Religion and Aging in Indian Tradition [microform] : a Textual Study

Download or read book Religion and Aging in Indian Tradition [microform] : a Textual Study written by Shrinivas Tilak and published by National Library of Canada. This book was released on 1988 with total page 690 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The purpose of the present study is to recover from selected Hindu and Buddhist texts ideas and images of aging and illumine their historical, semantic and metaphysical dimensions. The results of this endeavor indicate that as cultural adaptive systems, both religion and gerontology share a common concern in seeking to provide aging with purpose and meaning. Further, the internal logic and semantics expressing this relationship in the texts examined are governed by the formal and literary modes of simile, metaphor and myth. The analysis of such age-sensitive concepts as jara (aging), asrama (stages of life), kala (time), parinama (change), karma (determinate actions), kama (desire), and vaja (rejuvenatory and revitalizing force) suggest that the bond between the traditional Indian values of life and gerontology is particularly close and mutual."--