Sree Krishna, the Lord of Love

by Baba Premananda Bharati

SECTION VIII. THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE.

Simultaneously with the introduction of the Caste System in the Silver Age are instituted the Four Stages of Life, the object of which is to help the lower state of human consciousness to gradually attain to the highest spiritual realization. They are graduated processes of mental and physical application and discipline by the practice of which individuals are to recover the absolute illumination, being and bliss enjoyed by all human souls in the Golden Ago. They impart a scientific training to the human mind in order to enable it to subdue its Rājasic (active) and Tāmasic (darkening) attributes by developing the Sāttwic (illuminating) attribute through concentration upon the Basic Principles of Life—the Centre and Essence of Absolute Purity and Illumination.

The first stage is called Brahmacharjya or spiritual Pupilage. The second stage is called Grihastha or Householdership. The third stage is called Vānaprastha or Asceticism, The fourth stage is called the Bhikshu or Wandering Friarship. The first, third and fourth stages are enjoined for the three twice-born castes and the third and fourth are open even to a Sudra if he is found worthy of adopting them. The Brāhman, Kshatriya and Vaishya are called twice-born; the first birth is the physical birth, the second is the spiritual birth through the investiture of the holy thread from which begins the performance of daily spiritual duties and practices.

The first stage of life begins, soon after this spiritual initiation, at the age of twelve, when the boy goes to reside with the Gooroo (spiritual guide) for studying the Veda and for undergoing spiritual, mental and physical discipline. The Gooroo is an illuminated Brāhman sage whose love and affection for the pupils in his charge and anxious care and efforts for the unfoldment of their souls are not equalled by those of even their parents. He feeds, clothes and lodges them in his own abode free of any charge or consideration whatever. His one thought and concern is to help them to realize the Truth, to be freed from the bondage of matter and thus enter the Absolute Realm of Eternal Love and Happiness.

While every student has to perform the same regular spiritual rites and practices and to say the prayers daily after physical purification, the method of training adopted by the Gooroo for developing their soul is not the same in each case. To some he explains the truths of the Veda and asks them to meditate on their meanings. Others, who show natural instincts of devotion, he trains into practical realization of the same truths without teaching them a single word of the Veda.

The chief method of a Gooroo's teaching is to draw the student's mind away from worldly attractions and turn the direction of the mind's vision inwards into the soul. Devotion is the principal aim, for devotion means concentration and when that concentration is fixed upon the contemplation of the Essence of things which pervades them all and yet is unmixed with the outer substance and attributes of their manifested forms, the mind absorbs the perfect purity of that Essence and is filled with the serenity and the inexpressible joy born of absolute freedom from the influence of matter.

If the student obtains this practical realization of the Essence of Existence, he remains for the rest of his life in this stage of spiritual pupilage. But he is no more a pupil; he becomes a teacher of pupils—a Gooroo. It is this practical realization that invests a student of wisdom with the magnetic power of awakening that realization in others.

A spiritual student's training is essentially based upon a life of purest mental and physical chastity; the student is not allowed by the teacher to mix or talk with worldly men or to discuss temporal subjects among themselves. When the practical realization of the Truth is attained, life's one object is attained. If, however, after staying and studying with the Gooroo for twelve years, the student fails to have this practical grasp of the soul of wisdom, he leaves the Gooroo and with his permission returns to his family, takes unto himself a good-tempered, virtuous and spiritually-inclined wife and enters into the life of a householder. But the principal object of this second stage of life is the same as in the first-realization of the Truth. The practice for physical and mental purity is continued, the Veda is studied daily, diligently and devotedly, and the meanings of its truths and principles contemplated with calmness and concentration, comparing their lessons in the light of the experiences of worldly life. The obligations of household life are greater than those of pupilage. Life must be sustained on simple and sparing meals; the means of living must be honestly earned, the hungry or needy beggar must be satisfied according to means and ability; the pleasures and comforts of household existence must be enjoyed moderately and with discrimination; parents, wife, members of the family, poor relatives and dependents and devoted servants must be supported, loved and made happy. All legitimate wishes and wants of the wife must be satisfied, she must be cherished with affection and respect and regarded as the presiding deity of household harmony. If during this household life the truth is realized, the householder remains at home during the rest of his earthly days; he has no need to go into the third stage of life, for, as I have said, realization of the Truth is the end and aim of life in all its stages. If, however, this main object is not obtained, the householder, after twenty-four years of family life, must enter the third stage, that of the ascetic. He must leave his home with his wife and retire from worldly life and interests and live in some secluded forest place near his home and practise austerities, physical and mental, in order to purge the mind of all its material inclinations for a period of twelve years. If during that time the realization is obtained, he remains in that stage for the rest of his life, imparting the realized knowledge and wisdom to all who may come to him.

If, however, he fails in his search for it, even in this ascetic stage, he returns to his home with his wife, and if he has a son to protect and support her, he leaves his home and family, with the permission of his parents and his wife, and enters into the fourth stage, that of the holy wanderer, to tread the path to Freedom and Truth all alone, sundering all ties of worldly life and surrendering himself—body, mind and soul—to that search. He must not occupy his mind with any other but that one thought; he must live on one simple, spare meal a day, enough to sufficiently satisfy his hunger; he must dress himself in scant saffron-colored clothes, the color of Love and Wisdom. He must ever be wandering, never entering a human home, and rest under trees; but must not sleep under one tree or on the same spot or place for three successive nights, Never talk with people on any other subject than that of his search, and discuss it with humble spirit of inquiry with illuminated sages he comes across on his journeyings.

This all-absorbing meditation does help to awaken in him at last the light of the Truth, and blessed with that light he is filled with joy and feels himself the happiest mortal, in touch and tune with the purest spirit of the Universe, the Infinity which is the parent of the Finite. With the first flush of this realization he changes the color of his clothes from saffron to while, the color of Illumination (Sattwa), and as he wanders still, in the ecstasy of the bliss of Truth within his soul, gradually the objective phenomena around him seem unsubstantial and finally grow dim and shadowy, while the realized spirit in which his mind lives immersed, he perceives to be the only substance of those shadows. Then, as he roams along, laughing and sporting like a little boy in the fulness of the glee within, he becomes in time almost unconscious of anything outside of his soul. His very sight is a blessing to all beholders, a blessing which fills them temporarily with the delight of his intoxication. He has no count of time or notion of the phases of time—whether it is morning, noon or night. He lives henceforth in Infinity and views all Nature as dwelling within him and anon views himself as a wavelet in the infinite ocean of its Essence. He does not feel any hunger, for with the satisfaction of his spiritual hunger all hunger has been satisfied forever. He is the embodiment of ecstasy, uncovered ecstasy, and even his physical cover, the white cloth, has fallen from his body. He stands naked as naked Nature's most natural man. He is clothed with the illumination of his soul, like the Golden Age man.