Shloka 37
मायामोह-प्रवर्तन, वेदमार्ग-बहिष्कार, तथा पाषण्ड-संसर्ग-दोषः
Māyāmoha’s Delusion, Rejection of the Vedic Path, and the Fault of Heretical Association
ब्रह्मचारी गृहस्थश् च वानप्रस्थस् तथाश्रमाः परिव्राड् वा चतुर्थो ऽत्र पञ्चमो नोपपद्यते
brahmacārī gṛhasthaś ca vānaprasthas tathāśramāḥ parivrāḍ vā caturtho 'tra pañcamo nopapadyate
The āśramas are these: the brahmacārin, the gṛhastha, and the vānaprastha; and here the parivrājaka, the wandering renunciant, is the fourth. A fifth stage has no rightful place in this order.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Clarifying rightful Vedic order versus deviant paths that reject the Trayī
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Human life is to be structured through the four āśramas; a ‘fifth’ stage outside this Vedic order is improper.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Choose a life-structure (study, household duty, gradual withdrawal, or renunciation) that integrates responsibility with spiritual aim rather than inventing self-serving exceptions.
Vishishtadvaita: Varṇāśrama is treated as a real, divinely sanctioned discipline that supports bhakti and prapatti by ordering one’s duties toward the Lord.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Bhakti Type: Shanta
FAQs
This verse affirms that dharma is structured into four life-stages—student, householder, forest-retiree, and renunciant—forming a complete spiritual-social framework without adding a “fifth” alternative.
Parāśara lists the ashramas as an authoritative sequence and concludes that the system is exhaustive: the renunciant is the fourth, and no additional ashrama is doctrinally valid within this dharmic scheme.
By grounding social and spiritual discipline in a fixed dharmic order, the Purana implies a cosmos governed by divine law—ultimately upheld by Vishnu as the supreme regulator of order and the goal of liberation.