Is Old Age a Curse ? A Social Study based on Anthropology

Vishwa Mohan Tiwari, Air Vice Marshal (retd.)

Abstract

Old age brings disabilities, disease and dependence. Old age

appears to be a burden on nature and a source of suffering, indeed a curse.

The world view of the West is ‘Consumerism’ in which the main aim of life

is sensual enjoyment. In old age the capability to have sensual enjoyments

reduces drastically. Then, without doubt, old age with its mental distress and

agony is the biggest curse, resulting in hatred of old age. In the West

research is being conducted to understand old age and its physical impacts,

and to ways to improve health but not enough attention is being paid on the

emotional aspects, which are the main causes of unhappiness of the old. In

the West rich old leading a comfortable life devoid of feelings of love, of

caring and of compassion. India, with its improving economical condition,

despite its cultural richness, is blindly following the West. New researches

in Anthropology tell a different story. Old age is unavoidable, but is living

life as an old person also unavoidable ? The anthropologists have come to

the conclusion that grandparents improve the survivability of grandchildren.

The author is suggesting that the advantage of grandparents goes

deeper. Education and loving care of children by grandparents and parents

passes the quintessence of culture to children and humanizes them. Indeed

this is how a culture evolves and civilization advances. All that old people

need is a humane and loving atmosphere in the family and the society, and a

noble and loving purpose in life to be happy despite the curses of old age.

Hindu Rishies from 6000 years have been praying and advising to live for

100 years. Old age is a boon for the society, and it has brought us humans

from the Stone Age to space age.

1

Key Words

culture, consumerism, disease, grandparents, grandchildren,

happiness, health, humane, life, love, misery, noble, old, survival, , . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

There is a general agreement that old age brings disabilities, disease

and dependence. It certainly brings severe discomfort, physical distress,

pains etc. and poverty aggravates all these. And as a consequence it brings

mental distress, mental suffering, grief, agony, melancholy etc. No wonder,

when old people talk they talk of good old days i.e. younger days, of their

sickness and disabilities and of death. Old age appears to be a burden on

nature and a source of suffering for humanity. Therefore old age is a curse.

What can ever be good about old age? The only good that old age can do is

probably to warn about the impending death and thus prepare one mentally

for the final departure. On the contrary, some say (website ‘The U-turns of

happiness’) : “Young and old are happier than middle aged persons.”

Happiness is an extremely complex concept or feeling, and different

contradictory conclusions can be drawn from a data depending upon one’s

understanding of the concept. And that is another subject.

We ought to look at the main problems of old age, in its physical,

economic and psychological aspects. Physical aspects are being studied

mainly by anthropologists and health experts.

The famous Anthropologist Rudi Westendorpi states : “When the

conditions in which we live significantly improve, mortality decreases,

evolutionary pressures for early survival and reproduction relax, and further

resources can be invested in body maintenance and repair, which increases

2

both average life expectancy and maximum life span. The increase in

average life span observed in all developed countries is accompanied by an

incremental burden of age-associated diseases. Over the last 20 y, the U. K.

has gained about 4 y in both female and male life expectancy, but only 2 y in

healthy female life expectancy. And contrary to recent thinking the overall

increase in unhealthy age is greater than for healthy age.

In 1980, on the basis of survival curves, and because there is no

mortality without disease, Fries concluded that compression of mortality

also implies compression of morbidity (implying that period for unhealthy

life would also reduce.). It assumes a fixed maximum human age. In

contrast with the strict control over the first one-half of (human) life history,

aging is not programmed. Analyses of changes in mortality patterns from the

last half century are in line with the basic idea that there is no biological

limit to life. Therefore, compression of mortality and morbidity is not valid

either. Under current conditions, we are going to live longer with more years

in poor health.”

Westendorp further states that, “accumulated molecular and cellular

damages cause cellular and tissue dysfunction in the organism as a whole,

leading to disease, disability, and death. (Earlier) There was no advantage in

investing in higher levels of maintenance than were required to keep the

body in good condition for as long as it needed to reproduce an offspring that

had a reasonable chance of remaining alive. Humans have been programmed

to survive long enough to reproduce without too high a risk of death from

infection. Selection for resistance to infection was traded against selection

for fertility. Aging is under environmental and genetic control, but it is not

i What is healthy living in 21st century, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 83, vol 2, 404s, Feb 2006

3

programmed nor is it inevitable. Her conclusion is that the average life

expectancy is continuously increasing and we may be faced with spending

more years in poor health in the near future; human aging will be one of the

biggest challenges faced by advanced countries.”

