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Today's topic, retirement.
Retirement. Or in a way, I suppose I could call it non -retirement.
Let's talk about it.
I think this is an important topic, and it's an important topic for people of all ages.
What does this word mean?
First of all, let's talk about the meaning of the word retirement.
So when we say retirement in English, we're talking about us ending work, right?
Stopping work. And this is a system, you know, I don't know when this kind of system started, my guess This started with the Industrial Revolution and then even more so recently.
By recently, I mean like my parent's age, like 1950s or so.
Going back before then, I'm not sure, but retirement is this idea that we work until a certain age and in many countries, there is an actual legal age and then at that age, you stop working your job, and in several countries, especially Europe, United States, Canada, you know, you get some kind of income from the government, which of course you pay for yourself through taxes all your life, so it's not free, but the idea is that the government's forcing you to save for your own retirement when you get older.
And in some countries they do not have system and people just have to you know make sure they do their own savings but regardless the age is usually what 65 67 64 depends on the country depends on the person but it's this idea that okay that's when you stop working you retire from.
Retire from work means you leave it.
You stop doing it. So that's the direct meaning.
Now, I'll say in the United States, culturally, so within movies, within TV, my parents' generation, so what they kind of taught me, and what I think the general beliefs and ideas of my parents generation where all of these things together kind of create a certain culture about retirement in the United States and I believe from what I know this is also true somewhat or mostly in a lot of other countries too.
And the idea is that there's kind of a life plan worked out for you right.
So what do you do okay for sure you go to school right so you do elementary school, middle school, high school those are the names we have in America but then you maybe go to university and you get a job and you work that job your career you know all through your 20s 30s 40s and 50s and into your mid 60s and then finally after doing working working working your full -time job all those years you retire and then all when you retire that's the time where you get the delay around and the message we get in the media the message that certainly i got growing up and what I've always heard within our cultures
is the idea that retirement is a time of leisure it's a time of leisure because what do we think of when we We think of someone who's retired.
Well in the States here we think of you know like for men for example that maybe they go out and play golf every day and maybe they go on a cruise, and you think of older people, retired people, they take cruises, they go on a big cruise ship and they maybe they go to the Caribbean, they go to the Bahamas or down to Baja, California.
Or in Europe I suppose they cruise around the Mediterranean.
Or maybe they take you know little trips, kind of guided trips, you know little trips to different countries or in their own country.
So that's sort of the image, I'd say that's the positive image that is presented to us about retirement.
That's the picture we get from media and from our culture, a lot of us, about that's what retirement is.
It's a time of leisure, and this is promoted as a very positive thing.
Oh, you worked all your life, you worked for 40 years, and now it's a time to just lay around and relax and do relaxing, fun stuff.
Maybe a few little hobbies, right?
Leisure time. So that's the positive side.
Now then there's the reality which is far more negative.
The reality that I see here in the States and that I've seen in a whole lot of countries, but probably America is one of the worst is that when people get to retirement age they're not that active they're not out traveling the world they're not playing golf every day or whatever tennis or whatever that in fact what they're doing a lot of the day is sitting in their homes watching television that they they're actually very sedentary, sedentary is the opposite of active.
Right, sedentary means not moving much, it means sitting around.
So they're kind of sitting around and they're bored and we know statistically if you look at the statistics, the death statistics when people die, there's a big jump when people retire that people officially retire from their job and then a lot of people, a decent percentage, larger than expected.
Quite a large group of people die, I think it's within six months or within one year of retiring.
Probably it's just because they kind of lose their feeling of purpose, because if they had a job even if it was not such a inspiring job not a great job at least that you know it was something they needed to do they there was this feeling that they were needed there was a feeling that they had something you know to contribute they were contributing something even if they're just working at some some company doing nothing too important but they're still there they're active right they're getting out and if they're working at a job then and they're probably interacting with other people, so what happens
so often is people retire and then oh, now they just sit at home and they're social interactions are gone because all their life they just worked 40 or more hours every week and they didn't really have much of a social life outside work, so when work stops, now they're kinda isolated and lonely.
And because they're working so much, and especially if they had families and kids too, they might not have many hobbies or any hobbies at all.
A lot of them don't have any hobbies at all.
They just worked and then took care of their kids and then that's it.
And, you know, we just know that when people have that kind of a life for 40 years, or 30 years or 20 years, then it can be quite difficult for them to start doing a lot of new things.
Right? Most typically, the average person doesn't suddenly jump into a whole lot of new things at the age of 65.
