Transcending Old Age

[Gauracandra]

This week’s Srila Siddhaswarupananda program deals with getting older. It opened with a montage of elderly individuals who were infirmed as a way of showing what old age is really like.

 

The person is not the body. This is why I say you see an old body. But when you see an old body down the street you don’t see it within context. You don’t see that 40 years earlier this person’s skin was shinny and new, they were full of vigor and were attractive. They engaged in the same activities that you now engage in. We always see others as old, but we don’t see that in ourselves.

 

This old age is a suffering condition. When you get older you will have the same desires to run and skip and jump but you won’t be able to. You will have the same enthusiasms but your body won’t be able to keep up. You watch an old man – he wants to do what he did in his youth. He wants to play tennis but the body doesn’t perform the way it used to perform.

 

There is probably nothing more sad than to see an old person trying to stay young. Such people inwardly actually feel embarrassed. Once upon a time he was Mr. Cool with sharp clothes. But now Mr. Cool is getting old, his skin is falling off, and he just doesn’t cut the same sharp figure that he once did. So it is time to go in for some plastic surgery. He’ll just grab all the wrinkled, drooping skin, tie it up, and snip it off. Have you ever seen these people after plastic surgery? They look so strange. Betty Ford once made the statement after she had her face removed [laughter] that “I wanted to get a new face.” Like this is something you shop for. It is a very sad thing.

 

Eventually you will get so old that you will barely be able to walk. It is a very morose condition. “Sweet 16 turns into bitter 60.” They can’t control their urine or stool. They just lie there and wait for death.

 

I remember once on the island of Kaui, we were going door to door preaching. We met one son who was 50 and he was taking care of his mother. He would just prop her up in front of the television all day. She couldn’t move even to the point that he had to feed her.

 

This is the state of old age. You still feel young in that you have the same desires for love, affection, to feel independent. You don’t want to be ugly, to feel useless. And here you are and you can’t control your own body. It is falling apart. For so long you have identified this body as yourself, and therefore you feel “I am an embarrassment.” Because you don’t see this distinction you feel bad.

 

As a baby you were also an embarrassment. You would pass stool and urine all over the place. But since you hadn’t developed a false ego you didn’t feel bad as a baby for doing this.

 

This is the reality of old age. Not this nonsense that old age is wonderful. “Sex till 90.” This is all propaganda. Don’t give us this garbage. Old age is miserable. You try to eat and your teeth fall out.

 

You may so “No, no, I am healthy. I am 60, eat nicely, have lots of sex, and live at the old age ranch of America.” Ok, granted there are some whose body can still go. So what? What is the gain. “I gotta take my ginseng. Where’s my Vitamin E.” Without your Vitamin E how will you be immortal?

 

Why do you want to stay vibrant? To enjoy your senses. But there are very few who can pull 20 boats in the cold ocean at age 70. Very few. And even if you are such a person, so what? Here you are trying to act like a teenager. Isn’t it time to prepare for where you are going? It is like being 80 years old but wanting to play with toys like in kindergarten. There is more to life than knocking a tennis ball back and forth over a net. “But I can do it.” So what?

 

Hiranyakasipu wanted to stay alive forever so he could eat, sleep, and have sex life. This is the highest enjoyment they know. But eventually old age will come and make it very difficult to enjoy. But all the people in their 30s and 40s will applaud those who are old but still having sex. Then they are still human. If you can have sex life then life is worth living. Otherwise you aren’t human. But even dogs have sex life. So what? “Look, we’re ok. We’re still having sex at 80.” “Wait to go grandpa…” If you can’t have sex when you are 80, then you are an embarrassment and are put in an old folks home.

 

A saintly person once had his student go see a man on his death bed. He told him to take his young daughter along and to watch the man’s eyes. Immediately, this man who is on the verge of death, couldn’t move his eyes off the girl. The material desires are still there. And when they leave their body they will take a new body based on their consciousness.

 

This is the cycle of birth, old age, disease, and death. Old men will sit around and reminisce about how they used to enjoy. But because they don’t attempt to develop their relationship with God, therefore they remain in the world of material desires and die like animals. This is most unfortunate for a human being to die like an animal. A person who is wondering “How come I’m suffering?” this is intelligence. Why? Because this is the beginning of the human form of life – when you inquire about how to conquer old age, disease, and death.