Scientists, especially from the medical branches, have been working

to ameliorate the conditions of old age. They are recommending better life

styles and have produced better medicines for various diseases. We are

expecting that the 21st century would terminate diseases, would regenerate

human body as that of a young man. Stem cell technology and genomics

would bring unimaginable improvements in health; nanotechnology in

conjunction with information and communication technologies would

make living easy, more productive and immensely comfortable. But it would

also increase the global population to about 9 billion. It would put heavy

pressure on the resources of earth, and global warming would melt all the

ice, cause deluge and change the climate killing innumerable species. It

would also pollute water, air, earth and sky, the four elements so much

that they would bring new diseases and increase the chances of cancer to

an epidemic scale. Old age may become even more distressful for the poor.

Of course, instead of children, robots would be there to help the rich.

Technology would have a vice like hold on humans; but technology is a

cruel master though a good servant. Are we proving that technology

would be a curse on humanity? We don’t seem to be waking up to the

danger that is knocking at the door. Scientists live in an extremely objective

world, therefore their work, though very useful, is dry as dust. We have ti

transcend science which our Rishies had done aeons ago. But that is

another subject.

4

What are various sociologists saying about various ameliorations for

old age? They are doing their best, but apart from some superficial advices,

nothing of consequence appears to be coming from them. They say that e. g.

the old should avoid loneliness which in old age causes depression and other

miseries; old should take interest in likeable activities for they can cheer

them up¸ “cherish all your happy moments and they shall make a fine

cushion for old age”; they should dress well, go to club and sing and dance;

they should look after their health through regular exercise and nutritive

foods etc. The problem of loneliness in old age is not going to be solved by

following such advices for these do not touch the heart of the problem, and

heart is where the problem is. The old friends have become out of reach, or

have mostly gone out of town or this world. New friendships are not made

easily and are not deep enough. The children and grandchildren, who can

give emotional satisfaction and whom they miss most are not available.

When old people fall sick, the loving comfort that spouse and children can

provide, cannot be provided by nurses and doctors who, though, can provide

the necessary medical assistance. A researchii concludes, "The commonly

used criteria suggest that a person is aging well if they have a low level of

disease and disability," Jeste said. "However, this study shows that self-

perception about aging can be more important than the traditional success

markers. " He further stated that attitude is more important than other

characteristics like success or health. How to develop correct attitude would

be discussed later.

Web site ‘Happiness in old age’ advises : “Old age is like a bank

account... you withdraw from what you've put in. So, my advice to you

ii Lead researcher Dilip Jeste of the University of California at San Diego, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology..

5

would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories.” By

following this advice, one would Live in the past, and the same is not living

a life, which ought to be lived in the present. And again, “ Mrs Jones replied.

"Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my

room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged... it's how I

arrange my mind. I already decided to love it…” To accept reality is

desirable provided you have done your best to improve upon it. Such a

person is leading a highly passive life. We see that all these sweet advices

are of help, but cannot lift the old persons neglected by the society and the

children, from their miserable loneliness effectively because these do not

touch the source of the problem i.e. heart. Unless that is understood and then

appropriate remedial actions taken, the old will keep suffering.

We all know that it is a law of nature, that old age brings problems

such as disease, inability to enjoy due to bodily weakness, feeling of being

useless, lack of respect as a human being, loneliness, lack of purpose in life

and dependence. All these may cause grief, unhappiness etc. The real

question is, ‘why do these physical drawbacks cause mental distress, mental

suffering, grief, agony, melancholy etc?’ And then, can this misery be

avoided?

World view of a society determines one’s life style including

attitudes. Let us look at the world view of the West to understand its impact

on life and on old age. Somerset Maugham was invited to speak on the

advantage of old age. He got up and after some contemplation said, “Old age

has many advantages.” He paused and said, “Old age certainly has many

advantages.” He again paused and said, “I am sure that old age has many

advantages.” And then he sat down. The famous poet William Butler Yeats

paints a dismal picture of old people in, ‘Land of heart’s desire’.

6

"Where nobody gets old and godly and grave,

Where nobody gets old and crafty and wise,

Where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue."

Abraham Lincoln had said, “Old is gold”, but such gems are

rare, and are considered out of date today. Aldus Huxley in his novel ‘

Brave New World’ depicts a utopia in which scientists have invented a drug

by using which man do not suffer from the weaknesses and sicknesses of old

age and they maintain their libido and they die suddenly on becoming old.

