Sannyasa, sometimes spelled Sanyasa or Sanyasi, is life of renunciation and the fourth stage within the Hindu system of four life stages known as Ashramas, with the first three being Brahmacharya, Grihastha (householder) and Vanaprastha. Sannyasa is traditionally conceptualized for men or women in late years of their life, but young brahmacharis have had the choice to skip the householder and retirement stages, renounce worldly and materialistic pursuits and dedicate their lives to spiritual pursuits.
Adi Shankara, founder of Advaita Vedanta, with disciples, by Raja Ravi Varma (1904)
A Hindu Sannyasi. In ancient and medieval literature, they are usually associated with forests and remote hermitages in their spiritual, literary and philosophical pursuits.
A Hindu monk walking during sunrise in a mango garden in Dinajpur, Bangladesh
Photograph of a Sanyasi ascetic, albumen print, by Captain W.W. Hooper & Surgeon G. Western, Hyderabad, ca.1865
Vānaprastha literally meaning 'way of the forest' or 'forest road', is the third stage in the 'Chaturasrama' system of Hinduism. It represents the third of the four ashramas (stages) of human life, the other three being Brahmacharya, Grihastha and Sannyasa.
Vānaprastha, a painting by Niharranjan Sen Gupta