[Somesh Kumar]

 

We always see others as old, but we don’t see that in ourselves.

 

 

 

One point I've noticed here is that one of the most significant impetus for spiritual development is to feel sad to see the sorrow of others and to ponder on it? Why is it happening?

 

It's called Para-duhkha-duhkhi

 

What do the enlightened souls here think?

[Guest guest]

Just a conditioned and bound soul here Somesh

But yes this is a very significant point you've brought up. We can philosophize till the cows come home, but unless we feel the pain of others Para-duhkha-duhkhi our heart hasn't really began to soften into the true mood of the vaisnava, who feels compassion for all souls suffering in this world of birth and death. Our beloved Sanatan Goswami was the embodiment of such concern for the pain of others, and all in Vraja mandal would seek his gentle and considerate consellation and council due to such a caring nature.

All that we've filled our brains with is a useless waste of human breath and time if it doesn't culminate in such an attitude of Jiva karuna. Knowing this knowledge is also useless if it's not practiced on others.

[Gauracandra]

This week’s program is a continuation of last week’s dealing with the topic of transcending old age.

 

People who want to understand how to conquer old age must understand that it can’t be done by any artificial means. It is nature’s law no matter what potions people come up with, no matter what people at your health food store tells you, no matter how much fasting you try. Despite all of this your body will get old.

 

Hiranyakasipu was a great yogi and he also underwent great austerities, fasting, and various yogic exercises in order to live forever. Some Chinese will practice Tai Chi to look 40 when they are 60, which only means they’ll look 100 when they are 120 [laughter]. Others think their health food store will keep them living forever [laughter] We just lost our sponsor. “Carrot juice will keep you looking young” [laughter] I like carrot juice, I don’t like Vitamin E, and Ginseng is so expensive. But none of this will help us avoid death. Thousands of Chinese have been taking Ginseng root for thousands of years and all of them are dead now. So it is a futile struggle. There are those who will just say “Oh, you’re just being negative.” I’m not negative, I’m just honest.

 

I don’t care what scientists, yogis, or faith healers say, you will die. Heal the old person of his old age, that is my challenge to the faith healer. And the scientists are doing the same thing promising youth through chemicals. There are so many liars, and so many lies. If you want to make money simply put out a magazine called “Immortality Now”. You will get all the liars as sponsors, and you will have lots of readers – all the old people.

 

These people are clinging to their old bodies because they are afraid of death. If I leave my body then I leave my tongue, and with out my tongue how will I enjoy food? “I gotta keep my body.” But this isn’t such a great thing. Put a little sweetness on the tongue and “Bzzt” - you get a little sense flash, and then it is gone.

 

This is not the reason for the human body to have a few buzzes. The human form of life is meant to understand who is God. Prahlad says to his 5 year old friends “My dear demoniac friends, all you want to do is play. But you should understand the real point of life.” His friends all say “We’ll do that later.” When is later? Even at 70 years old we just here “I’ll do that later, later, later…”

 

So a person in an old body – they are eternal but they are in an old body – they will remain immersed in ignorance unless they understand their true identity. Our hope is that we can motivate people to make them understand the importance of their relationship with God now. Suffering comes from being in the material body and trying to lord it over this world. But this suffering can be a learning experience.

 

In the Bible Jesus says that “Flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” You cannot keep your body forever. You must love God, not this world. The material body cannot enter into the anti-material dimension.

 

You can transcend old age. How? Through wisdom. The Bhagavad Gita tells us that the soul is indestructible. This is the beginning of wisdom. You have to know who you are. You are not the body. Maybe you have arthritis, or are feeling worn out. But you are spirit soul, and according to God you are of the same essence as God Himself. You are not the Supreme Soul but you are eternal. You must know ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ I am spirit soul. I am not the body. This is wisdom. With this wisdom you can transcend old age. Old age of the body is a fact. There is nothing you can do about this. But you can transcend the effect this old body has on you. There is no need to think “I am old and useless.” You transcend ignorance with wisdom. You are unborn and undying. With this knowledge you will gain freedom. But don’t waste your life. Death can come at any moment. But especially in old age we can understand this fact. So don’t waste your time gossiping, playing, becoming more attached. Instead regularly hear and repeat the pastimes and glories of God. Then you will be situated perfectly in God Consciousness.