The other dream in that novel is invention of a drug which allows one to

drink alcohol to one’s heart content without getting a hangover. And just a

few daus ago I heard atlk on the TV of Col. Basevich who emphatically

stated that the USA is the empire of ‘consumerism’, and that is the cause of

its biggest problem. This indicates that the world view of the West is

‘Consumerism’. If the aim of life is sensual enjoyment then, without

doubt, old age is the biggest curse. Old age is feared also because of its

proximity to death indicating the end of good life for that individual who

wanted to continue to ‘enjoy’.

Old people, because of their inability to enjoy the sensual

pleasures, are not happy with themselves; they do not like old age so how

can any body else respect old age. Alvin Toffler iiifound old people useless

and out of date because of the fast rate of advancement of knowledge which

they cannot cope with. As a result of such thinking in the West old people

are not respected by the society as such, though Governments may provide

various physical conveniences, like cheaper tickets for travelling or even

some ‘Out reach’ taxi service free, better medical facilities, etc. to them.

This is good but not sufficient. The fact is that the old are neglected in the

iii Future Shock

7

society, by their children, all this in the name of modernity, progress and

anti-traditionalism. 98 % of old age homes in USA are not run properly.

Assistant editor of ‘Guardian’, Malcolm Dean has recently said that ageism

is spread like racism in UK! Does it not indicate that if the prime value of

life is ‘Consumerism’, then old shall suffer loneliness, pain and grief and

misery.

The consumerist West is worried about the drop in ‘Potential

Support Ratio’, i. e. drop in the ratio of productive population to non

productive population. Japaniv has seen the maximum growth in the old age.

Because of the shortage of young wage earners, Japan’s rate of savings

will be zero or even negative by the year 2010. By 2025, 73% of Japan’s

income will be going for social welfare, largely for health care and pensions

for the elderly. It is seen that in the West more attention is being paid

towards the economic and physical aspects of old age, but not enough on the

emotional aspects, which are important causes of unhappiness of the old. In

the rich West old are cursed to live a comfortable life devoid of

emotional feelings of love, of caring and of compassion. India, with its

improving economical condition, despite its cultural and emotional

richness, is now on the path of blindly following the West.

Blind following of any path is undesirable. The West is going to

influence our lives no doubt, but then we have a rich heritage with the

help of which we can avoid the pitfalls that the West has suffered. Now a

days youth in India are rejecting the combined family system in favour of

nuclear system. They say that if the parents have brought them up, it does

not mean that they can continue to interfere in their lives, the old ought not

to burden the lives of the youth, they ought to look after themselves or live

iv Web site ‘Human Life Alliance’.

8

in old age homes. They believe that old are out of date and useless. It

indicates that the Indian youth are becoming ‘consumerists’. It indicates

cultural bankruptcy of Indian youth if not the blinded vision. Indeed the

argument, that one must look after ones parents because they had brought

them up, is wrong as per Hindu scriptures. The author is suggesting that the

scriptures urge that the old must be looked after lovingly because they

are the source of quintessential wisdom essential for guiding a child

born free to choose his world view. The author has given a new

interpretation to the aphorisms regarding old age in the scriptures.

We all have difficulties, (physical) distress and diseases etc, in

old age, but why do we have mental distress, agony and hatred of old

age. The answer lies in one’s ‘World View’. If one’s world view is to

enjoy sensual pleasures to the utmost, then obviously in old age one would

not only feel useless and worthless but also see no purpose left in life. No

wonder in such a society not only an old person is useless but is undesirable

also. In such a society if poor old people get humane treatment, it is a bonus.

The decay of cells in our bodies with time is a natural law and

hence old age is also a natural phenomenon. No doubt, for humans old age

is unavoidable, but is living life as an old person unavoidable ? This

question may appear weird but in free nature no animal, except man, lives to

be old, he dies as soon as he becomes weak, because he cannot feed or

protect himself. Why is this exception for Homo sapiens?

Chimpanzeev is the closest relative of man (Homo sapiens)

among other species. His genes are only 1.6 % less than ours. No wonder

we have many similarities. The female of a Chimp starts producing offspring

from an age of about 12 years, and she continues to do so till the age of

v All About Chimpanzees – Enchantedlearning. com

9

about 40. The maximum age of chimps both male and female is a little more

than 40. For comparison, Gorilla’s vi maximum age is 35 years. Soon after

the female stops producing young, she dies. The human female also is

capable of giving birth from about 13 years of age, and continues to perform

so till the age of 40 ! But then she may survive for another 60 years. The

anthropologists have been researching this issue for some time.

