गृहं वनं वोपविशेत्प्रव्रजेद्वा द्विजोत्तमः ।
आश्रमादाश्रमं गच्छेन्नान्यथामत्परश्चरेत् ॥
gṛhaṁ vanaṁ vopaviśet pravrajed vā dvijottamaḥ |
āśramād āśramaṁ gacchen nānyathāmat-paraś caret ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.17.38)
“One [i.e., a brahmacārī who has graduated from guru-kula] should enter household life or the forest. Alternately, one who is foremost among the twice born should roam. One should go from āśrama to āśrama. One who is not devoted to me should not proceed otherwise.”
Commentary
tasyādhikārānurūpam āśrama-vikalpam āha—gṛham iti | sakāmaś ced gṛham antaḥkaraṇa-śuddhyā niṣkāmaś ced vanaṁ, sa ca dvijottamo brāhmaṇaś cet pravrajed ity arthaḥ | yadi ca kasyacin manorathaḥ syāt tadā samuccayam api kuryād ity āha—āśramād iti | brahmacaryānantaraṁ gṛhāśramam, tato vanaṁ, tataḥ sannyāsam ity anukrameṇety arthaḥ | na tv anyathā vyutkrameṇa āśrama-rāhityena vā na caret | amat-para iti vā chedaḥ | sva-bhaktasyāśrama-niyamābhāvasya vakṣyamāṇatvād iti svāmi-caraṇāḥ | tena bhagavad-bhaktasya vyutkrameṇāśramitayā anāśramitayā vā sthitau na ko’pi doṣaḥ iti bhāvaḥ |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“He describes the option in accord with one’s eligibility (adhikāra) in regard to the āśramas: gṛham … [i.e., he speaks this verse]. If one is possessed of desire (sakāma), [one should enter] household life [i.e., become a gṛhastha], and if one is desireless (niṣkāma) by virtue of purity of heart (antaḥkaraṇa-śuddhi), [one should enter] the forest [i.e., become a vānaprastha]. And if one who is foremost among the twice born (dvijottamaḥ), that is, a brāhmaṇa [who is also desireless (niṣkāma) by virtue of purity of heart], one should roam [i.e., one should become a sannyāsī]. This is the meaning. Also, if anyone should have the desire, then one can also observe the aggregate [i.e., one alternately can in sequence observe all three of the later āśramas]. Thus, he says, ‘One should go from āśrama to āśrama’ (āśramād āśramaṁ gacchen), meaning, [one should proceed through the āśramas] in order: after brahmacarya, there is the gṛhāśrama, then the forest [i.e., vānaprastha], and then sannyāsa. One should not proceed ‘otherwise’ (anyathā), that is, contrary to this order [in one’s observance of the various āśramas] or without an āśrama. Amat-paraḥ is the division [from the word anyathā in the compound anyathāmat-paraḥ]. According to Śrī Svāmīpāda [‘“One who is not devoted to me” (amat-paraḥ) should not proceed otherwise’ is stated], ‘Because of the absence of a regulation regarding [having] an āśrama for his [i.e., Śrī Bhagavān‘s] own bhakta being stated ahead [in SB 11.18.28, i.e., because Bhagavān does not stipulate that his bhaktas need to be situated in an āśrama, the injunction described in the verse under discussion that one should not be without an āśrama and not proceed through the āśramas in the contrary order applies only to non-bhaktas]. Thus, in the case of a bhakta of Bhagavān’s proceeding as a member of the āśramas in contrary order or as a non-member of any āśrama, there is no fault at all. This is the purport.”