Pūrvāśrama — Prior Stage of Life
Pūrvāśrama (Sanskrit: pūrva — prior/earlier; āśrama — stage of life) refers to the stage of life (āśrama) that a person occupied before undertaking formal renunciation (sannyāsa) or before receiving initiation into a higher spiritual stage. In Śrī Vaiṣṇava biographical literature, pūrvāśrama typically refers to the householder stage (gṛhastha āśrama) that an Āchārya lived before he became a sannyāsī or jīyar.
References to an Āchārya's pūrvāśrama connections — family members, early teachers, social position — appear in biographies to show how Bhagavān or the guru's grace transforms and elevates such a person. The pūrvāśrama relationships are typically not renounced with hostility but are subsumed into the spiritual life through the lens of śēṣatva.
In Yathīndra Pravaṇa Prabhāvam, references to the pūrvāśrama of various disciples of Māmunigaḷ appear to illustrate how devotion to the Āchārya transcended social categories — disciples from different backgrounds and pūrvāśramas all found their place in his community.