Darwin’s theory of evolution simply says that every species is

trying to increase its number on the earth. Richard Dawkins fine tuned it to

say that the genes that get passed on are the ones whose consequences serve

their own implicit interests (to continue being replicated), not necessarily

those of the organism, much less any larger level. This view explains

altruism at the individual level in nature, especially in kin relationships

(when an individual sacrifices its own life to protect the lives of kin, it is

acting in the interest of its own genes)( Wikipedia). A simple way to

increase one’s numbers is to produce as many as one can, as long as one

can. Then a question arises as to why does a woman not carry on

producing after 40, rather than helping in production of increasing the

genes of her daughter ? Her grand children will have only 25 % of her genes

compared to her children who will carry 50 % of her genes genes, the

maximum possible. As per the ‘Mother Hypothesisvii’, A question arises, a

mother if she survives till 60 years of age i. e. 20 years after her menopause,

then she can bring up the last child to self dependent age of about 20 years.

The question remains as to why does she survive till 100 years, i. e. another

vi All about Gorillas – Enchantedlearning. comvii The Origin of Menopause: Why do Women Outlive Fertility ? Tabitha M Powledge, Sci Ameri. Apr 3, 08

10

40 years or so. Isn’t the old woman after 60 years of age, a burden, on let

alone her family, on nature itself ?

In one of the researches conducted in Gambia by the

anthropologists of University College London, an important pattern was

noticed. Geriatrician William Thomasviii reports that the researchers noticed

that the survivability rate of children in the houses that had grandmothers

was 50 % more than in the houses without grandmothers. Such observations

were further confirmed in the preindustrial Finlandix, Canada etc. These

clearly demonstrate that grand old grandmothers not only help their own

children but also their grandchildren in survival and development. Apart

form helping during the birth period, grandmother helps in providing better

nutrition for the children, which the mother may not be in a position to do.

This fact gave rise to ‘Grandmother Hypothesis’ as proposed by Kristine

Hawkesx, ‘If a mother had continued to produce children till 60 years of age

( and died at 80, that is, she looked after her children only), then the survival

of her genes, in total, would not have been as much as when she attains

menopause at 40. How is it so ?

Mother starts becoming weaker from age 40, whereas a healthy

mother is essential for healthy progeny. This is also a proven fact that the

children produced after age 40 are generally weaker, sick etc; also

proportion of miscarriages increase, more still births take place, and even the

mother may not survive during a delivery. Therefore if a mother cannot

produce succesfully her own children after age 40, then it is better that she

helps in the delivery of grand children and their development; at least she viii Sear R, Mase R, McGregor IA. Maternal grandmothers improve nutritional status and survival of children in rural Gambia. Prtoc. R Sac Lond 2000; 267:1641-7. ix Soininon AM, Old Traditional Agriculture in Finland in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Forssen Kirjapino Oy, 1974. x Kristine Hawkes has been credited with the Grandmother Hypothesis. The Origin Of Menopause Tabitha M Powledge, Sci Amer. Apr 03, 08.

11

can transmit 25 % of her genes more effectively. Therefore resources being

spent on her are not a waste.

Grandparents cannot earn their resources; they have to

depend on their children for the same. Only humans are such animals that

can produce extra resources enough for parents and children and others.

Therefore to increase the survivability and development of his children, a

man would gladly prefer to support his or spouse’s old parents. This is

the main reason why the relationship between grandparents and

grandchildren has developed to be a strong one. Like other animals if a

human could not produce extra resources, then ‘Grand Mother Hypothesis’

wouldn’t have been possible. The ‘Grandmother Hypothesis’ has been found

to be functioning in the hunter gatherer tribes xi also. However, arguments are

going on about the validity of Grandmother Hypothesis.

It is interesting to note that the minimum sibling interval amongst

Chimps is about 5 years (among Gorillas also), and amongst humans it is

about 1.5 years. Why is this significant difference despite so many

similarities? The Grandmother Hypothesis explains this well. The infant of a

chimp is dependent on the mother for 4 years, and human child depends on

parents for about 20 years. However after about age 1, when a child can be

weaned from mothers milk, maternal grandmotherxii can help in looking after

the child, and the mother can deliver another child soon thereafter. Thus

with high efficiency, one woman can produce 12 – 13 children with high

survivability; whereas a female of Chimps or Gorillas can produce only

about 4. Kristen Hawkexiii emphasizes that, “The characteristic that

xi ibid

12

differentiates us from apes is not the lessening of minimum age for

reproduction (compared to the whole age), but absence of old age in other

animals. But the experts do not listen to this, however they listen to Kent and

Johnson who say, ‘Why do humans stop producing children so early ?’

