CHAPTER TWELVE
The Perfect Society: Four Spiritual Classes
This chapter particularly describes the  brahmacārī  and the person in the  vānaprastha  stage, and it also gives a general description of the four  āśramas — brahmacarya ,  gṛhastha ,  vānaprastha  and  sannyāsa . In the previous chapter, the great saint Nārada Muni has described the  varṇa  institution of society, and now, in this chapter, he will describe the stages of spiritual advancement in the four  āśramas , which are known as  brahmacarya ,  gṛhastha ,  vānaprastha  and  sannyāsa .
The  brahmacārī  should live under the care of the true spiritual master, giving him sincere respect and obeisances, acting as his menial servant, and always carrying out his order. The  brahmacārī  should engage himself in spiritual activities and study the Vedic literature under the direction of the spiritual master. According to the  brahmacarya  system, he should dress with a belt, deerskin, and matted hair and should bear a  daṇḍa , waterpot and sacred thread. He should collect alms daily in the morning, and in the evening whatever alms he has collected he should offer to the spiritual master. A  brahmacārī  should accept  prasāda  upon the order of the spiritual master, and if the spiritual master sometimes forgets to order the disciple to eat, the disciple should not take  prasāda  on his own initiative; rather, he should fast. The  brahmacārī  should be trained to be satisfied with eating what is absolutely necessary, he should be very expert in executing responsibilities, he should be faithful, and he should control his senses and try to avoid the association of women as far as possible. A  brahmacārī  should very strictly abstain from living with women and should not meet with  gṛhasthas  and those too addicted to women. Nor should a  brahmacārī  speak in a lonely place with a woman.
After completing one's education as a  brahmacārī  in this way, one should give  dakṣiṇā , an offering of gratitude, to one's  guru , and then one may leave for home and accept the next  āśrama —the  gṛhastha-āśrama —or else one may continue in the  brahmacarya-āśrama  without adulteration. The duties for the  gṛhastha-āśrama  and  brahmacarya-
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