Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

The name Aranyaka signifies that one is supposed to study this part of the Vedas when living in the forest as a recluse (vanaprastha), along with one's wife, after completing the householder stage (grihastha ashram). The rules that govern this stage are very hard. Only when one adheres to these rules steadfastly as a recluse will one earn eligibility for the renunciant (sannyasa) stage. Both husband and wife should leave their house and live like brother and sister in a hermitage in the forest. They should bear all the hardships of forest life with patience, unmindful of severe heat or cold and other vagaries of weather. Not only that, they should observe great discipline in their food. From the day of full moon, they should go on reducing a morsel of food each day from their regular intake so that they observe complete fast on the new moon day. Again, from the next day onward, they should go on adding one morsel of food each day to their intake until the day before new moon day. If some householders, out of compassion, offer them food, they should accept it only on a leaf and not on a plate. They should never enter the house of a householder and eat there. In those days, people used to observe such hard discipline of recluse stage of life. In fact, all four stages of life, namely celibate, householder, recluse, and renunciant, are related to the worldly life. These four stages are prescribed so that one gradually gains control over the mind.