REFLECTIONS ON MY RETIREMENT

REFLECTIONS ON MY RETIREMENT

Is retirement from work a boon or a bane? It is very difficult to answer. Moving from an active and dynamic state to a lethargic and static state is not acceptable to many. In fact, they are like fish out of water. Having been active and going to office regularly for about thirty years or more and stop on a day is unacceptable to many! A few forget they have retired and prepare to attend the office the very next day! Habits die very hard! In other words it is a shock for them to realize that they have retired and can draw monthly salary no more! I have a friend of mine who could not reconcile himself to his retirement, thought of his future,lost hope and lost his mental balance! Retirement ushers in the evening of one’s life. Worries of the delays in getting the retirement benefits, education of children, marriage of daughters that may drain all that money and failing health tell upon the individual and he loses peace of mind!

Management of time during retirement poses problems since it looks like a monster.Time stares at you and you don’t know how to spend it in a purposeful way! There is always a nostalgic feeling for the days of your work and a hopelessness during retirement. My service as a professor at a college was very fruitful and satisfying. Even during my service as a teacher I took to spiritual activity, founded an organization for cultural and religious activities involving many a member of the public.It was a golden period in my life. Before I retired, I celebrated the wedding of my two girls, and derived a mental satisfaction! Life went on smoothly except for a few vicissitudes that come during the cycle of samsara! Moving with friends and colleagues and participating in academic and spiritual programs satisfied my soul! With a spacious house of my own and a beautiful garden and coconut, mango, guava, lime, pomegranate,and jasmine plants in the backyard it was my pride and envy of others!

Respect and love is said to remain so long as you earn money! Once you retire people do not bestow the same care and attention! “ yavad vitto parjana sakthaha tavan nija parivaro raktaha” says Adi Sankara! It was not so in my case. A few years after my retirement my other daughter and son were married. My son set up his plastic unit in Chennai and we reluctantly left our place to settle there. Post retirement I worked for a while in an engineering college and an arts and science college. I kept myself active all the while and visited a few shrines like Udipi, Subramanya, Kollur Mookambika, and Hornadu of Sri Annapurna Devi. We visited  later Delhi, Agra,Mathura, Chandigarh, Simla, Missouri, Hardwar, Rishikesh, Vaishnava Devi  and Jammu and Kashmir! In the South we went on a holy tour of the most famous temples at Thanjavur,  Kumbakonam, Madurai, Rameswaram and all the Navagraha shrines. We visited Kanchipuram  Kamakshi, Varadaraja, Ekamreswara and all other shrines there. It was a great education and religious and spiritual experience!

The best part of my retirement was my visit to the United Kingdom and to the United states! we went to Newcastle where my grand daughter had settled! We went to Birmingham and London for sightseeing, enjoyed the safari journey, wondered at the magnificent buildings like the Big   Ben and St Paul's Cathedral, London Tower, Bridge and the Parliament Buildings! It was an amazing spectacle at the Madame Taussad's Gallery and the London Eye! Earlier a memorable and an indescribable holiday to the US followed where my son’s family resided. We spent six months visiting the Niagara Falls, New York City, Washington DC, Colorado and the Rockey Mountains! We visited once again my Son’s family at California and spent another six months holidaying with them! All this after my retirement! I thank Providence for making this possible.

The surprising and the most purposeful part of my retirement consists in my becoming computer savvy! I had not touched the computer earlier! My grandson initiated me into it and soon I took to it like duck to water! I am not only a citizen but a netizen now! Face Book and internet have become my breath and spirit! I have taken to blog writing ever since I was introduced to the computer! I have utilized my time and the computer to do what little service I could to disseminate knowledge on religion, philosophy and spirituality to readers. I am encouraged at the interest shown by them in viewing my blogs on vario.us topics. Thus retirement has helped me in pursuing the path that I liked very much! It really allows the person to act according to his choice and derive pleasure! The retired person should know how to spend his time properly and usefully! Merely sitting before the TV and leading a sedentary life will not be healthy and purposeful! Let us make our retirement as useful and pleasant to ourselves and to others!