Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 29
वर्णिभिश्च गृहस्थैश्च वानप्रस्थैश्च भिक्षुभिः । काले प्राप्ते त्वयं देहस्त्यक्तव्यो द्विजपुत्रक
varṇibhiśca gṛhasthaiśca vānaprasthaiśca bhikṣubhiḥ | kāle prāpte tvayaṃ dehastyaktavyo dvijaputraka
Par les étudiants de la discipline sacrée, les maîtres de maison, les habitants de la forêt et les renonçants : lorsque vient l’heure fixée, ce corps doit être quitté, ô fils d’un brāhmane.
Munayaḥ (the sages)
Listener: Dvija-putraka (son of a brāhmaṇa)
Scene: Four groups representing the āśramas stand in a row—brahmacārin with staff, gṛhastha with family, vānaprastha with bark garments, bhikṣu/saṃnyāsin with begging bowl—each shown releasing a faint silhouette (soul) upward as Time (Kāla) watches.
FAQs
All life-stages end in the same impermanence; thus one should live each āśrama with dharma and remembrance of the divine.
The Setu/Rāmeśvaram section provides the pilgrimage frame, though this verse itself is a universal dharma teaching.
None directly; it references āśrama-dharma as the broader framework of disciplined living.