Page 72 - Hinduism

fulfilment of life. The life of dutifulness ends in the deified life; it is attitude that matters and not the detailed acts. As the Gitā says, whatever a man's station in life, he can get freedom or mukti by doing his prescribed duty without attachment and absolute devotion to God.
Thus though the āśramas appear to be different stages in the spiritual development of man, starting with brahmacarya and ending with vānaprastha it is held in a larger sense that each āśrama is an end in itself. A man can attain moksa by performing his prescribed duties well and without desiring any fruit in any āśrama. Purity of soul, detachment from worldly objects and absolute devotion to God will secure salvation to a man in any stage of life. There are relative duties due to birth, birthplace and social environment and these duties should not be inconsistent with obligatory or optional duties. Every duty is really a worship of the Deity who is the real actor or kartu. He is the act and the actor.
Now coming to the rights and duties of women, there is fundamental difference in our Śāstras between puruṣadharma and stridharma.
Women are always dependent upon men and can never be independent. Women have their share of duties but they are not allowed to discharge them independently- Men too cannot practice dharma
independently of women, but the difference is if a 72