The sentiment of elderly become like children is very strong IMO and it actually makes sense; not in terms of innocence of children but the physical(and somewhat mental abilities) weaken as time progresses.
As per ancient texts, there are four stages to one's life. Brahmacharya (student), Grihastha (householder), Vanaprastha (forest walker/forest dweller), and Sannyasa (renunciate). I always wonder if the ancient Indians really did that and how the society would have looked back then.
With that said, modern Indian's diet is drastically different from what the ancients ate and also the daily physical work(insert yoga, going to rivers for water and rituals, farming etc) ancients must have done is very different. Not only that, the elders were considered scholarly and wise since they have the done the walk of life; and because of that, alms were given out by the Kings and other working men to the elderly. Today's society holds less relevance to all this and renunciation is clearly not an option and has faded away into the history.
Vanaprastha (forest walker/forest dweller) aka. hiking, and Sannyasa (renunciate) aka. off-grid are the new age terms and I find that very interesting idea to purse at least for my old age.
As per ancient texts, there are four stages to one's life. Brahmacharya (student), Grihastha (householder), Vanaprastha (forest walker/forest dweller), and Sannyasa (renunciate). I always wonder if the ancient Indians really did that and how the society would have looked back then.
With that said, modern Indian's diet is drastically different from what the ancients ate and also the daily physical work(insert yoga, going to rivers for water and rituals, farming etc) ancients must have done is very different. Not only that, the elders were considered scholarly and wise since they have the done the walk of life; and because of that, alms were given out by the Kings and other working men to the elderly. Today's society holds less relevance to all this and renunciation is clearly not an option and has faded away into the history.
Vanaprastha (forest walker/forest dweller) aka. hiking, and Sannyasa (renunciate) aka. off-grid are the new age terms and I find that very interesting idea to purse at least for my old age.