Whereas I say that compared to our closest relatives, we do not stop

producing so early.”

Further researches have been conducted to study the subject from

many angles e. g. relationship between survivability and effective use of

resources on the one hand, and on the other long life, intelligence and food.

It was found that the ‘Grandmother Hypothesisxiv’ explains them effectively.

‘Increase in size of brain xvwithout significant increase in overall weight’ is

another example. If a man’s weight had to be increased to get a

proportionately heavier brain, then obtaining of more food would have been

a problem, esp. during that period when gathering or hunting food was rather

difficult. A brain spends proportionately much more energy for its weight.

Therefore increase in brain’s weight demanded a sacrifice in the body’s

weight some where. Stomach’s weight could be reduced provided more

efficient and sufficiently available food could be obtained. This required

better brains xvi to search or produce better foods. Thus brain and stomach

helped each otherxvii . Development of better brains needed, inter alia, youth

xii A majority of anthropologists agree that initially the families were matriarchic/matrilineal. It was domestication cows that made the society patriarchic/patrilineal. Aberle DF 1961. “Matrilineal Descent in Cross- cultural Comparison. “In Matrilineal Kinship, ed. D Schneider and K Gough. Berkley : Univ. of Calif Press, 655 – 727. xiii The Origin of Menopause : Why do Women Outlive Fertility ? Tabitha M Powledge, Sci Ameri. Apr 3, 08

13

who could learn the complex knowledge. This resulted in longer

dependability of human children on family comprising at least parents and

grand parents, and also the community.

Another important evolution was necessary before a child with

larger brain could be born. About 2 million years ago, female

Australopithecus was very much shorter than her male. Size of female

Chimps and Gorillas is also very much smaller than their males. If number

of off springs has to be increased then the strength and size of female has to

increase. The mother or even grandmother may have to carry a child on

them. And the size of women increased gradually. Such an evolutionxviii can

be seen in the development from Homo ergastus to Homo erectus. A bigger

woman can deliver a child with larger head. The size of a brain of a child is

restricted to 400 cc because of this physical limitation. And this brain has to

grow to 1200 cc. This growthxix takes about 15 to 20 years. This

development of brain is not merely physical; learning of methodology of its

use has also to go along with it. A larger body has many more advantages

eg. reduction xx in death rate, more milk capacity, longer periods for learning

by a child etc.

Ape’s learning ability is severely limited, whereas a man’s

ability to learn is endless. There is another big difference between man and

xiv Grandmothers, Politics, and Getting back to Science : Chris Knight nd Camilla Powerxv McHenry HM 19992, Body size and proportion in the early hominids. “American Journal of Physical anthropology 86: 407- 31.McHenry HM 19996. “Sexual dimorphism in fossil hominids and sociological implications. “ In the Archaeology of Human Ancestry., ed. J Steele and S Shennan. London: Routledge, 91-109. xvi O’Connell F, K. Hawkes, and NG Blurton Jones, 1988. “Hadza Scavenging : Implications for Plio- Pleistocene hominid subsistence.” Current Anthropology 29: 356-63. xvii Allelo LC, and P Wheeler, 1995, “The brain and the digestive system in human and primate evolution.”. Current Anthropology 36 : 199-221. xviii Charnov EL 1993. Life History Invariants, Oxford. Oxford University Press. xix Blurton Jones NG, Kristen hawkes and JF O’Connell. 1999. “Some current ideas about the evolution of human life history. “ In Comparative Primate Socioecology, ed. PC Lee. : Cambridge Univ. Press, 140 -66. xx Charnov EL 1993. Life History Invariants, Oxford. Oxford University Press.

14

other animals, his children remain dependent on him for a much longer

period. It is also human nature that he learns by committing mistakes or

from other’s mistakes. If nobody is there to correct a child’s mistake, then he

would be condemned to repeat the mistakes that his previous generation had

committed, just as Chimps are. This learning process strengthens the mental

evolution of a child into a wise man (Homo sapiens). Thus a human child

remains dependent upon the family for good education and survival for

about 20 to 25 years.

