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(74.1KB, 736x982) I read as much as I could on these topics from various sources. So far I know: there are 4 stages of life, brahmacharya, house-holder, forest hermit and mendicant ,itinerant wanderer. However it seems there are also brahmin temple-priests (who logically must stay near a temple) and wandering mendicants who are specifically brahmacaris.
There also is sannyasis who wear clothes, and naga-saddhus or other saddhus who sometimes don't. Are they just different in this special rule, or is the whole spirituality different? I know sadhus wear matted hair, ashes in the body etc. Also there are ISKCON devotees which focus on communal living!
this seems like a vast cosmoverse of religious practice. Can someone explain? Is one supposed to take a human, current Guru or pray directly to a deity? some gurus, Ive seen on youtube have huge congregations; do they "own" their own ashram or order, or is there a top-down hierarchy and organization of vedic and puranic religious tradition?