Unless they've had that life, unless they've been doing it their whole life and they're used to doing that.
But sadly, we know a lot of people don't.
A lot of people just get bored and a lot of people lose hope and let's face it, our societies, our modern societies do not respect old people and older people, what we call seniors, have kind of empty lives.
They're viewed as not important, they're not cool, they're not interesting, and especially after they retire.
So, quite sad. Now, my opinion, and what we're going to talk about today, is a different idea of life—an alternative vision of this life path.
I would call this life path that we're all taught, either directly or indirectly, we're all taught this life path of, okay, you're a kid, you go to school, maybe you go to university or maybe you don't, but either way.
Then after that you get a job and then you work your career and then you retire and then you die and during retirement you do leisure.
I Call that the I would call that the material materialistic or material life path Right there's no real meaning to any of this.
There's no There's no reason for any of it The choir why do any of those things why?
Why are each of those stages important?
I don't know about you but I was never taught why any of these things were important and why do leisure why at the end of your life would you Or should you want to just focus on you know playing around?
so I think even the positive version of it is just very materialistic and empty How this came up a couple weeks ago, was outside in the yard here in Indiana Spring day.
And my sister came out we were we were chatting and we had a conversation about a topic we have talked about a few times.
And it's this exact topic.
So my sister, she has five children and her first child has already left home and is at university now.
And then she's got one that's 16 another that's 13, and then two that are 11.
Actually, the 13. I think just turned 14.
But anyway, the point is this, she's quite worried about what she will do with her life when her children are all grown up out of the house once they're all gone from the house.
Because you can imagine with five kids, you know, her life and her meaning and her purpose is completely focused on, you know, being a mom and helping these kids, and she's very, very, very busy running around doing things for all these kids, and, you know, taking them to all these different activities, and making sure their, you know, their homework gets done, and she's quite busy with all of this.
And she likes it, and she enjoys it, and it gives her great meaning, and it is a very important and meaningful purpose for life, to be a mother, to be a father.
extremely important.
You're contributing to the upbringing of children and you'll affect, you have such a strong effect on them for their entire lives and this is an act of love and contribution and extremely deep and meaningful and important.
But then when they grow up and they're independent and don't need you so much of course you still love them, but you know you can imagine right this is we call it emptiness syndrome in America and it's quite common for parents to become kind of depressed once all their kids grow up.
Again it's kind of similar I think you know traditionally when women Didn't work so much and the men worked, you know The women would have this sort of hit them when the kids grew up and then the men would have this same Kind of crisis when they retired It's kind of similar.
It's a loss of purpose a loss of a feeling of purpose a loss of Feeling that you are contributing to something right?
or to someone that you're helping that you're contributing somehow to other people to society, to something so she's quite worried about it and we've discussed it and she's kinda like ah yeah I don't know what am I gonna do what am I gonna do when my kids all grow up and she's she's still got Let's see, at 11, so she's still got another seven years or so, but she's already got and she can, she can see and she knows that it's going to be a huge, huge change for her.
And of course, you know, my kids are younger, so I've got longer until that happens.
but day will come you know knock on wood as long as I live long enough and I certainly hope I do that I'll have to face the same thing and and most people will so it's important to think about this and I think it's important to think about it even if you're 20 years old now because you don't want to waste your life and then get to a lay an older age and realize you've been living a life that leads to a dead end to no purpose at all.
So what's the answer or what's another possibility?
Instead of getting to the end and and just focusing on something kind of empty like leisure is there another way?
And there is. And that is my topic for today, which is the traditional Vedic system or idea of the life path—of our life path and life stages.
So we have this materialistic one, which is, you know, childhood student in a school, and then career and then retirement and leisure.
But is there one that leads to greater purpose and especially that provides us, that gives us a different, a much different view, a much different idea of the importance of the final stage of life, right?
When you're old, when you're a senior, when you're retired.
So in this system, it's called the ashrama system, and there's a kind of a very old, traditional way that they thought about this, the ancient Indians, but you can see it in modern terms as well.
And there are some similarities.
So what's the difference?
So again, there is let's say what's the first stage of life is again as if there's of course childhood, but then as later childhood and teenage years and kind of youth, there is the similar idea of a student.
I think it's called a brahmachari is the Sanskrit.
I might be saying that wrong, but it's the idea that yes, this is the time to learn.
