The Four Ashrams and the Overlap

The Four Ashrams and the Overlap

To my post yesterday on Men and Women, one of the gentlemen wrote the  reply below.

Very well written Sir ...
मैं आपके विचारों से सौ प्रतिशत सहमत हुँ। भले ही मेरी उम्र 30 वर्ष और वैवाहिक जीवन का अनुभव भी नही परन्तु मेरे विचारों से यह बात होकर गुज़री है और आपके उपरोक्त लेख में मैं उन्ही विचारों का प्रतिबिंब देख रहा हूँ। वृद्धावस्था से भय किस सीमा तक होना चाहिए या यूं कहें कि क्यों होना चाहिए। क्यों मर्द उम्र भर दिन रात एक करके काम करते रहता है कि अपने वृद्धावस्था के समय में  आनंद  ले सके । अपितु सत्य कुछ और ही होता है। जैसा कि आपने जीवंत उदाहरण प्रस्तुत किया। अपने परिवार के साथ  आनंद से समय व्यतीत करते हुए वृद्धावस्था यापन करना मिथ्या ही लगता है। वर्तमान में एक परिदर्शक के तौर पर समाज में होते बदलाओं से मुझे भी वृद्धावस्था का विचार एक असुरक्षा की भावना तो लाता ही है साथ ही साथ उम्र के इतने वर्ष काम करने के बाद एकान्त और उपेक्षित जीवन के विचार मात्र से सिहरन सी उठ जाती है।
 एक पिता को क्या परिवार का आर्थिक स्तम्भ ही माना जाना चाहिए? क्या जब परिवार आर्थिक रूप से सशक्त हो तो पिता को वृद्धाश्रम की शरण लेनी होगी? ऐसे और भी कई विचार जीवन की सरलता पर प्रश्नचिन्ह लगा देते हैं।

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His message was well intended and reflected his concern regarding his behavior for future. So I had to think and review what I have been doing since I turned Fifty and what is exactly in store for me. Nothing works like your own behavior....
Following is the Reply to Mr.Digvijay Chauhan...

मेरे ख्याल में इसका जवाब इंग्लिश में टाइप करके देना चाहूंगा ताकि सब लोग भी इन्हें ठीक से समझ सके.
Despite what I have written in the above article the fact remains one must do what one is destined and designed to do.
Very unfortunately the scriptures found in our country,  in the form of Vedas, Puranas and Upanishads have spoken a lot and have been passed on to us by our forefathers but unfortunately nobody ever followed them.
It is a very common philosophy often quoted in our country that our life is divided into four phases.
The first phase demarcated for 25 years is to be dedicated for acquiring knowledge and skills to pursue further life and is called Brahmacharya Ashram.
The second phase of 25 years upto the age of 50 is to be devoted in raising ones family and bringing up his progeny to be socially useful and socially productive.
After the age of 50 it wise to start detaching oneself and let the family members start taking their own decisions. One should watch from the sidelines how each member of not only his family but extended family and neighbourhood are growing up. He should by the virtue of his by now strengthened financial position and experience be able to influence the lives of those lesser privileged around him. And by lesser privileged does not mean in terms of money alone but also experience and Outlook in life.
During this 3rd phase from age of 50 to 75 one is expected not to interfere in the matters of running of the world and start acquiring skills and philosophies of his personal survival. What is expected to look inwards and see what he has done right and if he has done some wrong, then how we can connect them so as to be able to build himself as a more socially useful and productive animal.
This 3rd phase call VANPRASTHA Ashram IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PHASES BECAUSE AS I OFTEN SAY, IT IS THE AGE WHEN THE BURDEN OF ONE'S EXPERIENCE HAS NOT REALLY SLOWED HIS ACTIONS.
This is also an age for most of us partly because this stage also includes the part of the later age which we call Sanyas Ashram.
Since lesser number of people go past the age of 75 , so naturally part of the Sanyas Ashram has to be practiced with vanprastha Ashram.
This third stage of the third quadrant of life has to be deeply understood and which is what my yesterday's post was all about.
During the second quadrant of one's life one must make himself so strong on one's path and determination that he can continue with the moment into the next 25 years or the part of remaining life.
Unfortunately that has not happened VANPRASTHA Ashram was designed so that the growing people should be able to reduce their off- take from the resources of the society and start consuming less and less.
But that is not exactly what is happening.
When I travel abroad I find more and more people who are on holidays are in the late sixties and seventies because they are the only ones who have sufficient money in today's world.
Even on domestic front I find the people in the third quadrant to be consuming most of a Nation's resources.
Japan is a clear example how and where the senior citizens start taking out from the society the country starts faltering.
That country has had almost two LOST decades because of lesser resources available to the younger generation.
In Indian government services earlier the retirement age used to be 55 to 58. In the armed forces it was even lesser.
And the reason for this was largely philosophical and embedded in our cultural psyche of the FOUR ASHRAMS.
Other countries have not understood this concept well and that is why Canada is set to suffer with it’s retirement age of 67 and similar in France where large amount of resources are spent on the aged frivolously.
So the answer to your Question about what as a 30 year old must be doing ? Is that just do what you are supposed to do . Once you start approaching the fifties try to increase the area of your influence and think beyond your own family. Be useful to your children’s children , neighbours and the city and then the country.
In such cases your children will be proud of having you as the Figurehead. They will look forward to take your advice instead of you thrusting on them.
That is my reply to your sensitive and intelligent question.