The Hindu scriptures have divided the human life span in four distinct phases of about 25 years each, the first one being the schooling phase called the Brahmacharya Ashram. This is followed by the household phase or the Grahastha Ashram. This phase is the pivot, the fulcrum on which the Hindu life revolves.
In Sanskrit the word ‘graha’ (noun) means home/house and the word ‘grahastha’ an adjective, literally means “of or belonging to home or a house”. You may also call it the ‘householder’. The word ashram is derived from the Sanskrit word shram which means ‘endeavour’. Thus the word Grahasth Ashram would mean ‘an endeavour to maintain a household’.
In the very first ashram, the Bramachrya Ashram or the the schooling phase, a teenager is supposed to maintain strict celibacy, complete his schooling and higher education, preferably at his guru’s home/ashram away from the comforts of home.
Having completed his studies he gets married between 20 and 25 years of age and settles down in a Grahastha Ashram (as a householder) to produce offspring — or as the biblical dictum says: go forth and multiply. (Genesis 1:28)
The Grahastha Ashram continues up to 50 or 55 years, depending upon the family responsibilities that a person has fulfilled, or not fulfilled. Once his children are settled in life and the responsibilities of the household have been passed on to the youngsters, a person is expected to leave his household responsibilities to the youngsters and lead a withdrawn life and prepare for the next stage, called the Vanaprasth Ashram.
During the Vanaprasth Ashram a person prepares to lead a saintly life. The age group assigned to this ashram is between 55 years and 75 years. The word Vanaprasth literally means “ready to leave for jungle/forest for a saintly life”.
And lastly, there is Sanyas Ashram, from 75 to 100 years of age, wherein a person is expected to renounce all his material means and surrender himself to the absolute. In fact Sanyas in Sanskrit means “surrender”. The Sanskrit word Sanyas (संन्यास) is a combination of two words (सम् + न्यास) where सम् means uniform, balanced or complete and संन्यास means trust.
The Grahasth Ashram has been eulogised as the best and the most important by the Hindu scriptures.
Sage Manu, whose book Manu Smriti, considered to be an authority on the Hindu ethos explicitly asserts the importance of the Grahastha Ashram, as he explains in his Smriti (Chapter 3, mantra 78 and 80) that Grahastha Ashram, is the pivot, the fulcrum on which the Hindu life rests and revolves.
यस्मात् त्रयोऽप्याश्रमिणो ज्ञानेनान्नेन चान्वहम् ।
गृहस्थेनैव धार्यन्ते तस्माज् ज्येष्ठाश्रमो गृही ॥ ७८ ॥
(By the virtue of which the three ashramas (Bramachrya, Vanaprasth and Sanyas) attain knowledge and wisdom and get their daily sustenance, it’s Grahastha indeed. Hence Grahastha is the most important.)
In mantra 80 Manu says:
ऋषयः पितरो देवा भूतान्यतिथयस्तथा ।
आशासते कुटुम्बिभ्यस्तेभ्यः कार्यं विजानता ॥ ८० ॥
(Rishis, parents, gods, living & non-living beings and guests — all look forward to Grahastha for survival. It’s the bounden duty of those in Grahastha ashram to keep them in mind while performing their duty/karma.)
As if this was not enough, sage Manu reasserts in chapter 6, shlok 87 and 88:
ब्रह्मचारी गृहस्थश्च वानप्रस्थो यतिस्तथा ।
एते गृहस्थप्रभवाश्चत्वारः पृथगाश्रमाः ॥ 87 ॥
सर्वेऽपि क्रमशस्त्वेते यथाशास्त्रं निषेविताः ।
यथोक्तकारिणं विप्रं नयन्ति परमां गतिम् ॥ 88 ॥
(Bramcharya, Grahastha, Vanprastha and Sanyasa — all the four ashramas are born out of Grahastha Ashram. 87)
(Among all the ashramas however, say the Vedic text, the Grahastha, that is, the householder is the best because it supports and provides sustenance to the people of the other three ashramas. 88)
If renunciation and sanyasa were to be the essence of the Hindu way of life, then the very life would not have been sustainable — wouldn’t have been possible because, rolling stones gather no moss!
Sustainability is possible only in a settled, married, household — and this is provided by the Grahastha ashram — the bedrock of the Hindu way of life. That’s the reason why the Vedic rituals, the Mahamratunjaya mantra, Isha Upanishad the Manu Smriti etc. all laud life and existence — a passionate desire to live for a hundred years.