But, what one difference is, is that in this system, in the Vedic system, that it's a time for a student to learn not only practical material things—you know, reading, writing, arithmetic, some kind of job or career—but also spiritual lessons.
to study... So in the course of the Vedic, it would be study Bhagavad Gita, to learn and to read the great scriptures, the great philosophies, the great teachers and gurus and philosophers and commentators.
In other words that the student, the young person, has a quite intense period of time as a student where they are studying and learning about and thinking about the highest and deepest questions of life.
What is the meaning of life?
What is the purpose of life?
Is there life after death or not?
Is life just in and in existence and the world just material just physical things or is there's something else?" And if there's something else, what is the nature of that something else?
And what is the best way to live?
And what is the meaning of life?
What is the purpose of life so that the young person is not avoiding these topics?
Oh that's what old people think about.
No, you've got to start thinking about these things as soon as you can because they will influence how you live your whole life, the entire direction of your life depends on this.
I mean how many young people now in this materialistic worldview feel lost with no purpose?
It's one of the most common comments I get.
Whenever I do a show about, you know, finding your purpose in life, for example, so many times I get Comments lots and lots of comments.
How do I find my purpose?
I don't have any purpose I I don't feel any purpose in my life, and you know these are from young people And you know they're doing everything that people tell them to do they're going to school, and they're getting good grades And you know maybe they they're gonna get a job that pays good money, and then maybe they'll end up with You know good money in a nice expensive house and cars, but what's the reason?
What's the purpose?
Is there any so what you get all that stuff?
Does it make you happy?
No Why do all that I mean you need to eat you need basic health but beyond that more than that why What's the purpose of doing all that?
Even like, you know Trying to get a girlfriend or boyfriend getting married Those are can be generally good things, but a lot of people just do those things they don't really think about it.
They don't really think about when they're this causes so much pain and suffering later and I was the same when I was young so I'm not criticizing because I did I made all these mistakes myself because I was lost also because I had no feeling of purpose when I was young and by young I mean all through my 20s and even into my quite late into my 30s I I suffer from all of this so I understand it very well.
And you know I would chase girls just because they were attractive to me.
Something about, and I wouldn't even think very deeply about you know why am I attracted to this girl?
Why am I so crazy about this girl right now?
Is, is, is this really the right person for me and you know what kind of life would I want with this person and I wouldn't think I wouldn't be thinking ahead I wouldn't be thinking about you know values or life or meaning or purpose it was just ah you know hormones and and emotions and that's what most people do and then they end up with somebody who okay they chased them because for whatever reason they felt all crazy about them and attracted to them but But then they get into—they start dating them, and then the person turns out to not be good for them.
Let's put it that way.
And then sometimes people even get—they get married and then we know how common divorce is now.
Because when people are dating, when people are looking at men or women they want to date, they're not really thinking about okay is this somebody I would want to marry?
And what kind of person do I want to marry and what would be a good partner?
Like what kind of person would make a good wife for me?
If you're a man or a young young man, I mean that's the question you should be asking.
Not just is she hot or is she attractive or ooh does she give me a bunch of strong feelings?
Because guess what there are a whole lot of who are trouble, trouble, trouble.
Who will make you miserable and incredibly unhappy, but you will be super attracted to them and they will give you all kinds of feelings and they're really good at manipulating and yeah, those feelings and you know, you see it all the time, I see it with so many people and I made that mistake several times in my life.
So it's quite important for young people then, They need to study these things and learn these things, not just math and reading and, you know, how to get a good job and how to make money.
Sure, you can learn those things, but the far more important things to study and learn and think about and ask questions about are these kind of deep questions, philosophical questions about the meaning of life, about God, about existence, spiritual topics, about marriage, and the purpose of marriage, and about virtue, about the kind of person you should be if you want to be a good husband or a good wife, the kind of person you need to become if you're not that person already, and then the kind of person you would want as a husband or wife that would make a great mother or great father for your
kids. So that's what that Brahmachari, that ancient Indian system, focused on for youth and emphasized.
And I think you know in a modern context this is what you must do.
And if you're not going to get it from schools, you're probably not going to get it from your parents even.
You're not going to get it from the media.
So this is where you have to be an independent learner.
You're an independent learner now with English.
But you got to be an independent learner with everything in life.
So if you don't have a feeling of purpose in your life, if you haven't thought deeply about these questions, if you haven't read the great saints and philosophers and scriptures, you should.
Now's the time! And if you're older, maybe here's you're 50 and you never did this, well just start now and do it now.
