Shloka 17
Brahmā’s Instruction on Brahmacarya, Vānaprastha, and the Aliṅga Path
Ethics of Non-attachment
गृहस्थो ब्रह्मचारी च वानप्रस्थो5थ वा पुन: । य इच्छेन्मोक्षमास्थातुमुत्तमां वृत्तिमाश्रयेत्
gṛhastho brahmacārī ca vānaprastho ’tha vā punaḥ | ya icchen mokṣam āsthātum uttamāṃ vṛttim āśrayet ||
ਵਾਯੂ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ—ਚਾਹੇ ਕੋਈ ਬ੍ਰਹਮਚਾਰੀ ਹੋਵੇ, ਗ੍ਰਿਹਸਥ ਹੋਵੇ ਜਾਂ ਵਾਨਪ੍ਰਸਥ; ਜੋ ਸੱਚਮੁੱਚ ਮੋਖਸ਼ ਦੇ ਮਾਰਗ ਉੱਤੇ ਚਲਣਾ ਚਾਹੇ, ਉਹ ਉੱਤਮ ਆਚਰਨ ਦਾ ਆਸਰਾ ਲਵੇ।
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation is not restricted to a single life-stage: regardless of being a student, householder, or forest-dweller, one should embrace the highest ethical discipline and way of life as the basis for mokṣa.
Vāyudeva is giving instruction, framing mokṣa as a goal accessible within multiple āśramas, and emphasizing that the decisive factor is adopting ‘uttamā vṛtti’—exemplary conduct—rather than merely one’s social or life-stage identity.