How To Redefine Active Ageing

Vanaprastha or retirement phase of life is a time of liberation, not limitation. It is about discovering your passion, learning new things and enjoying life fully

- DEVAL DELIVALA

If we go by the ancient Vedic principles of life cycle, the early years of retirement can be equated to the Vanaprastha stage and the latter years to the Sanyasi stage. These are the last two of the four stages of life. One enters these stages after satisfactorily crossing the earlier two stages, that are the Brahmacharya and the Grihastha stages.

The Vanaprastha stage is more about giving back and finding a new purpose or meaning in life. At this stage, typically, family responsibilities come to an end, with children settling down. Usually, it’s only at this stage that individuals begin to live for a purpose, reflecting upon and integrating the learnings from their earlier phases and applying that towards a purpose they want to fulfill in their lifetime.