You can have that student phase of life anytime.
Just do it. Now the next stage in the Vedic system—this next stage of life—again seems similar to the materialistic one.
Seems similar because it's usually in English I see it translated to something like householder, householder, which is kind of like an Indian English word, I mean Americans never use that word, but it's the idea householder what is a person who has a home, right?
so it's the idea of you get me you know someone who is married someone who has kids and then therefore you have to be you know making a living you need to have some kind of financial income to do all that so it's basically the time of life the household or time of life is this period of life when you focus on the kind of practical material elements of life, right?
So yes, career, making money, career or a business, making money, getting married and having kids.
Now the difference is...but the difference with this traditional, this Vedic approach to compared to the modern materialistic one is that there's still a feeling of purpose and there's still a spiritual purpose behind being a householder because you've studied and you've developed you know a life philosophy you found your purpose you have a meaning in life you have a deep spiritual practice and belief from when you were a student, from when you were young.
Of course it grows, but you still have that as your foundation.
So then when you start a family and start working, you're not doing it just for money.
You're doing it with the mindset of doing it in a spiritual way and of contributing.
So when you raise your children, it's not just you're not just focused on making sure they eat and and Grow up and get good grades and make a lot of money Right that's kind of the materialistic parenting approach that I see here.
That's super common, right?
It's just they just focus on grades and not doing well in school So they can grow up and be doctors and lawyers or whatever and make money That's what everyone's focused on with their kids, but the spiritual approach the The Vedic approach, the traditional approach, the dharmic approach would be that you're raising your children, recognizing them that you, they're not totally your children, right?
They're God's children, and that you are there to take care of them and help them and raise them up.
And the most important part of your job as a parent is to teach them morality, to give them a spiritual understanding to help them, starting even at a young age, to understand that their life does have purpose and meaning, to give them the foundations for happiness and goodness.
And yeah, you know, make sure they can read and write and do all that stuff, too.
So that the Family is has a spiritual component.
And it's the same when you're when you're when you're working and you're busy doing your job or running your business, okay, yeah, you're, you're doing it to make money to provide for your family.
And that's but you understand that you're doing it to contribute, right?
It's not just to make money.
So you can be rich for no reason you're doing it to to support your family.
So householder, right, that's where I am now in my life.
And that's exactly how I try to do this with my children.
Actually, I'm kind of probably in between householder and the next stage, which we'll talk about.
Next stage, the third stage, I can't remember the name for it, that's some Sanskrit name, But it's kind of like semi -retirement.
It's kind of the idea of when, it's a time of life when maybe you're still working, but your kids have grown up, you know, traditionally, because people had children at a much younger age in the past. So it's kind of like the transition, right?
Middle age, basically.
And this is a time where the focus is on contributing to society, let's say.
So this is a time where people might start, you know, maybe volunteering, helping poor people or doing things like this or just mentoring and coaching, right?
It's the time when you're, you've as a householder you've kind of developed skills and knowledge and now you're trying to pass it on, you're trying to teach it to other people.
And maybe you're kind of semi -retired, maybe you don't need to work quite as much. So I'm kind of in between because I had kids at such a late age that I am already well into middle age and I work but I don't work much. Most of my time is focused on my kids and that's where I focus on contributing and coaching.
And then finally you get to the final stage, and this is where there's the huge difference and this is really, this has all been a long introduction to get us here, because the Vedic idea of retirement, of old age, is absolutely incredibly, totally different, right?
We can see similarities in these other stages.
they don't seem so different from the modern.
They're a little more spiritual, more philosophical, more meaningful but kinda similar.
But this is where everything changes because, whereas nowadays in the modern world, this retirement age, old age, being a senior it's depressing and meaningless and has no purpose.
Okay? Just lying around, playing golf and taking little trips and being a tourist has no meaning whatsoever, it's empty, it's empty leisure.
The idea is you've got nothing to contribute or not contributing any more and you're not really doing anything or helping anybody and there's really no purpose to it other than just to lay around and I'm just gonna lie around and kind of be just have a time of leisure and relaxation and just waiting to die And that's why people get so, so depressed when they get older.
Well, let's give you a different vision because in the Vedic system, the idea is that this is the most important stage.
This is the stage where your entire life purpose and meaning is realized, where it comes alive.
The whole focus of your life is for this final stage.
Because of course, the Vedic system is religious and spiritual.
The idea is that this time of retirement, this final stage of life, is the time when your purpose is fulfilled.