The author is suggesting that education as provided by parents

and some institutions, though necessary, would not be sufficient. Parents

are very busy in earning the resources and in mundane activities for

survival. They educate their children, in a loving atmosphere, what they can,

going along with the business of life. They hardly have time and patience to

educate their children sufficiently and properly. But both Grandparents have

all the time, patience, knowledge, and, the most vital ability, love for their

grand children. The author is suggesting that education provided by

grandparents grows, and gets refined with every generation. This is what

becomes the most important vehicle of culture. This not only improves

survivability of an individual, but also progress of the community and of

humanity, and the dynamism of civilization and culture. As they say in

Africa, it takes a whole village to educate a child, not only parents, not only

family and not only society, but all of them together.

It is fortunate that the old cannot earn physical resources even

for their subsistence, otherwise they would also remain busy with that

activity just like some doctors or traders do; leaving the evolution of

humanism far behind. Thus old people like the Commander in Chief of an

army are not busy with tactical matters, but with strategic thinking, planning

15

and education. The most important ‘commodity’ along with wisdom that

children need is an atmosphere of love and security which no other agencies

like ‘baby sitter’ or ‘child care’ or crèche can provide. It is the loving

atmosphere at home that makes it easier for children’s emotional and

humane development. Without such an upbringing it is difficult for a child

to understand the meanings of love, sacrifice, altruism, unselfish actions etc.

And it equally provides an emotional environment necessary for old people

for their satisfaction and happiness, which enables them to live up to ripe old

age. Such loving relationship acts as the best lubricant for the stability of a

family and society. Nature has ordained that mother, mother in law and

daughter in law, son, and son in law live cooperating with each other; and

that grandparents, parents and grandchildren live happily ever after. The

daughter or daughter in law is the obvious gainer in such an atmosphere, her

genes are transmitted most securely; and so are those of the sons or sons in

law and grandparents. An early mode of transmitting of culture was ‘story

telling’ for which grandparents are best qualified with their treasure of

experience and knowledge and free time. The stories, whose main function

is transmission of proper values for leading a humane life, need to be

entertaining enough to hold a child’s attention; entertainment is not their

goal. The dependence of old on the family members is not to be complained

about as it is a boon for the society of human beings.

Endowment of cultural knowledge is as important as physical

resources for proper development of a child. By cultural knowledge is meant

the knowledge which develops love, nonviolence, truth, tolerance, wisdom,

cooperation, intelligence, diligence, control of emotions, forbearance,

service, forgiveness, non-theft, adventure, imagination, discovery,

innovation, creativity etc. etc. Today the TV and the media give too much

16

prominence to entertainment and hardly any to the qualities mentioned

above. As per BBC (internet) news the youth in U. K. today lacks in humane

qualities so much that he has become a disturbing source of problems e. g.

obesity, violence and alcoholism. Number of single unmarried mothers,

despite all the sex education, has reached an alarming level. Teachers in

school are feeling helpless and even scared. Lack of culture in humans,

unlike in monkeys, creates worse problems.

Some thinkersxxi justify breaking up of traditional family system.

They say that advancement in technology creates jobs which may be away

from ones hometown. Therefore sons have to leave their parental homes.

The availability of good hospitals maintains the survival rate high without

the need of grandmothers. And provision of social security also looks after

the old ! Nursery schools etc, the attack on combined family system

continues, provide the knowledge that grandparents used to give but in a

more organized manner. The speed with which knowledge is expanding is so

high that parents’ experience is out of date for their children, therefore it is

more beneficial for a youth to live independently in the society rather than

with his parents, where he can learn to react with people with whom he is

going to live in future. This independent living may or may not teach him

useful traits, but it certainly weakens the familial bonds. The view that the

old people get out of date is a materialistic view, where one measures a

human being like a commodity. Sociologies influenced by the West’s

world view, based on capitalism or socialism, are limited in their reach

because they remain materialistic at the core. However, old may be out

of date for the skills required for earning bread, they are not out of date as

far as social, ethical and spiritual aspects of life are considered. Fortunately

17

for the West, contrary to this, Ben Wattenburgxxii, famous demographers,

has said it very succinctly. "Do you want security in your old age? Then you

don’t put dollars into Social Security – you put in babies." Is somebody

listening to him?

