war).
He must be devoted to the devas and brāhmaṇas, and must satisfy the pitṛ-devas (ancestors).
He must fight only righteous wars; kapaṭa-yuddha (warfare by deceit) is forbidden.
A kshatriya who keeps these dharmas reaches an excellent state after death.

Vaiśya Dharma (Chapter 58)

He must take up go-pālana (caring for cows), kṛshi (farming) and vāṇijya (trade).
He must give dāna as far as he is able.
He must do guru-sevā (service to the guru).
He must practise indriya-nigraha (control of the senses).
He must honour brāhmaṇas generously with wealth at the time of yajñas.
He must perform yajña, give dāna and recite the Veda daily, without laziness.
He must satisfy the pitṛ-devas at the time of śrāddha (rites for the ancestors).
He must perform pūjā to Bhagavān Śrī Hari every day.
Such a vaiśya surely reaches svarga.

Śūdra Dharma (Chapter 58)

He must faithfully serve the three upper varṇas, and serve brāhmaṇas especially, as an attendant.
He must not beg, and must give in charity from his own earnings.
He may take up farming for his living.
He must perform graha-pūjā (pūjā of the planets) every month.
He must wear simple (old) clothing and clean the places where brāhmaṇas have eaten.
He must be devoted only to his own wife.
He must listen to the Purāṇas regularly and perform pūjā to Bhagavān Narasiṃha.
He must bow respectfully to brāhmaṇas, and speak the truth without rāga-dvesha (liking or dislike).
A śūdra who lives this way in thought, word and deed has his pāpas (wrong deeds) destroyed. He becomes puṇyavān (rich in merit) and reaches the position of Indra (Indra-pada).

Brahmacārī Dharma (Chapter 58)

After upanayana (the sacred-thread ceremony), the brahmacārī must:

Live in the guru’s house and serve the guru in thought, word and deed
Keep brahmacarya (celibacy), sleep on the ground and look after the sacred fire
Bring the guru water, samidh (sacred firewood) and other needs
Study as the śāstra directs; study not done this way bears no fruit
Learn good conduct (sadācāra) from the guru with a pure heart
Wear mṛga-carma (deerskin), carry the moḍugu-karra (staff of palāśa wood), and wear the mekhalā (girdle) and the yajñopavīta (sacred thread)
Eat only food received as bhikshā (alms) in the morning and evening, and not from the guru’s house or the homes of the guru’s relatives
Rise before the guru, and get ready for him darbha grass, clay, a danta-dhāvana (tooth-cleaning stick) and clothing

The brahmacārī must give up:

Parasol, shoes, perfume, flowers, dance, song, village gossip and maithuna (sexual union)
Alcohol, meat, looking at women, and desire, anger and greed

Three people are always to be honoured: the guru, the father and the mother. If these three are pleased, all the devas are pleased.

Gṛhastha Dharma (Chapter 58)

The householder’s daily life is described in great detail.

Marriage: The bride must be of a different gotra (family line) and a different name. She must have a brother. She must be beautiful, virtuous and whole in body, and must have an auspicious name.

The daily routine:

Rise before sunrise; do śauca (cleansing), wash the face, then bathe.
Clean the teeth with a tooth-stick eight aṅgulas (finger-widths) long, of caṇḍra, kaḍimi, uttareni, marri or māreḍu wood.
Perform ācamana with mantras; sprinkle water on oneself; offer arghya (water held in both cupped hands) to Sūrya.
Why the morning arghya matters: the rākshasas called the Mandehas attack Sūrya every dawn, and the water charged with mantra drives them away. So the dvija (twice-born) must never miss the morning sandhyā.
Perform Gāyatrī japa: a thousand times is best, a hundred at least, and ten at the very least.
After japa, offer flowers to Sūrya, walk around in pradakshiṇa (circling clockwise) and bow in namaskāra; offer tarpaṇa (water offerings) to the groups of ṛshis and ancestors.
Perform Vishṇu-pūjā with the Purusha-sūkta; perform bali (food offerings) and vaiśvadeva (the daily food offering to all beings).
Wait for a guest for as long as it takes to milk a cow; welcome any new guest with great honour.
Atithi-pūjā (honouring the guest): giving him a seat pleases Indra; washing his feet satisfies the ancestors; feeding him pleases Prajāpati.
There are three kinds of japa: vācika (spoken aloud), upāṃśu (whispered, heard only by oneself) and mānasika (purely in the mind, which is the highest).
The evening sandhyā should be done beside a body of water outside the house.
After the evening homa and caring for guests (atithi-satkāra), take the evening meal.
Brāhmaṇas eat only twice a day, as the śāstra says, matching the twice-daily agnihotra (fire offering).