It's the most important time.
It should be the time when you are contributing the most. when you are doing the most the time that has the most meaning.
And I want to give you an example of this, because we have a great, great, great example of a real person, and a person I find so so inspiring and I keep him in mind, because when my sister and I were talking about this topic, what to do when the kids are grown up.
Oh my god, what am I gonna do?
I thought of him, and his name is Sri Prabhupāda, Bhaktivedavānta Yacārya, is the long name but we just call him Prabhupāda.
And Prabhupāda was a great, I don't know, I guess in English what would you call him?
A monk, guru. I just want to talk about his life history because his life history shows, you know, the potential of this system, of what you can do at a late age.
Because what this man did at the end of his life...
To be honest, I'm just amazed.
It amazes me. I'm 57 and I'm like, how did he do all that?
Such a short time at the end of his life.
It's incredible. It's inspiring, but it's inspiring in a positive way because I keep him in mind always.
And my sister and I were talking about that topic.
I thought of him and I'm like, well, you know, I'll never be him.
I'll never do what he did.
But I'm going to try to follow his example in whatever way I can...
probably in a much smaller way.
But it's inspiring so that when I think about the last stage of my life, when I'm old, I get excited, I get enthusiastic.
I'm like, I'm going to try to be like Shri Prabhupada.
Let's just talk about it.
Shri Prabhupada lived a normal life.
He followed those stages, pretty much. Okay, he was a householder.
You know he was a religious man He he he met, I can't remember what age he met his spiritual teacher Sri Saraswati I believe it was and You know he learned from him and then so he was a householder he had children he had a he ran a business I think it was some kind of pharmacy business if I'm Number second he was married Okay, so busy, busy, busy life, a typical busy life like we all have, okay.
So he was busy, busy, busy doing things.
Now, he had a spiritual life and a religious life and it was important to him, but he couldn't do it full -time, he couldn't focus on that because he was busy, you know, living his life.
But he had this same idea that, okay, when I reach my retirement age, I'm going to focused my life full -time on spiritual service.
That's really what that final stage is in the Vedic system.
Spiritual devotion, spiritual service.
At the age of 64 he retired from work.
So he stopped working.
He officially retired at the age of 64.
And the first thing he did is for a few years he focused on study and writing and pilgrimage.
So in other words, he kind of tried to kind of prepared himself.
He had this idea that he wanted to do spiritual work and serve God, serve his religion, but he felt like he needed a few years to prepare it because he'd been living in kind of a normal life before.
So he made a pilgrimage to a place called Vrndavana or Vrndavana in India which is a holy city for Vaishnavas.
For us it's a very holy city and he lived there and he just, he read scriptures and spiritual books and he translated many of them, and he wrote, I think he wrote one or two books while while he was there too.
So he did that I think for about 4 -5 years.
Then at the age of 69, okay, which we think, oh, kinda getting old now, right?
At the age of 69, he went off on the biggest adventure of his life.
A bigger adventure than you or I or most people that I've ever met.
I mean, I don't know, in fact, I don't know anyone who's done anything like this.
At the age of 69, he took a cargo ship from India to New York City.
Not an airplane, a ship.
You know, a cargo ship that just carries boxes and containers.
Because it was cheaper.
He didn't have enough money to go flying over there.
At the age of 69, while he was on this ship, he had two heart attacks.
I assume they were minor heart attacks because he lived.
But he had two heart attacks while he was traveling from India to New York on this ship because it, well, I'm sure it was kind of a long journey.
And why was he doing this?
Because his spiritual master, Sri Sarvādhi, had told him, Yeah, you speak English, so he probably could speak English, so he said, I want you to go to the west, go to America, go to Europe, and I want you to bring, you know, our spiritual teachings our religious teachings about Bhagavad Gita about it's called Vaishnavism it's a form of Sanatana Dharma.
So I want you to take it to the West because though I think the West needs this and many people in the West could benefit from this but they don't know really don't really think about it or what they do know is not is not real it's...
it's kind of fake. So, with age of 69, he finally decided to do what his spiritual master had asked him to do and he got on his cargo ship and he arrives in New York City with $7.
$7 and some books. Like, how many people do this in their 20s?
You know, nowadays, I when I was in my 20s, I...
I went to India. Funnily enough, it was my first trip abroad, but I took an airplane and I could do research and I could get...
I had a guidebook about India and so...
And I had certainly more money than seven dollars.
I was on a very tight budget, but still not close to what he did, and he did it at the age of 69.