Various facilities like maternity homes are always expensive,

impersonal and profit oriented. Crèche, child care institutions etc. and old

age homes apart from being highly expensive do not provide the loving and

secure atmosphere that members need. In the culture of nuclear family,

resourceful grandparents are wasted, and are forced to lead a dry and

insecure life. All this increases unhappiness in a society. Knowingly or

unknowingly, happiness is the aim of life. And yet happiness is not well

understood by most of us. This is a discovery made by modern psychologists

like Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman, Richard Easterling etc. An

episodexxiii, though controversial, from American history is relevant.

The early American settlers, to colonize the area, were killing or

driving the original inhabitants away into barren areas. Sometimes they

bought lands from Indian Chiefs, of course at throwaway prices. In one such

case they had cornered the Duwamish and Suquamish Indians of Puget

Sound; they then to appear fair offered to buy their land. The Chief Seattle,

the patriarch, gave a speech, in presence of Isaac Ingalls Stevens, governor

of the Washington Territory, in the year 1854 or 1855, at Seattle:

“. . . . The son of the White Chief says his father sends us greetings of

friendship.  This is kind of him, for we know he has little need of our

friendship in return because his people are many.  . . . When the last Red

xxi Alwin Toffler in ‘future Shock’. xxii Human Life Alliance -websitexxiii Internet ‘Chief Seattle’

18

Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a

myth among the white man, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead

of my tribe, and when your childrens' children think themselves alone in the

field, the shop, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be

alone. . . . The White Men will never be alone.  Let him be just and deal

kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless— Dead— I say?

There is no death; only a change of worlds.” In addition, Chief Seattle

allegedly wrote the following letter to President Franklin Pierce in 1855:

“The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our

land. . . . But we will consider your offer, for we know if we do not . . . the

white man may come with guns and take our lands. . . . How can you buy or

sell the sky— the warmth of the land?  The idea is strange to us.  Yet we do

not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water. . . . Every part of

this earth is sacred to my people. . . . When the buffaloes are all slaughtered,

the wild horses all tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the

scent of many men, and the views of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires,

where is the thicket?  Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone.”

The purpose of quoting the speech is to emphasize that the many

noble values of life, as preserved by the old, do not get outdated. If one

doesn’t listen to such vital words, the end of life on earth gets nearer, as is

threatened now.

Old age is a wonderful boon to Humanity. We owe not only our

survival but also our rich humane culture, our civilization to ‘Old Age’. All

people old in age may not be old in the sense used here. It is important to

note the definition of an ‘old person’ as given in our scriptures which say

that old person is one who is intelligent, learned and cultured. The old live

19

mainly for inculcating cultural values in their grand children in a loving

atmosphere,. Heart is the way for ethical aphorisms, not brain. If a mother

urges her child to speak the truth, he does it instinctively, and not so easily,

when a teacher asks him to. In our joint families the old are not expected to

lead a meaningless life.

Our Rishiesxxiv had declared long ago that what has been created by

the Creator is full of joy. The world and therefore the old people are not

miserable. There is a commonly used phrase ‘saywaa sushrooshaa’ which

means perform ‘service’ and listen to stories (from grand parents or rishies).

What is the deeper connection between ‘saywaa’ i.e. service and

‘sushrooshaa’ i.e. listen to stories? Its import has been lost to Indians for

a very long time, and they repeat it merely as an ethical aphorism so that a

child gets entertained and respects his elders. Indeed the two ‘grand’

generations benefit from each other. The children get the age old wisdom in

a loving atmosphere, and the old get a purpose in life along with respect. No

wonder, there is a treasure of stories for children in Sanskrt and therefore in

all Indian languages. Panchatantr, Hitopadaysh, Simhaasan Batteesee,

Vikram Baytaal etc. are treasures mainly for children; and then Raamaayan

and Mahaabhaarat also enrich that treasure. These stories convey a noble

way of life, a set of human values silently to children, and they imbibe them

lovingly. It is more important to be humane then to earn millions. Thus old

people with their wisdom are never out of date; methods of earning a

million may go out of date. What is also important is that old people get a

new meaning of life after their retirement. By becoming economically

useless, so to say, old people get a noble purpose in life and become

vastly more useful.

xxiv Taittareeya Upanishad

20

The real problem is that consumerism makes a man self centric, for

nobody else can enjoy the pleasures for him; it ultimately makes him a beast.

German philosopher Kant had formulated the fundamental principle of

ethics viz. ‘Categorical Imperative’, which stated that no human being

should use another human being as a commodity. And a consumerist uses

others as commodity for his pleasure. Old people are not useful in a

consumerist world view. This is the difference between ‘Global Village’ and

‘Wasudhaiva Kutumbakam’; the former is based on commerce and the latter

is based on love.

