Indian culture has been the perfect way of living as well as of death since time immemorial. That is the reason for the consideration of the four ‘Ashramas’ viz. ‘Brahmacharya’, ‘Gihastha’, ‘Vanaprastha’ and ‘Sanyasa’ in life of every person. Lets look at the third one, ‘Vanaprashta’ Ashrama in brief.

Most people receive the gais of high post and social reputation in their young age itself, but after retirement thy feel as if they have been denied access to where they belong. Their siblings too develop feeling that they are a wasteful burden over them. At this stage, those people who have not saved money for their retirement, they feel even more troubles. Even those who receive pensions or any other insurance, they too don’t feel happy. The overall result is that the social status drops at this old age and all the relations are damaged.

All these problems can be solved through serving in this ‘Vanaprastha’ Ashrama. It is not inevitable, but only this appears to be the perfect way of living a happy life at this stage of life. After establishing oneself in it step-by-step, one should try to move out of he circumference of the family life. This Ashrama was established by Sage Vyasa and many others, keeping in view power, ability and experiences of the old age. That’s another reason why there is no fear or problem in entering this stage.

A person who has decided to move into this Ashrama should not speak about it to people. He or she should try to keep all the emotions an mind-work confined to mind itself  and should try to make distance from all relatives. One should stop attending marriages and similar processions. And one should prevent oneself from mixing with sons and siblings, one should try to spend as much time as possible, away from house and give a new direction to life.

Though I have not practiced it and I am not at an age to practice it, I believe in bliss of this stage, because it is a part of pure Indian culture, which has been the best ever.