A year later at the age of 70, he had a few students.
So what he did he got to New York and then he would just go and give free talks in New York City He didn't know anybody there really?
So he just would go and he would give talks about Sanatana Dharma about the Bhagavad Gita about the you know spiritual topics Then he would like make Cook food for people when give it to him as part of his you know It's part of his talks and try to teach them and I think he'd finally got a few students.
You know year later, New York and he actually, you know, at that time registered his organization, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
He registered it as an official organization, but he had, like, almost nobody in it.
And I saw a documentary about him and he talked about, you know, how he was just, you know, several times he was very close to just walking and getting a ticket and going back, walking down to the ticket office and getting on a boat and going back to India, but he's just like, stay a little longer, I'll keep trying.
He's 70 years old at this point.
In a land, in a completely foreign country, in a place he knows nothing, he knows nobody.
And then for the next 11 years, from the age of 70 to the age of 81, he just does the impossible.
He does what's amazing.
in his seventies, in his seventies, he authored and translated over seventy volumes of books.
Seventy, seven zero, translating ancient Sanskrit into English, and then also writing his own books and commentaries.
In eleven years he did that.
At the end of his life, when he's 70, 71, 72 years old, he's just cranking out books and writing and writing and writing is the most, you know, so productive.
How many authors do that in their 30s?
He did it in his 70s.
He circled the world traveling and speaking and lecturing and giving interviews 14 times.
Fourteen around -the -world trips in 11 years, visiting six continents.
So, you know, the level of energy and dedication and work is amazing.
Again, like, now I'm 57 and I look at what he did in those 11 years and I'm just thinking, like, I couldn't do it, there's no way I could do all this in 11 years.
Like, how did he do all of this?
I'm tired now in just my pretty easy life.
He constantly, constantly gave talks, gave lectures, interviews, taught students and suddenly his students started growing and growing.
More and more and more and more and more and more students.
It just took off and exploded.
He ended up founding over, I think it was 100 temples and what are called ashrams, like learning centers all around the world.
In 11 years. That's like 10 a year.
It's almost one every month.
He started the world's largest vegetarian food relief organization, you know, giving free food to people, and they did this all over the world.
He did kirtans, which is like the singing and chanting that Vaishnavas do.
You can find recordings on YouTube of him singing.
I mean this is amazing to me.
in his 70s and he finally died at the age of 81.
So he finally went back to India, at the age of 81, he passed away with like, I think I've seen the video from when he passed actually because they had a video.
His students made a video and you know he's surrounded by I don't know looked like at least a hundred or more of his students were there with him chanting and holding his hand right there next to him as he passed away and died.
So without a doubt, without a doubt, the end of his life, the last eleven years of his life, were the most productive, the most meaningful.
It was the golden age of his life.
It's the time when he fulfilled his purpose.
What a contrast! It's just so amazingly different than what we're taught because what's the message we get from the media, from everywhere and we just have stuck in our minds is that When are the glory days?
When is the great part of your life?
Oh, it's when you're young!
Young, young, young, youth, youth, youth.
Ah, it's your 20s! Or for some people, it's their teenage years!
Ahh, that's the great time!
So young and energetic and free!
Or maybe it's in your 20s, or for some...
somewhere in there, usually, right?
And then we had this idea, ah, middle age is kinda this time where things are getting a little worse.
And then, universally, the idea that, you know, Old age is sort of sad and old age is the worst point, because old age is when your body is getting weaker and, oh, you're not sexy anymore when you're older.
And that's true. If you have a materialistic, a non -spiritual philosophy, mindset, then absolutely, old age is horrible because if you think that the physical and the body, even the mind, is the most important thing, right, material things, then it is a bad time, because, yeah, you're not sexy, you're not cool, you're not as energetic, you're not as strong.
None of those materialistic things are you gonna be as good when you're 70 compared to when you're 20.
You're not cool. But Prabhupada showed, and the message of this ashrama system as well, is that when your mind set, when your world view, when your purpose is spiritual, then in fact the golden age of your life is at the end.
It's as you get closest to death that you have the greatest intensity, the greatest motivation, the greatest and strongest purpose and meaning.
So instead of spending the last years of your life in leisure, sitting around waiting to instead you dive in and you perform spiritual service.
Whatever that is for you.
But it's the time where you get most active.
And clearly you know Prabhupada was inspired because you know he didn't have any kind of super physical powers.