Even certain philosophers are attacking ‘old people’. Foucault xxvsays

that power lies everywhere, e.g. it traditionally lies in a family with the old.

This should be changed and given to the young! He said, “forms of

discourse and institutional practices are implicated in the exercise of power”.

I would therefore say that the power that old people get must come from the

love and knowledge, and not just conventions or money etc. A consequence

of withdrawing the power from the old has been that children are being

controlled by the capitalists through media, who want to increase their

profits by manipulating the young.

We in India are aping the West and are becoming blind

consumerists and inhuman. At least in the West, there is law and order, and

other traits required for industrial prosperity. Nitthaaree, a village

controlled by a demonic industrialist, is not a village in NOIDA only, it is

everywhere in India wherever there is modernity and prosperity. We are

advancing industrially and economically, but retaining humanity is equally

important. Consumerism in the West has affected humanism adversely. We

should try and avoid the pitfalls that they have suffered. Our culture and

xxv <answers. Com>, biography Michel Foucault.

21

values of life are very humane, they are not anti science and we can progress

materially and maintain our humanism at the same time. It is not Global

Village that we need. We need ‘Wasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, which is based

on love, and not on market culture which is an instrument of consumerism

and therefore of inhuman culture.

In the market culture, the market controls the consumers;

industrialists control the market, profit motive controls the industrialists,

thus capitalist devil controls all. Inventions become the mother of necessity

and help the industrialists. It all leads to a man becoming a consumerist

demon. To escape this we ought to follow the age old tried philosophy given

in Upanishads ‘Tyaktayn Bhunjeethaah’xxvi. At the most practical level it

means ‘need based consumption’, where need is distinctly different from

luxury. It means do not consume for the sake of consumption; do not live to

‘eat’ but eat to live. Here the word ‘eat’ has a wider meaning which

includes ‘sensual enjoyments’. Enjoyments are not prohibited, but are

restricted to necessity. Life should have higher xxviigoals than merely ‘eat,

drink and be merry’. Then market wouldn’t control humans but the opposite.

Going into deeper philosophical meaning of the phrase above, it would mean

freedom from desires, i. e. desires would not control our actions, but our

wisdom would control desires and therefore actions. It would also lead to

freedom from the slavery of technology. Then technology would not control

science and our desires but our wisdom would control the technology.

However our culture is being eclipsed by the Western culture, mainly

because we are educating ourselves through a foreign language which can

only bring the Western culture of consumerism. We should learn English,

xxvi 1st and 2nd mantras, Ishaawaasya Upanishadxxvii Manu Smrti

22

no doubt, but we should educate ourselves and lead our lives in our

developed languages. Our languages have the capability to express the most

modern knowledge, provided we give them a chance.

Indian culture, inter alia, had long long ago understood the

important role that old people play in the humane development of society,

although we forgot it under the British rule. Our scriptures all the time tell us

to respect, help and look after elders, who are also expected to inculcate

humane culture in the children, and to provide them love and security. The

scriptures advice, ‘if the elders are respected and served, then long life,

learning, fame and strength develop in the one who does so. Ishaawaasya

Upanishadxxviii recommends to us that we should aspire to live healthily and

actively up to an age of 100 years. Mothers, fathers, and teachers are to be

respected like gods. But at the same time the elders do ask children to

emulate their good qualities and not the bad qualities. Mahaabhaart, an

epicxxix defines that an assembly or a conclave is not one until it has old

people ! The people are considered old only if they are wise and learned.

This is the kind of old people who must be respected. It may surprise some,

but old people do not want much from society, they have realized the

meaning of simple living and high thinking. All they want is a sense of

purpose in life, of being useful to the society, and respect that a human being

deserves. And a loving combined family with positive roles for

grandparents does this admirably well. Such a wise knowledgeable old

person then would not only help himself and his grandchildren, but also the

society at large. He would bear the curses of old age with grace and

xxviii 1st mantra, Ishaawaasya Upanishadxxix Mahaabhaarat

23

happiness! Old people humanize the young by giving them a loving

atmosphere and narrating stories, and apart from humanizing through a rich

culture, old people create happiness in a society therefore:

Old age is a boon,

as it had been for ages,

as has been said by sages,

let us come out of our cages,

of unhappiness, soon.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

24