Vānaprastha Dharma (Chapter 59)

When a householder has seen his grandchildren and his hair has turned white, he should hand his wife over to the care of his son and leave for the forest with his disciples. There he should:

Wear jaṭā (matted hair) and bark garments, and let his nails and hair grow
Perform homa in the forest fire as prescribed
Eat leaves, grains that grow by themselves, and forest roots (kanda-mūla)
Bathe three times a day and practise intense tapas (austerity)
Keep vratas (vows) such as varāka and others, eating only once a fortnight or once a month
In summer, do tapas in the middle of the pañcāgni (five fires); in the rains, stay outdoors in the open; in winter, stand in water
Having purified the self through this tapas, set up the fire within the mind and set out toward the north

Dying in the forest while silently repeating the sacred word (brahma) and letting go of the body brings honour in Brahmaloka. One who is of sattva (pure nature), who does tapas and reaches samādhi (deep absorption), has his pāpas destroyed, and with a peaceful mind attains Vishṇu-sāyujya, union with Vishṇu.

Sannyāsa (Yati) Dharma (Chapter 60)

After finishing the vānaprastha stage and burning away pāpa through tapas, one enters the fourth āśrama as the śāstra directs:

First give away the materials of yajña as dāna to the devas, ṛshis and ancestors; perform the vaiśvānara yajña and set up the fire within the mind; then renounce.
From that day, give up all attachment to wife, children, parents and relatives, and give up desire and expectation.
Carry the tri-daṇḍa (triple staff) of bamboo, properly tied; or a staff with three joints, purified with water.
The yati’s belongings: gocha, vastra, śītāmbara, āsana and pādukā (loincloth, upper cloth, warm covering, seat and sandals).
After taking sannyāsa, go to a holy river, bathe, perform ācamana and offer tarpaṇa facing east. Sit in silence and do prāṇāyāma (breath control); do Gāyatrī-japa; meditate on Parabrahman (the Supreme).
Do bhikshāṭana (going for alms) only to keep the body alive; go to brāhmaṇas’ homes at dusk.
Eat in silence, only from leaf-cups or clay pots. Never eat from a bronze vessel; this brings every pāpa.
Spend the rest of the time in japa, dhyāna (meditation) and reading the itihāsas.
Sleep at temples or holy places. Before sleep, meditate on Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa in the lotus of the heart.

Such a yati reaches parama-pada, the highest state.

Yoga-Sāra: The Essence of Moksha (Chapter 61)

Hārīta ends the teaching with the essence of yoga:

Those who practise yoga (yogābhyāsa) with dedication destroy all their pāpas.
The order is: prāṇāyāma controls speech; pratyāhāra (withdrawal of the senses) controls the senses; dhāraṇā (concentration) controls the mind.
Then meditate on Śrī Hari, who is subtle, the ground of all, and whose nature is knowledge and bliss (jñānānanda).
In a quiet place, meditate on Nārāyaṇa, golden and shining in the lotus of the heart, as the very nature of the self.
Meditate: “The Paramātman shining in all hearts — I am that.”
Keep up this meditation until ātma-sākshātkāra, direct experience of the Self, is reached.

The yoga-sāra contains a famous comparison:

Knowledge (jñāna) and action (karma) are like the two wings of a bird: only with both can a bird fly. Together they lead to reaching Brahman.

And in the same way:

Tapas and vidyā (learning), like honey mixed with food, together become the medicine for the disease of saṃsāra.

Mārkaṇḍeya‘s closing words:

The four varṇas and the four āśramas — those who follow their dharmas reach the highest state. Bhagavān Narasiṃha is pleased with those who keep their own dharma. One must worship Narasiṃha according to one’s varṇa-dharma. Those who meditate on Parabrahman with strong vairāgya (detachment) through the practice of yoga reach the presence of Vishṇu.