He had two heart attacks on the boat coming over so it's not that he was some kind of he was not like Jack LaLanne you know or something he didn't have some kind of super physical energy at that age in his 70s so there was something else driving him and giving him that power and that energy in that motivation and that ability to do all of that and it clearly it was a it was a spiritual power and a spiritual motivation and that incredibly deep and powerful feeling of purpose.
Because in his mind he'd been waiting and waiting and waiting his whole life to finally commit 100 % and fulfill this spiritual purpose.
That's a great way to end your life.
And of course you know, anyone can do this.
It doesn't matter what your religion is.
If you are a Christian, the same thing, you can do it.
You know, whether you are a Christian, a Vaishnava, a Muslim, you know, what if you decide that Okay, when I retire that's when I'll become a preacher, I'll become a teacher, I'll become a speaker, I will volunteer, I will, you know, go to whichever church or group that you belong to or want to belong to and you're going to become more active when you're older, not less.
And in fact realizing that death is getting closer, that you don't know when you're going die, but you know you're at the end, that you have this sense of urgency because that's what I feel when I look at all the things Prabhupada did.
I don't know, I never saw him say this, but I imagine he felt urgency, like he knew he was at the end of his life.
He'd had two heart attacks on the boat, so I imagine in his mind he's thinking, I could die any time, and I have this purpose, my spiritual master gave me this purpose to bring Sanatana Dharma to the west and to teach and to do as much as I can.
Maybe I'll only have one year, maybe I only have five years, you know, who knows.
But to do all those things that he did, you know, it just shows such urgency.
And usually we think of young people being like that, but...
I mean he showed more urgency, more productivity than any young person I know, any 20 -year -old I've ever met.
It's absolutely amazing.
So that would be, in my opinion, the best way.
So that if you're thinking about your retirement, you're thinking about old age, don't accept what the media tells you, or even just what most people are doing, it's fine.
and you want to do some traveling or play golf, there's nothing wrong with that, but that's not purpose, there's no purpose there.
So I suggest that you see that time in your life, not as retirement, but as mission, mission that when you finally can stop working for money, now is the time to really work for your mission.
It's a time of activity.
It's a time of maximum activity maximum contribution maximum purpose and maximum mission is when you're in your 60s, 70s and 80s should you live that long.
It's the time when you will be most alive.
When you most meeting, when you will contribute the most. Doesn't that sound so much more inspiring than sitting around watching videos and, I don't know, going on a cruise or something?
You can do the cruise and all that thing.
It's fine to take little vacations and do nice little things.
But it's not going to give you a feeling of purpose and meaning.
So that's my answer.
I didn't say it to my sister because she's religious.
She's Christian but not a very strong one.
She goes to church I would say.
I don't even know if I would call her a Christian because I don't really have a feeling from many conversations I've had that she's actually committed to it.
I think she kind of does it for the kids but my answer is that.
That's exactly what I intend to do.
It's what I have in my mind is that when my kids are grown I fulfilled my duties as a father and a husband that uh I don't know what I'll do.
I probably You will also have the idea of making some pilgrimages and having maybe a couple of years of really thinking about it and studying and learning and reading Bhagavad Gita and chanting and meditating.
I would like to go to Vrindavan, too.
Maybe stay there for a while.
And then after that, decide and somehow in some way commit myself completely to some kind of spiritual service.
It probably won't be so public and big like probably bottom, in fact there's no way it will be.
It won't. He was a special case.
He was a special man, but still in my own way, whatever it ends up being, that's my mindset.
And so for me the end of life and the last stages of life are not depressing.
I don't fear them, I don't worry about them.
In fact, I'm almost eager to do it!
When I think about it, I'm like, it sounds exciting!
This sounds like, you know, yes, this is exactly how I want to end my life.
I have an exciting, a compelling, a meaningful vision for the end of life and how life should end and why it should end in that way.
And the nice thing is with that vision, with that feeling of purpose, it actually even affects me now because it's a reason for me now to try to stay as healthy as I can, to try to keep some amount of fitness, to try to keep my energy levels as high as I can, Not just to look good in a bathing suit.
I don't care about that.
Not to make a lot more money.
But no, but rather with this idea that, okay, well when I'm 70, my kids will...
I'll be 70 when my kids are finally grown up.
So I have no time to waste.
So I want to be sure that when I'm 70 that I have enough energy, and enough fitness, and enough health to serve and contribute spiritually as best I can, as much as I can, and to do that right up until I die.
