Living Again

I was lying on my back and looking at the slowly rotating ceiling fan. It was almost twenty years old and the time for changing its bearings had arrived. It suddenly struck to me that my time has also arrived. And I thought who could change bearings of this old human body? I felt like I got tired by my entire life and wished I could die soon. Like godsend, I met this person who really changed my entire lifestyle and I feel like I am living again.

When I got retired and had to live alone, far from my children, I never thought it would be so painful. I was bored to death and felt like living that kind of life was not worth living. Having lived so many busy years, I could not figure out how to spend my full free time. I cursed my late wife for leaving me alone in this old age, the age when I most needed some company.

That day when I was walking out of the library, he smiled and introduced himself to me. He was a tall and thin old man. He had a radiant face with white shining thin hair falling over his shoulders. I learnt that he was a regular visitor to the library and he made it as a habit after he retired from his job two years back. As we met almost everyday in the library, slowly we became friends and started spending time chatting with each other.

In one of our heart-sharing conversation, I complained to him about my loneliness and my old age sickness. I confessed to him how scared I was being alone.He laughed loudly and said, “Some of us are scared about “old age” and some others are over confident that there will be no old age era in their life. I would say both are wrong. Actually old age is the golden age if you plan properly”.

Also he added, “We plan everything in our life. We plan simple things like a dinner with the family, vacation, etc. and big things like constructing a house, investments, children’s education, etc. and many young people plan what type of qualification they should get and what type of job they should choose, etc. But almost none of us plan for the old age like how to maintain good health till the end of life, how to accumulate more friends, how to cultivate a suitable hobby, how to live happily and how to enjoy our own company”.

It struck to me like anything, he was very much right. In fact, in my whole life, I did this and that, but I never thought what I had to do when I turn old. I nodded my head acknowledging his words.

Realizing my appreciation towards his opinions, he continued.

“As we see, our life can be divided into four parts i.e., childhood, teenage, middle age and old age. Each part of life has it’s own significance. We all in general grow in our first part of life under the guidance of elders and in the second part we are busy in planning our career so that we are more comfortable in the next part of life. But in the middle age keeping our busy schedule like family responsibilities, job responsibilities and career development in mind we all forget that there is another part in our life i.e., old age.”

“And by the time we realize, it is too late”, I added fervently.

“Yes. Indeed we all welcome the first three parts of life happily and think that old age is a tragic occurrence”, he continued. “To have a happy old age, one requires little preparation. Like we should start liking our own company, cultivating a good hobby, safeguard the health, accumulate more friends, sustain interest in life, have a positive attitude and optimism and make leisure a delight”.

I liked his view on old age and went home that day with lot of motivation. I sat down in front of my desk and drafted a plan for my little future. I decided to study philosophical and religious books. I also decided to take walks daily early in the morning around the park. With lots of things to do when I get up the next day, I slept happily.

When I woke up early in the morning, it was foggy outside. Despite my lethargic mind’s negativity, I took off for a walk around the park. Later that day, I picked up some books from library and started reading with enthusiasm.

With my little successful day, I felt like I got rejuvenated. I headed to meet my dear friend that evening. Seeing cheerfulness in my face, he enquired what had happened. I narrated him my new decision and how I started it that very day.

After listening to what I said, he appreciated my initiative very well and told me to concentrate on my mind. When I enquired about how to do so, he said,” To train our mind, we need Yoga and Meditation. Yoga is simply the training to control the undulations in the mind. Desire, greed, pride, ego, hatred, hostility, anger and jealousy are the enemies of mankind. The one good antidote to kill all these negative thoughts is the capacity of trained mind to over come them.”

“Meditation is a golden silence which will enable us to listen to our own inner voice. By doing so many of our actions could be modified for a better tomorrow. I read somewhere ‘it is not what you eat that kills you, it is what eats you that kills you’”, he added.

I knew about Yoga throughout my whole life. But neither time permitted nor I showed any interest in it.

When I asked him whether he could assist me in practicing Yoga, he smiled and said, “I am not the right person to teach you. I know couple of training centers, where you can learn that”

I didn’t think much before I started the classes. When I joined the Yoga classes, I learned that diet is very important in practicing Yoga. The yoga master mentioned, “Regularizing the diet is as important as practicing the Yoga. Healthy diet will keep you healthy. Healthy body will have healthy mind. Healthy mind will have healthy thoughts. Healthy thoughts will make you speak good and do good”.

As I started browsing through the Indian philosophical works, I wondered how I missed them all through the years. My opinions about life changed a lot and I started realizing what are the most important goals of a man. I felt great for my changed life and I attribute much to my dear friend, who helped me in guiding through this path. I thank him many times for that, even though he never acknowledges anything from me.

As a new person, I am enjoying the fruits of my new lifestyle. Feeling the limitations of my achievements, I feel like the road of life is always under construction and never complete.

I hope many of you people out there will plan well for your old age and I want to conclude my simple story with an anonymous poem from one of the best books I ever read.

If you have left your dreams behind;
If hope is cold, if you no longer look ahead;
If your ambition-fires are dead, then you are old!
But if from life, you take the best,
And if in life you keep the jest,
If love you hold no matter how the years go by;
No matter how the birthdays fly, you are not old.
Wrinkles may be on the brow, let it not be on your heart;
The spirit should not grow old.
Nobody grows old by merely living the number of years.
People grow old by deserting their ideals.
Years wrinkle the skin;
To give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul”

-Babu Rao

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