Per Vāmana Purāṇa

Established by Parameśvara (Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 21–22)

In the Saro Māhātmya of the Vāmana Purāṇa, Sanatkumāra tells how the munis of the Devadāruvana, overcome by anger, caused the liṅga of Bhagavān Śiva to fall, and the whole of creation was shaken. Ashamed, the munis went to Brahmā and bowed with heads bent. Brahmā rebuked them for not knowing the nature of dharma, and taught them its form and essence. Parameśvara, he said, stands always within their bodies, in their ātmā, and is not other than them; like a radiant gem that shows the colour of the cloth it is wrapped in, he appears in beings according to their karma, yet their karma never touches him. The wise must purify the mind through jñāna-yoga and the other sādhanas; until the mind is pure, drying the body with vratas and fasts is of no use. Good deeds are those that turn the mind back from pāpa, and every practice is meant for purity of mind. As a means to such good conduct, Parameśvara established the order of varṇāśrama dharma.

Yet, Brahmā said, most people take ignorance and delusion for something great. “You live in āśramas, but desire and anger have settled in your minds. For the truly wise the home itself is an āśrama; for those who are not wise, āśramas are worse even than a home.” The yajñas, gifts, offerings, tapas and vratas of one overcome by anger give no fruit, like rose-water poured into ash.

The āśramas of the four varṇas (Chapters 14–15)

The maharshis who taught dharma to the rākshasa king Sukeśī named ten limbs of Dharma-devatā, laid down for people of all varṇas and kept also by the brāhmaṇas in each of the four āśramas: ahiṃsā, satya, asteya (not stealing), dāna, kshānti (forbearance), dama (self-restraint), śama (inner calm), freedom from greed, purity and tapas. They then taught the duties of the brahmacārī, the gṛhastha, the vānaprastha and the sannyāsī in turn, and the āśramas of each varṇa: brāhmaṇas, and with them kshatriyas, follow the rules of the brahmacarya, gārhasthya and vānaprastha āśramas; vaiśyas practise the dharmas of the gārhasthya and vānaprastha āśramas; and for śūdras the keeping of the gṛhastha āśrama is declared the best.

The four varṇas must follow, without leaving them, the āśrama dharmas laid down for them. Those who abandon their own dharma fall under the wrath of Sūrya, the visible deva; disease afflicts them, and their family line is destroyed. “Therefore, O king of the rākshasas, a man who desires his own welfare and the welfare of his line must in no circumstance give up the practice of his own dharma. If he gives it up, he will be offered as an oblation into the fire of Bhāskara’s wrath.”

Sources

Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva, Chapter 60
Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva, Chapter 56
Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 45–46
Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 222
Vāyu Purāṇa, Chapter 8
Vāyu Purāṇa, Chapter 6
Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapters 2, 4, 18; Skandha 2, Chapters 1, 5–6; Skandha 3, Chapters 6, 12, 14, 21; Skandha 4, Chapters 9, 13, 23, 25, 29–30; Skandha 5, Chapters 11–12, 19; Skandha 7, Chapters 2, 11–15; Skandha 9, Chapter 6; Skandha 10, Chapters 24, 32; Skandha 11, Chapters 5, 17–18, 27; Skandha 12, Chapter 12
Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 25
Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 151, 153, 160–162, 166, 225, 238
Skanda Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vāsudeva Māhātmya, Chapters 20–23
Skanda Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vāsudeva Māhātmya, Chapter 20
Skanda Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vāsudeva Māhātmya, Chapter 21
Skanda Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vāsudeva Māhātmya, Chapter 22
Skanda Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vāsudeva Māhātmya, Chapter 23
Kūrma Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha (first half), Chapter 2
Kūrma Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha (first half), Chapter 3
Garuḍa Purāṇa, Ācāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter (Adhyāya) 107
Narasiṃha Purāṇa, Chapter 57
Narasiṃha Purāṇa, Chapter 58
Narasiṃha Purāṇa, Chapter 59
Narasiṃha Purāṇa, Chapter 60
Narasiṃha Purāṇa, Chapter 61
Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 14–15; Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 21–22

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