And I'm not going to just be sitting around playing golf and watching videos, that's for sure.
So, finally, I recommend you do the same.
If you're a Vaishnava, then you have Sri Prabhupada.
You have Prabhupada's example to inspire you, let it inspire you.
But it doesn't matter if you're a Buddhist. You can have your own Buddhist version of this.
if you're a Christian for sure, a Muslim for sure, you have the same idea that okay, when you retire, instead of going on vacation go on a pilgrimage.
When you finally stop working, if you're Muslim, go to Mecca if you haven't been there.
If you have been there, go again!
And maybe take a longer trip.
Or if you're a You could do you could walk the Camino de Santiago.
You could do a walking pilgrimage and but in with a very strong spiritual motivation and not just read but intensely read and study and think about The great scriptures and the writings of the Saints you should you know do it now, too But that'll be a time where you could do it Three, four, five hours every single day.
You could do it while you're in Mecca.
You could do it while you're in Rome.
While you're in Vrindavanah, or Bulgaria.
Yeah. And you can have this, you know, inspiring period of time to look forward to.
Even if you have health problems, it doesn't matter, Prabhupada had health problems. Look what he managed to do even with heart attacks.
And he had another heart attack, by the way, because he had the two on the boat.
And then a few years later in the middle of you know, this huge movement growing internationally and you know Just thousands and thousands of students and followers and and people joining and you know became this huge thing And he had another heart attack in the middle of that and had to go back to India and rest for a while But he kept on going he didn't quit he didn't just lie around forever.
He just, as soon as he was able to, as soon as he got a little bit of a recovery, he was out serving and working for his purpose and mission until he died.
Right up until he died.
And you know, he died well.
He died knowing that he had fulfilled his mission.
Given everything he could to it.
Surrounded by, you know, people he had helped, contributed to and taught, and people that loved him.
That's how you can also retire, okay.
Forget this word retire.
I hate that word. I've always hated the word retire.
I've always said I'll never retire.
Or if you want another way, you can think of it as you're always retired, meaning, right, Work is not the purpose of life.
Making money is not the purpose.
It's a tool, something we need to do sometimes, so we certainly need it in our modern world at some level.
But it's not the meaning of life, it's not the purpose, it's just something we do.
Just like eating. We have to eat, but is eating the purpose of life?
No, of course not. Eating is not the meaning of life, it's just something we need to do to stay alive so that we can live the purpose of our life.
We got to keep our bodies alive and energized so that we can fulfill and work for our highest purpose.
And that's the same thing with jobs and businesses and financial things.
Yeah, we need them at a certain level, but they serve a higher purpose, or they should.
So this is what I want you to do.
I want you to be inspired.
I really want you to think about this.
start thinking about it now, whatever your age.
And if you are older, if you are already retired, maybe you're not, maybe you're getting a little bored.
And if you are, if you're bored and you're retired, change it.
Change it. You still have time.
You're alive so you can change it.
And if you're younger, think about it now.
And I want you to become inspired.
Start being inspired about old age.
Start thinking of old age as the fulfillment, as the highest point of your life, as the best point of your life, as the most meaningful point of your life, that the end is going to be the best. The end will be the most important time.
Not when you're 20, not when you're 16.
Don't be one of those people that looks back on the glory days.
Oh, so great when I was 20.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. There may have been nice things, but most 20 -year -olds are idiots in lots of ways, as I was, because you just don't know.
You don't have enough experience in life.
So you'll be better when you're 70, 65, 70, whatever.
Okay, that is the ultimate.
So think about it now.
The time to do it is now.
The time to do it is now.
And to fill yourself with that belief and that conviction, that certainty, that the end of life is the best. The end of life is the most meaningful.
You can already start thinking about it and keep that as your goal.
That you're going to end your life great.
It doesn't matter how it started.
Some people's lives start out quite well.
They have wonderful, beautiful childhoods and their youth is fantastic and fun and everything's great.
But some people start off in a horrible way.
As we You know, they start off in families where there's terrible abuse, and their childhood is hell, and their youth is horrible.
It doesn't matter, because you can still end it in a great way.
The end old age can still be amazing and fantastic.
You just got to keep learning, you keep growing, and you keep that highest, highest spiritual purpose and meaning, and you keep developing that, and you keep that in your mind that it doesn't matter how bad it was in the beginning.
It doesn't matter how bad it is now, because the end is what's going to be the highest, the most important.
It's gonna be great!
Lots of love to you, see you next time, bye for now.
