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than 70 years old. His name was Ishwarbhai. Very rarely a person would take as much advantage of retired life as him. Apart from listening to discourses, he had cultivated a keen interest in reading as well. This interest helped in making his retired life very interesting. His addiction for reading was remarkable. He used to spend six hours every day reading the scriptures.
While reading if he came across any important point, he would mark it and share it with a person for whom it would be useful and specifically ask him to read those pages. Two cupboards at his house were filled with spiritual books. He would point at them and tell me;
"these books are my best friends. They have taught me a lot."
It is a myth that old age is a phase of life where one cannot do anything. In reality, old age is that strong phase of life, where those difficult activities that could not be performed earlier, could be completed. Today old age is a mixed phase of complaining and sulking. The reason being that despite a change in the physical state, man is not ready to change his mental state. Shankaracharya has explained in great detail about this mental state in his book "Charpat manjari" :
The body is wrinkled and the head is bald, The teeth are out and the hand holds a stick, The hearing is strained and the legs are tired, The vision is impaired and the hope is belied.
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MIND YOUR mind : 13
