Читать книгу Aging - Harry R. Moody - Страница 52

According to traditional Hinduism, spiritual freedom is the ultimate goal of life, to be attained by introspection and meditation. Aging as part of the total life course was understood to be crucial in ancient Hindu culture, which divided life into four major stages (ashramas). The first stage is discipleship, or learning from a guru. The second stage is the householder, based on marriage and family. The third stage is becoming a forest dweller, devoted to study of scripture. The fourth stage is complete renunciation, becoming a sannyasi, which may include teaching others as part of the path of transcendence.