At the time the Vedas were being written most people lived with their extended family, if not under one roof, then most certainly in one village or neighborhood. It was an accepted cultural norm that children would care for aging parents out of a sense of gratitude for the care that was offered them as children. The elderly were revered and it was understood they were in the most spiritual “vata” phase of their life. Little was expected of aging parents in the material sense and their expectations were in turn simply to be able to take time for spiritual practice so as to be ready to pass on in grace.
This is rarely the case today in much of the world. Many families are dispersed around nations and divided by oceans. Children are raised to believe they have the right to do their own thing and parents of this generation are fiercely independent. So when the question of caring for parents from the Ayurvedic point of view comes up we are faced with all sorts of challenges that the rishis, the original authors of Ayurvedic texts, never could have even imagined.
Four legs of care
