The Philosophy of the Upanishads c5.s1.1.4

c5.s1.1.4

This state of things is to be explained probably only on the supposition that the entire teaching material of each S’âkhâ formed originally a consecutive whole, and that this whole was first in the later times distinguished into Brâhmaṇa Âraṇyaka and Upanishad, on a principle which did not depend upon the character of the subject-matter alone, but which, though in general correspondence with it, was in fact imposed from without. Such a principle we seem to be able to recognise in the later order of the four âsramas, by virtue of which it became the duty of every Indian Brâhman first as brahmacârin to spend a portion of his life with a Brâhman teacher, then as grihastha to rear a family and to carry out the obligatory sacrifices, in order thereafter as vânaprastha to withdraw into the solitude of the forest, and to devote himself to self-discipline and meditation, until finally in extreme old age, purified from all attachment to earth, homeless and without possessions, free from all obligations, he wandered about as *sannyâsin* (*bhikshu*, *parivrâjaka*), awaiting only his spirit's release into the supreme spirit. In the instruction communicated to him the *brahmacârin* was put in possession of a rule of conduct for his entire future life. From the Brâhmaṇa he learnt how, as *grihastha*, he would have to carry out the ritual of sacrifice with the aid of the officiating priests;